heights talk & kite at nbdb

This Friday, I'll be speaking about spec fic at Ateneo, courtesy of the good folk of the Heights. It's from 4:30-6PM and I hope to see you there.

Ateneo seems to like me this month as I have another soon-to-be confirmed speaking engagement there around next week.

And a couple of weeks from then, on Feb 15th at 2PM, Tara Sering moderates the National Book Development Board's discussion of my collection "The Kite of Stars and Other Stories" (here's the link for details).

This is interesting as I feel so distant from the stories in that collection, since the creative process of writing and developing them took place literally years ago and I'm now in a new place developing new stories. What the general reader doesn't realize is that whatever is published or printed is already old (to the author) by the time of publication (in relation to when it was written) - even Salamanca, written in late 2004, and accepted for publication in 2005, was published in 2006 (and that was considered fairly quick); I think only the Philippine Speculative Fiction anthos are faster (we select stories, edit, publish and launch in a few months).

I stand by every story in "The Kite", of course (yes, even the ones that, now, seem rather...eh) and would love to hear what other think. I just have to reread everything. The part of me that constantly wants to learn is stoked.