Contributors

A. S. Kresnak went to grad school to study health communication. Xir website can be found at askresnak.carrd.co.

Website

Abi Andoy is from Bayabas, Surigao del Sur, Philippines. She writes poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. Her work has been published in dagmay.online and Elephants & Tea. One of her poems was recently included in The Best of Dagmay 3 anthology, published by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA).

Website

Ally Guirjen is 19 years old and currently studying mass communications. A writer since junior high, she considers literature her first love and has acquired a small number of accolades for her passion. The horror genre is new territory for this Filipino writer, who has mostly submitted her poetry in the past. However, she has found that the macabre and the conventionally beautiful have a unique way of joining that imprints itself on the mind.

Al Ingking is from Cebu City. He was a fellow for fiction in the 61st Silliman University National Writers' Workshop as well as in the 2019 Bathalad Writing Workshop. His work have been published in journals such as the New Philippine Speculative Fiction, Santelmo, and Katitikan. His weird fiction also garnered second prize in the F. Sionil Jose Young Writers' Award. As part of the literary group Bad Seed Collective, they have produced the collections Dagit, Saudade, and Lumpia, and have published the first volume of the anthology "Partida."

B. C. Vidal Jr was born and raised in Cebu, Philippines, where he first fell in love with literature. In his college years, he was a student paper editor and an ardent advocate of press freedom. After moving to the US in 2006, he settled with his family (wife and two children) in North Carolina, where he has been working as a science professional for 20 years. He's lately returned to his love of writing, especially fiction, and is drawn to stories that teeter between reality and myth, between truth and speculation. Two of his short stories have recently been published in the Hemlock Journal and Rooted Literary Magazine. When he's not behind the desk for his day job or writing stories, he's likely to be found fly fishing in the river.

Camilla Andrea is a scientist-turned-author fueled by coffee, cookies, and cheese. She loves listening to true crime podcasts, documentaries, and audiobooks while working on her drafts; they help her drown the chaos happening inside her head. She was a fellow of the 1st Paradox Philippine Speculative Fiction Writing Workshop 2025 and a participant of Dreamland Wayz: Power Primer sa Pagsulat ng Nobela. Her works are featured in Dispatsa releases (Volume 1 and 3), Deus Ex Manila Volume 1, and Aninag Books (Silang Mga Puta at Banal).

Cassiopeia Gatmaitan is a BSFA and Brave New Weird-nominated writer from the Philippines. Their work has appeared in Pseudopod, the Mekong Review, the Death in the Mouth anthology, and elsewhere. They engage with folklore and history, the gothic and the grotesque, and the anticolonial. 

They are also currently a sociology and anthropology student, with a background in the archaeology of Austronesian cultures. Their research takes a focus on the decolonial and anti-colonial, and they are interested in the politics of empires, mythology within the Austronesian sphere, as well as hauntology in the context of the tropical gothic. 

When not writing, they can be found tending to their garden full of tropical orchids. Find them across social media @lagunabayfables 

 
Website | Bluesky | Instagram

Christian Hanz Lozada’s (he/him/his) near-accolades include two Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominations, runner up in the Blossom Contest for BIPOC writers, and almost dated Super Bowl halftime star Jessica Alba (if an initiated conversation and immediate rejection count). He is the author of the poetry book He’s a Color, Until He’s Not. His poetry has been published worldwide, including in Zocalo Public Square, Bamboo Ridge, and Emerson Review. Christian has featured at the Autry Museum and Beyond Baroque. He lives in San Pedro, CA and uses his MFA to teach his neighbors and their kids at Los Angeles Harbor College.

Website | Instagram

Christine Dixon is a Filipino American writer and musician based in the greater NYC area. Her work has been featured in various publications and websites including Mic, The  List, Mashed, Foliate Oak Literary Magazine, Poetic Resonance Imaging, Brilliant Flash Fiction, Marias at Sampaguitas, What Rough Beast, The Drabble, The Story Shack, Plum Tree Tavern, and Apocrypha & Abstractions. She is the author of “Barkada Tayo” in the Filipino Star News, a column exploring Filipino American identity and life in the diaspora.

Website

Christopher Villanueva Blackett a native New Yorker, born to Filipina and English immigrants. His mother passed away when he was younger, and is buried in the Santuario de San Antonio Parish in Makati City. He spent every summer of his life visiting her columbarium, as well as his lola, cousins, titos, and titas, and falling in love with his motherland: From the pearl markets in the Tiangge to the inihaw served in Salcedo Market and the bars along Burgos Street. 

He was raised with a deep appreciation for the escape that books provided. His childhood bedroom literally doubled as the family library, filled with Isaac Asimov and Terry Pratchett. He studied English literature at Tufts University and studio art at the School of the Museum of Fine Art. After graduating, he taught in Harlem for several years through Teach for America, and is now a corporate cog and aspiring author. 

In his spare time, he writes poetry and prose, paints and wheel throws, and reads as many books as he can get his hands on. He lives in New York with his wife, Michelle, and his dog, Phoebe.

Website

Faith Lakasan is Filipino, likes strolling around, sweet beverages, and watching videos about the ocean. They have a Bachelor’s in English Literature and live in the Pacific Northwest.

Instagram

J.J. de Melo (he/him) is an author based in San Francisco, California where much of his writing is intimately tied to his background as a gay, Bay Area native with Filipino and Portuguese roots. As both a reader and writer, his first love is science fiction, especially anything slipstream or new weird. He also has a strong taste for literary fiction, horror, magical realism, and story cocktails blending any of the above. 

He is an active member of the literary community at the City College of San Francisco, where he earned his Associate of Arts degree in Creative Writing in 2026, graduating with a Sam F. Ewing V Memorial Scholarship for Creative Writing. He also holds advanced degrees in Public Health and Epidemiology, working a double life as an author-scientist. 

His stories have been featured in Fiction on the Web, Macabre Magazine, Space & Time, Sci-Fi Shorts, and elsewhere. In 2025, he won the editor’s choice award for fiction from Forum Magazine. He is currently working toward his first full-length science fiction novel.

See the latest from J.J. on his website: jjdemelo.wordpress.com

Website | Instagram

Joshua Lim So is a Hall of Fame inductee of the Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature, twice recognized by the BBC International Radio Playwriting Competition, and a Bienvenido N Santos Creative Writing Center Fellow for Drama. He was granted an Asian Cultural Council New York Fellowship, and a St. La Salle scholarship to pursue his MFA in Creative Writing at De La Salle University. He has directed performances, including "Joe Cool: Aplikante", "Cubao Pagkagat ng Dilim", and "Acts of Piracy". His works have been published and discussed in "The Best of Philippine Speculative Fiction", "Likhaan: The Journal of Contemporary Philippine Literature", "Science Fiction Research Association Review", "The Year’s Best Fantasy & Horror 20th Annual Collection", "The Routledge Concise History of Southeast Asian Writing in English", and others. He received his BA in Philippine Studies from DLSU. Born and raised in Davao City, he is now based in Manila.

Instagram

Jules P.F. is a Filipina peace and conflict researcher and author. Her research interests include critical, feminist, and decolonial approaches to conflict resolution. She explores creative nonfiction and essays on mythweaving Filipino folklore and futures as a form of cultural reclamation. She was born in Manila, Philippines, and raised on the unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations (Vancouver). She is currently living in Havana, Cuba. 

Website | Instagram

Kris Pajarito started out in entertainment, pinning storyboards and running dailies for directors and producers at DreamWorks Animation while finishing her Visual Arts & Film degree at the University of California, San Diego. After two credited feature films (in story and editorial) and a concurrent M.A. in Humanities (she's obsessed with history & culture), she decided to change her path from film editing to writing. 

Over a decade later, she still doesn't consider herself a one-discipline kind of writer. Her approach to copywriting is exactly the same as when she conceptualizes creative writing: she think of consumers as characters. Who are they and what makes them tick?  The backstories are endless.

Website | Instagram

Maleia Mortis is a queer, Filipinx-American experimental poet based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Their poems have appeared in Visual Verse: An Anthology of Art and Words, BuliLit Magazine by Sampaguita Press, and Datura Literary Journal. When not writing or culling their TBR pile, they moonlight in the bar industry. Readers can find more of their writing on their poetry blog, mxmortis.wordpress.com.

Marie Sinadjan is a Filipino speculative fiction author of mythology and folklore retellings blended with fantasy, sci-fi, or horror, and themes of feminism, motherhood, or the diaspora experience. She is the co-author of The Prophecies of Ragnarok series, and her short stories have appeared in literary journals and anthologies across the world. Her short fiction include The Secret Keeper ("Devotion in the Open Air" anthology, Inked in Gray Press), Rite of Succession (Paper Lanterns Literary Journal), Requiem Trio ("Valkyries" anthology, Iron Faerie Publishing), Death Penalty ("Liwanag: Mga Bagong Alamat" anthology, 8Letters Publishing), Just A Byte ("Among Thorns and Stardust: A Sci-Fi Fairytale Anthology"), and Memento Mori ("Bloody Hell: An Anthology of UK Indie Horror"). 

Originally from Cebu, Philippines, she now lives in the UK with her husband and daughter.

Website | Instagram

Michael Angelo Mahinay was born on the island of Cebu in the Philippines, raised on video games and cartoons, and grew up on stories of magic and monsters both in and outside of his country. His short stories, Motherland and Nimrod Yamsuan and the Abyssal Emissary are some of the fruits of the knowledge he has gathered on Philippine mythology and folklore during his days as a student at the University of San Carlos. He's currently holed up in a house in Cabancalan with his mother and poodle, Jack, studying up on plumbing and the paranormal while teaching English to students in Japan.

Inspired by the ingenuity their ancestors exemplify, Michael Oliveros (they/them/theirs) roots themselves in the rich legacies of queer refusal and Philippine resilience. As a storyteller, craftsman, and lover of myths, their work reckons with the apocalyptic, diving into the haunted trenches of memory to imagine alternative futures. You can find them running around Chicago, racing against the wind. 

To keep up with their journey, follow them @inkybattlefields.

Instagram

Michelle Tang (she/her) is a Chinese-Filipino writer of speculative fiction. Her short stories have been published by Cemetery Gates, Escape Pod, and Flame Tree Press, among others, and her debut novella, DuMort, was released in July 2025 by Ghost Orchid Press. Her debut novel, She Waits Where Shadows Gather, comes out Summer 2026. 

Website

Nikki Stinson received her Bachelor's degree in English from California Baptist University and her MFA in Creative Writing from Drexel University. Her debut novel, Daughters of Mindanao, won the 2025 Drexel Book Award and will be published with Running Wild Press in 2027. Nikki has also been published by On The Run, The Dazed Starling, The Write Launch, and more. She is originally from Riverside, California, and lives in the Philadelphia suburbs with her husband and three children. Please visit nstinson.com and follow @nikkistinson_ for news on upcoming publications or to say hi.

Website | Instagram

Noelle Grace O. Pico "thenoeychu" is a poet, musician, professional creative, and all-around nerd who's been kicking around the world wide web since the 1990s—based in Pasig City, Metro Manila. By day, she works in marketing helping clients craft content to communicate their vision and purpose to audiences. In her downtime, she directsher energies to things that she loves: literature across genres, pop culture, her little corner of the fandoms I love, and being a mom to her cat, Jinx.

Website | Instagram | Threads

Samuel Marzioli is a Filipino-American author of dark fiction, with many stories inspired by Filipino folklore and urban legends. His work has appeared in numerous publications and podcasts, including the Best of Apex Magazine, Flame Tree's Spirits & Ghouls, LeVar Burton Reads, and Pseudopod. His novelette "Gifted Speaker of the Silent Voice" was published by Bleeding Edge in the anthology Strange Echoes, and his horror collection Hollow Skulls and Other Stories was published by JournalStone Publishing. Both are available at most major online book retailers. You can find more information about his work at his infrequently updated writing blog marzioli.blogspot.com.

Website

Sebbie enjoys analyzing what makes a story tick—from plot details and character quirks all the way to how a word or punctuation choice can transform a sentence. They've been freelancing as a ghostwriter and have worked as a writing coach for students and young writers since 2017. With a BA in Literature (English), Sebbie is finishing an MA in Creative Writing. 

Website | Instagram

Sheryll Bonilla has been a trial lawyer, a legal manager for a health care company, and a teacher of healthcare law in for graduate students. She enjoys spoken poetry and jazz.

Thea C. Perales was raised in British Columbia, Canada. Her family immigrated from the Philippines when she was less than two years old. As a child, she would get in trouble for wanting to read a book instead of playing soccer during recess. She would spend her days dreaming of new ideas for future books and stories she wanted to write one day. Thea completed her undergraduate degree in English literature and is continuing her pursuit of higher education to one day become a university professor. Her short story “Tabi Tabi Po!” seeks to deconstruct colonial influences in Philippine mythology, while navigating a maternal relationship of adoration and understanding. Through the support of her loving family, Thea is able to create work that helps her connect to her Filipino identity. Like many kids that grew up away from where their parents came from, Thea always felt out of place—writing gave her a sense of belonging. She hopes that other people who may also feel out of place find some community with her work. 

Instagram

Zeny May Recidoro is a Filipino Independent Art Writer and Artist currently residing in Orlando, Florida. She is a recipient of the Asian Cultural Council fellowship grant from 2018 to 2020. In 2024, she was part of the Burnaway Art Writing Incubator cohort, and was a fellow for Fiction at the 63rd University of the Philippines National Writer’s Workshop held in Iloilo City. She has a degree in Art Studies from the University of the Philippines, and an MFA in Art Writing and Criticism from the School of Visual Arts. 

Her literary works have been published in Lontar: A Journal of Southeast Asian Speculative Fiction, University of Hong Kong’s Yuan Yang, Cha: An Asian Literary Journal, quarrtsiluni, Terse Journal, Unlikely Journal, Ateneo de Manila University’s Kritika Kultura, Queen Mobs Tea House, Variable West, and Berfois. One of her early poems, We (2012; Best of the Net nominee, 2013) was translated into Chinese for Verse and Voice Poetry Magazine in 2017. As an art writer, she has written for the Brooklyn Rail, Degree Critical, Variable West, and Burnaway: a Magazine for Contemporary Art in the South. Her essay “Works-in-Progress: Artistic Practices and Digital Communities” appeared in the Philippine Contemporary Art Network’s Writing Presently. She has a suite of five poems in Likhaan: the Journal of Contemporary Philippine Literature. She works as a cook at Walt Disney World, paints, writes about art, writes fiction, and produces content for the non-profit arts organization Women in the Arts, Inc.

 
Lily and Moon Studio | Instagram