buried by words

Putting together the annual PSF is always enjoyable (which means that I find the accompanying stress enjoyable), in part because I get to read a lot of new stories.

This year, as a judge for a P100k spec fiction competition sponsored by a big bookstore, I get to read even more. I'm reviewing all the contest stories and will soon deliberate with the two other judges. I'm happy to say that the Filipino imagination is not just alive but happily skipping around. I'm familiar with a number of the submissions - I received them for my antho but had to decline for one reason or the other. I did encourage the authors to enter various contests and I'm glad they entered their stories in this one. At this point there are already a handful of beautifully imagined and written stories that have made an impression on me. But, as these things go, I need to see what my co-judges think.

The last batch of Filipino speculative fiction I expect to receive this year will be LitCritters originals. As I announced at Serendra (and on the LitCritters list), I'm pushing for us to be more prolific, to be "working writers" which means writing more and writing better. We'll work out a critique schedule for selected stories as we continue to expand.