A Time for Dragons Launch

One of my favorite blogs is Elisabeth Perry's Woolgathering, where she posts one watercolor painting a day then writes a short entry about it.

Here's my homage to that, in connection with yesterday's A Time for Dragons book launch.

I also drew something like this for one of the authors in the anthology, so this is one of only two dragons disguised as sheep in the whole world!

Once again, congratulations to Vinnie and to everyone in the book. Dean plugged my upcoming book during the program so I'm now more pressured than ever. We hope to have Waking the Dead out by May.

The 5 Most Unintentionally Gay Horror Movies

Luis sent this to me. I've only seen "The Lost Boys" and "The Covenant," and yes, the thought of how homoerotic everything was did cross my mind. Glad to know I'm not the only one who thought so. Needless to say, I shall be searching for the other films soon.

Read the list here.

Final Stoker Ballot 2009

Congratulations and good luck to everyone!

Here are the nominees for this year's Stoker:

Superior Achievement in a Novel

COFFIN COUNTY by Gary Braunbeck (Leisure Books)
THE REACH by Nate Kenyon (Leisure Books)
DUMA KEY by Stephen King (Scribner)
JOHNNY GRUESOME by Gregory Lamberson (Bad Moon Books/Medallion Press)

Superior Achievement in a First Novel

MIDNIGHT ON MOURN STREET by Christopher Conlon (Earthling Publications)
THE GENTLING BOX by Lisa Mannetti (Dark Hart Press)
MONSTER BEHIND THE WHEEL by Michael McCarty and Mark McLaughlin (Delirium Books)
THE SUICIDE COLLECTORS by David Oppegaard (St. Martin's Press)
FROZEN BLOOD by Joel A. Sutherland (Lachesis Publishing)

Superior Achievement in Long Fiction

THE SHALLOW END OF THE POOL by Adam-Troy Castro (Creeping Hemlock Press)
MIRANDA by John R. Little (Bad Moon Books)
REDEMPTION ROADSHOW by Weston Ochse (Burning Effigy Press)
THE CONFESSIONS OF ST. ZACH by Gene O'Neill (Bad Moon Books)

Superior Achievement in Short Fiction

PETRIFIED by Scott Edelman (Desolate Souls)
THE LOST by Sarah Langan (Cemetery Dance Publications)
THE DUDE WHO COLLECTED LOVECRAFT by Nick Mamatas, and Tim Pratt (Chizine)
EVIDENCE OF LOVE IN A CASE OF ABANDONMENT by M. Rickert (Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction)
TURTLE by Lee Thomas (Doorways)

Superior Achievement in an Anthology

LIKE A CHINESE TATTOO edited by Bill Breedlove (Dark Arts Books)
HORROR LIBRARY, VOL. 3 edited by R. J. Cavender (Cutting Block Press)
BENEATH THE SURFACE edited by Tim Deal (Shroud Publishing)
UNSPEAKABLE HORROR edited by Vince A. Liaguno and Chad Helder (Dark Scribe Press)

Superior Achievement in a Collection

THE NUMBER 121 TO PENNSYLVANIA by Kealan Patrick Burke (Cemetery Dance Publications)
MAMA’S BOY and Other Dark Tales by Fran Friel (Apex Publications)
JUST AFTER SUNSET by Stephen King (Scribner)
MR. GAUNT AND OTHER UNEASY ENCOUNTERS by John Langan (Prime Books)
GLEEFULLY MACABRE TALES by Jeff Strand (Delirium Books)

Superior Achievement in Nonfiction

CHEAP SCARES by Gregory Lamberson (McFarland)
ZOMBIE CSU by Jonathan Maberry (Citadel Press)
A HALLOWE'EN ANTHOLOGY by Lisa Morton (McFarland)
THE BOOK OF LISTS: HORROR by Amy Wallace, Del Howison, and Scott Bradley (HarperCollins)

Superior Achievement in a Poetry Collection

THE NIGHTMARE COLLECTION by Bruce Boston (Dark Regions Press)
THE PHANTOM WORLD by Gary William Crawford (Sam's Dot Publishing)
VIRGIN OF THE APOCALYPSE by Corrine De Winter (Sam's Dot Publishing)
ATTACK OF THE TWO-HEADED POETRY MONSTER by Mark McLaughlin and Michael McCarty (Skullvines Press)

Maricel Soriano + Chito Rono = T2

No, it's not a Filipinization of the 2nd Terminator movie.T2 stands for Tenement 2, the block where this horror movie is set.

The film is direced by Chito Rono under Star Cinema. It stars Maricel Soriano and Mika dela Cruz(Anjelika dela Cruz's younger sister). The movie is inspired by the director's vision of Biringan, a fabled Enkanto city in Samar that he saw from the plane as a young boy.

It's about time Maricel did another horror movie. Her last horror movie was Peque Gallaga's Sa Piling ng mga Aswang in 1999. I fondly remember Maricel from before she used to do drama. She was the final girl for the fantasy/ comedy genre that was prevalent in the 80's, though the title of "final girl" of that era should still go to Manilyn Reynes, since Maricel's movies were more comedies with horror elements than than the straight out horror (sometimes with comedic elements) that Manilyn became known for.

T2 will be out this April, probably in time for Holy Week. Nothing like spending your Good Friday, the day that our Lord died, watching a horror movie.

Read about the movie here and here, and watch the trailer here.

A Time for Dragons

From Dean's blog (Sorry for copy/pasting, Dean. You said it best):

Join the book launch of A Time for Dragons (Anvil Publishing), edited by Vincent Simbulan, March 29, 2009 (Sunday), 3:00 pm, Shangri-la Mall Grand Atrium. And yes, there will be a parade of dragons.

Accodring to Vin, this book is a collection of new dragon stories by Filipino authors to present the dragon in new and inventive ways, and renew and refresh the dragon for a more sophisticated and mature audience. The kickass cover and all interior art is by Andrew Drilon - and his original book art will be available for purchase at the launch.

Table of Contents:

"Glass" by Nikki Alfar

"Dragon Brother" by Cyan Abad-Jugo

"The Annotated Account of Tholomew Mestich" by Elyss Punsalan

"The Clockwork Dragon's Heart" by Vincent Michael Simbulan

"Moondown and Fugue" by Alexander Drilon

"Gunsaddled" by Alexander Marcos Osias

"Lex Talionis" by Paolo Chikiamco

"The Final Tale of Zhang Bai Long" by Elbert Or

"A Fishy Tale" by Apol Lejano-Massebieau

"Johnny Tatô and the Dragon of Pasig" by Joseph Nacino

"Capture" by Gabriela Lee

"3:30pm with Sir Galahad" by Kate Aton-Osias

"A Change of Guards" by Oscar Alvarez

"The Fossil" by Angelo R. Lacuesta

"A Little Knowledge" by Dominique Cimafranca

"The Bridge" by Yvette Natalie U. Tan

"Fallow's Flight" by Dean Francis Alfar

"Dragons Among Us (Essay)" by Charles Tan

Help name NASA'a Space Station Node 3 Eraserheads!

Got this from Marie, who is out on a crusade:

From the NASA website:

NASA wants your opinion in naming the International Space Station’s Node 3 – a connecting module and its cupola – before the two segments travel to space and are installed on the orbiting laboratory. The name should reflect the spirit of exploration and cooperation embodied by the space station, and follow in the tradition set by Node 1- Unity- and Node 2- Harmony.

You know what you have to do. Go to the site and suggest Eraserheads! You know you have to.