Really happy to announce that I now have a story in Kill Your Darlings, an Australian literary magazine dedicated to arts and culture! Out this week, the piece—entitled “View from a Talking House”—is included in a showcase of new writing from and about the Philippines, and appears alongside some excellent essays by Patricia Arcilla, Jhoanna Lynn Cruz, and Carmie Ortego.
This story was assembled from excerpts of my novel Residents, which tells the story of a woman who returns to her ancestral home in Cebu, only to discover that her house can talk. I have a lot of love for the scenes that appear in this story, largely since it focuses heavily on the relationship between Alma Ramirez and her house and lays out a lot of the larger story’s bigger speculative framework. These chapters also touch on history, featuring ghosts from as far back as the pre-Hispanic era.
I was very pleased to work with KYD editors Alan Vaarwerk and Justina Ashman in refining this piece. Their careful editorial eye really brought the story to the next level, and I’d be thrilled to work with them again. I also deeply appreciated the fact that Alan’s editorial note framed the showcase in light of our current political situation and the increasingly dire state of our civil liberties.
That being said, if you find yourself liking the Philippines showcase, I highly encourage hitting ‘em up for a membership, and checking out as well the other entries in KYD’s Asia-Pacific showcase series, which are just as excellent.
Happy reading!