Researching Bone Talk taught me so much about the culture and history of my native Philippines. And yet I came away with even more questions than answers ... which I think is a good thing. I think one of the reasons we read is to discover the questions that we have not asked before. Read

Bone Talk is set in the Philippine-American War, a moment in history that few ordinary Americans know about. In the Philippines, it hasn't been given much notice either. Why? This is a simple primer on our horrendous little war, with helpful videos and a gallery of political cartoons from the era to examine and ponder. View

Tall Story is a gentle exploration of what it's like to be left behind by the people you love and what it's like to make a new home in an alien new world. It happened to me! Read 

Bone Talk is a great platform from which to explore First Contact narratives – the first meeting of two cultures previously unaware of one another. From Star Wars to Robinson Crusoe, First Contact narratives reveal much about how we measure ourselves against people who are not like us.

Explore

This page is still under construction. Watch out for it!

Readers of Bone Talk have more than once mentioned to me that it brings to mind Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe. I agree – but not because of the idea of savages encountering civilisation for the first time.Robinson Crusoe turned 300 years old on 25 April 2019 and is believed to be the first, or one of the first novels written in English and deserves its place in the curriculum for many important reasons.  Explore

The one question readers always ask me is: where did you get the idea for your novel? It’s a tough question. A novel is a complex piece of work and emerges from many inspirations. Here are some of those inspirations and in the process I hope it offers you other avenues of understanding the story behind Shine.  Read