Eliza Victoria is an award-winning author writing horror, science fiction, fantasy, and everything in between. Her latest novel is Ascension, published by Penguin Random House Southeast Asia in 2024. Her other titles include Dwellers, which won the Philippine National Book Award for Best Novel; Wounded Little Gods; After Lambana (with artist Mervin Malonzo); Nightfall; Seventeen Prayers to the Many-Eyed Mother; and What Comes After. She has had stories and poetry published in various venues since 2007, most recently in The Best Asian Speculative Fiction, The Apex Book of World SF, Future SF, Multispecies Cities, and Asian Literature Project. She has won prizes in the Philippines’ top literary awards, including the Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature and the National Book Award. You can visit her at elizavictoria.com.

In Philippine Genre Stores, Eliza published Needle Rain (Part 1) and Needle Rain (Part 2) in March, 2012. 

Welcome back to Philippine Genre Stories, Eliza! 

Thank you for having me again, and so glad to be back!

So happy to have you back! And what made you finally send out this story to PGS?

When Philippine Genre Stories switched to an online-only publication and went dark, I was worried it would never return. Then, when there was a limited call for submissions in 2020, and when guest editor Mia Tijam reached out to me directly to solicit a story, I went dark, being in the midst of personal and creative hell. (Let’s have coffee – I’ll tell you all about it, or maybe to start, read this essay I wrote.) This is me clawing my way back out and reconnecting with a publication (and friends) I’ve always loved.

Oh man, reading your essay about how dark it was in 2020, and recently finding out about Carl’s own kind of darkness in PGS 2025 Q&A: Carl Javier, we’re just so relieved at your reconnecting again. 

So how long has it been since you last wrote a short story anyway?

Thank you for that anxiety-inducing question. 

(Laughing) Sorry! 

My last published short story was in 2022! I’ve been writing long-form (e.g. my novel Ascension), but I do want to get back to writing short stories and poetry again. Flex that old muscle.

And the muscles are back woohoo! How did you start exploring the genres to begin with? Which books and authors got you started?

I read widely as a child (starting with encyclopedia volumes and comic strips from old newspapers) and didn’t really think about genres. I loved reading and learning new things, and just devoured whatever I could get my hands on. Later, of course, I began to find story beats or storylines that I wanted to see more of. Anything strange and weird and out of the ordinary I enjoyed, and that included stories my own family told me. Stories about ghosts, sirena, manananggal, engkanto, etc. I read a lot of Edgar Allan Poe (I found a story excerpt of “The Tell-Tale Heart” in an encyclopedia volume), Stephen King, Shirley Jackson.

I would buy secondhand copies of books and magazines, and I discovered old copies of Asimov’s SF Magazine, which made me realize that science fiction can be soft and quiet. (Up until that point, I was only familiar with the “space opera/explosions in space” kind of sci-fi from Hollywood movies.)

My mother had a college book – The Development of Philippine Literature in English – which introduced me to short stories by Nick Joaquin and Gregorio Brillantes. I remember “May Day Eve” and “Faith, Love, Time and Dr. Lazaro” blowing my mind the first time I read them. You can do that? With a short story?? It was an amazing experience reading and re-reading this volume.

Bless your Mama! What about Filipino-authored works, other than Joaquin and Brillantes, which ones that you’ve read have you found memorable and why? 

For more contemporary work, I love the tenderness and experimentation in Emiliana Kampilan’s Dead Balagtas Tomo 1: Mga Sayaw ng Dagat at Lupa. I like the bravery and just the sheer talent on display in Mervin Malonzo’s Tabi Po. And while bookstores will probably not file these collections under “genre”, I need to mention Conchitina Cruz’s Dark Hours and any book by Allan Popa, e.g. Drone. Words that unsettle and tilt the floor beneath you and get under your skin.

Which among the Philippine Genre Stories did you find the most interesting and why?

I would say Nica Bayona’s “Children of the Bridge”. I like stories set in the province; plus points if they are bleak and disturbing. I always say the best horror stories are the ones that break your heart, and this one is heartbreaking.

Nica’s story sure had that tug, was a hit according to the site stats.

Onto your story: what inspired you to write SUBLUMINARY?

I have a warm and loving extended family based in the United States. This story was a dark mirror held up to my reality, a horrible answer to a horrible What if, affected by my own concerns about racism, migration, cruelty, violence.

And which came easy in writing this story? 

This was the first short story I wrote after a long time, so I actually enjoyed the process. It’s like learning how to walk again. I enjoyed writing the family dynamics, the cousins’ conversations. The story came “easy” in the way that I wrote the first 4,000 words in one sitting.

What about the challenges in writing this one?

So, while I wrote 4,000 words in one go, I stopped working on this story for a long time, because between this story and the headlines and the world imploding, it became a bit too much. It felt like a cursed object, a ticking Word bomb sitting in my laptop. And a cousin of mine actually did get proposed to! I didn’t feel like releasing this story out into the world just yet.

My cousin is happily married now. I thought: this is life, this is the way of the world. Even when it feels like we’re all heading towards disaster, people are still falling in love and finding beauty in one another.

So, I thought, let’s get this story out, maybe something good will come out of it. Even if it’s just an acknowledgment of how awful things can truly get when we continue to debate what shouldn’t even be questioned, e.g. every human being deserves dignity and respect.

I definitely would want to write something happy and funny after this, though.

Looking forward to that!

As someone who’s already had books out: a) what was memorable about publishing locally? b) how does it feel to have books published internationally? 

I write for myself, but publish for human connection. I’ve had moments in my reading life when I would read something and think Oh this was written for me or I understand this completely because I’ve had this exact same thought. 

I’ve had moments like that with a community of readers who have followed my writing career for many years. I reach out my hand and someone takes it, says I understand. It makes you feel less alone. Being published internationally just means being able to reach more people. I’m grateful for it.

As a writer of short stories, what tips can you share with the new and aspiring storytellers out there?

To be a writer, you need to be a reader first. Read widely. Read beyond the genre you wish to write in. (That is, if you want to be a horror writer, read horror stories but not just horror stories.) Read everything you can get your hands on.

There’s no one way to give birth to a story. Keep writing until you figure out what works for you. Some writers write every day, some write stories chronologically, some write snippets of dialogue first before fleshing out the world. It’s all fine, it’s all okay. You’re allowed to do what works for you.

As a writer who writes across forms– you’ve written poetry, novel, graphic novel, plays, nonfiction– what galvanized you to attempt these?

I enjoy challenging myself, so I write across forms and across genres to keep me on my toes as a writer.

And how have you managed to keep on going to consistently produce since you started publishing?

I enjoy writing creatively. It’s fun for me, it feeds my soul. So I just keep going.

Is there a next project that you’re working on? 

Hopefully, a new graphic novel. (I have a completed script, but it’s still marinating, so to speak.) I also have an idea for a new novel.

Exciting! Anything else that you’d like your current and future readers to know about you?

I’m not overly active on social media, but I post every now and then on Instagram @elizawritesanywhere

Please check out my novel Ascension and tell me what you think!

Thank you so much again, Eliza, and it’s a happy gift to have you and your story welcome 2026! 

Thank you!!!