I’ve been a science-fiction fan since I was a child, from the very first time my grandmother switched the television channel to Star Trek and bade me watch it with her. “To boldly go where no one has gone before” has become my mantra, and it has given me the courage to bravely split infinitives whenever I like.
This interest that first sparked when I was a child reached its zenith in my teens. I scoured the sale bins of National Bookstore and the now-defunct Alemar’s for SF tomes. All the books I saw were written by Western authors.
But one day, the title of a battered book with a blue cover caught my eye – The Distance to Andromeda and Other Stories, by a Filipino named Greg Brillantes. I eagerly took it home.
It turned out that it was the titular story that used elements of the fantastic as a device for the main character’s introspection. It wasn’t what I expected, but I loved it. It was a story of a 13-year-old boy who watched an SF film and after that experience a feeling of being very small in the vastness of the universe.
It reminded me of Ray Bradbury’s work in its lyricism and use of science fiction elements but had its own uniquely Filipino identity. I never forgot that story, and how it made me feel about Filipino writing – that at its best, it can stand with the most acclaimed stories in the world.
That was my introduction to the marvelous, fantastic work of Brillantes, who today is hailed as one of the finest Filipino writers in English. Readers who love his stories and those who are yet to discover them will be happy to know that most of his stories have been collected by the Ateneo Press in one volume – The Collected Stories of Gregorio C. Brillantes.
If you are to buy just one book of fiction right now, I strongly suggest you get this one, for the beauty of the words and the sharpness of the insights into Filipino life and the human condition.
From The Distance to Andromeda: “Someday, far away from this night in this town, his boyhood the remotest of remembrances and dreams, he may feel this vibration again, this hum like the echo of an eternal name: then he may come to understand a portion of the mystery at last, although humanly unutterable: revealing, in time, not the terror of the universe, but its purpose and glory.”
This book collects 39 of Brillantes’ stories written over 41 years, from 1952 to 1993, when his last short story was published. It contains the works published in his books The Distance to Andromeda and Other Stories; The Apollo Centennial: Nostalgias, Predicaments, and Celebrations; and On a Clear Day in November, Shortly Before the Millenium: Stories for a Quarter Century. These books have been out of print for a long time, so this collection is most timely and welcome.
The book was launched by Ateneo Press last July 26, with Brillantes himself in attendance. Among those who spoke at the program was awarded fictionist and University of the Philippines professor emeritus Jose Dalisay Jr., who said about the author’s works:
“More than a master of language, Gregorio Brillantes is a master of our Filipino sense and sensibility, particularly those parts we find hard to put in words or to recognize as our truest selves…His fiction is infused with power and luminosity; he surprises, but never screams.”
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Best wishes to outgoing Ateneo Press director Ms. Karina Bolasco, who retired from full-time publishing. She was instrumental in developing and publishing many authors and books over her decades in the industry. We in the community are happy that she is still around to pursue other literary interests.
Wishing all success as well to incoming director Ms. Rica Bolipata-Santos who recently celebrated her birthday. More power to you and everyone on the team!
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Dr. Ortuoste is a board member of PEN Philippines, a member of the Manila Critics Circle, and a judge of the National Book Awards. You may reach her on Facebook and Twitter: @DrJennyO
