bethgstories

Fandoms feel like a sensitive topic - they are so powerful and scary that they can make or break my internet existence. When Goodreads recommended Idol Burning and I discovered it was about fangirling, I didn't hesitate to read it.  Because I am a fangirl.  I spent most of my teenage years swooning over good-looking men who didn't even know me. Faces of strangers hung on my wall and each of them was part of my every night prayer. Their music was my after-class devotion and MTV was my salvation on days when trigonometry proved to be so much harder than it seemed. I collected teen magazines, compiled interviews, pasted cut-outs of their songs into a binder, and placed them on my bedside table. I recorded their singles from the radio and made mixed tapes that I would play depending on my mood, my emotional needs, and the weather. Life revolved around those men, and I would often daydream, what if... what if Nick Carter really married me.  Akari didn't have any romantic feel...

The Pinoy Indie Authors (PIA) reimagined once again. After the successful Manananggal In the City , they were at it again, this time featuring the Tamawo, and this time, I was there not as a spectator but rather, one of the authors. Tamawo or Tamao is a mythological creature of Philippine mythology. They are believed to be malevolent but extremely handsome with very pale skin to white skin that sparkles under direct sunlight, they also have light colored hair, and fangs. They reside primarily near the sea or any body of water. Their Western counterpart would be the Germanic Elves. They are said to abduct any human female that catch their eye. They do this for one purpose: to breed with them. It is also believed that their saliva is some kind of aphrodisiac or has that similar property/ healing property. Tamawos are more commonly known as engkanto, and I've heard a lot of stories about them. I remember one of my older cousins used to say that if the hairs on your arms and legs are g...

I was in Boracay when I received the invite to the initial meeting of Pinoy Indie Authors for their second collab. The week before that, Yeyet Soriano sent a message of the prompt and asked if I wanted to join. I kid you not, she got me at the word “aphrodisiac”. Needless to say, I went “hell yeah!” and now here we are and Marahuyo is about to be launched. What is a tamawo? I’ve never heard of the tamawo until Yeyet sent me that message. When I read the prompt, I immediately thought of Sehun, Chanyeol, and Mingyu in long white flowing hairs in white shirt and black pants. Here’s how the prompt went: Tamawo or Tamao is a mythological creature of Philippine mythology. They are believed to be malevolent but extremely handsome with very pale skin to white skin that sparkles under direct sunlight, they also have light colored hair, and fangs. They reside primarily near the sea or any body of water. Their Western counterpart would be the Germanic Elves. They are said to abduct any human fe...

Despite my yearly attendance at the MIBF , the Philippine Book Festival 2024 is the first PBF I ever attended. I didn’t really plan on coming since I am on a no-buying-of-books season until I finished reading everything in my unread pile. Plus, that was my birthday week. I was true to my words for the most part this time. I mean, yes, I went, and yes, I bought a couple of books. And for a reason. Meeting Ron Canimo I first met Ron Canimo at the MIBF 2023. I had no idea who he was back then—but Kim is one of his avid followers. He was extremely nice to us, entertained all our questions, and even signed the little quote card freebie I had in my hand. I appreciate nice people, so I followed him on social media and found overwhelming emotions in his words. Damn, I was sold! So when I saw that he was gonna be at the PBF, I just knew that I should go. I bought his books and got them signed, we hugged, and I was just standing there while answering his questions with a single or maybe a couple...

Storytime to when I submitted my first published book to the publisher. I actually submitted Destiny Cheated Me to two publishers. I can no longer remember the first publisher I submitted it to. What I can remember was they had tons of comments about my manuscript. Even  the first working title was unacceptable. Thankfully, the 2014 version of me wasn’t a severe procrastinator, and despite my extremely weak finger muscles because of myasthenia gravis , I edited the manuscript. I tried to clean every nook and cranny of that story and addressed all the comments the first publisher had. But I never went back to them. I submitted the much cleaner version to Lifebooks. I didn’t know where I pulled the confidence to hit Send on that email, expressing the desire for my story to be published. I didn’t think it was crap. I didn’t think I sucked. All I thought about was how much fun I had while I was writing that story. Louise and her friends were the barkada classmates I’d want to be in. Th...