This post is a part of our story-by-story review of Philippine Speculative Fiction volume 6. You can see the introductory post, and our disclaimers here. Bold font is Mia Tijam, everything else is Paolo Chikiamco.

Except for a jolting transition after the 3^rd paragraph on the first page and “dull thud” making my bell wince, I found the story smooth, short, and sweet. There were still cliché phrases but this story showed when such articulation is just appropriate like in the usage of “woke with a start” or “…looked at him uncomprehendingly”. Because to do otherwise would make the story’s language suddenly turning verbose. Though the latter is still kind of making me wince given that it is an isolated line and therefore draws implied significance.

What I enjoyed craft-wise in this story was the ability of the author to hone in on very specific environmental/sensory details in order to give more reality and particularity to a scene. “…[s]troked the space between the inside of the elbow and the surgical tape that held the tube down…” If you’ve been in the hospital much/recently, you know exactly where that spot is. Another: “There was a smell of old coffee beans and spiders lurking in corners.” (I’d like to think that last is intentionally ambiguous.)

— Man you haven’t been to old houses in the provinces much, huh? There’s a smell exactly like that in bodegas (or what we call in Bicol as zaguan). Can also be smelled in old aparadors. Think of the smell of old spiders as a thicker smell of dust, add that smell of coffeebeans, et voila! C’est par la:  It doesn’t make you sneeze.

[Pao: Our “ancestral home”, so to speak, is on a farm. I guess the spider smell was overpowered by the chicken poop, er, coop.]

One thing that bothered me about the opening scene–I’ve mentioned this before–is the non-identification of the POV character with a proper noun until the third paragraph. As I said, maybe it’s a bias from my time in the slush fields, but if basic information is withheld from me, I expect it to have been done for a reason, and there didn’t seem to be any need not to just say “So Simeon woke with a start…” (And I don’t think you sacrifice in media res by a clear identity.)

— Double-checked that. The way I see it, if proper noun were used in the first paragraph, the beginning would lose that sensation of emerging from sleep. The use of proper noun would make the POV too conscious, because as it is the POV’s panning from internal subconscious to waking to groggy alertness.

[Pao: Ah, I see your point. But then why not introduce it in the second paragraph? Protagonist seems fully aware by then.]

Another thing was that the “search” scenes in the house seemed a bit too blow-by-blow to me (particularly the last paragraph on the first page), but that’s likely just because it stands in contrast to most of the rest of the story. It increased tension in a way that didn’t seem to be warranted by the emotional state of the POV character at the time–there was no indication that he believed he’d find anything ominous there.

—  Dude, it’s the device used to move the story along.

[Pao: But there are other styles that would have been less jarring, and achieve the same level of progression. For me it was like a movie entering slow-motion for no real reason.]

Anyway, I think this is a children’s story for all ages and I’m liking reading children’s stories nowadays. Maybe it’s having children in the family that makes me want to read stories which I can read to/with them (because apparently Einstein’s Theory of Relativity or Spinoza’s Ethics or even the confessional poets are not recommended reading for toddlers hahahaha.) I once asked my elder niece to read Gemino H. Abad’s “Discourse on Language” last year before she turned 5. She struggled over the word “susurrus” and asked what it (all) meant. I told her that it’s a question of most people.

I don’t know if you’re the best or most sadistic Aunt ever. Or both.

— Hahahaha.

I haven’t tried reading “Go The Fuck To Sleep” to/with a kid though. Maybe I should hahaha.

Just use the Samuel L. Jackson version. Shaft!

— Haha now Shaft is swinging that purple light saber in my head.

Anyway I’m thinking that my 7 and 6-year-old pamangkids would be interested to read Paterno’s story.

I actually don’t know if I’d consider this a children’s story myself. I’ve always found the Star Maiden myth to gloss over some pretty important issues regarding coercion, and while the story sidesteps them a bit by adding an (initial) element of voluntariness, there’s still enough of the original myth left for me to put this firmly in the adult realm.

— Well, my almost-4-year-old niece was watching Easy A with me last Christmas and she told me that I should wear that A so that I get a boyfriend. So I’m gonna wait for the day Meia turns 4 and she would say “Wazzup bitches!” Seriously, the children of 2020 are little adults nowadays, good luck to you daddy-yo haha.

[Pao: Oh, she can be an adult whenever she wants. As long as she does it in her safe little bubble. ]

Anyway, I like how the story’s language had a balance between short expositions and longer descriptions as the story moved along. It showed the experience of the author when it comes to crafting narration according to breaths or when it comes to sustaining the attention of the eye/mind.

Except for what I felt was over-description in the scene I mentioned, I agree with you on this. The story reads like it was written with confidence.

The beginning alone would hook in the reader, beautiful opening line of an in media res. This one’s memorable though it cannot beat yet that (opening) line of “Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve always wanted to kill a beautiful boy.” I forget the title/author of that story.

I like the image it gives, but I think it’d have been better split in two, but that’s just a stylistic quirk.

I like how the son’s character was crafted with restraint— especially given that supposedly emotional mother&son scene on page 59— and how this restraint was shown throughout the story.

Yes, the author did a good job of portraying emotion without descending into pure sentiment, but there were times (the last page) that this restraint came at the cost of dialogue that sounded rehearsed/unnatural, somewhat stilted.

— Ano ba, drama nga eh.

[Pao: Sure, I get that, but the dialogue didn’t seem natural to me, coming form someone in that position/emotional state. Too filled with information/reflection rather than emotion--this could have been contextualized to make it seem natural for the protag, but it just didn’t seem that way to me here.]

And I don’t know why Simeon felt the need to suddenly explain his vocation–but, ah, I think you have something to say about that…

Me? Nah, not really hahaha.

Just that the whole time I was reading the story I was going “Aaaaawwwww…” and then came my “…Crap!” when the son revealed that he was a film maker. Another “Protagonist is Artist” story. St. Jude save me from more of those. (My mother will be so happy that I’m calling on a saint haha.) Because it’s just really going against my desire for the “Great Filipino Story in English” that does NOT have the writer/painter/musician/any “artist” as the model/symbol/savior/protagonist of the Filipino Narrative.

Why can’t he just be a guy, just a guy na puedeng tubero, bank teller, security guard na naging call center agent, manong sweet driver lover, can even be a franchise owner of 7-11 who was an ex-seaman, and not have to be “special” that way? Somebody that the reading mass would really be able to identify with, that would represent the Real in the Speculative.

I see where you’re coming from, and it’s a very common thing, but I don’t see that as a bad thing per se, especially given that a more basic question to ask would be if the story was at all being aimed at “the reading mass” or at any sort of specific audience even, because without that consideration, then there’s really no great negative to sticking with that particular trope.

Ay, tsk, yun lang. Norvasc! Valium! On with the Speculative Revolution!

Laotian American steampunk writer Bryan Thao Worra has a neat post up on his blog, “On The Other Side Of The Eye” about incorporating historical figures in steampunk stories set in Southeast Asia, noting some special difficulties and enumerating a few interesting candidates. One of the reasons I decided to set my “Wooden War” stories (like “High Society“) in the time period that I did (even if it’s earlier than the typical steampunk story) is because there are a lot of interesting historical characters who take the stage at or about this time. Bryan’s post makes for good research, and if you’d like to suggest a few folks from Philippine history (here or there), you’d be more than welcome!

This post is a part of our story-by-story review of Philippine Speculative Fiction volume 6. You can see the introductory post, and our disclaimers here. Bold font is Mia Tijam, everything else is Paolo Chikiamco.

This is a story by a (publishing) virgin… Congratulations young dude, you are not a virgin anymore! And you win the award for the most marked so far (see http://aremantha.blogspot.com/2011/11/rhum-coke-night.html#more for exhibit A, first page. You should see pages 48 and 50.) Let’s start with the POV: the “I” here is a schizo, it swings from and to—

A) I-as-3rd-person omniscient (the “I” speaks like the narrator)

B) I-as-1st-person-limited (the “I” speaks of internal reality/train-of-thought/the character)

C) I-as-Author (it’s the author unaware that he has become the storyteller acting as the storyteller with an “I”)

Examples:

A)    The first line of the story; in fact, the first couple of paragraphs in the story.

B)     Page 46, after the first Click, the lot of those paragraphs.

C)    Once the furor died down. See that’s the language/vocabulary of the author, not the “I” character.

What say you, Counsel?

For me, this was overshadowed by other concerns during the first reading, but on second reading I see that schism, though I’d conflate (A) and (C) into one–not sure that I know enough about the POV character to have a firm grasp about what is or is not in his vocabulary. (Though that’s not to say some word choices didn’t jar me – the use of reclusion perpetua, for instance, since that’s a legal term that doesn’t gel well with an “eternity” of punishment…)

— It’s the difference in the constructs of the “I”. Think of I as A, B, C— these are three different characters/realities/perspectives. The problem then is that the story is using “I” and an “I” intrinsically will only have one identity unfolding that identity’s reality. But the “I” here is playing Holy Trinity, hahahaha.

It’s less of a POV issue for me, as it is an immersion issue.

— Dude, POV is immersion. Latter is dependent on former. How in the world can a reader be immersed in the story without the POV?

[Pao: You need a POV for any story of course, but I think you can be immersed in a story with a mishandled POV. I don't think it'll happen often, but it is possible, if the thoughts/reactions that the reader is shown remain authentic.]

I didn’t see instances where the text was giving me information that the POV character wouldn’t have. I don’t see much of a problem with a 1st person POV being used both to narrate external events and give us a survey of an internal thought-stream, but my problem was that, with the first scene in particular, the distance of the “I” from the immediate events was inappropriate given the nature of the scene.

— Hence I as (A) = inappropriate. I as (A) would be objective reality. I as (B) would be subjective reality. I = A : B = Dudong you’re being burned alive and hindi ka umaaray? Oh right, you’re narrating the burning kasi so dapat hindi ka maglupasay sa sakit because you won’t be coherent. Grabe naman the tolerance for pain this dudong!

But it can happen and does happen, you know. Amid the overwhelming emotions in the midst of pain, one can experience a psychological detachment that leads to objectivity which enables one to narrate such events. Think of the movie “Equilibrium”.

[Pao: Holy crap, I thought Shaps and I were the only people to watch that movie. That's the one with Christian Bale and the two second climactic battle right? And sure, it does happen, but like most things out of the ordinary, it's hard to spring out of the blue without proper groundwork, or an explanation after the fact (something to the effect that it has happened so often that the character is desensitized), none of which I felt I got here.]

A situation wherein the POV character is undergoing torture, virtual though it may be, isn’t really the time for a distant “I” that trades the immediacy of physical sensation for a more neutral tone that allows the “I” to reflect on the Father and Mother constructs. It just struck the wrong tone with me.

— Precisely my point. The “I” being a schizo affects the believability of the narrative. Unless the author is experimenting with “I” as a camera that pans in and out of POV’s so as to move the story along and if that’s the case then apparently it has failed. Because if he had succeeded then we wouldn’t be seeing the schizo schims.

[Pao: I guess my definition of a POV problem is just narrower, limited to the realm of what information is made available to the reader, as opposed to the authenticity of the POV subject.]

The problem with tone goes beyond just a distance issue–while there are dark stories where a humorous sentence or two can work, the blips of humor here just don’t work (they don’t come across as the gallows humor typical in dire straits).

— There was humor? Man I must be losing my sense of humor haha.

[Pao: Maybe an attempt at a certain flippancy would be more accurate.]

And the “cake is a lie” line–most gamers who read that line would immediately be taken out of the story. It’s not the type of tale that lends itself to that sort of sly, authorial, pop-culture reference, especially given the “evil computer intelligence” parallel with “Portal”.

There’s also that very jarring change in dialogue tone when, during a sim of an interrogation, a construct of a military man says things like “Hot damn… that’s cold. That is fucking cold man.”

—- Hahaha, there goes a TOINK.

The next point of contention in the story is the Adverb/Word Choice/Syntax problems. The common rule is that you take out adverbs altogether like in …unintentionally bareling madly… It just all becomes chatty clutter.

As for the word choice— besides the vocabulary of the author leaking into the language of the “I” character, I just blinked on the use of “emphatic” on page 45. Did he mean “empathetic” instead? Because the logic of the sentence would have to use the latter instead of the former. And I’m kinda thinking Yeeeee to the UP Creative Writing Program and hat-tip to EE Cummings with the story’s “She’s got such beautifully delicate hands” haha.

You’re probably right on that count, though the burden for that should go to editing, as much as the writer (and that’s not to say it isn’t understandable it was missed – I didn’t notice that until you pointed it out).

—- Why thank you, Counsel. Hey it’s a tricky piece.

As for the Syntax problem, I find that the story could have used a little bit of more clarity and conciseness. There were clichés and redundancies and if these were taken out then the story could have packed more of a wallop via brevity. Especially since we’re dealing with a mindscape story here.

The story did seem to wander a bit in the first part, then compress itself at the end. The most persistent redundancy for me came in the form of the repeated emphasis on the fact that the computer program could control everything that the prisoners see, taste, hear, etc. Issues of brevity aside, the problem I had with that was that it sort of undermined other aspects of the story: why would any Prisoner with possession of his/her faculties trust what he/she experienced in Greyspace? Given that the Prisoners spoke freely in Greyspace, why would the computer be unable to use the information gleaned there to inform their sims? (In one sim, the computer gets the name of the protagonist’s daughter wrong.) While we’re on the topic of the sims, if the goal is to immerse the target in that reality (which seems to be the point of all the role playing), why continue to refer to the prisoners by their numbers? That would serve as an anchor to the reality of the virtual incarceration of the prisoners.

The story itself could have been a combination of the psycho-horror-thriller vibes of the movies The Cube + The Cave. Except that it was still too hesitant to really explore the dark side of the storytelling force. The story should have been moving to be bleaker, darker, and deeper into a mindfuck. Like in page 50— the language does not match the violence of that scene. C’mon, push and you’d really hear that—-

CLICK

As for that click, if that click moved around on the page (let’s say indent it or whatever), you think it could have better generated a more sensory use for it? Like:

CLICK

I will say that I did like the final CLICK on page 52, which served to make the reality of the succeeding scenes ambiguous. It doesn’t really matter that we don’t hear a CLICK at the end, since we heard the CLICK at the beginning of that scene.

As for how the story ended, it warrants the “Well, of course” reaction because stories like this don’t have a happy ending. And yeah, it wasn’t horrifying enough because the horror did not build up enough for the end to become horrifying.

See, I love it when we see Filipino science fiction stories, I really do–there aren’t enough of them. The problem I have with this type of coerced virtual reality scenario, however, is that there are only a limited number of ways it can play out. Once the focus is placed on the fact that the virtual is being made indistinguishable from the actual, there’s almost a gravitational pull toward a certain type of ending, and this story adheres to that pretty closely. Now, I know that I’m not the world’s biggest fan of non-linear structure, but I think that telling the story in something other than a straight chronological order would have allowed the tension to be built up, allowed more confusion as between the real and the virtual, and made the ending seem less like the final stop of a train. What do you think, Ms. Outside the Narrative Box?

—Seriously? The answer is in brevity: make it all out like the sims are flashes in effect so that even if it followed that gravitational pull towards the expected ending it would still have a whallop. OR put the ending in the middle haha. OR use the CLICK more and not just a matter of signals for transition into the next sim. Man, I want to meet and talk to the author hahahahaha.

Over-reading this would be the “I” actually playing with the reader so that the reader is now part of the sim. Make it out like it all was a sim happening in the reader’s mind. That would have been just evil that it would be so good haha.

What I like about this story though is that there is something in the way the story was told— its language or unfolding— that grew on me, like Patrick Star spouting sporadic wisdom or like the most absurd of cartoon characters like that catdog making sense. It engaged the Critical-Going-OC-Apeshit-Construct in me hahaha.

I liked the attempt at exploring the confusion between the real and the virtual, a rich field, and the idea of a good cop-bad cop AI, but the story just didn’t hold together for me.

— Hahahaha you sound like a rejection letter, Counsel. May I recommend Alfred Bester’s “Fondly Fahrenheit” then for the young dude’s reading. All reet! Be fleet!

[Pao: A rejection letter? I suppose, in the end, all readers end up being the gatekeepers of their own tastes in fiction. ]

Mina Esguerra is one of the Filipino authors most beloved by the blogging community, partly because she writes excellent “chick lit” stories in a Philippine context, and partly because she maintains a regular online presence. Her next romance novella is a YA book with speculative elements, so I jumped at the chance to have her on the blog for a short interview.

Tell us a bit about your new book, “Interim Goddess of Love”:

Interim Goddess of Love is my first YA romance novella, and it’s about Hannah, a sophomore scholarship student at a college just outside of Metro Manila. Her world changes pretty much overnight when her friend (and not-so-secret crush), reveals to her that he’s actually the god of the sun, and that he needs her to temporarily be the goddess of love. Because the original goddess is missing. It’s the first volume of what I’ve planned as a series. (Operative word is “planned” of course.)

In an interview last year, you mentioned how your first novel pitch was for a YA story that was not picked up. What made you decide to return to that genre now? How do you approach writing a YA novel as opposed to one that is not aimed at that market?

Before getting published that first time (My Imaginary Ex, a chick lit novella), I had only ever really written YA — stuff that was more Sweet Dreams- and Sweet Valley-ish. Writing chick lit now, I actually still take my YA concept and just age the characters by five to seven years. My books are not very “adult” or raunchy. (My mother will disagree, but anyway.) I’ve also used a lot of flashbacks to college, so I feel like I never really left that comfort zone.

I pay attention to readers mentioning my books in social media though, and I noticed that they’re young. Teenagers. Younger than I’d expected since the stories are about twenty-somethings.  So I thought maybe I could work on a story and keep the characters teenagers too, instead of aging them. That’s how Interim Goddess of Love started.

This is also the first of your published novels/novellas that uses fantasy/speculative elements. Why did you choose to take this approach? Did this make the writing process any different?

It started as a personal writing challenge, because by the time I had written IGoL I had finished five chick lit novellas and wanted to push myself in another direction. The process was a bit different, mostly because I had to keep pulling myself back, toning down the fantasy parts. I decided it would be a romance first, but it’s easy to get swept up in the mythology.

Writing in the romance genre, where readers expect (if not demand) a happy ending, what do you do in order to surprise or tantalize the reader?

I always work with the happy ending as a given. (Spoiler!) I guess my version of “surprise” is I usually try to play with stereotypes or what people think are wise decisions. But I make sure everyone’s happy in the end, to varying degrees.

Tell us a bit about your writing process. Are you an outliner? Do you make use of alpha/beta reader? A writing group?

I am a fan of the outline. I can go as specific as a chapter-by-chapter treatment sometimes. I only start something when I know how it ends, so outlining makes everything easier. When I finish a draft, I share it with three people usually: my editor/s (different people depending on how the work will be published), cover designer, and my husband (who provides the male perspective on things).

You and your husband (2006 Philippine Graphic/Fiction Awards winner Michael A. R. Co) are both writers. Can you describe for us what that dynamic is like? Do you critique each other’s drafts, or do you go out of your way not to “influence” each other, or is it something in between?

We always come up with stories together, for fun, but those never really get written, much less published. It’s like the act of telling each other the idea completes it, in a weird way. Which isn’t so great if we actually want to produce something.

So if I want to seriously write and finish a story, I don’t involve him at all in the early stages. I let him read the draft when it’s finished. He’ll have some comments (or a lot), of which I’ll take a few (haha) into consideration and maybe do a revision. But that’s it. The next time he gets to read my work is when it’s been published.

Let’s dig up some behind-the-scenes info for fans of your work: Looking back at (any or all of) your earlier books, can you tell us about alternative choices that you could have made that would have drastically altered the stories? Any characters who were tweaked or removed, any plot twists left on the cutting room floor?

There’s a version of Fairy Tale Fail that has Lucas and Ellie on a road trip together. But that’s also the version where Ellie’s friend Charisse had a subplot that was meant to call her intentions into question, but I trashed that because I didn’t want to complicate things given the word count I was working with. (Also I felt bad about ruining a character for the sake of more drama.)

In my next chick lit novel (accepted for publication but not yet on the shelves), I imported two characters and their entire backstory from a failed manuscript attempt. Just plugged them in there as supporting characters. I had gotten attached to them and wanted them out in the world in some form, even though I had given up on their story.

You started your blog after your first book was accepted for publication, so it seems that you knew even then that you wanted to have an online presence as an author. What have been the advantages to this decision so far? What have been the disadvantages, if any?

When I started the blog, I didn’t have any grand plans for it. I just thought I should have an “official” place, in case people wanted to get in touch with me.

Now I’m on Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, and a few other places, which has been great because overall, the readers who contact me have been awesome and supportive.

A potential problem with this — not that I have it, so I’ll speak hypothetically – is when an author forgets that she has to remain professional, even though these social media accounts can lead to sharing personal thoughts and info. That includes not using “author” accounts to lash out at the crazy things one sees on the internets.

As someone who has published both on her own and through a traditional publishing house, what’s your opinion of the state of Philippine publishing today? Is there any hope that someday, the Philippines will have full-time authors?

I am even more excited about publishing now – as a Filipino author, living in the Philippines, writing about Filipinos — than when I started. I appreciate the support coming from a publisher like Summit, and I can tell that many readers know of me because of my work with them. At the same time, it’s great that digital publishing has made it easier for me to reach a larger market, and that this market has taken an interest in familiar stories set in unfamiliar places.

Can the Philippines have full-time authors? YES, definitely. Last year, I decided that I would take steps to eventually become one. But I’m not really sure what a “full-time author” makes, or can make, here in the Philippines, so I’ve set my own standard. At one point I described my book earnings as “my salary in 2001” – which is cool, but not something I’ll give up my day job for just yet.

In any case, I became a mom last year, so that will still have to be my priority. The “full-time writing” will happen while my daughter naps. J

What’s next for you, short-term and long-term?

Still working on the print version of Interim Goddess of Love. Hoping to finish the manuscripts and possibly publish Interim Goddess of Love #2 and #3 within the year. Waiting for the new chick lit title to come out. And then, will start outlining a new series (romance and crime!). After planning my daughter’s first birthday! Busy busy year ahead.

Just heard about two workshops that may be of interest to Rocket Kapre readers. First up is “PUBLISHING IN PAJAMAS: HOW I SUCCESSFULLY RELEASED MY BOOKS TO THE WORLD”, a talk on digital self-publishing by Mina V. Esguerra (who I’ll be interviewing next week about her new YA fantasy-romance, “Interim Goddess of Love“). The talk is this coming Saturday afternoon, and you can go here for details.

Next we have a workshop from Tim Tomlinson, co-founder of the prestigious New York Writers Workshop, and co-author of its popular text, The Portable MFA in Creative Writing. The workshop takes place over the course of three days andthe deadline for reservations is on January 23, 2012. You can read more details here.

[Links and images from Panitikan]

For our second Alternative Alamat contributor interview this year, I’ve spoken with Andrei Tupaz, author of “Offerings to Aman Sinaya”. Andrei used to work as a primary school teacher in the Philippines but now lifts heavy boxes of produce and stocks shelves five days a week at a supermarket in Wellington, New Zealand.  In his spare time, when he isn’t recovering from all the lifting he does at work, he works out at the gym, or spends time with his wife doing extremely productive things like lazing about near the Wellington wharf, watching shows and movies, or acceding to his body’s gastronomic demands.

Without spoiling anything essential, could you tell me a bit about your story?

My story focuses on a fishing tribe, and their relationship to the sea goddess Aman Sinaya.  It also asks and “answers” the question: “If Aman Sinaya, goddess of the sea, really existed, what kind of offering would she accept from those who fish within her domain?”

Did you draw upon any specific personal experiences in writing this story? Experiences of the sea, of love, or a clash between old and new?

I guess an experience that I drew upon is the time my friends (including my then girlfriend and now wife) and I swam with whale sharks in Donsol. I wore a life vest because I couldn’t swim (I knew how to paddle but couldn’t stay afloat).  We saw four whale sharks.  The first one I saw (was it really the size of a bus?) went straight toward me, and then veered away at the last second.  If I stretched out my hand I would have touched the whale shark’s snout (touching the whale shark would have been wrong of course); it felt like I was that close.

I still can’t truly put into words the awe and amazement I felt swimming with those whale sharks. Our guide, a man in his forties, was an incredible swimmer and diver. Seeing him, and the other men in the bangka we hired, move so effortlessly around the bangka, and in the water – that also affected me. Another experience that probably “jumpstarted” the story was seeing a high school friend’s photo of the sunken cemetery in Camiguin, with the iconic cross rising out of the ocean.  My friend had composed the photo so that the cross was in the upper third of the photo.  On the lower third of the photo, there was a bangka moving towards the cross.

What part of the story–or the writing process–was the most fun for you?

The part of the writing process I like most is the start – when the screen is white and devoid of any text. Because then I can write anything, and it doesn’t have to make sense or be coherent.  I like writing short 250 to 500 word ‘freewrites’ about a concept I have (if you’re ‘freewriting’ about a concept, is it still a freewrite?), because it feels like I’m just indulging in my imagination, but to turn that concept into a whole story… ahh that’s hard work.

That’s how Offerings to Aman Sinaya actually came about…out of a 500 word ‘freewrite.’  I wrote about a parent telling a bedtime story to his child, of fishermen diving to the bottom of the sea, to pray to a statue of the Virgin Mary. Funny how the original freewrite had such a Catholic motif.

What part of the story–or the writing process–was the most difficult for you?

Creating a coherent story.  I had written so many “what if” versions on the idea of giving an offering to a sea goddess, with so many different characters, that I had a hard time choosing what the plot was going to be about.

How were you first exposed to Philippine mythology?

I learned about some folktales from my parents and carers (including stories of aswangs and the like), and read a bit of Lam-ang in high school, but I only really started learning about Philippine myths and legends when I bought a copy of Damiana Eugenio’s Philippine Folk Literature: The Myths.  Sadly, I lost my copy of the book before I could finish it.

Is there any myth, epic or legend that you wish would be adapted into a novel, or comic, or movie?

Bernardo Carpio maybe?  Also Maria Makiling, because the tales about her are so varied; sometimes she’s extremely kind, sometimes a lover who has been spurned, at other times a forbidding and dangerous guardian of her domain.

Who is your favorite character from Philippine mythology, and why?

Bernardo Carpio, because he was named after a hispanic character, and yet was supposedly seen by the Katipuneros as a symbol against Spanish oppression.  Also Maria Makiling, for the reasons stated above.

As always, remember that you can purchase Alternative Alamat at any of the following vendors:

• Amazon.com
• Flipreads.com
• iTunes
• Barnes & Noble Nook

Good news for Barnes & Noble Nook readers–”Alternative Alamat” is not only available on the Nook, it’s also been discounted there to US$3.99 (B&N’s decision, not ours) so now would be a great time to check it out, or spread the word to a Nook loving friend.

I’d like to point to three recent reviews of “Alternaitve Alamat”. The first is by Filipina writer Kristine Ong Muslim, and is on the Amazon page of “Alternative Alamat”, Kristine calls it “fine volume which showcases the contemporary retelling of Philippine myths” and gives it 4 out of 5 stars. Thanks Kristine!

The second review comes from GMA News Online (courtesy of Melay Guanzon Lapeña), and it’s a very positive review, and she calls the book “an impressive collection of stories”.  Of Rochita Loenen Ruiz’s “Harinuo’s Love Song”, Melay says it is “[b]eautifully told, the words swirl as the story unfolds” and she also says that “[f]ans of Budjette Tan’s hit graphic novel “Trese” are in for a treat” with the Trese prose story, “Last Full Show”. Melay takes the time to say a little something about each story, even if it’s just a brief description, and that’s greatly appreciated. Thanks Melay!

The third review comes from book blogger (and fellow lawyer!) Monique, who gives the book a perfect 5 out of 5 rating, and calls it “[d]ifferent, but clever. Brilliant.” Thanks Monique!

Don’t forget, you can find Alternative Alamat at these fine establishments:

• Amazon.com
• Flipreads.com
• iTunes
• Barnes & Noble Nook

Bitten by the pre-apocalypse muse? Adam David is looking for essays, fictions, poetry, songs, komix, doodles, photographs, videos, for THURSDAY NEVER LOOKING BACK, an electronic anthology that seeks to gather, process, and perform various end-of-the-world scenarios. You can see more details here.