Sa pagtitipon ng mga maikling kuwentong nagtatampok sa karanasan ng LGBTQIA+ na nagtatanghal  sa  iba’t ibang  identidad at relasyong personal at pangkapangyarihan, naglalarawan sa kasalukuyang lipunan sa iba’t ibang manipestasyon nito sa iba’t ibang bahagi ng bansa, at patuloy na humihiraya sa posibilidad ng mas maalwang kinabukasan para sa lahat ng kasarian, inaasahang mabigyan ang mambabasa—miyembro man ng komunidad ng LGBTQIA+ o hindi—ng bagong pagsipat sa kanyang paligid at sa mga taong kanyang nakakasalamuha. Binubuklod ng antolohiyang ito ang tinig ng LGBTQIA+ na manunulat, ang ating mambabasa, ang ating publiko, ang iba pang mga pahina ng pambansang panitikan at kontraryong politika—ang asersyon na maging kaiba, may solidaridad ng hanay, may kaisahan at pakikiisa sa iba pang identidad at aspekto ng pagkamamamayan na inaapi, ang pangangailangang baguhin ang lipunan, kasaysayan, at modernidad ng pagdanas.

FROM THE BOOK What's Cooking? "The old and the new. The provincial and the pop. The slow and the fast. The past, the present, the future. That's what's cooking in Philippine cuisine. Which means that, as the most popular (people-created, people-processed and people-consumed) segment of popular culture, it is dynamic and changing, living and lively." Writing about Food. "When one describes food, one does not use words alone, but the readers' remembering as well -- of past pleasures, savored sensations. One writes on and with the readers' palates, alluding to food tasted as children, drawing on their reservoirs of pleasure. In effect, one draws on all of the culture that shaped oneself and one's readers." On Mangoes. “... we wager that the mango memories of many a Filipino still revolve around the fruit ripening to fragrance in Maytime; around fat golden halves dripping their juice on glistening suman in Antipolo; around mangoes peeled whole with the hands on farms and at fiestas...to drip on chin and clothes; around mangoes chilled in river water rather than in refrigerators, while the feasters-to-be swim in the rivers of childhood; around mangoes sweet because stolen from consenting uncles or neighbors; around the fruit not as commercial product, but as pledge of time and season and memory."

An endless festival amidst an endless war is the central image of this stunning novel about the Philippines of the Marcos era, a time of brutality, treachery, and betrayed passion. As the novel opens, our focus, in the Book of Acts, is on three young people—Eliza Hansen, Adrian Banyaga, and Anna Villaverde—as they arrive on the island of K_____ for the annual festival. Adrian is rich, innocent, handsome—the son of a leading family; Anna has been widowed in the rebel struggle and was herself detained and tortured by the military; Eliza, the beautiful daughter of a courtesan, is now the object of the perverted desires of the depraved Colonel Amor, Anna's tormentor. As the heat of the carnival brio rises, so do intimations of revolution, for somewhere in the jungle the rebel leader Guevara is plotting a terrorist act: a bomb will be placed at the speakers' stand timed to explode when the governor appears. Anna makes contact with the rebels, while Eliza plots to kill Amor for what he has done to her friend. And Adrian is captured and drugged by the colonel. As the tension builds, the novel moves back in time, in the Book of Numbers, on a headlong, magical, sometimes hallucinatory reprise of Filipino history and the history of the families of the three young people. We learn of the Japanese atrocities, Filipino greed and treachery, American coldness and venality. We learn how Adrian's fortune was made, how Anna became the strange and silent thinker she is, how Eliza is distantly related by European blood to Anna. And we meet characters whose literally fabulous—a woman who forces icons to respond prayers, a distillery owner who is also master of forty-two ways of self-indulgence, a self-contained maid who determines her master's fat, a boy who falls in love with saxophone, a teenage Chinese girl with bound feet who dreams of the return of the Manchu Dynasty, a German chemist unable to brew beer... Finally, in the Book of Revelations, we reawaken to the present: once again we are at the festival on K_____, about to witness the novel's shattering conclusion, its terrifying finale. Like Isabel Allende's The House of The Spirits, Ninotchka Rosca's novel is both a work of art and a powerful illumination of an entire culture and a country in conflict. Her achievement is timeless as well as masterful.

These stories are not for the faintheartedReplete with heartrending accounts and soul-searing experiences, Ninotchka Rosca maps out a country that’s saddled with corruption, tragedy, and grief. Yet, beneath the ashes and dust lie embers of love and hope. We follow the journeys of protagonists living in various unassuming corners of the country who face the most peculiar and occasionally grim circumstances—an archaeologist tries to stifle his laughter while readying to shoot himself; an elderly lady sends an invite to her progeny through the sun, the moon, and the postman who rides a bicycle; a girl dies while dancing the boogie; a man reconnects with his former Kung Fu partner, a white male who has transitioned into a Filipino woman. Stories of a Bitter Country offers an unapologetic scrutiny of the lives of ordinary people—their attempts to find peace amid chaos, and justice amid suffering—and in so doing, unveils the best and the worst that can come from all of us.

In this pioneering volume, Filipino, American, and Australian scholars explore the history of the great families who have led the Philippines during the past century - Osmena, Lopez, and Pardo de Tavera. Moving beyond Manila, the volume offers detailed accounts of how strong men such as Ramon Durano, Ali Dimaporo, and Justiniano Montano used "guns, goons, and gold" to become powerful provincial warlords. Illustrated with many original photographs, maps, and genealogies, this book is a valuable resource for anyone who seeks to understand the modern Philippines.

When a shiny idol is a sad mess in real life, can his number one fan help him stay upbeat? High schooler Utage Kinoshita works part-time as a housekeeper so she can afford her fangirl obsession with Tamon Fukuhara, her favorite member of boy band F/ACE. When work serendipitously sends her to the home of her idol, she discovers that the real Tamon couldn’t be more different from his wild and sexy onstage persona! F/ACE member Natsuki has been struggling to write a new song for the band, and nothing seems to help—especially not a run-in with his ex! Can he snap out of his funk in time for F/ACE’s surprise performance at Utage’s school festival?