It's the second edition of an anthology of short stories by Filipino writers under 45 years old, edited by literary royalty Dean Alfar and Sarge Lacuesta. My story, "The Woman of Sta. Barbara," is partly inspired by "A Streetcar Named Desire" and "Roman Holiday," and incorporates some of my greatest passions: theater, film and histrionic women. (Only kidding on that third one, you.) Also, it's my first published piece of fiction. The anthology is now available in major bookstores, so go buy your copy!
Here's an excerpt:
Some nights, Mother would join me in the living room with a half-filled wine glass in hand and the lingering stench of alcohol in her breath. The glass, a fountain of scotch that never quite ran out, had long been a fixture of her sultry frame, as if over time it had sprouted roots that dug deep to join the joints of her spindly fingers. She would tipsily catwalk across the living room and slither beside me on the couch, putting her free arm around my shoulders, leaning her head against mine, playfully planting wet kisses on my temple all the way down my neck. I'd gradually come to memorize the musty, smoky smell of Johnnie Walker wafting through her nostrils and clouding her breath. In the darkness breached only by moving colors from the television, we might have made an iconic portrait of sweetness--mother and son proverbially joined at the hip by unadulterated love.
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