BROWSER
Man of many stories
By Ruel S. De Vera
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 01:34:00 01/20/2008
MANILA, Philippines - In his youth, Kenneth Yu immersed himself in amazing stories. He grew familiar with J.R.R. Tolkien, Frank Herbert, Isaac Asimov, Agatha Christie, Arthur Conan Doyle, Stephen King and Clive Barker, among many others. Now, he's immersing as many people as he can in those stories.
The 38-year-old Yu is the publisher of the more-or-less quarterly The Digest of Philippine Genre Stories or PGS for short. Yu, general manager of the small commercial press Kemdy Prints, Inc., started PGS last year and has done four issues so far, with the fifth due early this year.
“Genre, technically means 'classification' or 'category' but for some reason, in publishing it's come to mean fiction that falls under any of the following: detective, crime, suspense, horror, supernatural, fantasy, science-fiction, espionage, thrillers, and all the sub-categories that can fall under these,” he explains.
After all, these stories have a natural hold on readers from a very early point in their lives. “When we were young, many of us were attracted to ghost stories, or action tales involving the derring-do of heroes or heroines and the sharp wit of really brainy characters. We also liked stories that portend the future, as well as myths, monsters and heroic deeds,” Yu says.
It was after observing that publishing in the Philippine focused on what he calls “social/domestic realism” that Yu decided to do something about it himself. The Digest, he says, “is a venue for writers to try their hand at telling tales of genre, which otherwise might not find a home outside of a very few local publications.” He got the idea years ago after reading foreign genre magazines.
Aside from getting more Pinoys, particularly the younger ones, into reading, Yu would like to publish all kinds of writers, aspiring and established. Among the writers he's published so far are Dean Francis Alfar, Sharmaine Galve, Miggy Escano, Erica Gonzales and Michael Co. Yu welcomes contributions from anyone out there. “I haven't had a good piece of crime fiction sent my way yet,” he notes.
Nevertheless, it was a very gutsy call to do it on his own. “I decided to come out with it when I felt confident enough in my abilities to actually produce a physical product,” he says. There are perks that he enjoys: “I get to read, early on, fresh stories by talented Pinoys. There's a wealth of story and story-telling talent in this country, and it's nice to be at the forefront of seeing it.”
In fact, he says Filipino writers are producing really good stories these days, they just need an outlet. “Don't ever discount the creativity and imagination of local story-tellers. Read and you'll find good stuff there too. Those who don't are missing out,” Yu notes. He loves seeing his contributors getting published elsewhere or even winning awards.
As expected, Yu has had to battle naysayers and has also struggled with the nuts and bolts of running a self-sustaining magazine: “I am thankful to the sponsors who support PGS, and I do my best to give them their money's worth and more in advertising and exposure. I'm hoping for more sponsors to believe in PGS as an avenue for making the Pinoy more literate.”
With the help of friends, Yu has persevered in putting out PGS on a regular basis. Now, he wants to take it farther. “I want it to last a long time, to continue to be an outlet for Pinoy writers to tell their 'genre' tales,” he says. “I want it to be among the first choice with readers when they want to have a good read, and for writers to send their work to.”
As the pages turn, Kenneth Yu believes in the writers and the readers out there, and in what the Digest of Philippine Genre Stories represents. “I believe Pinoys like stories. I've heard that in places like Thailand and Malaysia, writers are read and enjoyed by their people. Why not here?”
The Digest of Philippine Genre Stories retails at P100 and is available at Comic Quest, Books For Less, mag:net, Fully Booked, A Different Bookstore, Bibliarch and National Bookstore. For more information, log on to www.philippinegenrestories.blogspot.com.
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