Fantastic storytelling

Ten years ago, I wouldn't find myself near a graphic novel. Those things are trashy and people who read and buy them should be looked down on. Pictures, panels, speech bubbles—these are not the elements of good literature. Yes, middle class Filipinos believed this horse shit. So for 3 decades, most of my reading consisted of books that just have text.

Enter Neil Gaiman's The Sandman, and everything I knew about the graphic novel genre would be strewn to the floor. In other words, I bit the dust. When I read the first page of my first Sandman compilation, I was like, "How come I'm reading this wonderful 'horse shit' only now? What glorious horse shit this is!"

It was my good friend R. who gave me my first Sandman compilation—Fables & Reflections, the 6th volume of the series. It's still my favorite volume, coincidentally. S far, I have 6 of the 12 volumes. Still a long way to go. And still many times in the future wherein I'd empty my wallet. Those graphic novels, they're just too damn expensive.

I've grown to the love the mystical world of the Endless: Morpheus (Dream) and his 6 six siblings (Destiny, Death, Delirium, Destruction, Despair, and Desire). The stories in The Sandman are a combination of horror, mystery, and fantasy. Fantastic storytelling, I tell you, dear reader. And one that you'd like to return to every now and then.

Our book for this month at the book club is actually the 4th volume, Season of Mists. It's a very dark read, and it's heavy on mythology. You'd get to meet Bast, Thor, Odin, the Japanese god of storms, faeries, fallen angels, and even Lucifer himself. You can't go wrong with these characters, right? More so if you find out that Lucifer has called it quits and has turned over the keys of hell to you.

Jon Snow: Who is the Sandman? What sorcery is this?
Me: You know nothing, Jon Snow.

How very timely to be reading The Sandman now! Gaiman has come up with a 6-issue bimonthly miniseries of a Sandman prequel. Woot woot! The first issue's just been released last 30 October, and I've been itching to get my hands on one. Finally, last Saturday I was able to get a copy. I could die now. Well, at least after I've read the 6th issue.

Filipino Friday 2013 #4: Going digital

It's Filipino Friday again, dear readers, the weekly meme in line for this year, Filipino ReaderCon. This year's ReaderCon is just a few days away, so better clear up your calendars!

This week, it's all about reading books in other formats. Hmmmm. . . Tough. I love paper too much. I love touching it, smelling it, and even tasting it. I haven't read any books outside work that are in electronic format. The though of reading an ebook gives me goosebumps. Anyway, let's proceed with this week's Filipino Friday questions.

Do you read (or have at least tried to read) books in other formats aside from print?
I'll say it upfront—my preferred format has always been print. And my favorite print format is the hardback. I don't care that hardbacks take too much shelf space. When someone mentions a book, my mental image of it has always been a hardback.

But other than print, the only format that I've tried is audiobooks. Ebooks? I'd rather die.

How was your experience with this different book formats?
I've grown to love audiobooks. Listening to an audiobook takes longer than reading the print version though, but the experience is totally different. Listening to an audiobook is like hearing a musical performance, especially if the narrator has a dramatic voice.

I've read lots of audiobooks through the years. My favorite ones, interestingly enough, are those read by the authors themselves. I finished David Sedaris's When You Are Engulfed in Flames and Naked in audiobook format. Hearing Sedaris's squeaky voice just made the essays funnier.

Neil Gaiman is a wonderful narrator too. I finished the audiobooks of his Anansi Boys and Neverwhere.   And Chelsea Handler too! Handler's dead pan narration of her hilarious sexual escapades were a riot to listen to in My Horizontal Life and Are You There Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea.

So that's it! Not much variation in reading formats for old KyusiReader. It's like 99.99% print and 0.01% audiobooks. Still, I enjoy "reading" both. I guess I should find more audiobooks to go through, yes? And they do make the terrible commute just a little bit bearable.

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Join us next Saturday, 09 November, at the Rizal Library of the Ateneo De Manila University for the 3rd annual Filipino ReaderCon.

POPtastik Pinoy!

There's a wonderful event happening in the metro on November 15. It's POPtastik Pinoy! During that event, we'll celebrate Philippine pop culture in literature, film, and comics.

POPtastik Pinoy! is a collaboration of the National Book Development Board, the Filipinas Heritage Library, and the Ayala Museum. It actually is part of a much larger event--the 4th Philippine International Literary Festival. And this year's exciting theme is Text and the City.

So what's in store for everyone who shows up? Just take a look at the events lined up for POPtastik Pinoy! participants. It looks like a full day of folklore, pop lit, comic books, and writing!

I'm particularly interested in City Fiction 100: A Fiction Writing Masterclass. That event is open to both professional and budding writers. All you need to do is submit your works of flash fiction saved in .doc format to Camille Dela Rosa (cvdelarosa@nbdb.gov.ph) and Verne Ahyong (litfest@filipinaslibrary.org.ph). They allow multiple entries! Your email must have the subject heading “City Fiction 100 Entry,” and include your full name, cellular phone number, and short bio (3-4 sentences only). They'll be having just 25 slots for this class, and the deadline for submission is on 2013 November 8.

See you on the 15th of November, dear readers! I just know it's going to be a blast.

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POPtastik Pinoy! is supported by Ayala Malls, GMA Network, Brother Philippines Inc., Intercontinental Hotel, the Book Development Association of the Philippines, the Korea Copyright Commission, Fully Booked, and McDonald’s. For inquiries, contact Verne Ahyong at the Ayala Museum at 759-8288 local 46 or ahyong.vy@ayalafoundation.org. To register, call Marj Villaflores at 759-8288 local 25, or email litfest@filipinaslibrary.org.ph.

The book club works the night shift

So I just finished moderating the discussion for this month over at the book club. I co-moderated Stephen King's Night Shift discussion with R., who had all these great ideas to make the discussion a little different. And let me just say this—it was just so much fun to organize!

Of course, we went a little crazy. Filled up all the loot bags with candy and other knick knacks such as notebooks, toy rats, mini skeletons. Had 20 designs for the bookmarks. Had matching shirts made for the discussion. Sometimes, my OC self could not handle it!

The venue was a little bit unconventional. We rented this old house, the Thelmo ancestral house in Manila, to add a creepy vibe to the discussion. And we chose to hold the discussion late in the afternoon, around 5.30 pm, so that we'd spend the early evening hours at the house.

I think the members of the book club, the Flippers, enjoyed it! Thank goodness! They better! After all the months of preparation, the copious notes that we wrote, the game that we had at the opening, etc., I would die if it didn't turn out the way we planned.

Anyway, here are some of the pictures taken during the discussion, which I'd like to share with you, dear reader. These were taken by R., who was shuffling between the roles of being photographer and moderator.

The T-shirt design
R. tried to incorporate as many elements of Night Shift into the design
We had 4 T-shirts printed: 2 for us, 1 for Mitch (who helped us with the venue)
and 1 for the winner of the best in costume, even though costumes were optional

Food was potluck.
Here's Marie doing the finishing touches for her lemon squares.
Her lemon squares were actually round. Hehehe. But they were delicious!
Marie also helped out tidy the place. Thanks, Marie!

A corner of the old house
The old paintings of the Thelmo family added a very vintage touch.
And they were really creepy, in a wonderful way.

We started with an early dinner at 5.30 pm.
And knowing the Flippers, the food was just overflowing!
There were pies, chips, baked mussels, noodles, spring rolls, donuts, and more!
I guess a Flipper's biggest fear is to go hungry.

R. hamming it up with this prop.
For the life of me, I can't figure out the pop culture reference!
And look at the shirt!

After dinner, we proceeded to talk about the horror genre in general.
And then we had a quick game about the stories in Night Shift.
There were 4 teams which I designated as follows:
the rats, the worms, the children of the corn, and the quitters.

Then we went to the basement for another part of the discussion.
Here we talked about one aspect of horror in Night Shift that focused on the everyday:
suicide, deadly bets, serial killers, disease.
Oh, the house's caretaker shared something frightening with us.
She can sometimes here children in the empty basement!

Then we went to the house's courtyard. I think it was already past 7 pm.
Here we talked about King's supernatural horror,
the kind involving monsters, vampires, and what-have-you.
We also talked about 2 stories in Night Shift that were not specifically horror.

We held the last part of the discussion in another living room of the house.
I guess you can call it the parlor. (Who has a parlor these days?)
We asked the members to rate the book from 1 to 5, with 5 being the highest.
Judging from the scores they gave, most of them liked the book! Woot!

I counted 23 happy participants! Yay!
The last time R. and I moderated separately, we had 30+ attendees each.
This time, to control the number, we chose to make it an invite-only event.

I saw these cookies at a cake shop near my office.
And right there, I just knew that we should have them in our loot bags.
They taste great too!
Besides, who doesn't like cookies?

10 things to expect when reading Stephen King

1. There's gonna be weird sex. Consensual and otherwise. Of all shapes and sizes. And it'll all be in your face.
2. It's all about the character. A lot of people say that it's the plot. Yes, the plot is good, but King's characters are the ones that have you keep on turning the page.
3. Suspend your disbelief, starting at page 1. Possessed automobiles and laundry machines running down the street? Check. 
4. A good number of King's greatest protagonists are teachers and writers, two groups of people I can totally relate to. And also drunks.
5. His vampires give off the foulest stench. No sparkly vampires with impeccable fashion sense. King's vampires are, appropriately, bad asses.
6. It's impossible to read just one page. 
7. You'll be disappointed with most of the TV and movie adaptations. Kubrick's "The Shining" is quite good though, but it somehow deviates from most of the story lines in the novel. 
8. You'll get bigger biceps after finishing the novel. The Stand, Under the Dome, It, Tommyknockers, and 11/22/63 are at least 800 pages each. Try fitting all these novels in your bag.
9. Crazy, totally fucked-up endings. And monsters who are complete assholes. And indiscriminate violence.
10. Basically, a good old time. 

The book that started my love of the horror novel

During my first year of high school, I found myself in the library with a few minutes of spare time. I was browsing my high school library's bookshelves when a book's cover caught my attention. When a cover shows a partially bandaged hand with human eyes growing on it, you'd also be curious, yes?

Anyway, I ended up loaning the book from the library. When I got home, I remember plunking down on my bed, turning on the first page, and then closing the book at around 3 am in the morning. Yes, I read all the stories in one night, and that night would start my reading love affair with Stephen King.

I never looked back after reading Night Shift. I read one Stephen King work after another. And I think, at that time, I loved them all. No matter how cheesy the story lines can get, I devoured the book with a passion. The haunted car in Christine might be a bit comedic when you read it now, but in my teenage years, I was scared by the idea. The aliens in Tommyknockers? They creeped me out. Same thing with the clown in It. Cujo made me feaful of dogs for a short period. And when we checked into a hotel, I'm reminded of the twins in The Shining. Salem's Lot was my first ever vampire novel. In a way, that book was to blame for my pretty high standards for anything with vampires.

King also showed me that he can dabble in high fantasy too. The Eyes of the Dragon is one of my favorite King works. And I've read the first 3 books of his The Gunslinger series, which felt uneven. I guess it was with this series that made me realize that I've outgrown King, and that it was time to read other novels, horror and otherwise.

Because of my love for King, I eventually ended up reading Clive Barker and Peter Straub. Though both are not as prolific as King, I have a few Barker and Straub books that I particularly enjoyed. Peter Straub's Ghost Story introduced me to the Gothic tradition. And I still recall how I was floored after reading Shadowland, which is still my favorite Straub novel. As for Barker, reading him exposed to all things weird. My favorite Barker works are Imajica and Weaveworld. His Books of Blood? Possibly the best horror collection of short stories ever.

I'm glad that I started with Night Shift. It's a good place to begin one's journey to the many wonderful aspects of the horror novel. Horror isn't just about monsters, and vampires, and things rising from the dead. It's also about the everyday things that can take a horrific turn. It's about your sick relative, dying of cancer and forcing you to make a tough decision. It's your friend who goes through hell and back just to be rid of an addiction. It's about that quiet man in the corner who could possibly be the serial killer the police is looking for.

It's been a while since I read King. Last weekend, I finished rereading Night Shift in time for the book discussion this coming Saturday. 26 years ago, I read it in white heat. This time, I savored it, enjoying King's gift of characterization and envying him for his talent for description. It made me miss spending a cold night reading a King novel.

I think I stopped reading King after the mess that is Rose Madder and the inferiority of Nightmares and Dreamscapes as compared with other superb collections. Perhaps it's about time I do a bit of catching up. With his unbelievably prodigious ouput, I have my work cut out for me.

Filipino Friday 2013 #2: Kids and books

It's Filipino Friday once again, dear readers. This week, we're talking about children's books. I love children's books, despite being almost 40. They make me feel oh so young. And children's books, with their straightforward storytelling style and uncluttered dialogue, are the perfect books to read when you're in-between adult novels. Sort of a palate cleanser. Like lemon sorbet. And I love all things lemony.

So let's get on with the questions, shall we?

What were your favorite books as a kid?
I was a voracious reader when I was a kid. My parents told me that I started reading when I was 4. And since then, I have never looked back. I was one of those geeky kids who didn't throw a tantrum if I were given a book as a present.

Some of the children's books that became my favorite were the Bobbsey Twins mysteries by Laura Lee Hope and the Choose Your Own Adventure books. I couldn't get enough of them! I remember borrowing most of the Bobbsey Twins books from my grade school library.

The Bobbsey Twins and the Doodlebug Mystery was the first book in the series that I read.
As far as I recall, it was my favorite among the lot.

At one point, I think I must have had 20 of these.
Unfortunately, they were all lost when we moved house.

Do you still read children's books?
Well, I read almost anything, so yes, I still read children's books. In fact, I don't think there's a month that goes by without me not reading a children's book. They're quick reads, yes? And the children's books that I've finished recently have been very rewarding reads.

The more recent children's books that I've finished that I really, really liked include Wonder by R. J. Palacio and the Newbery-winning novels Moon Over Manifest by Claire Vanderpool and The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate. I have yet to read a Newbery book that I don't like.

Recently, I discovered the joys of reading the Moomin books by Tove Jansson. The adventures of the Moomin family and their friends are terribly fun. Very wholesome but entertaining reads. If you read closely, they can get very philosophical too. It's no wonder that that Jansson (1914-2001), who was from Finland, became one of our greatest children's books author and illustrator.

Some of my Moomin novels
I believe there are 9 in all. 

The collected Moomin cartoon strips are also quite fun to read.

If you would give a book to your younger self, what would it be?
Hmmm. . . Tough question. I can't really decide which. There are just too many! Well, probably any book by Meindert DeJong. Last year, I read his The Wheel on the School and I found it quite heartwarming. It was still very relevant, even though it was first published in 1955.

But really, I don't think my younger self would be that choosy when it comes to books. I think he would have read any book thrown his way. It would be years before that kid would grow up and become more discriminating with his reading tastes. And he'd go through a Stephen King phase, a Jackie Collins phase, an Agatha Christie phase along the way.

So that's my 2nd Filipino Friday entry, dear readers. I'd love to hear about your favorite children's books too.

Oh, and if you're free on Saturday, 9 November, do drop by at the ReaderCon at the Rizal Library of Ateneo de Manila. It'll be a unique experience, especially if you love books and reading.