From the Afterword

Gathered in this collection are eleven pieces – or are there thirteen? – that are admirable in the execution of craft and in the weight of substance. Daryll Delgado’s versatility is evidenced by the range of fictional subgenres that she writes: from the tall tale, to the well-made story, to metafiction – with elements and stylistic techniques derived from fabulation, marvelous realism, surrealism, and the psychological gothic. For each story, however, she does not confine herself to the conventions of one subgenre; instead, she makes two or more of these subgenres fold into each other to create improbably neat works of fiction.... But Delgado’s sleight-of-hand act is no mere gimmickry. Her stories are firmly grounded in the Philippine literary tradition, with concerns still echoing both the school of ‘art for art’s sake’ and that of ‘social consciousness’. As such, she is a leading voice among her generation of writers who, while stretching the boundaries of the fictional genre, continue to pay their respects to those who cleared the way for them. (Rosario Cruz-Lucero, College of Arts and Letter, UP Diliman)