psf3 - editing phase

Nikki and I have sent out the letters of acceptance and regret. Thanks to everyone who sent a story in for consideration. This, I think, is our strongest year for spec fic, with Nikki and myself spending many a sleepless night deliberating as we championed various stories for different reasons before reaching an amicable accord. Some stories, after the second and third readings, remained strong; others, originally comfortably shortlisted, found themselves usurped by stories that revealed their prowess in the later reviews. We increased the word count of the volume, and therefore increased the physical page count, which translates to a greater production cost - but it is worth it.

I'll hold off announcing the final TOC for a few days as we wait for confirmation on a couple of stories we want - but this volume, this set of stories is exciting, with contributors young and younger from different parts of the country as well as the US and Europe.

Many of the other stories we could not publish because of page count limitations are already of publishable or contest quality. I encourage those writers to submit their pieces to Story Philippine, the Digest of Philippine Genre Stories, the Philippines Free Press and Philippine Graphic, as well as to enter them into the Fully Booked competition.

So now Nikki and I enter the editing phase of the process, followed by the final versions, cover design, layout, printing and the launch - which we have bravely set on December 8th, at Fully Booked Bonifacio High Street (how's that for crazed faith?).

Speaking of launches (shameless plug time), I hope to see you on Saturday at 4PM at Bestsellers Robinsons Galleria for the launch of "The Kite of Stars".