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Neil Gaiman Presents The Philippine Graphic Fiction Awards Prose Anthology
A compilation of winning short stories by Filipino authors.
351 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2007
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
April 3, 2014
"Filipino unreal". That was the genre for this edition of The Philippine Graphic/Fiction Awards and boy, did it deliver.
EDIT: If you are triggered by certain issues, please check the spoiler link below. It's more of a cautionary comment regarding one story in the anthology.
Tagging this for spoilers due to a specific discussion of /one/ story towards the end.
More often than not, the typical Filipino literature is always set in the "real" world. Because of this, I would often neglect Filipino works in favor for more out-there genres written by foreign authors. So when I spotted a copy of this in a Fully Booked branch near school, I immediately ran outside to withdraw.
I enjoyed reading so many stories that explored the weird, the fantastic, and the magical all in context of the nation and its people. It satisfied my craving for the unreal as well as patronizing local works. I heartily commend the selections that make very current pop references as well as portraying characters and creating plot lines that went beyond "normal" conventions of gender, sexuality, relationships, and so on.
There are a few drawbacks to the book, sadly.
The layout of the contents was one of the biggest turn-offs while reading. The margins on the side were too small and the top margin too big. Not to mention the certain serif font used in the bodies of text were a bit of an eyesore.
Another drawback was the writing style of some of the pieces. There were a handful that were good concept-wise, but did not read well due to the choice of words and syntax.
Finally, there was one story that did unsettle me.
I highly recommend this to readers looking for something different. After all, the "Filipino unreal" is a relatively new genre and is definitely worth a shot.
EDIT: If you are triggered by certain issues, please check the spoiler link below. It's more of a cautionary comment regarding one story in the anthology.
More often than not, the typical Filipino literature is always set in the "real" world. Because of this, I would often neglect Filipino works in favor for more out-there genres written by foreign authors. So when I spotted a copy of this in a Fully Booked branch near school, I immediately ran outside to withdraw.
I enjoyed reading so many stories that explored the weird, the fantastic, and the magical all in context of the nation and its people. It satisfied my craving for the unreal as well as patronizing local works. I heartily commend the selections that make very current pop references as well as portraying characters and creating plot lines that went beyond "normal" conventions of gender, sexuality, relationships, and so on.
There are a few drawbacks to the book, sadly.
The layout of the contents was one of the biggest turn-offs while reading. The margins on the side were too small and the top margin too big. Not to mention the certain serif font used in the bodies of text were a bit of an eyesore.
Another drawback was the writing style of some of the pieces. There were a handful that were good concept-wise, but did not read well due to the choice of words and syntax.
Finally, there was one story that did unsettle me.
I highly recommend this to readers looking for something different. After all, the "Filipino unreal" is a relatively new genre and is definitely worth a shot.
May 11, 2019
Inevitably as a collection there were parts of this that I enjoyed more and parts I enjoyed less. Part way through I commented to a friend that the majority of the stories were not happy ones and I stand by that assessment. Many are also not easy stories to read - either in style or content they require a degree of attention. I should possibly note that as a general rule I enjoy longer pieces more than short-stories, so a reader who enjoy short stories might feel differently.
Reading the collection as a non-Filipino and someone not familiar with Philippine folklore I suspect gives are rather different experience than if one recognised the creatures, narratives and tropes being used. However, I would say it is definitely worth doing. I at least found it interesting to be reading something where the slide from reality to fantasy was so hard to pinpoint, and the unfamiliarity of both was certainly an element in that.
Probably the stand-out stories for me were 'The Great Philippine Space Mission', 'Menagerie', and 'Remembrance'. A couple of others, notably 'Logovore', 'A Strange Map of Time' and 'The God Equation' I liked conceptually, but didn't quite work for me as stories. 'The Omega Project' also deserves a special mention as the story that most made me feel that they should have content warnings.
Reading the collection as a non-Filipino and someone not familiar with Philippine folklore I suspect gives are rather different experience than if one recognised the creatures, narratives and tropes being used. However, I would say it is definitely worth doing. I at least found it interesting to be reading something where the slide from reality to fantasy was so hard to pinpoint, and the unfamiliarity of both was certainly an element in that.
Probably the stand-out stories for me were 'The Great Philippine Space Mission', 'Menagerie', and 'Remembrance'. A couple of others, notably 'Logovore', 'A Strange Map of Time' and 'The God Equation' I liked conceptually, but didn't quite work for me as stories. 'The Omega Project' also deserves a special mention as the story that most made me feel that they should have content warnings.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews