Others

Interactive Fiction

The Book of Red Shadows ” (Singapore: Luck-It Network & Spaceship Thirteen, 2020) – Play-by-email Interactive story. Debuted at the Singapore Writers Festival in 2020

Summary:  The Book of Red Shadows is a Play-by-Email (PBEM) interactive text narrative with game-like elements. Set in near-future Singapore where selected citizens with latent psychic powers are pressed into national service. It is a dark odyssey about the dawn of artificial consciousness, time travel and the future of government control. The story was a serialized narrative in ten parts, with an option to follow one of two threads at the end of every chapter. Within a certain narrative limit, readers/players and game masters were able to add elements to personalize their journey, creating a unique story path that couldn’t be played again in the same way.

“It was the most mesmerizing experience I ever had. Every scenario presented was penned in detail as the story launched into more complications than you would ever expect. The choices were open-ended, giving you more control over the path you would like to take. I felt a sense of loss when the 10 days ended, wishing that it would have been longer.” – Tan Shi Hui, IREVIEWUREAD

“It’s pretty absorbing. The text sent each day is also, well, uniquely Singaporean and not without a dash of parody. If you like classic CYOA adventures, I strongly encourage you to give this dark saga a try.” – The Scribbling Geek Blog

Poetry and Flash Fiction

  • Buhay ay Langit sa Piling mo” – Flash fiction piece, first published in Call And Response 2 (Singapore: Math Paper Press, 2021), Eds. Khokan, Zhakir Hossain; Navato, Bhing, Pho Yong Han and Ip, Joshua. This was paired with the poem “Beginning of Autumn” by Chinese migrant worker Zhang Haitao.
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  • “To See Infinity Inside The Pages Of A Book” flash fiction in LONTAR: The Journal of Southeast Asian Speculative Fiction Volume 10 . A Tamil language translation, முடிவிலியின் இழை appeared in the first issue of Aroo,  an online Tamil magazine dedicated to speculative fiction.
LONTAR-10-CVF-300
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  • “They Called Me The Hyacinth Girl” first appeared in the Flash Fiction anthology The Ayam Curtain in November 2012 (Editors: Joyce Chng and Neon Yang, Math Paper Press). Review
AyamCurtain_cover (front)

Non-Fiction

  • Mapping New Stars: A Sourcebook on Philippine Speculative Fiction – This is the first-ever collection of  non-fiction essays and think pieces about about Philippine Speculative Fiction, written by many authors and critics who are active in the field. My chapter on “The Roots of Speculative Fiction in the Philippines” grew from my initial stab at documenting the early days of local Science Fiction (check out my original work here). This time, I attempt to identify the oldest known Filipino works of Fantasy, Horror, and of course, Science Fiction. (Editors: Gabriela Lee and Anna Felicia Sanchez, UP Press pre-publication)
Main page artwork by Jon Jaylo from the book
“Here be Dragons”