Pakinggan Pilipinas

S2EP2: Marianne Villanueva’s COCONUT

2012-01-14T10:30:00.000+08:00

This episode’s storyis “COCONUT” by Marianne Villanueva, narrated by fiction writer Maryanne Moll.The story appeared in Marianne’s collection of stories “The Lost Language”,published by Anvil (2009).

Special thanks to Ms Karina Bolasco of Anvil Publishing for helping me contact Ms Villanueva.

PREVIEW

Click PLAY to listen to the preview.

Here's the full narration, plus a chat with Maryanne Moll!

Running Time 23 min, 37 secs

Click on the PLAYbutton to stream the audio.

To Download,right-click HERE, and then choose "Save Target as"

ABOUTTHE AUTHOR Marianne Villanueva is the author of the story collections Ginseng and Other TalesFrom Manila, Mayor of the Roses, and The Lost Language. Born and raisedin the Philippines, she now lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her novella, Genalyn,is forthcoming this year through Vagabondage Press. Marianne also blogs at http://anthropologist.wordpress.com/.

ABOUT THE READER Maryanne Moll was formerly a bank clerk, fast food chainmanager, radio DJ, and school instructor before settling down to write essaysand fiction pieces. She has won a Palanca for her short story, "AtMerienda," and has done freelance writing and editing for several publications.She is finishing her MA in UP, and is at work on her first collection of shortstories.

S2EP1: Apol Lejano-Massebieau's A FISHY TALE

2011-09-04T19:25:00.000+08:00

Our first story for Season Two is “A FISHY TALE” by Apol Lejano-Massebieau, narrated by fiction and travel writer Yvette Tan. The story was published in the fiction anthology A TIME FOR DRAGONS, edited by Vincent Simbulan, and published by Anvil in 2009.

Running Time 35 min, 28 secs

Click on the PLAY button to stream the audio.

To Download, right-click HERE, and then choose "Save Target as"

ABOUT THE AUTHOR. Madame Apol Lejano-Massebieau is a writer, wife, mother, product designer, and entrepreneur based in France. If you’d like to read more of her written work, she’s got a book of essays out, called PROVENCIANA, available at all Fully Booked branches. She also sells her handmade crafts on http://lapomme.etsy.com and http://lapommestories.etsy.com , and blogs about them on http://lapommeblogs.blogspot.com .

ABOUT THE READER. Yvette Tan is a writer based in Manila. Her stories have also won awards in the Palanca, Philippine Graphic/Fiction Awards, and honorable mentions in the Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror. Her first collection of short stories, Waking the Dead was published in 2009.

Pakinggan Pilipinas Season Two Starts on Sept 4

2011-08-29T07:47:00.000+08:00

Click on the PLAY button to stream teaser for Season 2, Episode 1.

Listen to the full story on Sept 4th, 2011, Sunday.

Episode 13: Joseph Montecillo's NEW TOY

2011-07-03T09:39:00.000+08:00

Happy 1st Birthday, Pakinggan Pilipinas!

As a gift, we're giving you “NEW TOY”, short fiction by young writer Joseph Montecillo. The story was published in Philippine Speculative Fiction Vol. 5 (2010 Kestrel). It’s narrated for us by copywriter and bookworm J.T. Tirona.

Running Time 14m 13s

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Right-click THIS LINK,
and choose "Save Target As"

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Joseph Anthony Montecillo is currently a 15-year-old student at the Ateneo de Manila High School. He started writing stories in third grade after reading The Silence of the Lambs. His works have been published in Philippine Graphic magazine, Short, Fast, and Deadly, and Philippine Speculative Fiction Volumes 5 and 6. When he's not writing, he can be found aggressively defending pro-wrestling, after clearing away unfinished homework on his desk.

ABOUT THE READER J.T. Tirona is a copywriter, crazy cat person, bookworm, insomniac, and fan of absurdist humor, who spends countless hours absorbing interesting pieces of useless information that come in handy during Quiz Nights.

Coming July 2nd

2011-06-27T23:39:00.000+08:00

Click on the PLAY button to stream teaser for Episode 13.

Listen to the full story on July 2, 2011, Manila Time.

Episode 12: Luis Katigbak's KARA'S PLACE

2011-06-05T16:10:00.000+08:00

KARA’S PLACE by Luis Katigbak is our featured story this month, and it’s narrated by another writer, Christine "Tin" Lao. The story appears in Luis’s story collection, Happy Endings (UP Press), and can be also read here at The Best Philippine Short Stories website.

Tin and I try to have an intelligent discussion about “Kara’s Place”, so stick around until the end of the podcast. (The intelligence is there, I assure you, and it’s mostly coming from the loquacious Tin, if you’re willing to ignore my giggling.)

Enjoy!

Running Time 29m 41s

Download the full story for Free!

Right-Click THIS LINK,

then choose “Save Target As.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Luis M. Katigbak co-founded BURN magazine and was the founding Editor-in-Chief of the online music magazine Pulse.ph. Today, he is Editor-at-Large for UNO magazine, and a weekly columnist at the Manila Bulletin. His fiction has won Palanca and Philippine Graphic awards. If you’d like to read more of his works, you could try picking up Happy Endings, a collection of short stories from the UP Press, and The King of Nothing to Do, an anthology of his essays, from Milflores Publishing.

ABOUT THE READER Christine V. Lao received the Ateneo de Manila University’s Dean’s Award for Poetry and the Essay. She worked as a columnist, staff writer, and copy editor for an international broadsheet, then shifted to the fields of corporate law and development. Her latest fiction piece, “From the Book of Names My Mother Did Not Give Me”, appears in the recently released Philippine Speculative Fiction Volume 6. (Photo by Urich Calumpang)

Coming June 5th

2011-05-30T08:50:00.001+08:00

Click on the PLAY button to stream teaser for Episode 12.

Listen to the full story on June 5th, 2011, Manila Time.

Having problems streaming the audio? You could go and play it HERE.

Episode 11: Eliza Victoria's REUNION

2011-05-01T17:09:00.011+08:00

For the merry month of May, Pakinggan Pilipinas presents the prize-winning short story “REUNION”, written by Eliza Victoria. It’s narrated for us by Solo Galura, an architect based in Quezon City. The story was published in 2009 in the Philippines Free Press, and won the Grand Prize for fiction in the magazine’s 2010 Literary Awards.

Eliza’s fiction and poetry have appeared in various publications, locally and abroad. She has also received the Palanca award for her poetry. And if you’d like to read more of Eliza’s recent works, you could look for them in Stone Telling, Kritika Kultura, and Story Quarterly. She will also have a story in the upcoming sixth volume of the Philippine Speculative Fiction anthology series.

And by the way, do drop by at the year’s most awaited launch:

PHILIPPINE SPECULATIVE FICTION VOL. 6

Edited by Nikki Alfar and Kate Aton-Osias

Book Launch on 28th May, 2011, Saturday

U-View Theatre, Basement of Fully Booked

Bonifacio High Street

Running Time 36m 53s

Download the full story for Free!
Go to THIS link,
right-click on "start download" box on the right,
then choose “Save Target As.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Eliza Victoria was born in 1986. Her fiction and poetry have appeared in various publications based in the Philippines and abroad, most recently in Stone Telling, Kritika Kultura, Story Quarterly, the Philippines Free Press, and the upcoming Philippine Speculative Fiction Volume 6. Her work has received prizes in the Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature and the Philippines Free Press Literary Awards. Visit her at http://sungazer.wordpress.com, or follow her on Twitter (@elizawriteshere).

ABOUT THE READER Solo Galura is an architect based in Quezon City. He dabbles in voice acting, propelled by his love of audiobooks.

Coming May 1st

2011-04-24T22:17:00.000+08:00

Click on the PLAY button to stream teaser for Episode 11.Listen to the full story on May 1st, 2011, Manila Time.

Not Really Episode 10: Yvette Tan's THE BRIDGE (Full Version)

2011-04-06T22:39:00.000+08:00

You're probably thinking, "The first Sunday of the month came and went...Where on earth is the new episode?"

It's not really here... and unfortunately there won't be (technically) a new audio story out this month. I'm not really in the habit of making excuses, but a sickness and some personal affairs, did make the aspect of audio production difficult. The challenge of story permissions and voice casting (hence the call for narrators) didn't make the situation easier.

Hopefully in the next weeks, I'll get some things sorted out.

You know what does help? Moral support. If you help me spread the word about this site and what it aims to do, I'd be very happy. You don't know how much high site traffic cheers me up.

Which leads me to: there are people who volunteered to help in one way or the other, and I'm truly grateful for their contribution. So, big thanks to all our authors, narrators, Filcols (Hi, Bebang!), publishers, unofficial PR (Hi, Angelo Ancheta! Charles Tan! Tin Lao!), techie peeps (Hi, Jar! Osc!) ... and there's probably a lot more I've forgotten to include in this list (so I will make sure I thank them properly in a decent write-up). My heart goes out to all of you. Thank you.

By the way, so far I've received narrator audition samples, and I'm quite pleased! If you're interested, the call is still open. Send in a audition recording. Details HERE. All rightee.

Last year, we featured an abridged version of Yvette Tan's THE BRIDGE. In this pseudo-episode, I'm featuring the story again in its uncut glory, voiced wonderfully by author Nikki Alfar. (It did occur to me that I'm beginning to be too fond of Nikki, with this refeature coming after last month's "Adrift on the Street Formerly Known as Buendia". But she's a goddess, so, it's only normal.)

Running Time 34m 06s
Press PLAY to stream full episode.

Download the full story for Free! Right-click on link, then choose “Save Target As.”

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WANTED: Narrators

2011-03-20T22:28:00.000+08:00

If you're intested in doing volunteer voice work (and uhm, by volunteer, I really mean *for free*, because Pakinggan Pilipinas is a project out of Pinoy-fiction love), drop me a line!

1. Record a four minute narration of any short story in mp3/wav form. (Don't worry too much if the background is noisy.)

2. Send to pakingganpilipinas@gmail.com. Do write: NARRATOR AUDITION in the subject.

3. If you're versatile and you want to send in more than one kind of narration, go for it.

4. Do let me know where you're from (and this has something to do with recording logistics).

I'm currently open to all kinds of voices, as the story calendar is still in progress, and a database of talent would make things easier.
(However, the most urgent need is a male teen for a story I've wanted to produce since last year.)

Thanks, and feel free to pass this note around!

Elyss
http://PakingganPilipinas.blogspot.com/

Episode 9: Nikki Alfar's ADRIFT ON THE STREET FORMERLY KNOWN AS BUENDIA

2011-03-06T17:10:00.003+08:00

If you’re one of the country’s commuting public, it’s likely that you’ve been stranded at least once in your life, and almost always the cause of your troubles is brought about by some form of flooding that cannot, or would not, be explained by public works officials.

Author Nikki Alfar offers a bizarre tale on being stranded, in this month’s featured story “ADRIFT ON THE STREET FORMERLY KNOWN AS BUENDIA”, narrated by marketer Karen Vigo. It first appeared in the Philippines Free Press (2007), and then again in Bewildering Stories. The Bewildering Stories editors loved it so much that it became one of the recipients of the site’s most signal honor, the 2010 Mariner Award.

Finally, fixed =) ENJOY!

Press PLAY to stream full episode.

Download the full story for Free! Right-click on link, then choose “Save Target As.”

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

NIKKI ALFAR is a fiction and comics writer, editor and resident grammar nazi of the Manila Lit Critters. Her fiction can be found in local publications like the Philippines Free Press, Philippine Genre Stories, and Story Philippines, and in online publications like Fantasy Magazine and Bewildering Stories. Nikki’s stories have received Palanca awards and citations in the Year’s Best Fantasy. She is wife to businessman/fictionist Dean Alfar, and is mother to daughters Sage and Rowan.

You can also listen to Nikki narrate a story by Yvette Tan: The Bridge.

ABOUT THE READER

KAREN VIGO is a full time campaign planner for a multinational cosmetics company. She loves food in all its glorious forms, and considers Coke Regular as the best beverage in the world.

Coming March 6th

2011-02-27T10:56:00.000+08:00

Click on the PLAY button to stream teaser for Episode 9. All episodes come out every 1st Sunday of the month. Listen to the full story on March 6th, 2011, Manila Time.

Music credits: "Investigations" performed by Kevin Macleod

Episode 8: THE SNIFFLES by Carljoe Javier

2011-02-06T09:59:00.001+08:00

For the cold month of February, we’re featuring THE SNIFFLES by Carljoe Javier, narrated by Joel Macaventa. The Sniffles first appeared in the collection Tales of Fantasy and Enchantment, edited by Cristina Pantoja Hidalgo, published by Milflores. It will be republished in the author's book of short stories, Geek Tragedies, to be published by UP Press in late 2011.

Running Time: 14m 10s

Additional Music Credit: "Happy Boy End Theme" performed by Kevin Macleod

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Download the full story for Free! Right-click on link, then choose “Save Target As.”

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

CARLJOE JAVIER studied Creative Writing in UP Diliman. He has two books, “And the Geek Shall Inherit the Earth”and “The Kobayashi Maru of Love”. His third book, “Geek Tragedies” is forthcoming later this year. He likes movies, books, TV, and comics, and probably spends too much time with his Xbox. He works as the business manager of the UST Publishing House.

ABOUT THE READER

JOEL "MCVIE" MACAVENTA loves to act. In times he can't, he works as a marketing exec in one of the country's TV channels, helping people sell the next major sports event. Joel blogs at "The McVie Show" (http://mcvie5.blogspot.com/ ) now on its eleventh season, and also produces the fabulous podcasts of The Fabcasters.

Coming February 6th

2011-01-30T15:39:00.000+08:00

Click on the PLAY button to stream teaser for Episode 8. Starting February, all our episodes will come out every 1st Sunday of the month. Listen to the full story on February 6th, 2011, Manila Time.

Music credits: "Happy Boy End Theme" performed by Kevin Macleod

Episode 7: KEEPING TIME by FH Batacan

2011-01-01T00:02:00.005+08:00

For the year's first podcast, we're featuring "Keeping Time" by FH Batacan, with narration by fictionist Alex Osias. The story first appeared in the Philippines Free Press (2007), and then was reprinted in Philippine Speculative Fiction Volume 3 (edited by Dean and Nikki Alfar; Kestrel), and the online e-book 2009 Best of Philippine Speculative Fiction edited by Charles Tan. In 2008, “Keeping Time” won first prize in Free Press Literary Awards, short story category. The story will be translated into German, and soon printed in the German science fiction magazine, Nova.

Running Time: 36m 17s
Additional Music Credit: "Unaswered Questions" performed by Kevin Macleod

Press PLAY to stream full episode.

Download the full story for Free! Right-click on link, then choose “Save Target As.”

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[EDIT: "Keeping Time" appears in the Philipine Speculative Fiction Sampler edited by Charles Tan and Mia Tijam, not in the 2009 Best of Philippine Speculative Fiction, also edited by Charles Tan. Apologies for the error... although if you've gone to the latter link, no harm in reading the stories there. They're pretty good. :-) Thanks to Eliza Victoria for pointing this out. ]

2010 had been a great year. We've produced seven great stories, have featured nine voices, have reached out to a lot of new listeners to Filipino fiction podcasts.

Now, it's the first day of the year: 1.1.11. What could be more symbolic for beginnings than a row of ones?

Maybe this will be the year we'll feature stories in Filipino? Or celebrities doing narration? Or we get 500 million fans on facebook? Who knows? (Which reminds me, do LIKE our facebook page: Pakinggan Pilipinas. We'll be putting up the author's inspiration for the story.)

I am hopeful and positive. Anything is possible.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: FH Batacan is a journalist based in Singapore. Her stories have appeared in various local and foreign magazines. Her first novel, “Smaller and Smaller Circles” (UP Press 2002), was received with much acclaim, and went on to win the Palanca Grand Prize Novel in English and the Manila Critics Circle National Book Award.

ABOUT THE READER: Computer whiz and fictionist Alexander M. Osias has an uncanny ability to detect even the slightest noise at recording, be it doors closing, drills drilling, or a rooster crowing from some kilometers away. He is married to writer/editor Kate Aton-Osias. They have, as of this writing, one son.

Coming in January

2010-12-29T08:03:00.000+08:00

Click on the PLAY button to stream teaser for Episode 7.Listen to the full story on January 1st, 2011, Manila Time.

Music credits: "Unaswered Questions" performed by Kevin Macleod

Episde 6 Double Issue: "TWILIGHT OF THE MAGI" by Dominique Cimafranca, and "GOD IS THE SPACE BETWEEN" by Maryanne Moll

2010-12-01T14:02:00.000+08:00

Christmas is a'coming! Here at Pakinggan Pilipinas, we'd like to celebrate the season by giving you, not just one, but two! stories to enjoy! Both are from the little fiction magazine that could, Philippine Genre Stories, published by Kenneth Yu.

Our first story is Dominique Cimafranca's "Twilight of the Magi", which was published in Philippine Genre Stories (2007). Two narrators teamed up to bring life to this piece -- and we have Zack Bulatao and Epok Claravall, both from Creativoices Productions, to be thankful for.
The second story is from the forthcoming PGS Crime Issue, guest-edited by F.H. Batacan. It's called "God is the Space Between", and is written by Maryanne Moll. Dulce Amor Fortunado narrates the character's harrowing ordeal.

PART 1

PART 2

Total Running Time: Part 1 at 27m 57s, Part 2 at 18m 25sClick the PLAY buttons to stream the Double Issue. Download for FREE by right clicking on the following links, and choosing "Save Target As"DOWNLOAD PART 1DOWNLOAD PART 2

I wish you all a Merry Christmas!

E :-)

Coming in December: The Double Issue

2010-11-23T07:02:00.001+08:00

Christmas & Crime: Two stories for December

Click on the PLAY buttons to stream teasers for the Episode 6 Double Issue.Listen to the full story on December 1st, 2010, Manila Time. EDIT: Due to some technical difficulties, the podcast will be available only by 12 noon today, December 1, MNL Time.

All music performed by Kevin Macleod

Episode 5: SELF WITH DOG, 1997 by Angelo R. Lacuesta

2010-11-01T03:01:00.001+08:00

This month's feature is "Self with Dog, 1997” by Angelo R. Lacuesta, a.k.a. Sarge Lacuesta. An earlier version of the story appeared in the Philippine Graphic, and was later included in Sarge’s collection “White Elephants, Stories”, published by Anvil. The story has been narrated for us by Edward Quilo.

Running Time: 31m 0s
Additional Music Credit: J. Bach's "Prelude in - BWV 846" performed by Kevin Macleod

Press PLAY to stream full episode.

Download the full story for Free! Right-click on link, then choose “Save Target As.”

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Art Credit: "A Solitary Temple Amid Clearing Peaks" by Li Cheng. Taken from here.

By the way, you may need the visual aid above to accompany the two-minute introduction.

I'll be posting the full version of Sarge's thoughts on the story on our FACEBOOK PAGE (Pakinggan Pilipinas) in a couple of days. Didn't want to put up spoilers just yet. ;-)

And do come back in December for our special Double Issue -- two stories in one episode!

Coming in November

2010-10-25T00:24:00.000+08:00

Click on the PLAY button to stream teaser for Episode 5.Listen to the full story on November 1st, 2010, Manila Time.

Music credits: Waltz (Tschikovsky Op. 40) performed by Kevin Macleod

Episode 4: THE BRIDGE (Abridged Version) by Yvette Tan

2010-10-01T03:03:00.000+08:00

This month’s story is Yvette Tan’s The Bridge, narrated by the inimitable Nikki Alfar .The story first saw print in Story Philippines (2009) and was later anthologized in A Time for Dragons (Anvil, 2009). It also appeared in Waking the Dead (Anvil 2009), Yvette’s own collection of stories. “The Bridge” also won a prize in the 2nd Philippine/Graphic Fiction Awards sponsored by Fully Booked.

The story has been abridged (with Yvette’s permission, of course) for this podcast. The whole episode is still about 28 minutes long, but I tell you, time’s going to fly by without you noticing it.

Running Time: 28m 39s

Press PLAY to stream full episode.

Download the full story for Free! Right-click on link, then choose “Save Target As.”

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Nikki would also like to remind you of the pending Philippine Speculative Fiction Volume 6: Open Call for Stories deadline, which is on November 15, 2010. Go write and submit a great story. Details here.

PAKINGGAN PILIPINAS is now social!
Look up the PAKINGGAN PILIPINAS's Facebook Page and click the LIKE button to get updates and back stories on the monthly episodes. We also got a Twitter account (http://twitter.com/pakingganpinas) to keep you Twitter-folks in the loop.

To continue supporting Pakinggan, tell your family, friends, enemies, and frenemies about our monthly Filipino fiction podcasts by recommending our Twitter or Facebook page. Want to help through other ways? Click here.

Don’t forget -- we’re still taking story requests until November 1. For details, you can look up last month’s episode.

E

Coming in October

2010-09-26T00:21:00.000+08:00

Click on the PLAY button to stream teaser for Episode 4.Listen to the full story on October 1st, 2010, Manila Time.

Episode 3: THE SPARROWS OF CLIMACO AVENUE by Kenneth Yu

2010-09-01T08:22:00.000+08:00

We’re featuring The Sparrows of Climaco Avenue , written by Kenneth Yu and narrated by Fides Bernardo, in remembrance of the Ondoy tragedy. This first appeared in Rocket Kapre’s Ruin and Resolve, a charity anthology, put together by Paolo Chikiamco, then reprinted in Philippine Speculative Fiction 5, edited by Nikki Alfar and Vin Simbulan.

There’s still some work to be done to completely rehabilitate victims of last year’s mega typhoons. If you want to help the Philippine National Red Cross, do log on HERE. Rocket Kapre also donates to the PNRC when you purchase their e-book Ruin and Resolve.

Running Time: 14m 27s

Press PLAY to stream full episode.

Download the full story for Free! Right-click on link, then choose “Save Target As.”

DOWNLOAD

I’m also announcing that I’ll be accepting story requests. (Yay!) Just email me at PakingganPilipinas@gmail.com : send me the title and author of the story. Some guidelines though:
(1) Story must already be published online or in print. If it’s online, send me the link. If not, send me the name of the publication. If it’s from a magazine, let me know which issue.
(2) Author of story must be of Filipino descent.
(3) Must be a short story with 1,500 words to 4,000 words
(4) Story can either be in English or Filipino.
(5) Deadline for the 1st Quarter 2011 requests will be on November 1, 2010.

Do spread the word!

E

Coming in September

2010-08-23T00:35:00.000+08:00

Click on the PLAY button to stream teaser for Episode 3.Listen to the full story on September 1st, 2010, Manila Time.

Episode 2: GHOST BETWEEN MOMENTS by Kate Aton-Osias

2010-07-31T23:59:00.027+08:00

Welcome back to PAKINGGAN PILIPINAS!

This month we’re featuring Ghost Between Moments by Kate Aton-Osias. The story appeared in the fiction webzine Bewildering Stories, and was later on considered in the magazine’s Editor’s Choices.

I asked Kate what compelled her to write this story, and whether or not she believed in ghosts. She replied by saying … Well, I’ll let you know what she said at the end of the podcast.

Running Time: 14m 45s
Press PLAY to stream full episode.

Download the full story for Free! Right-click on link, then choose “Save Target As.”

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This year, Kate will be co-editing Philippine Speculative Fiction Volume 6 with Nikki Alfar.
Got a story? Then submit! Click HERE to see details of their Open Call. Deadline is on November 15, 2010.

Liked this story? Pass it on! Go to our HOW TO HELP page and see how you can support PAKINGGAN PILIPINAS.

E

Coming in August

2010-07-25T10:37:00.000+08:00

Click on the PLAY button to stream teaser for Episode 2.Listen to the full story on August 1st, 2010, Manila Time.

POC features PAKINGGAN PILIPINAS

2010-07-16T18:54:00.000+08:00

Hey! Our friends at the Philippine Online Chronicles have just featured PAKINGGAN PILIPINAS. Thanks to the prolific Paolo Chikiamco of POC's Pinoy Pop.

Read the full interview by clicking PART 1 and PART 2. And yeah, Pakinggan is probably the first regular podcast site dedicated to Filipino fiction. Wow!

By the way, if you happened to find your way here because of the POC article, welcome!
To get started, you can access our very first episode HERE, where we feature Dean Alfar's Six from Downtown.

Do visit us from time to time, and don't forget come back soon for a fresh new podcast by August 1.

E

PRI's The World podcast features Filipino author Miguel Syjuco

2010-07-05T10:53:00.000+08:00

Some weeks back I picked up Miguel Syjuco's Ilustrado, and recently I discovered that a lot of Facebook friends are reading the same book.

Interestingly, PRI's The World interviewed Miguel Syjuco and his acclaimed work.

Get to hear the author himself here (downloadable MP3), as he describes, among other things, the challenge of his first novel, his writing influences, and how the Philippines and its nuances figure in the narrative.

Episode 1: SIX FROM DOWNTOWN by Dean Francis Alfar

2010-07-01T00:01:00.033+08:00

Welcome to PAKINGGAN PILIPINAS!

This is our first official episode, and every month, we’ll feature fiction by Filipino authors, read to you by specially selected narrators.

We’re in for a treat this July, as we have Dean Francis Alfar’s Six from Downtown, read to us by Kate Aton-Osias and Blue Soon.

PART 1

PART 2

Download the full story for Free! Right-click on link, then choose “Save Target As.”
DOWNLOAD

I asked the author what inspired him to write this story, and Dean tells us that he felt an acute longing for home while he was stranded by a storm in Dumaguete. He then decided to create an alternate Manila where “the strange was commonplace.”

This piece first saw print in Philippines Free Press (2006), then reappeared in Philippine Speculative Fiction Vol. 2 (2006, Kestrel), Dean’s collection Kite of Stars and Other Stories (2007, Anvil), as well as online in the Philippine Speculative Fiction Sampler. The piece won a prize in the 2007 Free Press Awards.

If you liked this episode of PAKINGGAN PILIPINAS, tell your friends about it by sending them a link to our site: http://www.pakingganpilipinas.blogspot.com/.

Keep the stories alive -- don’t forget to drop by our HOW TO HELP page.

E

First Episode Premieres on July 1 MNL

2010-06-27T07:21:00.000+08:00

Click on the PLAY button to stream preview for Episode 1.Listen to the full story on July 1st, 2010, Manila Time.

Welcome to Pakinggan Pilipinas, a podcast site that will feature Filipino fiction every month.

If it's your first time here, well, it's the first time for most of us -- podcasting fiction may be nothing new in countries like the US and UK, (and you can google thousands of their downloadable audio), but here in the Philippines, we're practically at the frontier. And that's strange, at least to me, since this is a land where radio dramas are still a hit in most places. With iPods/mobile players made more accessible to everyone, it's a great opportunity to offer homegrown fiction in a new and refreshing way.

Let me set your expectations though -- this isn't going to be like radio drama where you have sound effects and music and a cast of a thousand talented voices. Don't get me wrong -- I have a soft spot for radio drama, but for this site, the star of the show is going to be the story itself, where words, ideas, characters, nuances, plot, setting, all propel the narrative forward. I used to think this kind of format was going to bore me out of my mind, but guess what? I found the experience almost the same as reading, because I was free to imagine and feel based on my interpretation of the text. And I say almost, because narrators are there to tell you the story, much like how your parents did when you were off to bed as a child, or now with your friends, when you have kwentuhan sessions over dinner.

So, that's all there is to it. Don't forget to visit us again on July 1st for our Premiere Episode, featuring Six from Downtown by Dean Francis Alfar.

E