Seeker of the Lost Song

historical inspiration for my fantasy novel: foreign rule in finland & the philippines

Historical inspiration for my fantasy novel: foreign rule in Finland & the Philippines

| Myth | Lore | History, Seeker of the Lost Song, Twist the Branch, Writing | 2 Comments

Why do I write historically-inspired SF/F set in societies that disregard personal autonomy? I admit, when I first noticed it I got a little concerned.⁠ Shouldn’t I be writing about dragons or something lighthearted and fun? ⁠ Then I took a step back and looked at the broad strokes history of my parents’ countries of […]

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Honoured to be the inaugural Captured Phantoms “Pay It Forward” Scholarship Award recipient

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I’m honoured to be the inaugural Captured Phantoms “Pay It Forward” Scholarship Award Recipient. The fund was established by the wonderful book coach and editor Karen A. Parker, and I’m excited to work with Karen on developing Seeker of the Lost Song! The fund helps subsidize the cost of coaching, consultation, critique, and editorial services

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How I wrote my first short story in years

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I’m excited to talk about this: I wrote a short story for the first time in years! ⁠Stone Grown is set in the greater world of my latest fantasy novel Twist the Branch and its sequel-in-progress. It’s historically-inspired, character-driven, and draws on Finnish and Filipino folklore and customs.⁠ Note: A slightly more detailed version of this

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Sci-fi/fantasy worldbuilding process

How I start my worldbuilding process as an SF/F author

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At my recent “World-building and Cultural Research for Storytelling” panel at the Filipino-Canadian Book Festival, one question asked where we start our respective worldbuilding processes. Here I’ll go into more detail about how I start worldbuilding as a sci-fi/fantasy author. /// Note: A slightly more detailed version of this post first appeared in my monthly

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Filipino & Finnish mythology & folklore in my recent work

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To celebrate crossing the midpoint in my science-fantasy novella, I’m sharing the Filipino & Finnish mythology & folklore I’ve incorporated in my work so far. This includes The Quiet is Loud, Twist the Branch (formerly known as Seeker of the Lost Song), TTB’s sequel, and the novella. Folklore/mythology from the Philippines:⁠ ✦ Nuno sa punso,

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The inevitability of Peter Gabriel: creative inspiration

| Misc., Seeker of the Lost Song, Twist the Branch, Writing | Leave a Comment

Today is Peter Gabriel’s 74th birthday, and it’s good timing. Lately I’ve been thinking about the way his Genesis years influenced my writing. Ed. note: This post was updated with more content in September 2025. It might not be obvious mainly because he’s a singer and I’m a writer. Of course, though, in Genesis he

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pre-colonial-filipino-history-fantasy-novel-inspiration

Historical inspiration for my fantasy novel: Pre-colonial Philippines

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Twist the Branch (formerly Seeker of the Lost Song) is a historically-inspired fantasy novel merging medieval Finnish & pre-colonial Filipino elements, and I wanted to share two elements of Filipino history I included. Dulang, a low table One of my favourite tidbits from my research is that pre-colonial Filipinos ate at a low table, sitting

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Recommender Grants for Seeker of the Lost Song

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I’m grateful to ECW Press, Diaspora Dialogues, and the Ontario Arts Council for awarding me Recommender Grants for Writers to write Seeker of the Lost Song*, my fantasy novel-in-progress blending elements of Filipino and Finnish culture and history. It’s truly an honour to have this support. Arts funding is critically important not only to those

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