Face Shield Nation: COVID in the Philippines Seen Through Honest Yet Hopeful Eyes

“We overestimate our capacity to remember even as we underestimate our capacity to forget… if erasure is the default mode of engagement with the past, then we must become active agents of the labor of remembrance.” Gideon Lasco’s most recent book is a clear-eyed collection of essays that were written during the pandemic, a compilation… Read More Face Shield Nation: COVID in the Philippines Seen Through Honest Yet Hopeful Eyes

Seek Ye Whore: Are You Adult Enough to Handle This Horror Collection?

Yvette Tan’s latest collection of horror short stories under Anvil Publishing should come with a warning on the cover: don’t read at night. And make sure you’re not snacking on anything, especially sisig. Blissfully ignorant, I started reading the first story while waiting for an event to start, only to hastily shut it after reading… Read More Seek Ye Whore: Are You Adult Enough to Handle This Horror Collection?

Mouths to Speak, Voices to Sing: ‘Horror’ that Delights

“Delightful” is perhaps a weird adjective to use when describing a collection of horror stories, but Kenneth Yu’s book is truly a joy to read, in a genre-expanding work redefining the possibilities of this reader’s Halloween treat. Mouths to Speak, Voices to Sing is a collection of fourteen short stories and a one-act play, and… Read More Mouths to Speak, Voices to Sing: ‘Horror’ that Delights

Haunted Reads: Filipino Horror Writers Speak About Facing Our Fears

Podium Mall’s usually quiet hallways echoed with screams of tired trick-or-treating children that Saturday (be honest; if we were dolled up as zombies, painted head to toe in corpse-white make-up to boot, and compelled to traipse up and down five floors asking store owners for candy, we’d probably be whining our heads off as well).… Read More Haunted Reads: Filipino Horror Writers Speak About Facing Our Fears

‘Dogs in Philippine History’: Tracing Pawprints through Time

One emerges from ‘Dogs in Philippine History’ with a heightened affection for the aspin and a better understanding of our nation’s past. The aspin is a neologism formed from Asong Pinoy (Filipino dog) that has supplanted the older term “askal,” a blend word that stood for Asong Kalye (street dog). The older portmanteau is loaded… Read More ‘Dogs in Philippine History’: Tracing Pawprints through Time