words of encouragement

I'm happy to note that in the July issue of Locus, critic and editor Rich Horton gave both "Philippine Speculative Fiction IV" and "A Time for Dragons" thumbs up.

This is fantastic news and a tremendous boost to the local spec fic community, as multiple authors from both anthos were cited. Congratulations to all the contributors (remember that the strength of an antho is derived from the quality of the stories therein)! It's encouraging to know that stories we write are competitive in terms of theme, quality, writing and imagination with what our comrades-in-letters outside the Philippines produce. And I'm doubly proud of Vin Simbulan's editorial debut!

If you're abroad and want a copy of either or both books, email me and we'll work something out.

Thanks to Rich for his kind words and to Charles for getting the word out.

Oh, there's also a Publishers Weekly review of "The Apex Book of World SF", edited by Lavie Tidhar, where a story of mine appears in.