Y-Fi is a forum on new media for college students (and young professionals) that is happening this Saturday, January 26. According to Mico Halili, organizer of Y-Fi: The 2008 Youth Summit on New Media, he strongly believes that what is called new media — the internet, blogs, MySpace, YouTube, e-Commerce, SMS, 3G, etc. — will have an impact on how the youth will achieve success in the future. Y-Fi is designed to illustrate the current and potential power of new media in various fields.

It may seem strange to you that a bookstore should support such an event. No matter how “old media” we may seem, we cannot deny that the internet has a very big role in how we do business. You are actually reading this post in our blog or through the newsletter which we e-mailed to you. The internet helps us reach our customers and gives us access to important information which, if done the usual way, would just take too long. Soon, it will also help us get our books to you.

To effectively stress the impact of new media on the present and future of arts and commerce, Y-Fi has invited “rock-stars of new media” as guest speakers. They are personalities from advertising, journalism, music, filmmaking and broadcasting who will share their valuable experiences and insights with participants.

Speakers for the event are:
Quark Henares - Filmmaker
Nino Avenido - Musician, Bassist for The Greyhoundz and The Out of Body Special
Malou Mangahas - Editor-in-Chief, GMANews.TV
Dennis Leung - Inquirer Libre

Here are the details for Y-Fi:
Date: Saturday, January 26, 2008
Time: 1:30-5:30pm
Venue: iAcademy, 3/F Philfirst Building, 6764 Ayala Avenue, Makati

For more information, please get in touch with Trina Alejo at 09228989057 or e-mail yfi.registration@gmail.com

El Ateneo (taken from argentinastravel.com)

I read an article recently about the most beautiful bookstores in the world. On top of that list is Boekhandel Selexyz Dominicanen in Maastricht, which is a bookstore inside what used to be a Dominican Church. View some pictures here.

Another bookstore is the El Ateneo in Buenos Aires, a bookstore in what used to be a theater. Pictures and a description here.

Both really, truly are beautiful settings for books. Ah, to be a bookstore that looked like that.  If you have a grand old church or theater you can spare, please let us know.

British newspaper, The Times, released their list of the 50 greatest British writers after the war.  Read more here.

J.K. Rowling will be the commencement speaker at Harvard University this year.
Read more here.
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Christopher Paolini’s third book in his Inheritance series, “Brisingr”, will follow in the footsteps of the Harry Potter books and have a midnight release on September 20 this year.
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The website Smart Bitches Who Love Trashy Books has exposed numerous similarities between romance novels by popular romance writer Cassie Edwards and works by other authors.
Read more here.
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In the comicbook world, a bizarre twist in the story of Spider-man and Mary Jane Watson. The two decided to split up to save the life of comatose Aunt May with the help of Mephisto. This reader has not read the current storyline and does not yet know what purpose it serves to erase the memory of their marriage or why two characters who are in love would decide to strike a deal like that with a very evil character to save the life of a woman who has already lived a very long and full life. It does make life easier for the comicbook writers because, according to the editors, an unmarried and youthful Spidey was a better hero for them to write about. Stan Lee, the creator of Spider-man, thinks it is a storyline that is creative and will generate a lot of interest.

To Christine V. who was looking for this book — The e-mail we sent you bounced back.  Please get in touch with us with your correct e-mail address.  Thank you!

I bought my copy of the Special Christmas Issue of PGS today. (Yes, booksellers do buy from themselves.) I think it is easy to read (and like) Christmas stories, maybe because they are about a day that is familiar and memorable to most of us. I wonder if it was also easier for the writers to write Christmas stories given that there is a set premise and situation to work with.

My favorite from this issue was The Magic Christmas Box by MRR Arcega. What made MRR Arcega’s story the best for me was that it had just the right Christmas-sy feel to it. It had unfortunate circumstances, a journey of discovery, wishes granted, a happy coincidence, and a sweet ending. I’m just one of those people who thinks that at the end of a Christmas story, the reader should be smiling.

An excerpt:

I also enjoyed Dominique Cimafranca’s Twilight of the Magi which stars the Three Wise Men of the Nativity story as three magical wise men. Of course, one of my favorite genre stories for the holidays is also a story of the magi — a story by prolific mystery writer Edward D. Hoch which you can find online here.

Congratulations to Kenneth for publishing 21 stories through PGS in 2007. He wanted to encourage Filipinos to read more and write more and he actually did something about it. We hope to see more stories from PGS in 2008! Let’s make sure PGS continues to give us stories by our local authors. PGS:Special Christmas Issue is now available at the store.

Merry Christmas to everyone!

Don’t miss our 2007 year-end sale, ongoing until January 15.

ALL books (old and new, big and small) are on sale. New arrivals at 10% off and the rest at 20% off. We have a special sale on books in our Children’s Books shelf and our big General Fiction shelf (there is a small one) — Buy ONE and get the regular 20% discount, buy TWO and get 25% off, buy THREE or MORE and get 40% off.

With our last shipment came a book I ordered for myself called The Queen’s Awards, 1948, a collection of award-winning stories from Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine. I wanted this particular book from that particular year for one particular story, Robert Arthur’s “The Adventure of the Single Footprint.”

I had been looking for it ever since I read up on Robert Arthur recently from various websites. I knew him from my elementary days when I started reading the detective series Alfred Hitchcock and The Three Investigators. With all due respect, after discovering The Three Investigators, I had to stop reading Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys (but, of course, I never stopped being a fan). It almost felt like taking the training wheels off of your bicycle. Jupiter, Pete, and Bob were more interesting characters and their mysteries more engaging and, if I may say, more mysterious. I thought back then, These were real detectives! They had their own business cards at the very least. Alfred Hitchcock himself introduced every book! (Many of the “Alfred Hitchcock presents…” books were actually ghostwritten by Robert Arthur.)

Robert Arthur created The Three Investigators and wrote the first how many books. I bought and borrowed every one I could find. Unfortunately, the books are out of print. They were brought back a few years ago, but Alfred Hitchcock wasn’t part of the story anymore. I hear though that the books are still big in Germany and new stories are still being written and released there. I hear also that a The Three Investigators movie is coming out next year but I do not think it is going to be released here.

For fans who are reading this. These are some of the sites I visited:
http://www.threeinvestigators.net/
http://www.threeinvestigatorsbooks.com/RobertArthurQuotes.html
http://www.elizabetharthur.org/bio/rarthur.html
(The photo of Robert Arthur above was taken from his daughter’s website, elizabetharthur.org)

Also, if you like mysteries and are interested in reading award-winning stories from Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine from some sixty years ago, let me know. I would be glad to share. By the way, according to the introduction to his award-winning story, Robert Arthur was born on Corregidor Island, Philippines in 1909. Imagine that.

We now have both large and pocket-sized Moleskine notebooks in every variety: cahiers, reporter notebooks, sketchbooks, ruled, plain, or squared. Large notebooks are priced at only P850.