“For the world of tales is the land of legend and dream, even if the characters move and speak in the here and now. And sometimes, it seems to me that only sorcery and enchantment can capture the strangeness of ‘real life.’” ~ Cristina Pantoja Hidalgo It took reading this World Fantasy Award winning book… Read More MAPPING NEW STARS: The Theory and Practice of Filipino Speculative Fiction
They say those who laugh hardest are those who have tasted more of life’s bitterness. It’s as if, having known shadow, they revel in the light all the more. The same could be said for the author of “Even Ducks Get Liver Cancer.” Wilfredo Liangco is an oncologist (in layman’s terms, a cancer doctor), one… Read More Even Ducks Get Liver Cancer: Stories as Medicine for the Soul
“Ah, but we wanted to change the world, really, foolhardidly tried to make it better… but you left, and are returned to us, barbaric and helpless in your turn.” Exploding Galaxies’ third publication may be their slimmest yet, but perhaps “The Firewalkers” by Erwin E. Castillo is the most impactful. Compared to its more hefty… Read More The Firewalkers: Here Be Carnivorous Monsters
Few books have forewords that embrace its reader in an emotional chokehold, already sniffing through a mist of tears. This is such a book. Veteran journalist Atom Araullo introduces his powerful collection of eight articles and accompanying photos as “stories that don’t shout, but linger.” These are long-term issues from all over the Philippines and… Read More A View From The Ground: An Intimate Look at Filipino Reality
Fil-Am author Elaine Castillo’s second novel is so woke, this reader had to read every other sentence twice to fully parse out the pointed inequalities marking even the most seemingly innocent exchanges. To Castillo, the pen is a sword, the page a battlefield in a story that is part-romance, part social critique with a dash… Read More Moderation: A Cynical Love Story
THE VANISHED (the English translation of author Chuckberry Pascual’s “Ang Nawawala”) has introduced this reader to one of the most unforgettable characters to ever grace the page. When things keep getting lost in a particular barangay, there’s only one person to call. Our hero/ine Bree solves seven capers in these tragicomic short stories (alternatively seen… Read More The Vanished: Mystery Meets Social Criticism
THE SECRET LIVES OF OFWs has an irresistible premise. What if the Filipino migrant worker is actually a mythological creature, with enough supernatural power to take revenge against abusive foreigners? Events creative (and former OFW) Jet Tagasa’s first book is a collection of eight horror stories, each featuring a kababayan who happens to be more… Read More The Secret Lives of OFWs: Here Be Monsters
“The status quo did not mean peace.” Glenn Diaz’s 2022 novel about a middle-aged teacher fleeing her violent past has been picked up by Tilted Axis Press, as well as shortlisted for the Novel Prize in 2020. It is many things: a literary crime novel, a concise history of Philippine contemporary history from the time… Read More Yñiga: A Literary Crime Novel that Tackles the Past and Future of Being Filipino
Sunlight and dust motes flooded the air as I cracked open the pages of Kenneth Yu’s sophomore short story collection. His earlier book featured a lot of stories that would comfortably be classified as horror. As a result, this reviewer purposefully read this second collection of stories during the day, expecting that it would have… Read More The Greatest Fight of Sunny Granada: Speculatively Hopeful Filipino Fiction
“This too is a kind of law… not their rigid codes carved in stone, but the fluid law of power that shapes all things like water wearing away rock. You are what every rajah must be – friend and strategist, brother and player of the great game.” Rajah Versus Conquistador by Kahlil Corazo is that… Read More Rajah Versus Conquistador: Humabon and the Why of History Resurrected
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