by Mina V. Esguerra

Guest-editor Mina V. Esguerra

Hello to the readers of Philippine Genre Stories, and thank you for welcoming contemporary romance to your space!

My name is Mina V. Esguerra, author of contemporary romance, independent publisher, founder of the RomanceClass writing community, co-founding editor of the Blush Books imprint of Komiket, and media agent for RomanceClass adaptations through LA-based Bold Management & Production. I love reading romance, and I love thinking about it too—especially in the context of what romance by Filipino authors has done, is doing, what more it could do, for all of us.

So…what is it then? What has been done, what are we doing, and why does it matter?

Yeyet Soriano is a multigenre author who specializes in speculative fiction, contemporary romance, poetry, and crime fiction.

Based in Manila, Philippines, her day job is that of a cross-regional IT leader for Asia-Pacific, EMEA, and Latin America for a multinational corporation. She is a people leader, a coach, and a mentor.

She has a very supportive husband who has never read any of her works (he only reads to fall asleep). They have three wonderfully unique kids, each with their own idiosyncrasies.

by Yeyet Soriano

Image by Jenny Mavimiro on Pexels. (All photos and videos on Pexels can be downloaded and used for free).

She has forgotten what she had needed to do. 

She is standing on the top of the stairs connecting the first and second floors of their house. Was she coming down or had she just reached the top? She isn’t sure. Her mind is foggy with sleep. 

She looks down and she is wearing a full pajama set in black with white trim and her gray fluffy bedroom slippers. Strange, she never wears her bedroom slippers outside the bedroom. Is she dreaming? She suddenly becomes aware of her throat feeling parched and slightly irritated. 

Ah, that’s it. She must have been on her way down to drink a glass of water. 

She descends from the stairs slowly. Patches of moonlight stream through the big window in the living room, so it isn’t completely dark. She enters the kitchen and pours herself a cold glass of water from the refrigerator. As she drinks, bits and pieces of the nightmare that must have woken her come flooding back.

Help me!

A young girl’s voice, but sounding muffled and far away.

Ysabelle C. Bartolome teaches at the University of the Philippines Diliman. She likes reading women in translation and manga. 

by Ysabelle C. Bartolome

Image by Mihman Duğanlı on Pexels. (All photos and videos on Pexels can be downloaded and used for free).

Before Purok Laon became a village of rumor and urban legend in the City of Molina––it was like any other purok in its  barangay. Houses of varying lengths and heights were stacked haphazardly next to each other, as in  a child’s drawing. From the sky, Purok Laon looks like a web of concrete houses and rusting roofs enveloping a faint greenish rectangle–the basketball court at its center. 

The basketball court, as  in any other purok in the barangay, is a multipurpose hall, housing the occasional village meeting, fiesta celebration, community basketball league, even the daily morning aerobics session. There is a concrete stage with wood flooring on its north side for events and festivities. Behind the stage, a mid-sized katmon tree grows, giving shade to a group of mothers gossiping about the people in the purok and  from nearby places. The tree and the stage give them a sense of privacy that is not available elsewhere in their community.

Today, a day like any other, the wives of the purok gossip about the demolitions being conducted  nearby.