call for legends -- reloaded, refreshed, reinvented!

Geesh, am tired!

Having a hard time concentrating with work in the office because eyelids threatening to close. And my mind is wandering, much like that state you're in just before you finally fold into the arms of the Sandman.

In any case, my fatigue and how I am not seriously able to counter it during the work week is not what this quickie post is all about.

Over at Rocket Kapre, editor Paolo Chikiamco has called for submissions to an anthology for re-imagined Filipino folk legends or alamat. For a backgrounder, visit his post about here. We're talking about Lam-Ang, Maria Makiling, Bernardo Carpio and yes, probably Juan Tamad here, folks, when we talk of Filipino legends. But let's give it a spin and put something fresh in our own legends.

Hope the big tobacco over at RK doesn't mind if I re-post the guidelines here in full:

ALTERNATIVE ALAMAT ANTHOLOGY by Rocket Kapre

Story Guidelines:

I’m looking for stories which have the following characteristics:

* The story should make use of characters, events, and/or artifacts from Philippine myths or legends
* The element taken from myth/legend must be integral to the story. Even if your protagonist owns Bantugan’s sword, if he/she never uses it, then that doesn’t count.
* The myth/legend from which the element is taken must be integral to the story. Even if your protagonist wields Bantugan’s sword, if that history doesn’t come into play (in other words, if you just treat it as a generic magic sword), then that doesn’t count.
* While we’re drawing from myth/legend, I want stories written with a modern sensibility. Note I don’t mean the stories need to be set in modern times–what I mean is that I want stories that the modern reader can relate to and enjoy.
* Because part of the mission of this anthology is to raise the reader’s awareness of our myths and legends, you need to be able to point me to your source material: the name of the myth/legend, the book/site where you found it etc. If it’s simply part of the oral tradition of your area, let me know and we’ll see if we can transcribe it and put it online somewhere, because it’s important that readers have the opportunity to read the source material.

What I’m Not Looking For:

* Stories that involve generic creatures of folklore like aswangs, tiyanaks, dwende, mananggal etc. By generic, I mean that using a fairy in your story doesn’t make it eligible per se, but if you’re using the specific fairy, say the one from the legend of The Boy Who Became a Wild Hog (and that history plays a part in the story, as I mentioned above), that’s an eligible story.
* Stories that are straight re-tellings of myths and legends.
* Stories with illustrations, fancy fonts, hyperlinking, or fancy formatting. Stories with those elements can be awesome and cutting-edge, but I want to try distributing the anthology as widely as possible, and that means minimizing formatting issues from the get-go.
* Stories which use elements from urban/modern legends – stick with the pre-hispanic tales, or stuff like the metrical romances of the Spanish Era like Bernardo Carpio.

Genre: Speculative Fiction. The speculative elements must be evident.

Length: 3,000 – 7,000 words.

Language: English.

Who May Submit: Filipino authors, whether residing in the Philippines or abroad. Age is immaterial, but if you’re a minor you’ll need parental consent for the contract.

Reading Period: June 1, 2010 – August 30, 2010. Plenty of time to hit the books and find that perfect, obscure myth just begging to be put back in the limelight.

Rights: We ask for first world English electronic rights (text and audio), and first print anthology rights.

Reprints: Not accepted, unless solicited.

Multiple Submissions: Not accepted, unless we’ve already rejected a prior story and have asked for another.

Simultaneous Submissions: Not accepted.

Compensation: PHP600.00 + a copy of the anthology when we release the book the first time, either as an ebook or as print. If /when release it a second time (as an ebook if it was initially print, or vice versa), we’ll add another PHP400.00 and a copy of the new version of the anthology.

FORMAT GUIDELINES

Electronic submissions only, attached to an email. Send an email with a subject that reads “Alternative Alamat: [Title of Your Story]” to rocketkapre[at]g m a i l . c o m

Submissions must be in Rich Text Format (.rtf) or Doc (.doc) format and attached to the email.

Please include a brief, 300 word-or-less, bio.

* * * *

It looks like I've missed a lot by not attending the Summer Komikon 2010. Just by ogling at the pictures from various blogsites that featured the event, it looked like fun. And there were lots of goodies to buy. Oh well, there's always the 6th Annual Komikon coming this November.