Many have suspected that one of the Horcruxes can be found in the Muggle world. I think we may have found it while mixing a special batch of batter for this Saturday’s Harry Potter release. This may sound strange, but, it was in the form of a small cake. However, the Horcrux refuses to be revealed and has magically compelled us to make many cupcakes that look just like it.

Now we don’t know which one is the Horcrux and we need your help. Come on Saturday, at 7am, and have a cupcake. Bite into the cursed cupcake and you win a prize!

This seems to be a good year for young adult fantasy fiction crossing over to the big screen.  Aside from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, here are other books that you can expect to see in theaters soon.

I remember reading Susan Cooper’s The Dark is Rising.   Maybe I was too young or I let my imagination run away with me or Susan Cooper writes a good story, because I know it scared me and I had to put it down a few times before I could finish it.  It is the story of a boy who finds out on his eleventh birthday that he is an Old One, someone destined to protect the world from evil.  The book is part of a series of five volumes.  The movie is scheduled to come out towards the end of the year.

Being released as a Christmas movie is Philip Pullman’s The Golden Compass (known in the UK as The Northern Lights).  The story is set in a world that is like ours, but isn’t, where humans have animal companions representing their own souls.  Lyra, a young girl, becomes the bearer of a compass that can tell you the answer to any question.  The story has missing children, daring rescues, and armored polar bears.  It should make for a good movie.

Coming sooner to a theater near you is Neil Gaiman’s Stardust.   It is the story of earnest Tristan who promises to fetch his lady love a star they saw fall beyond the enchanted wall of their village.

Here’s a new website from the nice people of Read or Die.  They describe it as “…an online Filipino literary portal and community…hosts blogs, author and group sites, reading guides, reading lists, reading challenges, podcasts, news of events on literacy and literature, online book clubs and digitized publications.”

The site looks nice and neat and is packed with information.  Anyone with anything to say about the local reading culture can and should use it.  You can visit it just to read what’s new in the Philippine literary setting.  You can create your own blog to, let’s say, promote your new book.  You can join the forums and discuss books, events, writers, etc.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is just a few days away.

Make sure you’re getting the best deals on the most-awaited book of the year!

* Avail of our low price of P1,450.

* If you live in our neighborhood — and by that we mean: Acropolis, Bagumbayan, Corinthian Gardens, Eastwood City, Greenmeadows, Kapitolyo, Libis, Loyola Heights, Ortigas, St. Ignatius, Valle Verde, White Plains, etc. — we will deliver to you for FREE on July 21. Our owls will start delivery by 7am, the official release time for the book.

* If you work in a company that will order the book in bulk or if you can get your officemates to reserve the book with us, we will give you a 10% discount.

Riches in Foreclosures: Buy Your Own Home, Get Quick Cash or Create Passive Income! (Signed)
By Dinna Revilla
Foreword by Atty. Alex Lacson, 12 Little Things Every Filipino Can Do to Help Our Country

If you have read Think Rich, Pinoy!, Larry Gamboa’s practical and successful interpretation of Robert Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad, Poor Dad, you probably know Dinna Revilla. She was the mentor that Larry Gamboa spoke of. Now Ms. Revilla has come up with her own book based on her experiences in the real estate business. The book is now available at the store at the introductory price of P99.

Buying your first home? Want to make money? Want to create passive income?

You can buy and hold, opt to get quick cash, or get passive income from the properties you’ve had your eye on.

Dinna Revilla, the “Action Woman” and mentor of the Cash Flow Group tells you how you can do it.

This book documents 30 real life transactions, 17 of them are shown with the pictures of the moneymaking properties.

Discover the secretes of negotiations and deals. Get to know about the perks you can get from banks. Know how easy it is to buy foreclosed properties. This book tells you all about it.

This book will give you an insider’s perspective on the real estate business. Take pointers from someone who has done all these transactions and has been right at the heart of the market herself.

Volume 2 of The Digest of Philippine Genre Stories was delivered to our store a few days ago and with the rain in the background, I thought today was a perfect time to do some reading.

It was an afternoon well-spent. We have to congratulate Kenneth (the editor and creator of the magazine) for getting over the second issue hurdle (which can sometimes be more difficult than getting over the first one) and giving us another digest of entertaining short stories by Filipino writers.

You’ll find that some things have changed from the first, but all the good things mentioned in our first post about the digest were kept intact: author profiles, comments from the authors on the writing process, a writing contest, etc. (One thing I did miss from the first one though was the front-to-back cover art spread since this volume has the art entirely on the front cover. Not a big deal, I just thought the cover art looked very nice as a full spread.) My favorite story this time was a mystery in a Philippine fairy tale/mythological setting called “Beneath the Acacia,” by Celestine G. Trinidad. I liked it because I thought it was funny and I enjoy mysteries.

It has to be said that we also love the magazine’s “sincerity.” The magazine truly does exist to showcase local talent, to give us an affordable and entertaining read, and ultimately to contribute to the effort to get Filipinos to read. As someone who has delved into the risky, romantic, and rewarding business of bookselling, this is something I understand and appreciate.

We have a feeling that the digest is going to be around for a while now that it actually has sponsors! Don’t worry, the ad pages will not take away from your reading enjoyment. The digest is available at Booktopia for P100. It’s very handy so you can put it in your purse or fold it into your pocket and whip it out anytime you need an enjoyable read.

Scholastic, publisher of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, is posting 7 Deathly Hallows questions on their site as part of their publicity campaign.  They have just recently posted the second question and are expected to post a new one every two weeks until a few weeks before the release on July 21.

Here are the questions so far:

1. Who will live, who will die?

Harry Potter
Lord Voldemort
Snape
Ginny
Ron
Hermione
Neville
Hagrid
Draco Malfoy
Someone Else/Other

2. Is Snape good or evil?

Good and still a spy for the Order of the Phoenix
Good but in too deep with Voldemort
Evil and has always been a spy for Voldemort
Evil but only because Voldemort is back

We will be posting the questions as they come.  In the meantime, check out these bookmarks; there should be one for every question.  (The files are in PDF format and are about 1Mb each.)
Question 1 bookmark
Question 2 bookmark

Adarna House, in partnership with the Filipinas Heritage Library, is now accepting entries for the 6th Barlaya Writing for Young Adults Workshop.  The workshop will be held on September 6 and 7, 2007 and only ten fellows shall be chosen on the basis of their literary work.

Guidelines for prospective Barlaya fellows:

1. The workshop is open to all Filipino citizens.
2. All submissions must consist of a) 2 sample chapters (not more than 20 pages); b) a story synopsis (not more than 3 pages in length) that includes details regarding the plot, characters, and any special twists the story might have; and, c) a 1-page bio-data of the author.
3. Submissions may be in Filipino or English.
4. All submissions must target readers within the age range of 12-18 years old.
5. All submissions should be typewritten on short bond paper, double-spaced.
6. All submissions must be original and unpublished. If the entry has won an award, please indicate this on the first page of the entry.
7. Four (4) copies of each entry should be submitted, enclosed in 1 long, brown envelope. The envelope should be labeled with the author’s name as well the phrase, “Submission for the 6th Barlaya Writing for Young Adults Workshop.”
8. Prospective fellows may send in more than one (1) entry.
9. All entries must be sent through snail mail or parcel service to Adarna House, 2nd Floor, FSS Building, 20 Scout Tuason St. corner Scout Castor St., Quezon City.
10. All entries must be received by Adarna House no later than 5:00 p.m., on July 2, 2007.

Successful fellows shall be notified by August 17, 2007. Submissions that are not chosen for the workshop, must be claimed no later than September 21, 2007, from Adarna House, after which they will no longer be the responsibility of the organizers.

For inquiries, please call 3723548 loc 110 or e-mail events at adarna.com.ph.

Hooray! Got this in our mailbox this week and we’re all excited over it. We imagine ourselves sitting quietly and doing our job, trying to be the best bookstore website we could be, and somehow someone notices. It feels great. Thanks to DigitalFilipino.com and their sponsors for promoting the use and development of e-commerce in the Philippines.

Dear Sir/Madam,

The DigitalFilipino.com Web Awards just concluded its final judging and your site, Booktopia, was selected as winner in the Books category.

In this regard, please join us in our awards ceremony…

The agenda and details of the award can be found at http://digitalfilipinowebawards.blogspot.com

The DigitalFilipino.com Web Awards in collaboration with the APEC Digital Opportunity (ADOC) Award program aims to advocate the use of Internet and e-Commerce for business development, through the identification, promotion, and highlighting of best e-Commerce practices from various websites in the Philippines.

Websites in thirty-one (31) categories were reviewed and judged for their ability to create a noticeable presence on the Internet — their ability to be seen and heard among all the noise and clutter of the Net. Commercial websites were also reviewed for their ability to conduct e-commerce, in simple yet professional manner.

All entries were nominated by the public from December 2006 to February 2007 and were judged by members of the DigitalFilipino.com Club. Details about the club can be found at http://www.e-commercephilippines.com

All winners will receive a trophy, Google AdWords voucher, special prizes, and a slot in a three-day advanced e-commerce training at the ADOC Center in Quezon City this May 2007.

From the 31 winners, there will be three ADOC Award winners too where the first placer will be able to represent the Philippines in the ADOC Week on July 24 to 27 in Taiwan.

The ADOC project aims to facilitate the bridging of the digital divide within the APEC community through training and trading. It is an independent, not-for-profit program funded by Chinese Taipei. The project was initiated in 2004, and to date, seven APEC economies are actively participating in the project. These are Chile, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.

Through this project, we hope to increase the awareness and promotion of outstanding websites and to get a better understanding of the benefits of the Internet, as well as the various ways in which e-Commerce can play a vital part in business development.

Thank you.

Respectfully yours,
Janette Toral
DigitalFilipino.com

(1) Good news for Potter fans. First, released late last month was the front and back cover art by Mary GrandPré for the American edition of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. View the full cover art here. Beautiful, isn’t it?

(2) Here’s another piece of good news. The price of the seventh book has gone down. We’re not saying anything yet this time until we’re absolutely sure, but we are sure that you will be happy with the new pricing scheme. We are, still, of course, accepting reservations.

(3) And the final bit of good news. Just like the last time, if you live or work in our neighborhood — we mean Eastwood City, Libis, Bagumbayan, Loyola, Acropolis, White Plains, Valle Verde, Greenmeadows, St. Ignatius, Blue Ridge, Kapitolyo, etc. – you can have your book delivered to you for free by Owl Post on July 21, hopefully while you’re having breakfast, but definitely before you sit down to lunch. You’ll have to reserve the book to avail of this offer.