awaiting review
A Story about Cancer (With a Happy Ending)
By Saily Marrero Inspired by the author’s encounter with a 10-year-old girl with leukemia, India Desjardins created A Story About Cancer (With a Happy Ending), a short graphic novel delivering exactly what it promises in the title, a cancer story, and a happy ending. Along with the help of illustrator, Marianne Ferrer, and translator, Solange Ouellet, the story is brought to English speaking audience. Ferrer’s watercolor illustrations use different color schemes to differentiate between healthy and the sick. Healthier people are given more vibrant colors like reds, maroons, and purples. Meanwhile, the protagonist and other sick people are primarily illustrated… Read More
After Lambana – Myth and Magic in Manila
By Martha Cornog In this magical realist fictional tale set in Manila, a young man struggles against a parasitic illness. Conrad’s X-ray shows a tiny bud invading his heart—a parasitic growth that will flourish like a cancer to become full-bloom flower within his body that kills him. But in this folklore-driven urban noir from award-winning speculative fiction novelist Victoria (Dwellers), such fantastic “spontaneous diseases” can be cured only by magical beings. Yet soliciting their help can be even more convoluted than getting Medicare to cover some unusual, deadly condition. And not just convoluted but illegal. Twenty-something Conrad will die… Read More