Philippine Speculative Fiction 7 (PSF7): Lineup Announcement

Over a hundred stories were submitted, with roughly around 400,000 words in total. It took us one whole month to read (and reread, and reread) the stories. Another week was spent arguing, negotiating, deciding and then re-deciding which stories would be included in this year's anthology(it was a tough process; aside from the fact that Alex's and my poetics are vastly different, the stories submitted were all of a certain quality that it was literally like pulling teeth to get us down to 24); and another month for me to get all our rejection and acceptance letters out. But after what seemed like a loooong time, we finally (finally!) have the PSF7 lineup!

PSF7 stats and trivia:

14 males / 10 females

23 of the 24 will find their first home in PSF

1 story was written after an author realized she was broke (I have every faith she has recovered since then, folks!)

1 story is the last leg of a troika of erotica (it rhymes!) written over a period of 3 years

3 stories are from first time fiction authors

1 story's idea was stolen from a pastor's sermon

1 story is the last short fiction the author will be writing until he finishes his novel

0 stories were from time travelling Filipino Vikings (darn it, I was hoping with the numbers we would have at least 1!).

Philippine Speculative Fiction 7: Lineup!

1. All That We May See by Kenneth Yu

2. All the Best of Dark and Bright by Isabel Yap

3. Bastard Sword by Nikki Alfar

4. Chasers by Chris Mariano

5. East of the Sun by Dean Francis Alfar

6. Faith in Fiction by James Constantino Bautista

7. Mother of Monsters by Philip Corpuz

8. Never Land by Mo Francisco

9. Oblation by Paolo Chikiamco

10. Pet by Kristine Ong Muslim

11. Sarsarita Time by Melissa Sipin

12. The Call of the Chained God by Dariel Quiogue

13. The Changes by Benito Vergara

14. The Commute to Paradiso by Charles Tan

15. The Day Nostalgia Swept Over a Town by F. Jordan Carnice

16. Dragon's Orb by Vincent Michael Simbulan

17. The Likeness of God by Crystal Koo

18. The Little Things the Datu Did by Andrew Drilon

19. The Love Spell by Julian dela Cerna

20. The Nature of Apocalypse by Joseph Anthony Montecillo

21. The Scrap Collectors by Arlynn Despi

22. username: tanglaw by Eliza Victoria

23. What the Body Remembers by Tin Lao

24. What You See by Ian Rosales Casocot

Now, if any of you can guess by title alone (well, and what little clues I have given), on which story is which based on the trivia above, I will believe that you have some secret mind power; or, at the very least, that you have secretly hacked my email. Seriously, if you can, by the power of your gut feel, guess which one's which, you can win a copy of Philippine Speculative Fiction vol. 6 (PSF6) which I will give during the launch. Send your guesses to kate.osias at gmail.com :)

PSF6 News

The anthology has garnered positive reviews, with several bloggers / editors / writers voicing their opinions and favorite stories in the antho. (RocketKapre keeps track with a number of them; go to this website if interested www.rocketkapre.com). The most recent news bit was from GMA News Online (by Mean Ortiz), which named PSF6 (along with Alternative Alamat edited by PSF contributor Paolo Chikiamco and Heartbreak & Magic by PSF contributor Ian Rosales Casocot) as one of the notable books of 2011. Yay! :)

And... that's it for now folks. Tune in for more updates on the launch! :)