Signos: A Fiction Anthology of Filipino Supernatural

by John Bengan (Editor, Translator), Tilde Acuña (Editor), Daryll Delgado (Editor)

Dark lore, myths, creatures of the night, and storied whispers come alive in this tantalizing anthology of fiction from the Philippines.

A human-whale chimera takes its last breath in the arms of its human caretaker, a portal invites a grieving woman into an alternative world from which there will be no escape, love enlists a young man to poach victims for his supernatural boyfriend, routine disappearances at a company are chalked up to unending work and exhaustion. The strange, the terrifying, the sublime, and the tragic propel the incredible, metamorphic stories in this anthology. With stories both written in and translated into English, Signos is an utterly original compilation that traces the dark edges of Filipino folklore.

The anthology has been curated and edited into volume by writers Tilde Acuña, John Bengan, Daryll Delgado, Amado Anthony G. Mendoza III, and Kristine Ong Muslim.

150 pages, Paperback

First published October 14, 2025

About the author

John Bengan is a writer and translator from the Philippines whose work has appeared in Likhaan, Kritika Kultura, BooksActually's Gold Standard, Cha: An Asian Literary Journal, Words Without Borders, LIT, Shenandoah, and World Literature Today. He holds an MFA in creative writing from The New School. A recipient of a Ford Foundation International Fellowship, he has won prizes from the Philippines Free Press Literary Awards and the Carlos Palanca Memorial Award for his short fiction. He lives in Davao City.

Reviews

[Daniel T · Rating 1 out of 5]

unfortunately only one good story, Sigbin, with the rest feeling really under developed