Books by
Chuckberry J. Pascual
Ang Nawawalang Barangay (The Vanishing Village)
Fans (yours truly included) of Brigido “Bree” Macaspac are sure to be delighted by the return of Barangay Talong Punay’s intrepid, redoubtable investigator as she looks into a spate of mysterious disappearances in Malabon and elsewhere. Bree’s dogged pursuit of the truth puts her on a collision course with uncooperative cops, petty government officials, power-mongering elites, manhandling thugs, and religious fanatics. Darkly comic, sharply observed, perfectly pitched to capture the living language of our times, Chuckberry J. Pascual’s Ang Nawawalang Barangay explores the politics of despair and disempowerment, the dark allure of religion and social media, and the necessity of resisting the angels when they whisper, “Swalla, sa wala tayo nagmula, at sa wala rin babalik.” – Caroline S. Hau, Kyoto University
Mars, May Zombie! (Look, Mars! Zombies!)
It is 2028, eight years after the zombie apocalypse has taken over the world. Marcelo “Mars” Manapat is one of the survivors, and he is running out of toilet paper. Together with his neat freak of a grandmother Vicky, and his sassy best friend Billie, a self-confessed Beyonce stan, he has gotten used to navigating life in different zombie-infested Red Zones. Until one day, he hatches a plan to get into the nearest zombie-free Blue Zone and discovers a secret that may even be worse than flesh-eating monsters!
The Vanished (Ang Nawawala)
Ang Nawawala (The Vanished) is a comic, queer, and Filipino take on the detective novella. It is made up of seven interconnected stories featuring the exploits of Brigido, a.k.a. “Bree,” a masseuse and barangay (village) hall receptionist turned unlikely detective. Bree’s search for these small, seemingly inconsequential objects and persons unearths other issues and crimes in the village of Talong Punay.
English translation by Ned Parfan
Bayan ng mga Bangkay (Country of Corpses)
The stories in Bayan ng mga Bangkay explore various notions of crime and horror in current Philippine society, from rampant and normalized murder and violence, creatures from folk literature and popular culture, to gruesome and dark scenarios gnawing at the consciousness of the individual battered by social media, politics, and lockdown due to COVID-19.
Hindi Ito Romansa (This is Not Romance)
There is another word that can be used for Pascual’s works, which I think we can consider synonymous with transgression: tragedy. Pascual’s tragedies are transgressive at this time because he rejects the proposition that suffering, which is the condition of humanity, can be a source of strength. Sometimes, often, suffering is just suffering. It does not bring any edification. There is no redemption here. – U Z. Eliserio, University of the Philippines Diliman
Ang Nawawala (The Vanished)
Ang Nawawala (The Vanished) is a comic, queer, and Filipino take on the detective novella. It is made up of seven interconnected stories featuring the exploits of Brigido, a.k.a. “Bree,” a masseuse and barangay (village) hall receptionist turned unlikely detective. Bree’s search for these small, seemingly inconsequential objects and persons unearths other issues and crimes in the village of Talong Punay.
Filipino edition out of print
Kumpisal: mga kuwento (Confession: Stories)
Chuckberry’s stories have depth because they share similar historical roots: low-class gay and queer protagonists; revolving around the family and employed by the familiar community of this type; if so, the main problem comes from this community and class issue; there is no longer a problem with the issue of gender and sexuality as an issue of conflict because it is a non-issue in many poor and low-class communities. Not refined but polished; the stories are short but complete; the characters and the way they speak and act are worldly, but they have a soul and metaphysics in understanding their situation; emotions and social forces are vital in the story; heavy but leavened with humor, Chuckberry’s stories have a lightness. – Rolando B. Tolentino, University of the Philippines Diliman
Out of print
Pagpasok sa Eksena: Ang Sinehan sa Panitikan at Pag-aaral ng Piling Sinehan sa Recto (Entering the Scene: The Movie Theater in Philippine Literature and a Study of Selected Movie Theaters in Recto)
The book presents a fascinating analysis of Philippine standalone movie theaters as homosexual spaces. By approaching the homosexualization of these establishments through an innovative combination of literary and sociocultural analysis, the author conveys a range of understandings of the space. The use of literary texts as a form of ethnography provides an interesting entry point in understanding the queer and possibly liberating potential of the movie theater such that it is within the confines of this space where norms are suspended, blurred, and remade. – Christian Go, National University of Singapore
Ang Tagalabas sa Panitikan (The Outsider in Literature)
Chuckberry Pascual’s new book, Ang Tagalabas sa Panitikan, is an example of an evolving discourse bearing the diverse influences of modern writing. A native of Malabon, the author shared his various experiences growing up in Malabon and studying in Manila, the center. He is an outsider in many ways. One of the most significant things in this book is his role as a critic of popular culture, the “other” in literature and culture. His is a voice to listen to, a voice that has described the rhythm and color of the life of ordinary people in a lively and enthusiastic manner. – Soledad Reyes, Professor Emeritus, Ateneo de Manila University
Ang Labis na Mahalaga (What is Most Important)
Ang Labis na Mahalaga may be understood in English as “what is most important,” but it can also be translated as “the excess that is important.” The notion of excess being referred to is taken from Hau’s formulation, i.e. “the heterogeneous elements that inform but also exceed nationalistic attempts to grasp…complex realities at work in Philippine society.” And it is this paradoxical quality of Philippine literature that is highlighted by the eight chapters that make up the monograph.
Kolab: koleksiyon ng mga dula (Collaboration, with U Z. Eliserio and Maynard Manansala)
The nature of theater dissolves the mystical view of art as a product of genius. Plays are a collective form of literature; the vision of the actor meets the vision of the director. Every play aims to be staged, engaging the audience. This collection is a cry, a call for us to bond toward collective action and existence.
Mga Kuwentong Bayan para sa Gabing Maulan (Tales for a Rainy Night)
One can find in these works concepts that critics commonly associate with postmodernism: fragmentation, intertextuality, heteroglossia, and so on. These can be cited as reasons why Hidalgo’s contribution as a storyteller is essential. But perhaps Hidalgo’s most crucial contribution is valuing memory, her constant reminder that we must remember and never forget—the stories of women and the stories of the people.
Filipino edition of Tales for a Rainy Night
Kundiman ng Panahong Naiwan (Ballad of a Lost Season)
One can find in these works concepts that critics commonly associate with postmodernism: fragmentation, intertextuality, heteroglossia, and so on. These can be cited as reasons why Hidalgo’s contribution as a storyteller is essential. But perhaps Hidalgo’s most crucial contribution is valuing memory, her constant reminder that we must remember and never forget—the stories of women and the stories of the people.
Filipino edition of Ballad of a Lost Season
Sa Bayan ng Nagngangalit na Buwan (Where Only the Moon Rages)
One can find in these works concepts that critics commonly associate with postmodernism: fragmentation, intertextuality, heteroglossia, and so on. These can be cited as reasons why Hidalgo’s contribution as a storyteller is essential. But perhaps Hidalgo’s most crucial contribution is valuing memory, her constant reminder that we must remember and never forget—the stories of women and the stories of the people.
Filipino edition of Where Only the Moon Rages
Catch a Falling Star
A translator must be both a gifted writer and a dedicated scholar. Because translating a literary work requires intelligence, patience, sensitivity, erudition, and a generous spirit. The combination of these qualities results in empathy, which is what good translations must have. So I feel remarkably honored that Chuckberry Pascual (whose own literary works I admire and respect) has chosen to translate my work. The world I write about in Catch a Falling Star is the Manila of a colegiala in the late 50s and early 60s, a vastly different world from the one Chuck lives in. And yet, because he possesses those very qualities I mentioned, he has restored my world to vivid life for a different generation of readers. A new edition of the original English version was released last year to mark the book’s 20th anniversary. To make it also available for readers more comfortable in Filipino is the fulfillment of one of my long-held dreams. My heart is full. – Cristina Pantoja Hidalgo, Professor Emeritus, University of the Philippines Diliman
Filipino edition of Catch a Falling Star
Ilustrado
When the body of famous writer Crispin Salvador is found in the Hudson River, the last book he wrote and believed to be his masterpiece, The Bridges Ablaze, is also discovered to be missing.
Ilustrado recounts “Miguel Syjuco’s” quest for The Bridges Ablaze through various texts: recollections, jokes, dreams, e-mails, newspaper articles, blog entries, interviews, excerpts from unfinished biographies, excerpts from essays, short stories, young adult novels, pulp novels, historical novels, and history books.
The novel plays with form, but it does not blink at the frustrations and possibilities of hope found in the society it depicts.
Filipino edition of Ilustrado
Plus/+, at Iba Plus, Maramihan: New Philippine Fiction on Sexual Orientations and Gender Identities (co-edited with Rolando B. Tolentino)
In gathering short stories featuring the experience of LGBTQIA+ that present different identities and personal and power relationships, that describe the current society in its various manifestations in different parts of the country, and that continue to imagine a brighter future for all genders, we expect to give the reader—whether a member of the LGBTQIA+ community or not—a new perspective on his surroundings and the people he interacts with.
This anthology unites the voice of the LGBTQIA+ writer, our readers, our public, and the other pages of national literature and contrarian politics—it is an assertion to be different, with the solidarity of ranks, with unity and solidarity with other identities and aspects of citizenship that are oppressed, with the need to change society, history, and the modernity of experience.
Plus/+, at Iba Plus, Maramihan: New Philippine Nonfiction on Sexual Orientations and Gender Identities (co-edited with Rolando B. Tolentino)
These are not mere confessions but witnessings of the truth of our own history and purpose, a defense of the individual truths of our disadvantage in this world. To rehearse this is to rehearse the necessary revolution or contrary imaginary of citizenship to heterosexuality and the state.
This anthology unites the voice of the LGBTQIA+ writer, our readers, our public, and the other pages of national literature and contrarian politics—it is an assertion to be different, with the solidarity of ranks, with unity and solidarity with other identities and aspects of citizenship that are oppressed, with the need to change society, history, and the modernity of experience.