"Seek Ye Whore" an Honorable Mention in Ellen Datlow's "Best Horror of..."

Art by MM Yu
Published in Rogue magazine, July 2008

"Seek Ye Whore," which was published in the July 2008 issue of Rogue magazine (the one with the just-got-out-of-bed Anne Curtis), is an honorable mention in Ellen Datlow's new horror anthology "Best Horror of..."

You have no idea how happy this makes me.

"Seek Ye Whore," by the way, is the story that made Gilda Cordero Fernando say to me: "You're such a pretty girl and you write such bloody stories!"

She said I was pretty, hehehe.

Shameless Self-Promotion October 2009 Edition

It's an exciting October!

Not only am I Uno magazine's guest editor (the issue with the lovely, bloody, mostly naked Ornusa Cadness on the cover), my book is also featured in this month's issue of Garage magazine and on the FHM website.

Hmm... all of them seem to be men's magazines...

But wait, there's more!

My dream of my clothes being commended on a fashion blog has come true! Check out What KT Did (I'm not linking to the post I'm in but check out the blog, which is awesome) for a look into the fun, exciting life of fashion designer Kate Torralba.

Waking the Dead online buying info

Unfortunately, Waking the Dead isn't available on Amazon.

You can, however, purchase it directly from the publisher, or through National Bookstore (or any Philippine bookstore that offers a delivery service).

Anvil Publishing
order here

National Bookstore
order here

Philippines Free Press 101st Anniversary Issue out this week!

The issue is of course a special tribute to Cory Aquino featuring new writing by Teodoro Locsin Jr., Fr. Catalino Arevalo, Oliver X.A. Reyes.

As it is their 101 Year Anniversary, this special collectors issue also has articles from the Free Press archives (edited and curated by Ricky S. Torre). Featuring articles by Gregorio Brillantes, Wilfrido Nolledo, Kerima Polotan, Jose Quirino, Jose Lacaba and Quijano de Manila.

So please come and support The Philippines Free Press—after all, they did invent the term "Juan dela Cruz".

**Full disclosure: I hear it'll also have coverage of the Waking the Dead book launch! :D

Excerpt from Waking the Dead in the Uno July 2009 issue!

Grab a copy of this months Uno magazine with Cindy Kurleto on the cover. It's their sports issue but they named it "No Fun" after the Stooges song.

There's an excerpt of "The Bridge," one of my stories from Waking the Dead, my first collection of short fiction, which will be launched in August.

Read the excerpt on the Uno website here.

2008 Bram Stoker Award Winners

This year's Bram Stoker Award Winners are:

Superior Achievement in a NOVEL
DUMA KEY by Stephen King (Scribner)

Superior Achievement in a FIRST NOVEL
THE GENTLING BOX by Lisa Mannetti (Dark Hart Press)

Superior Achievement in LONG FICTION
MIRANDA by John R. Little (Bad Moon Books)

Superior Achievement in SHORT FICTION
“The Lost” by Sarah Langan (Cemetery Dance chapbook)

Superior Achievement in an ANTHOLOGY
UNSPEAKABLE HORROR edited by Vince A. Liaguno and Chad Helder (Dark Scribe Press)

Superior Achievement in a COLLECTION
JUST AFTER SUNSET by Stephen King (Scribner)

Superior Achievement in NONFICTION
A HALLOWE’EN ANTHOLOGY by Lisa Morton (McFarland)

Superior Achievement in POETRY
THE NIGHTMARE COLLECTION by Bruce Boston (Dark Regions Press)

AAAAAAnd... for Lifetime Achievement, F. Paul Wilson and Chelsea Quinn Yarbro

Congratulations, everyone! :D

Shameless Self-Promotion May and June 2009

Here's what I've been up to last May:

Preview
Did the cover story on Ruffa Gutierrez. I absolutely love this magazine. It's been my favorite for years and the every time they ask me to write for it, I go into raptures and have to stop myself from doing a little dance around my phone. This issue, by the way, also contains my first ever fan mail.

Appetite Magazine
Restaurant 6 - I reviewed 6 places that serve ice cream. Working for Appetite is always fun because part of my job always involves eating.

Uno Magazine
Did a writeup for model Denise Montecillo, who is both fun and fabulous. By the way, Uno's big revamp happens this month, so watch out for it on the stands!

Homestyle Magazine
Did book, film and music reviews for the going green issue.

wmn.ph
Wrote an article on Bohemia Cakes. Read it here.

And here's where I'm at this June:

A feature on me in Go! Magazine

Preview
Reviewed some fashion blogs, including my favorite http://jakandjill.com

wmn.ph
Wrote an article on my favorite skincare line, Leyende. Read it here.

That's it so far. I hope to post more stuff soon.

Waking the Dead out soon!

Waking the Dead, my first collection of short horror (well, mostly) fiction will be out soon! Possibly by the end of the month! Watch for it at your nearest bookstore. I'm also planning an awesome launch, which everybody is invited to!

Coffee shop

Didn't get any work done, but I felt really writerly!

I'm in 2008 Year's Best Fantasy and Horror!

As an Honorable Mention, but still!

Thanks to Kenneth Yu and Charles Tan for letting me know.

One of my fellow honorable mentions (I'm not going to say which just yet so you'll have to go buy it) is also in the horror edition of The Digest of Philippine Genre Stories, as the cover story, no less. Yay!

The other works featured in the horror issue of PGS are from equally exciting writers, all of them I'm proud to have had submit to the issue I'm editing. We got a lot of great stories, but alas, I couldn't put them all in.

Nelz Yumul from WeWillDoodle did the cover art, which was well received, if by well received you mean people asking Kenneth why it's so scary.

So guys, save the date: October 31st is when you go out in your mosnter/ witch/ starlet costume and grab yourself a copy of The Digest of Philippine Genre Stories Halloween issue. It's the trick that keeps on treating.

Shameless Self Promotion June 2008

People have been asking when I'm going to update again, so here I am.

My apologies for my long absence. Life has been busy, and when I'm not busy, I'm usually collapsed in a heap. In any case. Ironically, I've had more access to WiFi than I ever have.

Here's what's been up with me:

Finished most of the shooting for the TV show I'm writing for. We're editing now, which means more time stuck in the editing room sitting around and getting fat. Editing, people, is how I gained 20 pounds in over 2 years. As you can see, I never lost them.

Am working on another TV show, my first story-based one. We're still casting I think, and fleshing out the story. I'll reveal what it is when I have the go signal. Let's just say that it involves music.

Rogue magazine's first anniversary is coming up this July. My story, "Seek Ye Whore" will be the month's fiction feature. It's a story I've had in my head for a while but (with much prodding) was only able to finish last May. I don't think I'm spoiling anything by saying that it's about internet mail-order brides.

Aaaand... here's my latest article in the Philippine Star. I'm really happy to have been assigned this. Who would have thought that I'd ever be interviewing Rafe Totengco? And Tina Ocampo was really nice. Check out the article here.

Selfish Self Promotion, May 2008 Edition

Finally have time to blog again. Here's what's up for me for the month of May:

Interviewed Terno Records Head Toti Dalmacion on his neat apartment in this month's Homestyle.

Am giving a talk on writing horror fiction this Sunday, May 18, 2008; 1 pm at Powerbooks Megamall. This is the third leg of Talecraft's Horror Creation Workshop. I'm pretty excited about it.

And because I didn't do this last month...

My first story for the Philippine Star came out last month. Finally, someone's made me write a fashion story!

What are You Afraid Of?

My apologies. I was busy reminiscing and playing activist last week I totally forgot my prompt. Here it is:


moar humorous pics

Stuck on what to write? Here's a question for you: What are you afraid of?

You. Not your mother not your lola, not your boyfriend or your girlfriend. You.

It can be anything. Ghosts are what first comes to mind, but really, it can be anything from cockroaches to a dark path to the wash drying on the clothesline. The more mundane, the better. That's what you write about. The challenge is to make the reader feel your fear, no matter how irrational. You'll know you've succeeded when people start developing strange phobias, and the common denominator is your story.