Poetry, Fiction, Jade and Gemstones

Update! Update!

What have I been doing lately? Being distracted, that's for sure. I've developed a love for the gemstone jade, so these days I've been reading up about crystals and crystal structures, the resonant sound of real stones (as compared to glass and plastic), the market values of gems, and schools to take up gemology in the Philippines.

When I remembered that I'm also a writer during other parts of the day, I went about catching up on my poetry and fiction. And then I submitted them places.

Here are the places where I'll be:

"Heather" (flash fiction) - James Gunn's Ad Astra, 2015
"Dysmorphia" (poem) - Apex Magazine, 2015
"Soul Searching" (poem) - Liquid Imagination, 2015

And I'll also be popping up as a featured poet in Edwin E. Smith's Quarterly Magazine, with eight poetry titles in the suite to be published in the Summer 2015 issue (which will also be the Fall 2014 issue, but expanded)! Whew, this is a first for me and I'm shamelessly going to plug it here!!

• Caretaker
• Autopsy
• Erasure
• Broken Cisterns
• Another Burial
• A Conversation with Water
• Skywalk
• How to Plant Your Death

Happy writing!:)

Work that's Appeared in the Philippines Graphic Magazine this 2014

While I have my eye on the international scene, my heart still belongs in my home country. That's why I've been aiming to have my work out in local joints, which are becoming fewer and fewer every year. :(

The Philippines Graphic Magazine has remained strong throughout the years, thanks to the efforts of dedicated editors Joel Pablo Salud and Ms. Alma Anonas-Carpio. The literary dream lives on!

This is a late post, the result of many things going on in my life, moving jobs and homes being two of them.

In the Graphic's June 9 issue appears my poem "Transit"

Transit

Can hell be any nearer?
This infernal heat--
sun, swelter, pigslush of bodies.
Behind the scenes, someone winds up
a music box playing
the chilling tragedy of transit:

The mob puts Dante's damned
to shame.
The line is the first circle
of anguish, patience
is no virtue
in this push-and-shove contest
where everyone finishes last

because the trains are a lottery
in themselves. Fickle as storms
they decide whether or not to take you
to your destined haven, serving suffering
with a fleck of hope--
success for some, failure for most.

Until routine sets in,
birthing Devil whelps
wallowing in the third hell
of peaceful torment.

Meanwhile, I cut down and finalized my long short story "Sage's Reckoning" and subbed it to the team months later. The story, at a whopping 6500 words, thankfully made it to the coveted pages. Whew.

Part 1 of "Sage's Reckoning" appears in the August 18, 2014 issue;
Part 2 is in the August 25, 2014 issue, which my friend Angelo
luckily came upon and obtained in a branch of NBS in Ortigas.
YES! I have a copy!

I'm thinking about posting the story in this blog. Still thinking about it. I mean, it's so long, so it's not particularly fun to read on-screen, right?

EPIKO Work Update

I've encountered several plot holes in this story, which I managed to fix in my two-week hermit writing session. These kinds of inconsistencies are impossible to spot in the outline of a work, and won't even be obvious in the synopsis. I discovered them while doing the writing itself. I had that what-the moment, you know, when you realize that the events you planned just don't make sense and could have easily been solved if the characters weren't so myopic.

I'm thinking of several title changes. Like--
Epiko: The Realm of Trickery
Epiko: The Bronze Seer
Epiko: The Goat's Horns

I dunno. I'm not inspired yet. Still, I'm at the editing stage. WIP's at 45,000 words. It's a short novel or maybe a novella. Really depends on which publisher is looking at it.

And it's back to my day job for me! Gonna have a lot to juggle.

Featured at OMNI Reboot, Expanded Horizons

Read at http://omnireboot.jerrickventures.com/phenomena/hiring-process/

My science fiction flash piece "Hiring Process" is featured in OMNI Reboot, a rebirth of the classic sci-fi magazine. Thanks to editor Claire Evans. Before closing in 1998, Omni featured William Gibson, Orson Scott Card, Arthur C. Clarke, Ben Bova and many more names that I've been reading for years. It's an honor to be part of this project.

The circumstances that led to this story being published are surreal. Given that this story feels "jinxed," I didn't expect anything good can still come out of it. It's the same story that was involved in fiasco with a contest that once published my private details without my permission. That problem has been resolved with the help of the good people from Absolute Write, my favorite forum and writer resource.

A friend of my mine linked me to OMNI and I checked it out right away, excited at the fact that one of the best SF mags is making a comeback (there aren't enough of these zines left!). When you visit the site, you'll kinda feel nostalgic if you're a fan of golden age sci-fi. It has that air to it, one of cold metal and possibilities.

At almost the same time, my poem "Molting Season" was published sooner than expected (supposedly 2014). It's now out and crawling about at Expanded Horizons. Also in Issue 41:
"Swallowing Saturday" by Catherine Batac Walder
"Daughters of the Air" by Gail Labovitz
"The Five Flavors" by Bryan Thao Worra
"The Robo Sutra" (Artwork) by Maria Mitchell

Recent Acceptances: Mirror Dance and Songs of Eretz, Also, L. Ron Hubbard WOTFC Certificate

Two of my poems made the cut in two publications:

"Three Times She Loved" to appear in Songs of Eretz, May 2014
"Woman Came Last" to appear in Mirror Dance, Spring 2014

A big thank you to the editors, Steven Wittenberg Gordon, MD (Songs of Eretz) and Megan Arkenberg (Mirror Dance) for the opportunity.

I have also received my L. Ron Hubbard, Writers of the Future Contest certificate this week:

Came with a cool gold sun sticker

The Uncommon Compliment

I have to admit, it's hard to gain confidence in writing in your second language. My second language is English, and I write primarily in it. I have been told quite a few times by foreign editors/publishers that some of my language use is a bit awkward, or they simply don't understand certain lines. I've pretty much gotten used to this. At first, I considered this a flaw in my writing. And then after some years reading work like those of Chinua Achebe, I realize it can't be helped. It is part of the evolution of language to have several versions of itself, which after some time, may not look anything like the original. Take Becky language, for instance. It is incorrigible to the unexposed.

And then here comes the unexpected compliment. I recently returned to the fiction scene, and managed to revise and restructure a novel I wrote some three years back. In the process of submitting the partial / full manuscript to publishers for consideration, I received some kind words from the founder of Freedom Forge Press LLC, Eric Egger. See, I submitted to this press because I was very much intrigued by their interest in exploring the concept of freedom (something much of my writing delves into). Eric requested my full manuscript and gave me the heads up about it needing a round of edits. I completely agree to this, as I've never been in love with my work too much to be so attached to the words I write. I told him this and also mentioned how I'm a second language speaker.

This is what he had to say in return:

"Please take it as a compliment that your command of English is better than many native “speakers” here in the US. :o) Some of your phrasing and word choices were both masterful and artful!"

You know what I thought? I thought, hey, maybe I'm doing something right. I just kept writing in my own way and style all these years, and maybe it's paying off, huh?

Little things like these make my day. Just to plug this in, I've also received an acceptance letter from Magma Poetry, a UK-based publisher.

 Dear Anne Carly Abad

Thank you for sending us five of your poems for consideration for Magma 58.  We have read them several times and would like to offer publication to 'Pub(l)ic Lies' if it is still available and if you would consider one small edit.

We enjoyed the word-plays throughout the poem greatly and wondered if you would like to build up to a three-way word play at the end...

Sincerely

Laurie Smith
Editor, Magma 58

In a separate post (once my poem is published), I'll talk about that teeny bit of change at the end that made a huge difference in strengthening the piece. Little tweaks do make a difference!

Thanks to these kind editors and publishers for taking the time and exerting effort in helping me become a better writer. :)

Thought I'd Never Write Fiction Again

Really. I dunno what happened. I used to dream of writing multiple novels, because back in 2010, that was all I wanted to do. I'd sit in a corner in the library and write away. I finished my 100K novel in less than a year, the revisions took a lot longer.

And then the frenzy stopped. The well was dry. No inspiration to write the sequels to the story. I tried, because I believed in discipline. But I just felt like I was bleeding every time I tried to write.

The bleeding ended when I tried out poetry. For some reason, the well had filled up again in reading and writing poems. I've been writing nothing but poems since then, and it's been more than a year since I last wrote fiction. I think maybe it's been 2 years? I can't remember.

But I woke up one morning with a strong idea that felt whole and ready to be fleshed out in the word. I wrote a new story this week, and it's ready to be revised. I hope it's good! :) I'll try to submit it somewhere once I'm done weeding out the unnecessaries.

Index of Published Works

Here's a list of my published works as of May 2011. Hopefully I can add more to this list before 2011 ends:

Fiction
ΕΞΙΣ gods, ghosts and battered cellphones (eBook, 2011) - eTreasures Publishing
Laws of Stone (Soon, 2011) - Library of Science Fiction, print and eBook
The Privilege (Apr 2011) - The Philippines Free Press; also available in print
Topheth No More (Oct 4 2010) - Printed in The Philippines Graphic Magazine
Songs of Urban Phantoms (Feb 2010) - Expanded Horizons
It Takes Seven (June 2010) - Three Crow Press

Poetry
Fern (May 15, 2011) - The Sunday Inquirer Magazine
Law of Motion (2011) - Damazine

Published in Philippines Graphic Magazine

Kinda forgot to post about this. Was published in the October 4, 2010 issue of the Philippines Graphic Magazine. "Topheth No More" appears in the fiction category, under a rather plain-sounding name: Anne Abad. I've been so busy at work I don't have much energy left to update my online life.