YSLA

by Mike Dario

In the series of novels' first outing, three young strangers get caught in the giant wave of an island's socio-political changes in the early 1900s and its disturbing secrets, including the local vampire, the Manananggal, and an evil baby, the Tiyanak.An Excerpt from YSLA -"The same effervescent moon is the lone witness to the lady’s prolonged arduous transformation. Tough ligaments have protruded from her backside, from the top of the vertebrae up to the middle portion of the spinal column. Fleshy tissue tears down the creamy twine of the kimona, making such membranous parts become dexterous and agile in movements. Dark, nasty hair fibers cover such wing like extensions that continue to flap, and create strong audible flutter. The onomatopoeic sound saturates within the room. “Wak-wak,wak-wak,” the wings make such reverberations.Then in one swoop, the wings bring hauntingly the lady out towards the skies. There the moon’s light clearly shows that the appendages just carry the upper torso, half of the whole being of the person. The cut has been completed at last.Inside the lady’s lonely home is the lower part of the woman’s body, standing motionless, as if waiting for the rest of the body to come back in a while. The mild wind outside blows toward the hemlines of the patadyong that reaches her grimy feet.

309 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 23, 2013