And the Path Points To...

String words and hanging them to dry.

Because endings are beginnings.

And we grow. And get impatient with Blogger's HTML editor. Will point where the trail leads.

Jinjie Belene Carlos

At the ripe old age of 92 doggie years, Ate Jinjie (as Tita Rose and Tito Lenny would have us call her) passed away a few days ago. Sniff.

Entries for Philippine Speculative Fiction

From Dean Alfar's blog:

I am now accepting submissions of short fiction pieces for consideration for the anthology "Philippine Speculative Fiction Vol.3".

Speculative fiction is the literature of wonder that spans the genres of fantasy, science fiction, horror and magic realism or falls into the cracks in-between.

1. Only works of speculative fiction will be considered for publication. As works of the imagination, the theme is open and free.

2. Stories must cater to an adult sensibility. However, if you have a Young Adult story that is particularly well-written, send it in.

3. Stories must be written in English.

4. Stories must be authored by Filipinos or those of Philippine ancestry.

5. Preference will be given to original unpublished stories, but previously published stories will also be considered. In the case of previously published material, kindly include the title of the publishing entity and the publication date. Kindly state also in your cover letter that you have the permission, if necessary, from the original publishing entity to republish your work.

6. First time authors are welcome to submit. In the first two volumes, there was a good mix of established and new authors. Good stories trump literary credentials anytime.

7. No multiple submissions. Each author may submit only one story for consideration.

8. Each story's word count must be no fewer than 2,500 words and no more than 5,000 words.

9. All submissions must be in Rich Text Format (.rtf – save the document as .rft on your word processor) and attached to an email to this address: dean@kestrelimc. com. Submissions received in any other format will be deleted, unread.

10. The subject of your email must read: PSF3 Submission: (title) (word count); where (title) is replaced by the title of your short story, without the parentheses, and (word count) is the word count of your story, without the parentheses. For example - PSF 3 Submission: How My Uncle Brought Home A Diwata 4500.

11. All submissions must be accompanied by a cover letter that includes your name, brief bio, contact information, previous publications (if any).

12. Deadline for submissions is September 15, 2007. After that date, final choices will be made and letters of acceptance or regret sent out via email.

13. Target publishing date is December 2007/January 2008.

14. Compensation for selected stories will be 2 contributor' s copies of the published anthology as well as a share in aggregrate royalties.

Kindly help spread the word. Feel free to cut and paste this on your blogs or e-groups.

Thanks,
Dean

First Summer Haiku

Standing by the sea
Contentment laps at my feet
A sigh of relief

Rusty Poetry

Dead stars
once bright,
still shine
from far away.

Staring at the night sky
may prove deceiving.

Twinkling lights
may cease to be,
yet the brightness
that travels
bears not with it
illumination,
but a yearning
for what has already gone.

The blush
that springs,
the warmth
of memory,
are echoes
from a different
time and place.

- MPN 2007

The ending of Paz Marquez-Benitez's short story 'Dead Stars' socked me in the gut. Thanks Dang, for sharing the story.

blogging miles

And we've got another home on the web: Blogging Miles Around the Metro

Thank you, Jesus!

This one made me smile. Congratulations to Glenn David for making it to the MBA program of Boston University on scholarship! That's his little whiteboard I took a photo of yesterday.

planning snapshots

Photo credits to Bernice de Leon

Crem Crem

Hey, Berns took this cool shot of Creamy during planning over the weekend.