Our #StrangeLit Game is Strong!

October 4, 2015 No Comments

They are here! Forty-one paranormal/urban fantasy pieces from forty-one Filipino authors, bundled into four collections–Killer Seasons, Darkest Dreams, Fateful Turns, and Incredible Truths–are now available on Buqo for only P90/$1.99 each! I’ve yet to purchase all the bundles (I bought Killer Seasons the other day to check the formatting and everything, and I’m not even done yet), but please, please, please help indie Filipino writers get their works read and noticed. With this awesome introductory price, I’m pretty sure you won’t get shortchanged!

Bundle 1: #KillerSeasons

A werewolf chef, a cursed family, a spell to forget. You’ll meet these and more in the ten stories of the KILLER SEASONS installment of #StrangeLit, featuring:

Resto Rescue by Maita Rue
The Last Night of Her Wake by Chrissie Peria
House of Silver: A Cursebreaker Novel by C.P. Perez
The Myth Menagerie by Lana Garcia
Vengeance: The Awakening by Arlene Manocot
At The Wishing Well by Amae Dechavez
Intersection by Den Lim
Disappearing Act by Roselle De Guzman
The “Forget You” Brew by Tara Frejas
Aurelia by Japonicus

CLICK HERE TO BUY THE BUNDLE.

Follow #KillerSeasons on Facebook and get to know more about the ten stories in this collection! Feel free to interact with us, authors, too! ^_^ We might have a werewolf in our midst, but promise . . . we won’t bite! 😛

My novella, The “Forget You” Brew is part of Killer Seasons. Here’s a quick look:

GIVEAWAY ALERT!!!

Shall I make this fun? If you’ve already bought the Killer Seasons bundle and read The “Forget You” Brew, follow me on Twitter (@tarafrejas) and I shall be posting giveaways starting tomorrow, October 5th. Metro Manila only–so sorry to those who are living somewhere else, but I can’t do overseas giveaways for now.

I’m preparing little gifts as giveaways and will be posting photos of them on Twitter very soon. JOIN JOIN JOIN! ^_^ (I might really go overboard with this because I won’t be at the launch, so . . . might as well create some noise before then, right?)

Click the Read More button for introductions to the other three bundles, as well as buy links.

Personal, The Writing Community

When The Voices In Your Head Escape (AKA My First #RomanceClass Experience)

October 3, 2015 No Comments

I forgot when exactly it was that Mina tagged me in a #romanceclass discussion thread on Facebook, saying because of certain things she knows about me, she’s inviting me to tag along to this little gathering. Of course I would have loved to join them, but I was new to the group and didn’t know the “rules” yet, if there were any, so getting that little invite made me happy. I asked Mina what those things were, and she gave me only one hint:

Rak of Aegis

Oh she got me. She got me good. 😛

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Personal, The Writing Community

Them MIBF Shenanigans

September 23, 2015 No Comments

I attended the MIBF twice this year; first on Thursday (9/17), and then on Sunday (9/20). It wasn't a surprise how SMX was crowded during the weekend, what with a cosplay event happening simultaneously on the second floor. — I attended the MIBF twice this year; first on Thursday (9/17), and then on Sunday (9/20). It wasn’t a surprise how SMX was crowded during the weekend, what with a cosplay event happening simultaneously on the second floor.

MIBF, or the Manila International Book Fair, is the country’s biggest and longest running book fair that usually happens in mid-September. As per usual, I am a relative n00b to this, and only attended it for the first time in 2013. A sort-of mistake, because I didn’t bring a lot of moolah with me so I failed buying more books. (Then again, that might have been a very wise move.) I did come home with three new books and I was happy and content with them. If I have read all three is another matter altogether.

This year, I got to attend the 36th MIBF as an author. No, really. I had to sit down and read those words from a friend’s Facebook post and realized it was true for me too, and the feeling is unbelievable. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t get a book signing session or people following me around asking to take pictures. I didn’t even actually sell books in the traditional sense, nor did I participate in any talk or seminar about writing. Nope. None of that . . . BUT!!! those are my future goals.

So what did I do, you ask? Well, I . . .

Reacquainted myself with Filipino publications, especially those outside my genre, by walking through the different booths and browsing their selections.
Donated a couple of old books for a library and exchanged them for #BuqoYA bundles I haven’t read yet.
- SIDENOTE: A total of 489 books (novels, textbooks, even comic books) were donated. These books will be distributed to different libraries in Mariveles and Binondo.
Hung out at the Buqo booth for long stretches of time, which was really convenient because all the walking can really take its toll on you, especially when you’re lugging a bag of books.
Bought new books by fellow Filipina writers and got some of them signed too! (Thank you Agay, Mina, and Edith!) It was just too bad I wasn’t there when Kate Evangelista signed her books!)
Met other Buqo workshoppers and got to take pictures and chat with them, if only for a little while.
“Gave away” freebies to any book donors who chose the Buqo bundle I belong to (#StrangeLit #KillerSeasons REPRESENT!)
Gave away promo codes to my book Paper Planes Back Home too, in the form of cute little bookmarks.
Had lively, oftentimes non-sequitur chats with author friends, new or otherwise. (We have set goals, people. Just watch out for them! :P)

Personal

A Quarter of Myself

September 23, 2015 No Comments

Disclaimer: This post exists because a certain Filpina author named Caryn P. Santi tagged me over at Wattpad. 😛 I’m going to try my best to make this worth your while. <3

First, some ground rules.

Once you’ve been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. (T: This is a looooong note.)

At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. (T: Dayum. That’s going to be difficult.) You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it means I want to know more about you.

Let’s begin.

1. I have a pet bunny named Max. Max Rusca.

There’s a Heneral Luna reference there somewhere. If you haven’t seen the movie, do it. Anyway, this is Max.

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He’s been with us for six months now, and we initially thought he was a girl until his balls dropped, freaking us out. I have never had a bunny before (I used to have dogs, adorable askals) so having him as a pet is an entirely new experience for me. Max is the reason why I thought of the initial concept for my #StrangeLit novella, even if it morphed into an entirely different thing altogether. He’s a sweetheart, and likes getting cuddles.

2. In high school, I had three orgs.

I was an official member of the dance club, and an honorary member of drama and glee. Before graduating, I penned a stage play for the high school drama club and got to help direct its very first run during my freshman year in college. After that, I also got to direct the glee club on their yearly concerts. Fun times. <3

3. Sometimes I got into trouble for writing fiction . . .

. . . because I would do it in the middle of class. Geometry, for example. Kids, don’t try this at school. Unless you’re really, really good at Mathematics. I failed Geom on one quarter in junior year.

4. My favorite author is Mitch Albom.

And one of the things I’d like crossed out of my bucket list is to meet him in person and give him a copy of my book, Paper Planes Back Home, because in some way or other, he inspired me to write and finish it.

5. DBSK/Cassiopeia will always be my fandom.

Got hooked on them in 2006, three years after their KPop debut. Wrote fanfiction (they call it real-person fiction now, I found out) and about them. Collected their albums, posters, magazines, etc. Broke my heart when they disbanded, lost some friends over it too. Which side did I take? Yunho and Changmin’s. They’re my top 1 and 2.

And I will refuse to get into any more discussions about how they disbanded and why I stuck with the leader and the magnae because I don’t think I’ll ever be over it.

Personal, Writing

My Paper Planes are touring!

September 11, 2015 No Comments

One year ago, I never would have though blog tours were a thing, but now I’m having my very own blog tour! How cool is that?

The Bookish Diaries is hosting a blog tour for my debut novel Paper Planes Back Home, and it is happening on October 24-30, 2015! Sign-ups are now open, and I’d like to humbly invite you to come join the tour by clicking THIS LINK. I am still putting together something wonderful and worthwhile as giveaways to lucky participants and bloggers who will be joining in, so maybe we can announce something because the actual tour commences.

Hope you can give this ride a try, and thank you very much in advance! <3

Paper Planes Back Home is a new adult urban fantasy with a dash of contemporary romance set in New York City. It tells the story of two coma patients who find themselves in some sort of limbo where paper planes are currency for how much you are loved and remembered by people “back home.”

Available on Amazon, Smashwords, and Buqo.