plot thickens

An article on Philippine literature by James Gabrillo, touching on speculative fiction, appears in today's issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer. Vim Nadera and I also provided Super! with our thoughts on what's exciting about Phil lit today.

"Reading through the anthology “Philippine Speculative Fiction,” edited by Dean Alfar, enabled me to see first-hand that the “literature of the imagination,” as Alfar calls it, is in no way nonprestigious or “low-brow.”

The anthology, as a whole, enabled me to imaginatively soar away from the bleak present to the exciting world of the unfamiliar. The tales took me away from the city, towards the suspension of disbelief, towards the enchantment. I was pleased with how most of the stories pulled the carpet I was sitting on, the way they used space well, and the way they flowed with a balance of complexity and irony."

Read Plot thickens here.


"It is an exciting time for Philippine literature, especially with the growth of Speculative Fiction. Writers have begun to produce more and more stories of wonder and imagination and are being taken seriously, unlike in past times."

"We are in a postmodern world of anything goes. There are no real trends or traditions to speak of. Skinheads can coexist with the Christ look-alikes, among others. In literature, the forms range from prehistoric or prehispanic up to the avant-garde. Poems, fictions and nonfictions, and plays (from stage to radio to television to film) sometimes blur their borders. They talk about anything under the sun, be it in the romantic or realistic or surrealistic or radical way—in dealing with, say, Marxism, feminism, homosexuality, or post-colonialism."

Read Main characters here.