Do you believe in ... ?

Yvette Tan, author of the horror anthology WAKING THE DEAD, has started a new segment in her blog, where she interviews people about their beliefs and encounters with the supernatural and paranormal. I am honored to be her first victim.

Click on the link below to read about the time we lived in a haunted house, the time we got caught between two warring tribes of duwende, and the time we tried to look for the 13th house on 13 Street.



From Yvette's blog : This is the first post in an experiment I am conducting where twice a month (hopefully), I post a short interview of a person whose work have a tinge or more of darkness about them (although I may branch out later), not about their work (because you can easily google those), but about their beliefs and experiences in the supernatural.

I am honored to have Budjette Tan, one of the country’s best known comic book writers and whose well-crafted works of dark fantasy I admire.

CLICK THE LINK TO READ THE COMPLETE INTERVIEW:
http://yvettetan.com/2010/01/05/interview-budjette-tan/

prayer for the new year

Disturb us, O Lord
when our dreams have come true
because we dreamed too little;
when we have arrived in safety
because we sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, O Lord,
to dare more boldly,
to venture on wider seas,
where storms shall show Thy mastery,
where losing sight of land
we shall find the stars.

In the Name of Him
who pushed back the horizons of our hopes
and invited the brave to follow him.

Amen.

update : I found this prayer years ago in a magazine (or was it a newspaper?) and clipped it out. I tried to find out the original author of it, but only found different versions of the prayer. Well, it seems like Ma-an's Google powers are more powerful and here's what she found...

It is attributed to Sir Francis Drake 1577, the year he set out to circumnavigate the world. He was the first Englishman to successfully do this. He was a pirate and a knight at the same time. Here's the complete prayer:

Disturb us, O Lord,
when we are too well pleased with ourselves
when our dreams have come true
because we have dreamed too little;
When we arrived safely
because we have sailed too close to shore.

Disturb us, O Lord,
when with the abundance of things we possess
we have lost our thirst for the waters of life;
when, having fallen in love with life,
we have ceased to dream of eternity.
And in our effort to build a new earth
we have allowed our vision of the new heaven to dim.

Disturb Us, O Lord,
to dare more boldly to venture on wider seas
where storms will show your mastery,
where losing sight of land, we shall find the stars.
We ask you, push back the horizon of our hopes,
And to push us into the future
with strength, courage, hope and love.

a very merry christmas

If they asked me I could write a book
about the way you walk and whisper and look



I could write the preface on how we met
so the world would never forget



And the simple secret of the plot
is just to tell them that I love you a lot



Then the world discovers as my book ends
how to make two lovers of friends

Alexandra vs Ketsana

This is our contribution to the Renaissance project -- the benefit project organized by Whilce Portacio, Philip Tan, and Ernest Hernandez of Hobbylink.

Whilce recently did an interview with USA TODAY about the project / event which will happen on January 9, 2010 at the Megatrade Hall:

Whilce said, "We're working on an event right now called Renaissance. It's a charity auction that's going to be held on Jan. 9 that will provide money to some of these artists who have fallen on tough times. I got the top Filipino artists together to create pieces for this auction. Their mission was to create a Filipino superhero. I told them, 'You're world-class artists, make a character that kids in the Philippines can look up to, can be inspired by.' I want these kids to see artists creating heroes that look like them and that live and interact in local places that they recognize. It's a key part of establishing that sense of history, pride and legacy. If we can do that while providing support for artists in need, then we're accomplishing two worthy goals at the same time."

More details about the event in the coming weeks!

READ THE COMPLETE INTERVIEW AT:
Filipino comic book artists unite for heroic cause
By John Geddes, USA TODAY
http://www.usatoday.com/life/comics/2009-12-14-filipino-artists-unite_N.htm

TRESE in Powerbooks.com.ph

You can now order the complete set of TRESE at
http://powerbooks.com.ph



Just click on the links below:

TRESE: MURDER ON BALETE DRIVE
http://powerbooks.com.ph/webinternal/products.asp?product_id=4204

TRESE: UNREPORTED MURDERS
http://powerbooks.com.ph/webinternal/products.asp?product_id=4770

TRESE: MASS MURDERS
http://powerbooks.com.ph/webinternal/products.asp?product_id=5049

UNDERPASS interview in Manila Bulletin

A pedestrian walkway.
A SIM card.
A beauty clinic.

These and other ordinary things become more than what they seem in “Underpass”, a full-color graphic novel recently launched by Summit Media.

“Underpass” brings together such established names in the local comic book industry like Gerry Alanguilan, David Hontiveros, Oliver Pulumbarit, Ian Sta. Maria, Budjette Tan, and Kajo Baldisimo, who come up with urban legend for a new generation in stories like “The Sim”, “Katumbas”, “Judas Kiss”, and “The Clinic”.

“In a strange and twisted way, I hope it’ll bring back some wonder and sense of the fantastic in their lives,” Tan adds. “Technology has made the stuff of science fiction a reality. It’s not fantastic anymore. It’s just common place. We don’t see haunted-looking houses these days. We are surrounded by condos and high rises. Maybe we can take such things and make them mysterious.”

READ THE COMPLETE INTERVIEW AT:
http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/233564/a-sense-fantastic

Trese 1031

Read the complete TRESE: MASQUERADE at
http://rogue.ph/features/entry/trese_masquerade/