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This is the blog of Ian Rosales Casocot. Filipino writer. Sometime academic. Former backpacker. Twink bait. Hamster lover.

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Tuesday, April 11, 2006

entry arrow9:01 AM | Books for the Summer and Small Notes on Audacity

Sunday Inquirer Magazine gives its annual rundown of things to read for the summer. Not necessarily all good reviews, but I like what Ruey De Vera has to say about the stories in Dean's Philippine Speculative Fiction anthology:

A welcome visitation, this collection of short stories from Filipino writers delves exclusively in the realm of fantasy and science fiction, yet the pieces in Philippine Speculative Fiction may have evolved into a different breed somewhere in between, which is a good thing. From Ian Rosales Casocot's audacious investigation of Jose Rizal to J. Pocholo Martin B. Goitia's vision of the Filipino's future in the being Magenta, the stories here lace the future with the flavor of our past. New and old fictionists like Angelo R. Lacuesta, Gabriela Lee and Francezca C. Kwe lend their vibrant voices to this project. "To find the fantastic, we must create the fantastic," Alfar writes in his introduction to this fantastic find.

Audacious is good, right?

But here's Penny Azarcon de la Cruz's take on Ernie Yee's Out of Doors:

Think "Brokeback Mountain," except that in place of Wyoming cowboys, Wendell and Adrian are childhood friends and later, partners in an architectural firm. All about how they discovered and finally acknowledged their tentative feelings for each other, how Adrian found a succession of lovers, and the many ways one can describe male tumescence and gay lust. Really now; I'd like to meet these characters who can be unnaturally articulate about their sex life even to first-time acquaintances. Like most porn movies, the novel gets repetitive after the initial encounters and you actually feel a headache coming on. Not tonight, please.

Ouch.

UPDATE: I'm still thinking about the last note, about Ernie's book. Troubled, not just because Ernie's a friend...but more so because -- for an issue supposedly about book recommendations -- is the negative review necessary? Oh well.

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