F.H. Batacan’s newest book comes 26 years after she wrote the award-winning novel Smaller and Smaller Circles, which was hailed as a crime classic and turned into a 2017 film starring Nonie Buencamino and Sid Lucero. Set in the same Manila as her previous book, the short story collection manages to be both very similar… Read More Accidents Happen: Angry Stories that Thirst for Justice
Baguio is awash with tourists and Manileños all bundled up in Uniqlo Heattech this Christmas and New Year season. There may be another reason for the cold atmosphere: the chill of the supernatural. The Baguio depicted in OHA by Krie R. Lopez is one peopled by ghosts. The book starts with a teenager’s death from… Read More OHA Gives A Voice to Baguio’s Ghosts
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?
“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
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
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
Cat Dellosa is the author of The Summer of Letting Go, For the Win, and many other books. Her contemporary works are famous for their ability to draw tears of both laughter and deep emotion from her readers. Ex Libris Philippines interviewed her about her biggest literary influences. You started out as a games journalist… Read More Catherine Dellosa: Gamester and Wordsmith
“A god lives in this house.” ASCENSION is a novel with such a strong sense of time, people, and place, it feels almost real. A word of caution: Drinking your pumpkin spice latte while reading Eliza Victoria’s latest novel might not be the best idea. You might end up spilling it out of sheer fright,… Read More Ascension: When A God Haunts A House
Reading both Marga Ortigas’ books is a lesson on the myriad of ways truth can be told, whether thinly disguised as fiction, or in outright non-fiction. Marga Ortigas has two books out by Penguin Random House SEA, and this reader’s reactions couldn’t have been more different to them both. I had to force myself to… Read More The Truth According to Marga Ortigas
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