The Wheel and Axle

I confess that I have not read many Young Adult books in a long time. Not counting the Hunger Games trilogy, which I picked up late last year mainly because of the movies, it must be almost two decades now since I’ve regularly read anything categorized as such. In fact, it’s been so long that these books were still classified under the “Juvenile Section” by National Bookstore when I was still reading them. I should be thankful they’re now called “Young Adult” because “juvenile” just brings up negative connotations of childishness. That, or else images of a young Brad Renfro being manhandled in the movie Sleepers.

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I see you.

One of the more difficult things in being a genre fiction writer (horror, fantasy, sci-fi, action-adventure, etc.) is how to write believable and three-dimensional antagonists, i.e. villains. Genre fiction, after all, are usually good vs. evil tales at the core.

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Pre-workshop Meet and Greet

Last year, I was lucky to have been chosen to participate in Jessica Zafra’s first writing workshop, “Write Here, Write Now.” We had a meet-and-greet in November, which Jessica featured in her blog. In the succeeding weeks before the end of 2013, I also met up with some participants to get to know them and prep ourselves up. It was nice to have like-minded folks getting ready to dive into a workshop with one of our most famous local authors.

We started the workshop in January – four non-consecutive Saturdays until March 8th. Held in the Ayala Museum, it was sponsored by the Ayala Foundation.

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In 2012, UP Babaylan celebrated its 20th anniversary. Two decades are quite the milestone for the first and most influential student LGBT organization in the country, and to further celebrate the successes of the organization through the decades,UP Babaylan worked hand in hand with the UP Center for Women’s Studies to publish and release a beautiful coffee table book entitled, “Anong Pangalan Mo Sa Gabi? at iba pang tanong sa mga LGBT.”

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*** Zzzssspoiler Alert, ‘Teh!***

Bonggalacious!

Finally, after almost a decade of waiting, fans get to see the sequel to Ang Kagila-gilalas na Pakikipagsapalaran ni Zsazsa Zaturnnah, the critically-acclaimed comic book by Carlo Vergara. Part one of Zsazsa Zaturnnah sa Kalakhang Maynila has finally arrived. The award-winning original two-part series spawned a compilation graphic novel, a long-running stage musical, a movie, and various merchandise. Fans have eagerly clamored for the buxom beauty’s return, and now that it’s here, it is worth the wait.

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