One of the joys of bookselling is being able to meet the authors that you support. We get to do this when we attend trade fairs abroad and then just recently when we attended the launch of Dean Francis Alfar’s Philippine Speculative Fiction, Volume 2.

The launch took place at a popular cafe last Sunday. Dean Alfar introduced the book by telling us what speculative fiction is and his experience of coming up with another edition of what proved to be a successful first venture last year. For this volume, the editor received more than one hundred short story submissions which he had to trim down to nineteen.

Most of the contributing authors were present and were introduced to us. It was a good mix of men and women, new and old writers. Some of the writers were only in their teens! Thank you to the authors who signed our copy of the book.
Here are some pictures from the launch:

Dean Alfar, author and editor.

Madeline Rae Ong, author, is a college student.

Russell Stanley Q. Geronimo, also a college student, reading an excerpt from his story.

Nikki Alfar, author.

Joseph F. Nacino, author.

Alexander Marcos Osias, author.

Vincent Michael Simblulan, author.

A picture of the authors present at the launch.

Marivic, one of our booksellers, has taken on the task of completing a 1,000 piece puzzle called “Shakespearean Fantasy.” The design is a painting by artist James C. Christensen taken from the children’s book Voyage of the Basset. It is made up of characters from thirty of William Shakespeare’s plays. We plan on framing it when completed and customers can try to identify the characters and scenes.

On the left is the current state of the puzzle and on the right is the goal. We’ll try to take clearer pictures as we follow progress on this task.

These past few days have been hectic for us. We held a book fair in Subic and received a new shipment of books. Here is a list of some titles that have just been unpacked. We’ll be highlighting most of them in the next few days but we know some of you like knowing right away what’s new at the store.

• Housekeeping Vs. the Dirt by Nick Hornby
• U2 by U2 by Bono (EDT), Neil McCormick (EDT)

• End of Faith: Religion, Terror, And the Future of Reason by Sam Harris
• Hegemony or Survival: America’s Quest for Global Dominance by Noam Chomsky

• Digital Photography Book: The Step-by-step Secrets for How to Make Your Photos Look Like the Pros by Scott Kelby
• Fat Smash Diet: The Last Diet You’ll Ever Need by Ian K. Smith
• Julie and Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously by Julie Powell
• Rachael Ray 2, 4, 6, 8: 30-Minute Meals for Couples or Crowds by Rachael Ray
• Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them by Francine Prose
• What to Expect When You’re Expecting Pregnancy Organizer

• Emotions Revealed: Recognizing Faces and Feelings to Improve Communication and Emotional Life by Paul Ekman
• Telling Lies: Clues to Deceit in the Marketplace, Politics, and Marriage by Paul Ekman

• The Bookshop by Penelope Fitzgerald
• The Devil and Miss Prym: A Novel of Temptation by Paulo Coelho
• Dirty Job by Christopher Moore
• Still Another Day by Pablo Neruda
• Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See
• To Kill a Mockingbird: The 40th Anniversary Edition by Harper Lee
• World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks

• Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman: Twenty-four Stories by Haruki Murakami
• Hard-Boiled Wonderland by Haruki Murakami
• Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami

• The Beggar, The Thief and the Dogs, Autumn Quail by Naguib Mahfouz
• The Cairo Trilogy: Palace Walk, Palace of Desire, Sugar Street by Naguib Mahfouz
• Children of the Alley by Naguib Mahfouz
• The Harafish by Naguib Mahfouz
• Midaq Alley by Naguib Mahfouz

For children and young adults:

• All Alone in the Universe by Lynne Rae Perkins
• Cathy’s Book: If Found Call 650-266-8233 by Sean Stewart, Jordan Weisman
• Big Book of Children’s Reading Lists: 100 Great, Ready-to-use Book Lists for Educators, Librarians, Parents, And Children by Nancy J. Keane

Thank you to the faculty, library, parents, and students of Brent International School Subic for welcoming us again this year. The school holds an annual Halloween parade where students are dressed up as their favorite literary characters. During the parade each student holds the book where his or her character is from. It’s a great way to encourage children to read and to send the message across that reading is important!