philippine speculative fiction III launch

(L to R front row - Alex Osias, Joseph Nacino, Andrew Drilo; middle row - Elyss Punsalan, Marguerite de Leon, Mia Tijam, Yvette Tan, Joanna Cailas; back row - Nikki Alfar, TJ Dimacali, Charles Tan, Luis Katigbak, Ian Casocot, Domonique Cimafranca, Dean Francis Alfar)




Thanks to everyone who came over and joined the celebration! We tried our best to make the launch as fun as possible (personally, I get bored with the more rigid launches), with each contributor taking the stage to speak about his or her story or whatever was on their mind (and I'm delighted that everyone was game for the unconventional format).

Nikki subbed for the missing (and very much missed) authors who were mostly abroad, and Vin manned the laptop while exchanging repartee with me, while Jacque manned the book sales/food table. The venue was the arctic U View Theater at the basement of the giant Fully Booked at Bonifacio High Street (thanks to Tals Diaz and Jaime Daez). Thanks also to photographers Kate and Kyu for the great shots.

I was happy to meet the authors I hadn't met in person before (remember that Nikki and I selected stories, not people), as well as the parents of Rod Santos who flew in from New York, and the mother of MRR Arcega.

We'll take the usual break to regain our editorial sanity (and market the book, of course) before the cycle begins anew next year with Philippine Speculative Fiction IV.

Maraming, maraming salamat!