How a Fil-Am author learned to destroy bridges

Filipino American Gabriella Buba (left) and her mother Janette at an event promoting her debut novel Saints of Storm and Sorrow. CONTRIBUTED

HOUSTON, Texas — At a certain point in Filipino American Gabriella Buba’s debut fantasy novel “Saints of Storm and Sorrow,” a bridge may or may not be destroyed (no spoilers!).

The only problem Buba had when she was working on the draft was “I had no idea how I was going to destroy an entire bridge,” she says.

In the book, Maria Lunurin is a bisexual nun living a double life as she hides a goddess-given gift. To the world, she is a devoted servant of Aynila’s Codician colonizers. Behind closed doors, she is a stormcaller, chosen daughter of the goddess Anitun Tabu.

While hiding from the Codicians and their witch hunts, Lunurin does what she can to protect her fellow Aynilans and the small family she has created in the convent. A decision Lunurin makes awakens Anitun Tabu’s rage and puts everyone she loves in terrible danger.

Engineer

Buba’s Filipino fantasy short stories have been anthologized in “Strange Religion: Speculative Fiction of Spirituality and Belief, & Practice and Of Stardust: A Queer Fantastical Anthology,” among other publications.

She is also a contributor to “With Love: What We Wish We Knew About Being Queer and Filipino in America.”

For authors who craft stories with situations they may not have knowledge of or personal experience with, there is always research to be done.

But instead of going to a library or Googling the information, Buba was able to turn to an expert she knew personally and intimately, her father Ervin, who is of Czech heritage.

“He was an architectural restorationist by trade and he helped me with all of the infrastructure and bridge building and destruction in the book.

“I worked on it with my dad researching bridge types and load and historical quicklime recipes. [What else do you expect] from an architectural restorationist’s daughter?”

“My dad and I used to travel all over the world visiting churches, ancient aqueducts and roman bridges and my dad would tell me all about the stone and materials used and how they should be taking better care of their wood and bronze work.”

“My father unfortunately passed away last year of pancreatic cancer. But he was also very proud of my writing and always supportive of my endeavors.”

Family

The women in Buba’s family also had a big hand in her development as a writer and in completing the book.

“My Auntie Rosie was an amazing resource, helping me double check my cultural and historical details and Tagalog spelling!

“I’ve always loved stories, my grandmother was a wonderful storyteller and poet, and I think she got me used to the idea of writing and telling stories.

“She had a little notebook on hand where she would write her poems. In fact, the poem included in the book is a tribute to one of my favorite of the myths she would share, the Tagalog Creation Story.”

Buba’s mother Janette was and is also a strong presence in her development as a writer. “She’s always been the biggest supporter of my writing. When I was 7 or 8 I was very upset with how Disney ended ‘Pocahontas’ and my mom helped me write a letter to the Disney headquarters where I helped them ‘fix’ the ending of the movie.

“When I finished my very first original story at the end of high school, she helped me send it out to [a small publisher]. She has been my biggest cheerleader, and an amazing promoter of my book.”

VISIT gabriellabuba.com. Walter Ang is the author of Barangay to Broadway: Filipino American Theater. Available at Amazon, Bookshop and other online booksellers.