philippine speculative fiction vol.2 TOC

Okay, I'll tell you about my harrowing experience with the superstorm "Milenyo" some other time (it's funny and sad, and includes my personal Mary Poppins moment, like Gaudencio in Salamanca).

Before the storm hit, I had finished deciding on which stories to include in the antho. Over 90 stories were considered - and the sheer number makes me happy because it shows that spec fic is being written here - and my first task was to read through everything.

As I read, I sorted the stories into three piles: accepted, for consideration, and rejected. Accepted stories were stories that put idea and discourse together in an engaging manner and are close to publishable as they were (with some editing of course). Stories for consideration were texts that had incredible potential but had some kind of workable flaw (workable by coordinating with the author if I accepted the story). Stories in the reject pile were stories that failed to engage me.

After my second pass on everything, my biggest pile was the pile of stories for consideration. At that point, I'd accepted only 5 stories, the other slots in the antho were up for grabs. So I took the big pile and read through the stories twice and finally began the final selection.

At the end of the exercise, I had 19 stories. Then I slept on it, woke up in the wee hours of the morning, tweaked the list, slept, woke up, made the final list, and on the morning of the superstorm, went to my office and began writing acceptance letters to the authors whose stories I selected, as well as brief notes to the stories that didn't make it this year.

Before I list the TOC, here are 7 stories that - if I had a greater budget and page count - I would have included. It's like an Honorable Mention list that may just get included when the book comes out (because who knows? Maybe I will get a greater budget and page count - fingers crossed and all):

Marguerite Alcazaren de Leon's The Head
JB Lazarte's White Light
M. Arguelles Angue's Mad Tea Party
Eric Melendez's The Small Miracle of the Liberation of La Escuridad
Dino Galindez's Down Time
Sean Uy's The Scent of Rust

Thank you to everyone who submitted a story for consideration and for your support. Other markets that are friendly to spec fic include the Digest of Philippine Genre Stories, Story Philippines and Philippines Free Press - the editors, in order, are: My Yu, Mr. Bernas and Mr. Lacuesta.

Now for this year's TOC. I am still waiting to hear from one or two authors regarding editorial matters, but it's basically complete.

Philippine Speculative Fiction Vol.2(December 2006)
Table of Contents

Alexander Osias - GUNSADDLED

Allan Lopez - HUNDREDS UPON HUNDREDS OF FORGOTTEN MEMORIES WILL SUDDENLY APPEAR WHEN SHE FINALLY DECIDES TO LEAVE WHAT COULD ONLY BE CALLED MISTAKES IN HER LIFE, AND AT THIS PRECISE MOMENT SHE WILL REALIZE THAT ALL THE TIME SHE CAN SPARE IS LONG LOST AND WILL NEVER BE RETURNED

Andrew Drilon - HOW SAINT MIKO AND I RUINED THE APOCALYPSE

Apol Lejano-Massebieau - JUST ANOTHER GHOST STORY

Jonathan Siason - RE-GENESIS

Joseph Nacino - FIRST CONTACT

Joshua Limso - FEASTING

Kate Aton-Osias - SNIPPETS

Madeline Rae Ong - CLUTTER

Masked - WAITING FOR AGUA DE MAYOS

Michael Co - WAITING FOR VICTORY

Nikki Alfar - BEARING FRUIT

Oscar Alvarez - V.A., OR THE ONE TRUE AGENCY FOR THE SEARCH OF DISAPPEARED GODS AND MYTHICAL HEROES

Rochita Loenen-Ruiz - BOREALIS

Russel Stanley Geronimo - THE SIGN OF THE CROSS

Vin Simbulan - WHAT YOU SEE IS NOT WHAT YOU GET

Yvette Tan - THE CHILD ABANDONED

Dean Francis Alfar - SIX FROM DOWNTOWN

Jessi Albano - WITCH