Here is the second part of Robin's interview. 3. Where do you go from here -- after Vassals of the Valley?
Vassals of the Valley is part of a saga of Southeast Asian stories.
I’m currently writing Bells and Incense. It’s a novel about a young man from Samar who goes to Manila to seek adventure and escape problems back home. It’s set in the early 17th century when the Dutch Empire was still trying to wrest the Philippines away from Spanish control. This is a bit of a war drama and coming of age story combined.
Then there is The Governor’s Hounds. It’s a character ensemble novel about a family who served the Jose Basco y Vargas. He’s the governor general who developed a comprehensive economic plan for the Philippine Islands. He made the agricultural base of the colony strong. He’s also the reason the Batanes Islands became part of the colony. In their service to Basco y Vargas, the family will have to learn how live under the pressure of colonial leadership. There’s politics in this story. There is also family drama. I imagine there will more family drama here.
The fourth book is called Basilica Bakers. I’m not sure what it’s mainly about yet, but it’s definitely the story of bakers who lived in Taal when the Basilica of St. Martin of Tours was being constructed. I plan this to be the most lighthearted of the most novels.
So there. I have three more novels to get out for the people to read. I hope they’ll be good.
4. What books shaped your dream in becoming an author?
I’ll just give a list because I don’t want to influence people too much on what to think of them. Let’s just say these novels introduced me to wonderful characters, and the style of their writing is interesting. They are quite consistent in following a decent story structure too. Here are the books.
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky
A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
The Samurai by Shusaku Endo
Silence by Shusaku Endo
The Lost World by Arthur Conan Doyle
Authentic Though Not Exotic by Fernando Zialcita
The last book by Zialcita is not a novel. It’s a sociology book. But I think it has influenced me a lot. It gave me a perspective on how to read history and see my identity as a Filipino.
More or less, these are the books. There might be more. I just haven’t realized they have made a powerful impact on my writing yet. In fact, more books are coming to mind, but I have to stop writing or the list will just keep growing!
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