Horror: Filipino Fiction for Young Adults

by Dean Francis Alfar (Editor, Afterword by), Kenneth Yu (Editor, Preface by)

Perhaps the first of its kind released in the Philippines, Horror: Filipino Fiction for Young Adults was conceived solely with the Filipino young adult reader in mind, with stories that explore the concerns and fears of today’s youth through the lens of horror written by new and experienced authors.

Horror: Filipino Fiction for Young Adults is the first of a series of anthologies covering science fiction, fantasy, and other genres, presented by award-winning editors Dean Francis Alfar and Kenneth Yu.

CONTRIBUTORS

Gabriela Lee
Kally Hiromi R. Arsua
Vince Torres
Elyss G. Punsalan
Renelaine Bontol-Pfister
Alexander Osias
Andrew Drilon
Eliza Victoria
Joseph Anthony Montecillo
Fidelis Tan
Charles Tan
Kate Osias
EK Gonzales
Isabel Yap

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Anthologies

146 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2013

Reviews

[elsewhere · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall, I had been fascinated with the idea of this anthology, “Horror: Filipino Fiction for Young Adults”, which involved an original interpretation of horror. The stories did not focus on ghosts, demons, spirits, haunted houses, evil magic, or manananggals; the stories did the opposite – instead on focusing on these various entities, this anthology highlighted the horror of being a human being: our fears, failures, lies, and deepest desires. It emphasized how the living could be haunted by their own existence. And the living, these who we call “human beings” could also be the same beings doing the haunting.

Out of the fourteen (14) short stories in this anthology, I had two favorites: First, “Education by Ate Flora” by Renelaine Bontol-Pfister, which, I suppose, was also influenced by the fact that I enjoy stories about manananggals. Second, “Frozen Delight” by EK Gonzales; this short story was creepy. It reminded me of the movie “Get Out”; plus, I found the concept of the story to be very original in the way the ideas were executed.

Most stories had really good twists; some had nice concepts or scary endings. Although not every story was perfect, I still enjoyed reading this collection. It had been quite a unique experience, since it offered various definitions of horror. Lastly, I would just like to commend the cover of this book.

[Jamie Manuel · Rating 4 out of 5]

While reading the anthology, I sometimes pause before proceeding to the next narrative to check out what others are saying about it here on GoodReads. Most of the comments I've read focuses on the writing style and how the language was easy to pick up--both in a positive and negative light. Well, it IS for young adults and D. F. Alfar did explain in his afterword that by 'YA' they were targeting people in the 10-17 years age group. With this said, I find that it was balanced. There were stories in the anthology which could be graphic to people as young as 10 ("Eat Me") or complicated to understand because they probably have not experienced it ("Honesty Hour"), but there are also those which are easy to understand and appreciate because anyone can have the same experience ("Dan's Dreams" or "Gago's Got Your Back", for example)--ranging from every young adult's struggles in school, with the family, peers etc.

It is definitely one which gives another definition to 'horror' beyond the common idea that 'horror' has to mean ghosts and anything supernatural/paranormal. I think there are also narratives which--though it is written in minimalistic language--contain messages which every young adult could see themselves in and learn from.

[Redg · Rating 4 out of 5]

I no longer fall within the young adult category anymore but I still enjoyed this collection of short horror stories. It was also a nostalgic trip back to the early 2010s with some of the stories making references to Foursquare and NU 107 (RIP). Some stories felt bitin and would have worked better if it were a full-fledged novel or novella. Still, this is a solid collection!

Below are my favorite stories!

- Mommy Agnes by Vince Torres (woah… that plot twist)
- Eat Me by Kally Hiromi R. Arsua (LOVE the very detailed gore, also, this story screams ED and skinny culture on Tumblr lol)
- Education by Ate Flora by Renelaine Bontol-Pfister (kids with yayas who hailed from provinces would definitely relate)
- Itching to Get Home by Joseph Anthony Montecillo (it’s giving A24 elevated horror with the way this story explores strained father/son dynamics and grief)
- Lola’s House by Fidelis Tan (…yo… any time something supernatural looks at the main character im dead lol)

Devoured this in 3 days. Also, WHAT A COVER. So beautiful and if we’re being honest it’s actually one of the reasons why I bought this book. 4 stars!

[Gigi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Binasa ko ito at yung Night Mares ni Leoncio Deriada back to back. Mas luma yung book ni Deriada (copyright 1980-something). Natuwa ako kasi kita ko na may mga bagong style and content sa horror anthology na ito. Para sa akin, definitely, lumalago yung horror genre within the Filipino writing community (at ngayon nga may Trese tayo sa Netflix). Ang galing lang din kasi yung writers dito ay mga bagets pa rin so saludo ako kay sir Dean Alfar and company sa pagbibigay ng space for new voices. Favorite ko dito yung Eat Me ni Kally Arsua--ang hirap niyang tapusin my ghad sobrang eeek! Honesty Hour ni Gabriela Lee and Education by Ate Flora ni Renelaine Bontol-Pfister.

[ItsRiz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Since it is an anthology, the short story form always leaves me hanging. Some stories could have been best enjoyed if made longer. But as someone who has not read horror fic for a long time, this collection has reminded me of the stories my Lola used to tell before siesta. These definitely are the kind of short reads stories you go for before bed time. The afterword says the editors wanted to build YA readers for this genre, I would say that alot of people has already been digging this kind of genre for quite awhile now.

[Ti · Rating 3 out of 5]

it was an okay read; like other reviews here, i agree that it read more middle grade than young adult. i enjoyed the wide range of themes though! i guess i was hoping for something a little more intense. faves were mommy agnes, gago's got your back, dan's dreams, lola's house, and misty. def going to look into more filipino horror + these individual authors' works tho!!!

[Dominique Yap · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's the first time I've encountered a young adult horror short story collection. It's literary but accessible. It tackles horrors relevant to the contemporary Filipino young adult- both the traditional folklore stories we are familiar with and the horrors of being a teenager.

[Michaela · Rating 4 out of 5]

The range of well-written narratives included in this anthology provides an interesting peek into concepts that can disturb a reader differently but are, nonetheless, horrific.

[bryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5/5 — Only two or three stories from this collection really spooked me; some were more sad than terrifying, while the rest I didn't care for. A solid horror anthology, regardless.

[Gray Pages · Rating 3 out of 5]

pretty decent collection of horror stories!

[Shiandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a solid collection. Some stories felt like it needed a bit more oomph and twist and turns. However, these writers have potential and I hope they still are writing till this day.

[Angy · Rating 2 out of 5]

The goal and concept of this anthology is not lost on me but I rather found it underwhelming. There was a lot of unnecessary dialogue and offhand comments (see: the new teacher), unwanted descriptions on situations that didn't need it and a lack of it on action-packed ones (i.e. just throwing in a bunch of commentary that does not have any impact on the story nor does it advance the plotline), minimal effort on researching Philippine mythology (it was just surface-level information), and possesses little to no depth. I really, really, really, badly, badly, wanted to love it so much but I do appreciate the effort in releasing the first of its kind. I have to agree with the other reviews here that it would have been better if this was marketed primarily as middle-grade!

[Shaniqua Lizardo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Special thanks to Ma'am Gabby for giving me a copy of this for Christmas and for being an all-around great supportive smart supermegafoxyawesomehot person.
Special mentions: "Gago's Got Your Back" by Andrew Drilon, "Lola's House" by Fidelis Tan, "A Yellow Brick Road Valentine" by Charles Tan, and "Misty" by Isabel Yap

Not super excellent but pretty good sample of Philippine YA all the same. Maybe I'm just a few years older than the target audience but some of the stories seemed more middle grade than YA and some were just kind of meh story-wise (well-written but not particularly original) and style-wise (execution needed a little more oomph). But those that went for it, went for it. I could gush about "Gago's Got Your Back" forever and I think I'm turning into an Isabel Yap fangirl, but those are words for another time. Anyway, I'm definitely excited for what's next in the series and I'm very very happy that finally finally Philippine YA is expanding into other genres--mostly because it'll make it easier for future CW majors who want to focus on YA for their thesis because hi struggle much, but also because I personally think YA is such an important genre and I'm really glad its sort of being inducted into our ~literary tradition~.

(OKAY WOW I AM THE FIRST RATING AND REVIEW OF THIS BOOK DON'T LOOK AT ME TURN AWAY FROM MY RUN-ON SENTENCES AND RANTY REVIEWS)

[Charmagne · Rating 3 out of 5]

From the fourteen stories, only four made me feel like I was reading a book of horror stories. And from those three, only one made me feel horrified.

Honesty Hour had a lot of potential but I wasn't satisfied with the execution and the dialogue.
Eat Me was the one that I found most horrific but a little too disgusting and not for the imaginative person with a weak stomach.
Mommy Agnes and Lola's House were creepy. The scene where Mommy Agnes tried entering the house made me nervous for the two children and the scene where the protagonist saw the Other Children in the lola's house would have scared me if I was still a child.
Frozen Delight had a creepy factor in it and the narrative was interesting.
Misty didn't have the typical supernatural premise found in the other stories, but it still had an element in it that made it feel like a horror story.

The other stories felt more like fantasy or fantasy-adventure stories with supernatural elements rather than horror stories.

[Tito Quiling, Jr. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Among the short stories included in this collection, about 70% effectively delivered the sense of dread, the strand of fear, and at some point, even a subtle surprise. The stronger pieces for me include "Honesty Hour", "Eat Me", "Mommy Agnes", "The Running Girl", "The New Teacher" "Education by Ate Flora", "Lola's House", "Dan's Dreams" and "Frozen Delight"--their common feature being able to draw the reader in the situation. The okay ones were "Gago's Got Your Back", "Itching to Get Home", "A Yellow Brick Road Valentine", "Misty", and "Lucia, the Nightmare Hunter".The 30% I was neutral since it took some time for me to process what I've read and I ended up having more questions. That being said, this is a fairly strong collection of horror fiction.

[Isaiah Talens · Rating 3 out of 5]

Is it just me or do some of the stories fall under middle grade rather than young adult?

My favorites, in no particular order:

Honesty Hour
Eat Me
Mommy Agnes
Lola's House
Misty

Bubbling under:
Dan's Dreams
Frozen Delight

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Just so you know, one of the stories written in this book was written by my CW 10 professor! How cool is that?

[Devi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Compilation of short stories always leave me wanting. Personally, I have a thing for scary reads so I guess this appeals to me. I think Filipino YA is untested waters and it would be awesome to have more books of it. My favorites from this collection are: Eat Me, Education by Ate Flora (which according to my husband scared the hell out of him), Dan's Dreams and Frozen Delight.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one anthology where I enjoyed reading almost all the stories. I hope there would be more books like these. We definitely need more YA books penned by Filipinos.

[Grace · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were 3 excellent stories and about, I think, 2 good ones but the rest are meh.