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Inspired by the galleon trade, stories and poems in this work delve into fear, darkness, and the unknown.
Presenting tales of mystery, horror, psychological suspense, the macabre, and re-tellings of mythology, all presented in the rich storytelling tradition of the Philippines.
Introduced and edited by Monica T. S. Flores, DILIM Press’ inaugural anthology celebrates original work coming out of the Philippines and the Filipino diaspora and features twenty-five emerging and established Pinoy writers from across the world.
From folklore-inspired tales to modern thrillers, featuring supernatural and ghostly apparitions, and exloring the human psyche’s depth, the stories and poems are set in locations as far-flung as half-remembered villas, a possible future archipelago, and even outer space!
The paperback "Founders Edition" is available from Creatures of Kwento.
CONTENT WARNING:
The stories contain descriptions of violence and mature themes including abuse and harm, mental and emotional health issues, death, injuries, and explorations of identity and societal issues. Reader discretion is advised.
Dwellings, Joshua Lim So
The Wounds of the Non-Believer, Cassiopeia Gatmaitan
Year of the Megabat, An Arrangement of Philippine Aster and Ilang-Ilang, Faith Lakasan
Acapulco, Jules P. F.
Sagrada Bruja, Zeny May Recidoro
The Usual Order of Things, Ally Guirjen
The Piloncito Express, Kris Pajarito
The Deathless, Christine Liwag Dixon
Imitasyon, Samuel Marzioli
Life Among Manananggals, Nikki Stinson
Dear Mama, A. S. Kresnak
Twenty-Five Years, Sheryll Bonilla
The Palms of Her Hands, Christopher Villanueva Blackett
Beneath the Color of Our Skin, Al Osiris Ingking
Filipinos in the White Space, starting to believe, Tubig Means Water, personalized omens go extinct without fallacies, ghosts are the empty spaces where something important once was, Christian Hanz Lozada
Tabi-Tabi Po!, Thea Perales
Clicks, Cravings, Kundiman, Noelle Grace O. Pico
The Esperanza, Michael Oliveros
Tethered, J. J. de Melo
The Death Galleon, Michael Angelo Mahinay
The Visit, B.C. Vidal Jr.
Bury the Body, Marie Sinadjan
Bayabas Tree, Abi Andoy
I Dreamt of Gold, Sapin-Sapin, Maleia Mortis
Close Your Eyes on Balete Drive, Michelle Tang
Featuring 25 Filipino authors inspired by the mythology and folklore of the Philippines. Reserve your Founder’s copy now through our supplier Creatures of Kwento.
Perfect Bound
280
October 1, 2026
979-8-9964051-3-8 Hardback
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Bookshop
Galleon Dreaming: An Anthology of Dark Fiction from the Philippine Diaspora
FOUNDERS EDITION (PAPERBACK)
ISBN: 979-8-9964051-0-7
Publication Date: October 1, 2026
Specs: 280 pages | 5.5” x 8.5” | Cream paper | Perfect bound | MSRP $22.00
Contact publisher for wholesale rates on the special founders edition.
HARDBACK
ISBN: 979-8-9964051-3-8
Publication Date: October 1, 2026
PAPERBACK (collage edition)
ISBN: 979-8-9964051-1-4
Publication Date: September 1, 2027
EBOOK (Kindle edition)
ISBN: 979-8-9977653-4-7
Publication Date: November 14, 2026
AUDIOBOOK
ISBN: 979-8-9964051-2-1
TRADE & WHOLESALE DETAILS
Distribution: IngramSpark
Wholesale Terms: Standard wholesale rates (55%, returnable) available to libraries & bookstores.
Primary BISAC:
FIC003000 — FICTION / Anthologies
Secondary BISACs:
FIC054000 — FICTION / Asian American & Pacific Islander
FFIC015000 — FICTION / Horror
“Galleon Dreaming comes in various forms of writing and captures various manifestations of what it means to be a Filipino. Interestingly, this summarizes the Filipino experience; that is, we’re Filipinos with various experiences, united by the oneness of our soul. I loved every piece!”
“Hauntings and hope—Galleon Dreaming offers incredible stories that further animate the growing corpus of Filipino-authored literature of the dark fantastic.”
“Loaded with the monstrous imagination of archipelagic thinking, Galleon Dreaming: An Anthology of Dark Fiction from the Philippine Diaspora is visceral and fierce in its commitment to how narrative and language function as a medium of accessing the very place that evades definition: the vivid dream of home. This anthology is a talisman of myth and memory, of folklore and fantasy, against the fear of forgetting and the terror of remembering.”
“Mortis’ I Dreamt of Gold is a vibrant and thoughtfully measured poetics of self-discovery. As the poem’s speaker works to find their musicality and lyricism, we see them also arrive at a deep knowledge of the beauty of heritage and history residing within.”
“With intricate and haunting prose, Pico’s Clicks, Cravings, Kundiman demonstrates a craft that is both musical and poetic.”
“Zeny May Recidoro’s Sagrada Bruja is a journey through the archaeology of memory. Beyond artifact, it captures not only what was thought to be unanswerable, but presents clues to those things that seek out our humanity.”
“Like the best spooky tales, Close Your Eyes on Balete Drive combines folklore, atmosphere, and a deeply felt human story. Michelle Tang gives the reader an almost impossible choice: close your eyes out of fear, or keep them open to read until the creepy end!”
“Dwellings by Joshua Lim So is an unsettling story in which the scares lie beneath the skin but never surface. You never feel truly comfortable, and you never understand why.”
“Michael Oliveros’s The Esperanza poignantly details the risks and dangers that regularly challenge mortality. Every decision—right or wrong—stays with you for a long time. Just like the story.”
Learn more about Galleon Dreaming from the contributing authors and poets as they share their thoughts, creative processes, and inspirations.
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).
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.
Sheryll Bonilla has been a trial lawyer, a legal manager for a health care company, and a teacher of healthcare law for graduate students. She enjoys spoken poetry and jazz.
Christine Liwag 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.
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 anti-colonial.
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.
Ally Guirjen studies 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.
Find her on Threads @allyguirjen.
Al Osiris 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, he has co-produced the collections Dagit, Saudade, and Lumpia, and the first volume of the Partida anthology.
A. S. Kresnak went to grad school to study health communication. Xir website can be found at askresnak.carrd.co.
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.
Christian Hanz Lozada’s (he/him) near-accolades include two Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominations, runner up in the Blossom Contest for BIPOC writers, and almost dating Super Bowl halftime star Jessica Alba (if an initiated conversation counts). He wrote the poetry collection 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.
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.
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.
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
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.
Michael Oliveros (they/them/theirs) is a genderqueer Filipino American storyteller whose work spans several disciplines, from performance to poetry to digital artwork. Regardless of the medium, they find themself wrestling with hauntings and in-betweens. Their work is contextualized by their relationship with diasporas, queerness, and grief.
Find them at @inkybattlefields over on 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 is exploring 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.
Find her at juliapalmianofederer.com and @julespfbooks.
Kris Pajarito started out in entertainment, pinning storyboards and running dailies for directors and producers at DreamWorks Animation while finishing a 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), Kris decided to change her path from film editing to writing. Over a decade later, Pajarito still doesn’t consider herself a one-discipline kind of writer. Her approach to copywriting is exactly the same as when she concepts for creative writing: she thinks of consumers as characters. Who are they and what makes them tick? The backstories are endless.
Find her at krispajaritowriter.com.
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 first published 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.
Noelle Grace O. Pico is a writer, musician, and professional creative living in Pasig City, Philippines. As a classically trained pianist and a lifelong student of dance, she views the poetic line as choreography, using cadence and sound to manage the emotional narrative in an act of dialogue.
Her early work appeared in the Sunday Inquirer Magazine and the anthology Crowns and Oranges: Works by Young Philippine Poets, and she’s released three original songs over on Bandcamp. Her more recent poetry is featured in the Eunoia Review, Soul Poetry, Prose & Arts Magazine, and is forthcoming from Fluorescent Magazine.
Approaching writing outside the traditional MFA track, Noelle balances the mechanics of writing with a deep sense of play both in her personal projects and professional work. In her downtime, Noey—as most people call her—hangs out on Instagram and Threads as @thenoeychu. There, she shares poetry sketches, personal photography, and the ongoing adventures of her overgrown soot sprite of a cat, Jinx.
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 non-profit arts organization Women in the Arts, Inc.
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 includes “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.
Find her at mariesinadjan.com and @quillandcrib.
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.
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.
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, hit bookstores Summer 2026.
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 in North Carolina, where he has been working as a science professional for 20 years. He has lately returned to his love of writing, especially fiction. He is drawn to stories that teeter between reality and myth, between truth and speculation. Two of his short stories have recently been published in Hemlock Journal and Rooted Literary. 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.
Monica T. S. Flores is a short story writer exploring heritage, legacy, and identity. Her work is recognized in the Asian Pacific American Heritage Reading List by the Community of Literary Magazines and Presses.
Check out her work at monicatsflores.com.
Raf Banzuela is a graphic designer and illustrator in Legazpi, Philippines.
Discover more of his work at behance.net/rafbanzuela.
