rowan - short vid

Because the embed function of YouTube completly defies me, just head on over here.

From my sister, Jo (and Coldplay)!

here's rowan

Born July 23, 2008.

I am now the delighted father of two!

on spec fic and writer's block

From an interview (Inquirer.net)

rowan alfar

Rowan Alfar, the newest and tiniest Alfar, joined us this morning, July 23, 2008.

The bundle of nerves masquerading as myself was terrified of something going wrong with the procedure, but Nikki - morphined and all - glided through safely.

I thought that Lily was a lovely name for a child, but Rowan is better, stronger, more unique, and better matched with Sage.

Despite myself, I'm enjoying St. Luke's hospital with its free WiFi, courteous people and good private rooms. It's different from Cardinal Santos where we had Sage. Or maybe I'm just in feel-good mode - until I see the bill (ouch!).

Anyway, when I first held my new daughter right after she was born, she fit perfectly in the crook of my arm.

She's mine and I'm hers, in a way that is unique to us both.

Now all we want to do is go home...

ratify

Nikki's doctor says that our new child will join the human race from mid-July onwards.

Which mean I'll be a bundled of nerves, expecting the next cell call or text I get while I'm at work or at a meeting to be a summons to the hospital.

Things still feel a bit unreal right now, despite all the preparations and layette stuff, and all the kicking action from Nikki's belly. Like silence before momentous thunder. As I was with Sage, I need to see and hold the child in my hands before I ratify reality.

For now though, I am awash with a swirl of things, different flavors of anxiety, the greatest of which is this: I am afraid that something will happen to my wife (there, I've said it) because while C-Sections are routine, the writerly part of me is unable to switch off possibilities, though I wish I could.

Fear is terrible, worry is a sin.

Nothing will happen to her.

Everything will be fine and I'll come home with my wife and newborn daughter, sometime after the middle of this month.

That's how it will be - which is why I am writing this .

The only power I have is over fiction, over words, so I exercise it now.

I ratify this reality.

build your own anthology

If, like me, you love short fiction that has appeared in various publications (such as Asimov's, F&SF, Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine, Realms of Fantasy, Interzone and other hard-to-find-without-a-subscription magazines) and want them on your bookshelf, then AnthologyBuilder is for you. AnthologyBuilder is the brainchild of Nancy Fulda, author and assistant editor of the speculative fiction magazine Jim Baen's Universe.

You can choose the stories you want from the growing list of short stories (from classics by Hans Christian Andersen, Edgar Allan Poe and Jane Austen to speculative fiction by Ted Kosmatka, Tobias Buckell, Mary Robinette Kowal, Jay Lake and Ben Rosenbaum), write an introduction, choose a cover and the book is sent to you, Mr. Anthologist.

It's particularly gratifying because the customizing feature ensures you get what you want (any Year's Best antho has stories that make someone wince). 350 pages worth, in fact.

A number of my stories are there, so I'm a happy puppy. If you're an author and you're not on the site, go and submit your story to Nancy Fulda for review (it must have been previously published).

So, apart from the anthos I'm editing or will be editing in the next couple of months (Philippine Speculative Fiction IV and the Fully Booked contest antho), I'm happily putting together another one online.