Ang Mahiwagang Kahong Pamasko

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Sa umaga ng Pasko sa taong 2007, isang batang lalaki ang nakaupong mag-isa sa isang kanto ng sangandaan. Pinagtagpi-tagping basahan lang ang kanyang suot at marungis siya. Ang isa sa kanyang mga binti ay buto’t balat, pilay. Isang munting saklay ang nasa sahig malapit sa kanya, sa abot-kamay.

Walang kagalaw-galaw ang bata, nakatungo hanggang abot na ng kanyang baba ang kanyang dibdib, nakalaylay ang kamay sa may tagiliran, bukas ang palad – ang tanging bahagi niyang buhay, may hinihingi.

Masyadong maaga para may dumaan at maglaglag ng barya sa nakaumang niyang kamay. Wala pa ang araw at mahirap makita ang bata sa malamlam na liwanag ng kumukuti-kutitap na mga palamuting pamasko. Ang dumaraan lang ay ang paminsan-minsang jeepney o tricycle.

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The Librarian

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She did not use to eat paper all the time. At eleven, she passed for a normal kid—shy/pallid/awkward like all the others. By nineteen, she had blossomed into a fresh-faced girl with too few secrets and too many dimples. Five years after, she found herself collections assistant at the National Library, and nine years later, head librarian. She did not even begin the habit then but only several months later. She had been looking for a particular novel to put on hold—Fitzgerald’s Great Gatsby—when she came across a stack of unsorted books on the PS section’s bottom shelf. She had paused to pick it up and carry it back with her when a stray page from Gatsby flew from between its covers. Balancing the stack on her knees, she grabbed it and held it between her lips, leaving both hands free to struggle with the books. Back at her desk, she intended to return the wayward page to its proper place, but by then it had already vanished.

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Ending The First Year Of PGS Online

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My grateful thanks to Nikki Alfar–whose set of stories have just concluded–for putting in the time and effort in editing her writers’ works, and then sharing one of her own. I hope you all enjoyed reading her set as much as I have.

The end of Nikki’s set marks the halfway point of this little experiment with PGS Online, of bringing genre stories by Pinoy writers for you to read through the web. With four guest-editors now done with their four stories each, that’s sixteen here on the site (for those keeping count), enough to fill a full physical anthology.

Comparing my previous experiences with a print-product and this online one, I must say that it’s easier to keep a consistent schedule by going digital. The many steps involved in bringing stories out in physical form–from layout, illustrations, stripping, plating, printing, color-checking, binding, cutting, to distribution–certainly can’t compare to the more straightforward use of a website’s content management system and worldwide presence. It still takes some time to do, make no mistake, but it is something less people can manage, versus the many more needed to produce the physical digest. It actually feels quite empowering. Having said that, the temptation to produce a physical product is still there; I don’t think it’ll ever go away.

To end the current year and to usher in 2012, our next guest-editor is a fresh name to the site: Alexis “Exie” Abola, multiple Palanca winner and English professor at Ateneo de Manila University. As with the others before him, I’m thankful that Exie agreed to take the time to guest-edit a set and to share one of his own stories on PGS. His set begins on December 15, 2011, and with his editorial sensibilities he brings a fresh perspective to genre fiction for PGS.

As a bonus for this holiday season, there will be an extra story on December 25, 2011. I had written on the PGS blog before how I was considering publishing stories in Filipino and not just English. Well, I’m happy to announce that, to give this a try, PGS will soon have a translated version of PGS contributor M.R.R. Arcega’s “The Magic Christmas Box”, which was first published in English in the print-version of the PGS Holiday Issue. “Ang Mahiwagang Kahong Pamasko” will go live on Christmas Day. My thanks to M.R.R. Arcega for agreeing to this; she’s one of our local writers with the high-skill to write stories in both English and Filipino. I hope PGS readers will receive this translation well. If so, I’m looking to extend this into 2012. Please leave your comments and let me know how you feel about this.

Many, many thanks to all the readers of PGS for your support. Please do keep on reading PGS Online, and any other book or story (digital or not); reading is a good habit to keep. Here’s hoping PGS Online will succeed in reaching more readers into 2012 and beyond. Thank you, everyone. Enjoy your holiday season, and Happy New Year to you all!

Selected Transmissions from Synthesized Human Emulation Mk.8.014b, Otherwise Known as Katey

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k80: September 16, 2011, 3:42 a.m.

Dear Mom,

I know it’s the crack of not-yet-dawn, but I thought this would be the perfect time to remind you about either the strength or flight upgrades we’ve been talking about, because I figure being stuck from the waist down in concrete sidewalk really illustrates my point. I mean, I know you worry that I’ll get careless with the super-strength and blow my secret identity, but personally I think that surviving a 22-storey drop with more damage done to the sidewalk than to me is also likely to attract attention. Maybe that’s just me. Continue reading →

Makisig’s Heart

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Listen, daughter. This story begins before the beginning, because that is the way of our people.

Once, there was a hero named Makisig, blessed by the gods and favored by fate. It is said that he was so strong, mountains would move aside upon his approach. It is said that he was so fast, winds would not dare blow without his permission. It is said that he was so skilled, he could even fuck mermaids.

The legends speak of how Makisig would come to kingdoms plagued by monsters, or beasts, or shadows. Makisig would come, and he would bring with him two swords, a lyre, and a cloud that spewed rainbows. Makisig would come, and he would rip out the shadows of the enemies; he would expose their hides to sunlight; he would scar them with his blade. Makisig would come, and kingdoms would be saved.

But Makisig had his price. Continue reading →