S2EP1: Apol Lejano-Massebieau's A FISHY TALE

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.

FULL EPISODE

Running Time 35 min, 28 secs

Click on the PLAY button to stream the audio.

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.

Episode 13: Joseph Montecillo's NEW TOY

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.

Link to FULL EPISODE
Running Time 14m 13s

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.

Episode 12: Luis Katigbak's KARA'S PLACE

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!

Link to FULL EPISODE
Running Time 29m 41s

 

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)

 

Episode 11: Eliza Victoria's REUNION

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

Link to FULL EPISODE
Running Time 36m 53s

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.

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

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!

Click here to stream FULL EPISODE.

 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.

Episode 8: THE SNIFFLES by Carljoe Javier

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.

Link to FULL EPISODE
Running Time: 14m 10s

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

Press PLAY to stream full episode.

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.



Episode 7: KEEPING TIME by FH Batacan

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.

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

Press play to stream full episode.

[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.

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

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.



LINK to FULL DOUBLE EPISODE  Total Running Time: Part 1 at 27m 57s, Part 2 at 18m 25s

I wish you all a Merry Christmas!

E :-)

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

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.   

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

Press PLAY to stream full episode.

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!

E

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

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.”

DOWNLOAD

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

Episode 3: THE SPARROWS OF CLIMACO AVENUE by Kenneth Yu

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

Episode 2: GHOST BETWEEN MOMENTS by Kate Aton-Osias

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.

LINK to FULL EPISODE

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

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.

Episode 1: SIX FROM DOWNTOWN by Dean Francis Alfar

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.

LINK to FULL EPISODE

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