Via the Urchin Movement: An excerpt of the review by Geo Ong: “Many of the poems in Boneshepherds made me believe that I can write poetry. They give me hope, like I could’ve written these very poems, or that I could write stories just like these ones, because what they’ve told me, I somehow already knew. Rosal … Continue reading »
Via Pop Matters: Gina Apostol’s Gun Dealers’ Daughter is very much a mosaic. It’s a hazy fever-dream of a novel, a story in which the confusion of the narrator spills into the storyline itself, leaving the reader as disoriented as the protagonist. Given the serious thematic issues here, both political and personal, this confusion might be expected … Continue reading »
Via Muzzle Magazine: Boneshepherds by Patrick Rosal A Review by Jacob Victorine, Book Reviewer I’ve rarely come to a collection of poetry with more expectations than in the case of Patrick Rosal’s Boneshepherds. I had read his two previous collections, My American Kundiman (2006) and Uprock Headspin Scramble and Dive (2003), and felt akin to this writer who so gracefully straddles … Continue reading »
Via Neon Literary Magazine: An uncharitable reaction to the title of Eric Gamalinda’s collection of short stories would be a heavily rhetorical “are they?” As well as being the title to a song by The Doors, it’s hardly an earth-shattering revelation. It is, perhaps, a little unfair to judge a book by its title, but … Continue reading »
Via the Rumpus: Lysley Tenorio’s linked short story collection, Monstress, organically ties together stories of the misfits and outcasts of both the Philippines and Southern California. The eight stories that comprise Monstress, the very-good-verging-on-excellent debut collection from San Francisco’s Lysley Tenorio, aren’t connected in the usual ways readers have been trained to expect. There are … Continue reading »
Bindlestiff Studio and PMSTA’s “Death of a Player,” reviewed by Bruce Reyes-Chow: The main reason that I took my daughter to see the show was not only because it was a production by PMSTA, but because I want to support the work and mission of The Bindlestiff Studio especially upon their return to operation. From the Bindlestiff Website: … Continue reading »
From Rattle: Poetry for the 21st Century: Barbara Jane Reyes is busy (re-)creating a culture. In Diwata, she dreamweaves what is and isn’t remembered through prose and line broken poems. Her third collection explores metamorphosis amid two cultures and tongues. [...] Reyes is a storyteller. Her motifs are intricately woven and the arc is unmistakable. Half … Continue reading »
From the Neworld Review: Leche is a book about contradiction: the title, the country it takes place in, and the quest Vince finds himself on without even realizing it. The word leche in Spanish means “milk,” while in the Philippines, it is a curse word, “shit”. Leche both provides nourishment and is filth. Throughout the book, Linmark strategically … Continue reading »
From Hyphen magazine: Abigal Licad reviews Moonface: A True Romance by Angela Balcita I don’t usually read memoirs. For the most part, I distrust memoirs in the way that any person should distrust a half-baked pickup line delivered in some seedy dive. The handful that I’ve read have tended to (a) evince extreme narcissism by … Continue reading »
