Shiver me timbers! Where have I been?
Well, for starters, I've indeed been gone on a long journey, to Davao, in fact, where my wife and I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary. Finally got to eat and have coffee at the popular Jack's Ridge, watched Captain America at SM Davao, spent a day and night at a hidden resort in Samal Island City, and did some marketing (literally) at Bankerohan.
We also met with Elvie's friend and former officemate (which I guess makes her a former officemate of mine as well) and her family.
We also met with Elvie's friend and former officemate (which I guess makes her a former officemate of mine as well) and her family.
Since it was a tipid-trip (ticket was bought eons ago hence low-fare), we struck gold when we managed to find a nice-enough hotel / inn near Gaisano Davao and San Pedro College at Php 700 a night for twin-sharing. Called the Palm Residence Inn, the place was new, clean, and felt like a dormitory or a school with the stairs right smack in the middle and the rooms lining both sides of the corridor (yes, no elevator but it was just a three-storey inn, and we had a room on the second floor). Downstairs were different establishment to answer every backpacker's dream -- an internet shop, a pharmacy, an eatery with a buffet feature, a spa / salon, a travel agency, and a souvenir shop.
I've been to Davao thrice before but since I was always going there either with officemates or on solo mode, I wasn't able to get around. So last weekend's trip was a pleasure indeed. Going around the Philippines' largest city was quite easy -- your choice of either taking the public transport that plied the routes (multi-cabs and jeepneys) or taxis which were numerous in Davao.
It was an enjoyable trip and I'll be devoting an entire post to it along with pictures.
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I'm about to finish Kevin J. Anderson's The Edge of the World, book 1 of his Terra Incognita series. While the book isn't a perfect read, it has got me interested enough that I've already bought the second volume of the series, The Map of All Things. And the clincher is that I bought the book yesterday at National Bookstore at a discount! The price of the book was tagged at Php 315 (which is lower than the selling price at Fully Booked for the paperback at Php 335, if I recall correctly), but since NBS is in the middle of their popular Cut-Price Book Sale, I ended up only paying Php 252. Funny because the first volume was also bought at a discounted price when Fully Booked had its sale last month.
I hope to do a late-review of The Edge of the World once I finish reading it, most likely this weekend.
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I think I've mentioned sometime ago that I've been keeping tab of my book purchases this year. After entering my latest book purchase, my total book purchase for the year has amounted to only a meager Php 1,440.20. That's a far cry from what other bibliophiles' purchases are. However, that's only from May this year, the time I started recording my purchases. I believe I also bought the two initial installments of Trenton Lee Stewart's The Mysterious Benedict Society at something like Php 350 a piece so that ups that total to just a tad over Php 2,000 (still a far cry though from the purchases of other bibliophiles).
I guess it's because there's a bit of a limit as to what's available. Even though there are a whole array of choices in the sci-fi & fantasy shelves of bookstores to choose from, the thing is I'm choosy when it comes to book purchases. A book is an investment for me and I hope to gain a return from whatever book I purchase -- satisfaction. Sadly, I've read (and have read but not finished) a lot of books that have left me with "duh, WTF" feeling. So, now I'm being choosy. While I frequent bookstores, I don't usually buy anything during those trips. When I find an interesting read, I do a check first online to see what others think of the book before letting go of my cash or plastic.
A lot of books I want to purchase are also not readily available in mass market format. By this, I mean books in the range of Php 300 - Php 500. Some are available as hardbounds, or as prestige formats that range from Php 700 and up. For that amount, I can already buy three paperback versions. So, if a book I like is released this year, I'll most likely wait until next year when the paperback edition comes out.
A lot of books I want to purchase are also not available locally. While online purchase is viable, the horrors at the post office when you claim your books (see Charles Tan's latest essay on the matter here) are keeping me from clicking the purchase button. And there are a lot of books that can be ordered from online bookstores.
I also have no Kindle or iPad on which to read virtual books from. While there's no doubt I'll embrace the technology and these new ways of reading books, the truth is I've got no spare budget for the purchase of a tablet, an iPad, or ebook reader. Heck, I don't even have moolah yet to buy my own rig which either tells you (a) I'm broke, or (b) I'm prioritizing other stuff like family with my resources. With a Php 30,000 or so iPad, that's already about a 100 books roughly.
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Speaking of Charles Tan ...
The Philippine Ambassador of Speculative Fiction to the World is the first recipient of the World SF Travel Fund. What's the World SF Travel Fund and how come Charles is involved? According to the World SF Travel website:
"A combination of genre professionals and fans from the international scene and the United States have gathered together to create the World SF Travel Fund. The fund has been set up to enable one international person involved in science fiction, fantasy or horror to travel to a major genre event.
The first recipient of the fund is genre blogger and activist Charles Tan, from the Philippines.
Charles is a tireless promoter of speculative fiction. Besides his own Bibliophile Stalker blog, he contributes to the Nebula Awards blog, the Shirley Jackson Award blog, SF Signal and The World SF Blog. He also edited two online anthologies of speculative fiction from the Philippines.
Charles is highly regarded in the SF scene both in the USA and internationally. The Fund's intention is to facilitate Charles' travel to World Fantasy Con 2011 in San Diego, California. Multiple award winning editor Ellen Datlow said: "Charles Tan has in a very short time, become a major force in science fiction and fantasy. Bringing Charles over to the United States for the World Fantasy Convention would be a boon the convention by adding a truly international voice to the mix and selfishly, it would allow many of Charles's fans in the field to meet him personally."
Living in the Philippines, where wages are far lower than in the West, Charles would be otherwise unable to ever attend a major convention. The Fund's purpose is to make such a trip possible, for the benefit not only of the recipient but for creating and extending dialogue in the wider world of speculative fiction.
Author and editor Jeff VanderMeer said: "Charles Tan is tireless, talented, indefatigable, a great guy, and someone who has become indispensible to our sense of the genre community. He's a wonderful choice for this initial effort."
The Fund has set up a Peerbackers Project with the hope of raising $6000, enabling two years of running. The Board, tasked with selecting future candidates, is composed of Lauren Beukes, Aliette de Bodard, Ekaterina Sedia, Cheryl Morgan and Lavie Tidhar and reflects the truly international nature of the SF world today.
For inquiries and further information please contactworldsftravelfund@gmail.com.
Let's all help spread the word and more importantly, let's all help.
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Alternative tunes from the late 90's to early 00's now playing. Tis a winding down Friday. Happy weekend, folks!
