JessicaRulestheUniverse.com

From the author of the Twisted series comes a collection of 27 stories from the last 27 years. The Collected Stories of Jessica Zafra contains award-winning fiction from Manananggal Terrorizes Manila (1992) and The Stories So Far (2014), plus new stories and an introduction by Don Jaucian.

“Jessica is a natural short story writer, and I don’t know anyone else in the Philippines writing in English who does it as well as she does. The fact that she’s a Filipina couldn’t matter less. She would be recognised anywhere on earth that good English is read. But of course in this fatuous world the unmerited hegemony of “English” literature (including of course American, Canadian, Australian, etc. etc.) reminds us that it still fancies itself as the arbiter of the Real Thing. But plenty of us round-eyes know that’s baloney, and JZ provides us with ammunition to stand up in public and say so.”

– James Hamilton-Paterson, Whitbread Award-winning author of Gerontius, Playing With Water, Seven-Tenths, Ghosts of Manila, and the bestselling Cooking With Fernet Branca and Empire of the Clouds

The Collected Stories of Jessica Zafra is now available at Fully Booked stores, Solidaridad, Popular Bookstores, the Ateneo University Press bookshop, Loyola Bookshop, and on Shopee. It will soon be available at Mt. Cloud Bookshop in Baguio and other outlets.

Book signings and author talks will be announced soon. Follow @jessicazafrascats on Instagram and the JessicaRulestheUniverse Facebook page for announcements and updates.

To order signed copies, send us a message on Instagram and Facebook.

My story collection published by Ateneo University Press drops in September. It contains stories from Manananggal Terrorizes Manila (1992) and The Stories So Far (2014) and some new material. The cover is by Jason Moss, and this is how it came to be.

I love this piece by Leo Abaya entitled Midcentury and 425 Weeks.

Which reminded me of one of my photos.

This is Jason’s first sketch.

I sent him a photo of my feline overlord, Drogon and made a few suggestions about the outfit.

Which led to this.

Jason made a watercolor illustration

And voila.

To pre-order copies (We don’t have SRP yet, but will inform you as soon as we have it), DM @jessicazafrascats, or go to this blog’s Facebook page.

So you’ve written that story, memoir, travel or food essay, fan-fiction, or chapter of a novel. What next? Join our Advanced Writing Boot Camp and get your first readers. We’ll work together to prepare a final draft, and plan your next steps. Publish? Print? Self-publish? E-book? Film adaptation? How? The possibilities are mind-boggling.

We give Early Bird Discounts if you enroll on or before 14 July. We accept payments by BDO deposit or PayPal.

The new Nexus Center, so new it hasn’t been inaugurated yet, is at 1010 Metropolitan Avenue, San Antonio, Makati.

Our next Reading Group Discussion will be held on Saturday, 15 June 2019, 4-6pm at Tin-Aw Art Gallery, Ground floor Somerset Olympia (across the hall from Old Swiss Inn), Makati Avenue beside the Peninsula Manila. Everyone who’s read the Bulgakov is welcome.

Schedule of readings, signings, other events
March

Reading Group Discussion of Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger
Saturday, 30 March, 4-6pm, Tin-Aw Gallery at Somerset Olympia, Makati Avenue, Makati

April

Twisted Travels Book Signing
Saturday, 13 April 2019, 4-6pm, Fully Booked at UP Town Center, QC

Twisted Travels Book Signing
Saturday, 27 April 2019, 4-6pm, Dia del Libro, Instituto Cervantes, Ayala Triangle Gardens, Makati

May

I will have a literary residency in La Coruna in Galicia, Spain from May 2-30. If you live in the area and would like to organize a reading or signing, let me know. Also if you want to order copies of Twisted Travels I could bring them.

First day of Writing Boot Camp yesterday. Writing for fun, publication, and working out your demons (aka therapy). On Saturday, our participants will present their drafts.

The next Writing Boot Camp will be held in August or September (depends on our shooting sked). Email saffron.safin@gmail.com to be added to our mailing list.

Special thanks to Lord Fernandez for recording the proceedings and setting up our livestream.

Thanks to WSI Corporate Center for the excellent venue. WSI on Metropolitan Avenue, Makati has classrooms, conference rooms, and halls for social events. For inquiries, text 09475057890 or email wsiccevents@wsiphil.com.ph.