Louis Bulaong | |
---|---|
Born | 1996 (age 27–28) Tacloban City, Leyte, Philippines |
Occupation | Novelist |
Louis Bulaong (born 1996) is a Filipino writer best known for his science fiction novels Escapist Dream and Otaku Girl . [1] [2] [3]
Born in Tacloban City, Philippines, Bulaong began writing as a freelance writer in school newspapers and various websites. His two novels, released between 2020 and 2021, became influential titles in the gamelit and pop culture fiction genres. [4] [5] [6] His works have made him one of the most popular Filipino-Waray writers in modern times. [7]
Louis Gabriel Bulaong was born on 1996 in Tacloban, Leyte, in the Philippines. [8] Little is known about his early life besides sharing that he grew up with an interest in history, classical novels, and superhero comics. [9] At around 2012, he applied for cadetship in the Philippine Military Academy. [10] In college, Louis Bulaong studied Bachelor of Science in Psychology at St. Scholastica's College Tacloban. He graduated and received his psychometrician license in 2018. [11]
Bulaong began his writing career as a college journalist, fan fiction blogger, and as a freelance writer for gaming websites like WhatCulture . [9] [12] [13] He self-published his first book, Escapist Dream, in 2020 with mixed reception. Critics like Peyton F. panned its peculiar writing style, while others such as author Kayla Krantz praised its themes and representation of geek culture. [14] [15] A sequel was published a year later entitled Otaku Girl, which was received more positively, with journalist Carl Hannigan praising its improved writing and humor. [2]
Bulaong currently works as a jail officer in his province of Leyte. [9] In 2022, he served as a guest speaker for the "Creative Writing Symposium", a writing seminar and workshop held at the University of the Philippines Tacloban. [16] [17]
Books written by Louis Bulaong are known for their geeky humor, themes, and extensive inclusion of pop cultural references taken from various media like popular movies, comic books, anime, video games, and other literature. [4] [18] [16] Informal writing in the form of slangs, self-references and memes, is a style he predominantly uses, often for comedic purposes. [2] The author also mostly writes in Filipino-English. [19]
Critic Lenny Machowicz commented in his retrospective about Bulaong's use of free flow speech and emotions, stating, "he knows how to write character reflections and emotional moments", while also describing that Bulaong's writing style is "unique" and "creates this smooth flow of thoughts similar to poetry". [18] Derrick St. Claire also praised Bulaong's artistic use of poetic prose, as well as his style of adding deep symbolism in his references. [16]
The themes commonly present in Bulaong's writings are mental health and geek culture. [2] As a psychology graduate, Bulaong tackled issues such as bullying, ostracization, cancel culture, and depression in his stories. [16] [20] His novels are filled with geek-centric terminologies and characters consisting of comic nerds, film buffs, gamers, otakus, bookworms, and others. [2] [6]
Several of Louis Bulaong's books have garnered critical acclaim, both locally and internationally. Dustin Kidd called Escapist Dream as " The Great Gatsby of Pop Culture Fiction", [6] while Carl Hannigan described its sequel Otaku Girl as "surrealistic weirdlit at its finest", stating, "[It's] one of the best reflections of modern society today". [2]
Nena Jimenez of Pinas ranked Bulaong at number 2 in her "5 Best Modern Filipino Writers", stating, "He is one of the most versatile and emotionally-driven Filipino writers around." [19] Jake Tatoy from RMN News praised him as one of the most successful Filipino-Waray writers, [7] while Derrick St. Claire of Ezine Articles called Bulaong the "Dean of Pop Culture Fiction". [16]
Year | Title | Award |
---|---|---|
2018 | SSCT Science Achievement Award | Winner [16] |
2018 | SSCT Sulhog Binhi Award | Winner [16] |
2020 | 5 Best Modern Filipino Writers by Pinas | 2nd place [19] |
Otaku is a Japanese word that describes people with consuming interests, particularly in anime, manga, video games, or computers. Its contemporary use originated with a 1983 essay by Akio Nakamori in Manga Burikko.
Southern Leyte, officially the Province of Southern Leyte, is a province in the Philippines located in the Eastern Visayas region. Its capital and largest city is Maasin. Southern Leyte comprised the third congressional district Leyte until it was made into an independent province in 1959. Southern Leyte includes Limasawa, an island to the south where the first Roman Catholic Mass in Philippine soil is believed to have taken place and thus considered to be the birthplace of Roman Catholicism in the Philippines.
Eastern Samar, officially the Province of Eastern Samar, is a province in the Philippines located in the Eastern Visayas region. Its capital is the city of Borongan, which is the most populous. Eastern Samar occupies the eastern portion of the island of Samar. Bordering the province to the north is the province of Northern Samar and to the west is Samar province. To the east lies the Philippine Sea, part of the vast Pacific Ocean, while to the south lies Leyte Gulf.
Samar, officially the Province of Samar, formerly named Western Samar, is a province in the Philippines located in the Eastern Visayas region. Its capital is the city of Catbalogan while Calbayog is the most populous city in the province. It is bordered by Northern Samar, Eastern Samar, Leyte and Leyte Gulf, and includes several islands in the Samar Sea. Samar is connected to the island of Leyte via the San Juanico Bridge.
Philippine literature is literature associated with the Philippines from prehistory, through its colonial legacies, and on to the present.
Tacloban, officially the City of Tacloban, is a highly urbanized city on Leyte island in the Eastern Visayas region of the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, Tacloban has a population of 251,881, making it the most populous city in the Eastern Visayas. The city is located 360 miles (580 km) southeast from Manila.
Dagami, officially the Municipality of Dagami, is a 3rd class municipality in the province of Leyte, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 36,178 people.
Earliest accounts of this literature date back to 1668 when a Spanish Jesuit by the name of Fr. Francisco Ignacio Alzina documented the poetic forms such as the candu, haya, ambahan, canogon, bical, balac, siday and awit. He also described the susumaton and posong, early forms of narratives. Theater tradition was very much in place - in the performance of poetry, rituals, and mimetic dances. Dances mimed the joys and activities of the ancient Waray.
Palo, officially the Municipality of Palo, is a 3rd class municipality in the province of Leyte, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 76,213 people, making it the most populous municipality (non-city) in the province.
Tanauan, officially the Municipality of Tanauan, is a 2nd-class municipality in the province of Leyte, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 57,455 people.
Iluminado Lucente y García was a Filipino writer, primarily writing poetry and drama in the Waray language. He is considered to be one of the finest writers in the Waray language.
The Waray people are a subgroup of the larger ethnolinguistic group Bisaya people, who constitute the 4th largest Filipino ethnolinguistic group in the Philippines. Their primary language is the Waray language, an Austronesian language native to the islands of Samar, Leyte and Biliran, which together comprise the Eastern Visayas Region of the Philippines. Waray people inhabit most of Samar where they are called Samareños/Samarnons, the northern part of the island of Leyte where they are called Leyteños, and the island of Biliran. In Leyte island, the Waray-speaking people are separated from the Cebuano-speaking Leyteños by the island's mountain range at the middle.
Merlie M. Alunan is a multi-awarded Filipina poet, teacher and mentor, and cultural worker in the Visayas.
Waray-Waray gangs are generic terms used in the Philippines to denote of criminal groups who are of Waray ethnicity. They originated from provinces Leyte and Samar where the majority are of Waray background, later spreading into Luzon. Most of their criminal activities involved armed robberies, but various other gangs have also dabbled in kidnapping, carnapping, gun running, assassinations, gang warfare, and narcotics sale. Their bloody confrontations with the police made them the most notorious gang in the Philippines.
Escapist Dream is a science fiction novel written by Louis Bulaong and published on July 26, 2020. The novel is set in a near future where virtual reality has become a norm and where geeks can use it to gain superpowers and extraordinary abilities. It was written by the author as a homage to geek culture from comics, films, anime and video games.
Pop culture fiction is a genre of fiction where stories are written intentionally to be filled with references from other works and media. Stories in this genre are focused solely on using popular culture references.
Otaku Girl is a science fiction novel written by Louis Bulaong and published on June 23, 2021. The story was first posted as a webnovel, becoming noted for its postmodern elements and pop culture references, before being published as a book four months later. It is the sequel to Bulaong's debut novel Escapist Dream.
Florencio Gabriel "Bem" G. Noel is a Filipino politician who served as representative of the An Waray party-list in the House of Representatives.
Vicente Ignacio Luangco de Veyra, who also used the pseudonyms Vatchoo and Honey Boy, was a Waray poet, writer, anthologist, orthographer and dentist.