(NOTE: Sorry about not posting yesterday but I was without ‘net access. The tech guys later told me a rat had gnawed through cable a few streets away near one of their junction boxes. Technology ain’t infallible!)

It was through SF Signal that I discovered the Philippine Speculative Fiction Sampler. I contacted one of the co-editors, Charles Tan, to ask questions for a Broad article I’m writing, but his answers were so interesting, I thought I’d print the interview in its entirety.

Kaz: In the Introduction to Philippine Speculative Fiction Sampler, an anthology of speculative fiction tales co-edited by you and Mia Tijam, you mention a boom in this particular genre category. You point to the appearance of publications focusing on Filipino s-f as well as the establishment of the Philippine Graphic/Fiction Awards. Why now? Do you think that the country has reached a particular level of maturity and is thus able to expand its horizons? Or perhaps it’s a reflection of the economy or the mood of the nation? What are your thoughts?

Charles Tan: I don’t think it was inevitable but a product of coincidence and passion of the people involved. For example, both Dean Francis Alfar (Philippine Speculative Fiction Vol. 1~3) and Kenneth Yu (The Digest of Philippine Genre Stories http://philippinegenrestories.blogspot.com) wanted to create a publication that published spec fic stories since no one else was doing it. Perhaps the coincidence there is that their timing was close to each other (late 2005). Story Philippines, on the other hand, is a magazine that was simply looking for fiction stories to print. It just so happened that many of the stories that were submitted and got accepted could be classified as speculative fiction. As for the Philippine Graphic/Fiction Awards, that was honestly a stroke of luck. One of our big bookstore chains, Fully Booked, brought Neil Gaiman to the Philippines for a book signing. Suffice to say, it was a hit and Gaiman was so impressed with the reception and the culture that he decided to sponsor the Graphic/Fiction Awards.

Of course those people can’t take all the credit. Lurking in the background is the rising popularity of pulp horror books (perhaps the most popular fiction genre next to romance novels). And while not applicable to fiction, it was also the boom of fantasy soap operas (“fantaserye”) thanks to the popularity of Lord of the Rings movies as well as the fantasy soap operas being produced in Korea (which eventually gets imported here).

That’s also not to say that fantasy and science fiction were always absent in Philippine literature. One of our literary awards, the Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards, had a “futuristic fiction” category while the general categories (short fiction, novel) had texts that had elements of magic-realism.

K: What is the attitude of the average Filipino to speculative fiction and their writers? In Malaysia, the prevailing religion is Islam and fiction writing is seen with a jaundiced eye, as something wasteful. How is it perceived in your country, which is strongly Roman Catholic? I notice a lot of that faith weaving its way through the sampler’s stories.

CT: Honestly, I don’t think much of the populace is aware of it. I mean one of the most popular genres here are the romance novels which is consumed by the masses. Their print runs tends to be in the tens of thousands. What follows suit is the horror genre or ghost stories genre which, if they’re lucky, manages to sell around ten thousand copies. The rest of Philippine literature, unless you’re required reading for school, will usually just have a print run of a thousand or two copies (if not less). Unfortunately, speculative fiction falls into that category so in a country plagued with overpopulation, in the long run, not a lot of Filipinos are probably aware of it.

Sure, some of the critics can be discouraging of speculative fiction (because of their focus on “social relevance” and “realism”) but that’s because they’re critics, not due to religion.

I also want to add that while local fiction isn’t being widely read in the country, a lot of international speculative fiction books such as Harry Potter, The Chronicles of Narnia, and Twilight are popular here. Then
there’s the treasure trove of fanfics out there on the Internet. So take what you will from that.

K: How about the other genres? Fantasy and horror? Is there much of a market for that kind of fiction in the Philippines today?

CT: In film and TV, fantasy is one of the hot items right now. As for fiction, horror is probably the closest thing speculative fiction has as a best-seller.

As for whether there’s a market, that’s a tricky thing. Again, if we’re talking about international books, sure. There’s never a day when I drop by the bookstore and somebody isn’t inquiring about Stephenie Meyer’s books. Local speculative fiction, on the other hand, seems to be an uphill struggle in terms of selling and marketing it. Right now Philippine speculative fiction is probably more appreciated by people outside the country than those in it.

K: In the West, there are a number of tertiary learning institutions that have courses that dissect and examine genre fiction. Is it the same in the Philippines? Is it moving that way?

CT: There have been a class or two in select schools and universities but for the most part, not really. Is it moving that way? I hope so, one day, but as of now, no, I can’t honestly claim that’s the case.

K: What’s the gender balance like for s-f? Where are the stories coming from?

CT: I think the gender balance is rich when it comes to Philippine speculative fiction. A lot of women as well as men are submitting stories.

Where we do have issues is where the stories are coming from. The Philippines, aside from being an archipelago, is home to several hundred languages and dialects. The ones most represented are those in English and Filipino. For obvious reasons, the only ones you’re hearing about are the former, and that also limits the geography of where the stories are coming from. For the most part, it’s centered in Metro Manila, although we also have Ian Rosales Casocot who’s based in Dumaguete (one of the southern islands) and is running a critiquing group there.

I’m sure there are a lot of speculative fiction stories being written in Filipino and other native languages, they’re just not being circulated or publishers are hesitant to publish them. Publishing isn’t exactly the most
profitable of businesses here.

K: Is there a defining trait, or a set of defining traits, you see as characteristics of Asian, or Filipino, s-f? In reading through the Sampler, I have noticed a decided slant towards relationships and human dynamics over hardware. In fact, the level of technology described in the stories is quite basic, while the concepts themselves are advanced. Would you agree?

CT: For the most part, I think Filipinos tend to have a magic-realism style, even before Gabriel Garcia Marquez became popular. There also seems to be a hesitation to tackle sci-fi stories (although there are obviously sci-fi stories being written). Majority in my opinion will tend to be fantasy in nature and as I mentioned in the previous answers, horror is a popular market.

As for the character-centric stories, I think that’s more reflective of the preferences of me and my co-editor, Mia Tijam, rather than reflective of Philippine speculative fiction in general.

K: Thank you for using the term “magic-realism”. In the West, “speculative fiction” usually involves some kind of technology at its core. That is, when one uses the term “speculative fiction”, there is an assumption of new technologies or a future landscape. In the Sampler, I noticed what I suppose you described as “magic-realism” (rather than what I think of as “speculative fiction”), where there’s more of a blurring between technology and fantasy. An almost mythic take, if you will, on concepts such as bioengineering, and even a blurring into horror. Now, you say that Filipinos seem to veer towards this style over more nuts ‘n’ bolts stories. Do you have any thoughts on why this should be?

CT: Oh, that’s where I beg to differ. When I use the term speculative fiction — and many other people as well, at least based on the wikipedia definition of speculative fiction — the term encompasses various genres which includes fantasy as well as science fiction and horror. I don’t think speculative fiction is exclusively technological. It could easily refer to Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings. One reason I’ve picked up on the term in the first place because “fantasy and science fiction” (or vice versa) is a lot longer to type.

As to why Filipinos veer towards a style of writing that’s more akin to magic-realism, I leave that for scholars to ponder. But speaking from an anthropological point of view, the Philippines isn’t so different from many
of the Latin American countries in which magic realism developed. We both have a history of colonization (and in the case of Colombia where Gabriel Garcia Marques hails from, the same colonizer, Spain). We’re also relatively near to the equator and sport a tropical climate. Roman Catholicism is also a dominant religion in both areas, while at the same time our peoples have a rich and vibrant belief in native mythology (Filipinos believe in magic talismans, local monsters, etc.). There’s a lot of similarities between us and I don’t know whether geography, culture, or a combination of both (and perhaps some unseen variable) that gives rise to it.

K: What’s next for you now that the Sampler is available online? What projects are you working on?

CT: I’m the type of person that doesn’t publicize his projects until they’re out. There’s a lot of things that could go wrong and you end up not having a product to show for.

That said, perhaps my most active project right now is my blog. There’s book reviews on Mondays, interviews with various personalities in the publishing industry on Tuesdays, feature articles and essays on Wednesdays, etc.

I also contribute to various other speculative fiction websites including some interviews at the Nebula Awards site, short Q&A’s with the nominees for the Shirley Jackson Awards Blog (I hope they get me again next year), and I’m a regular contributor to SFF Audio and Comics Village. When it comes to my own fiction writing, one of my short stories is going to see print in a local publication, The Digest of Philippine Genre Stories later this year and another story next year in Philippine Speculative Fiction Vol. 4.

Anything beyond that, people are free to contact me and submit proposals (and hopefully hire me!).