I edited the Horror edition of the Digest of Philippine Genre Stories (PGS), which should be out in your favorite bookstore anytime now (with a wonderfully scary pink cover by the very talented Nelz Yumul of WeeWillDoodle), so in line with that, I'm reprinting my interview with PGS publisher and all around nice guy Kenneth Yu. This first came out in Tulay Fortnightly. I urge you to pick up a copy. Not only will the stories (hopefully) scare you so much you won't be getting decent sleep for a month, it also makes great reading in the jeep, bus and bathroom.

Avid readers would have noticed since December last year a small, digest-sized magazine devoted to genre fiction – Philippine Genre Stories – has appeared in local bookstores.

It is the brainchild of Kenneth Yu, an avid reader whose main goal was to get more people reading.

Kenneth, or KYu to his friends, is an entrepreneur who runs a printing business. This edge has given him the confidence to put out a magazine.

At first glance, Kenneth is a silent guy with a smiling face and dry wit.

"I'm a commercial printer, so anything on paper. Boxes, pamphlets, marketing material, leaflets, flyers, company profiles. Exciting stuff," he says.

Once you get him to talk about books, reading, or the state of local readership, the shyness evaporates, and he starts telling you, in his soft-spoken way, what he thinks about these things.

An avid reader himself, Kenneth decided to publish Philippine Genre Stories, he says, because he wanted to. Just like that.

"I've always been a reader. I've been reading since lord knows when," he says. "To be honest, I really wanted to get into publishing, but I knew that in the Philippines, it's an uphill battle. How many read? Not that many. But the time was right. I felt, last year, that I could at last try it."

Several factors were at play:

Story Philippines, another magazine devoted to fiction, had just been published. And though he admits that Story was an inspiration for Phil Genre, he says that they have different directions.

Second, a friend had shipped him a box of pulp mystery magazines and he felt that he could put something like that together for the reading public.

The third reason: people were willing to read stories by Filipino authors, but these were hard to find.

"I asked (my nephews and nieces) a few of whom were readers, 'If there were Pinoys who write, would you read them?' They were my test subjects. They said, 'Yeah. Where are they?' And I said, 'Good question. Wala nga,'" Kenneth says.

He also thought there was a lack of quality in the books that his nephews and nieces read.

"The books they were reading sucked!" Kenneth says.

"I want to give them quality stuff. I look for quality writers and thankfully, I got them. And now my nieces and nephews have been reading it," he says.

But many people ask, why concentrate on genre? Kenneth's answer can be summed up in seven words: a good story is a good story.

"I'm very aware of the differentiation between other publications and what I'm trying to do. I'm very aware of what stories I want to put out," he says.

"I have nothing against the social realists, which is what rules, or the chick lit, or the literatotica – that's what rules, fine. I want to put out genre."

For the uninitiated, chick lit is short for chick literature, the moniker given to humorous easy-to-read publications that cater to the modern woman. Some of the most popular ones include Candace Bushnell's Sex in the City, and of course, Sophia Kinsella's Shopaholic series. Literotica is basically literary erotica, and social realists are what anyone who picks up a story by almost any well-regarded Filipino writer will read. All these have dominated the reading market, leaving a big hole for genre enthusiasts.

This defiance of the norm has sometimes been questioned, some of them leading authorities in local literature.

"I was confronted by Carla Pacis. She came up to me and said, 'What does genre mean? You're confusing the market,'" he relates. "I said it wasn't really my definition, it was a definition that came about because books are classified in bookstores, you have mystery, crime, fantasy, sci-fi and they're all blanketed under genre, all the other 'serious' stuff is put under fiction literature. I mean, come on! A good story is a good story. I disagree with those who put one above the other, whether genre is above side or the other side. A good story is a good story, and I read both, and I like both."

The magazine features stories in English that have elements of, or are outright, fantastic, sci-fi, horror, humor and mystery.

Production-wise, coming up with Philippine Genre Fiction was not a problem.

"I've had eight years as a printer. I had all he contacts for paper, I knew how to produce it. I came up with the best size, the best layout for everything. Mostly, it was just that--word getting around to come up with good-quality stories to put in the digest," Kenneth says.

"The biggest hurdle for me was: can I do it on my own? Because I could not afford a name editor," Kenneth says.

"I'd like to think that I'm pretty well-read. So I said, Why not? What's five to six stories an issue? I did it, and that's what came out. Of course, it was pretty naive of me. It was harder than I thought, but I still did it."

Another problem was getting authors to contribute to the first issue: a major feat for someone who at the time had no presence in the local publishing industry, had no credentials at all.

“I was coming in with nothing. Nobody knew me and I knew nobody. I had no awards to speak of. I write only on my own. I haven't sent anything in for publication since 1990," Kenneth reveals. "I guess the fact that no one knows you works to your disadvantage because they think that you're a scam artist, as has been told to me in e-mail and face-to-face."

On the other hand, there were people who liked his concept and were willing to support him, all in the name of local fiction.

The most notable of these were Dean Alfar and Vin Simbulan, two of the country's most established speculative fiction writers. They also introduced Kenneth to friends, who together gave enough stories to produce a strong first issue. He also met graphic designer Andre Medina, who worked with Jenny Pena contracted to design? Layout? Produce? the first issue's cover.

With the first issue's production underway, his next hurdle was publicity.

"Thankfully, the internet was there, so I put up a blog site and sent e-mail to everyone," Kenneth says.

One thing that he did not anticipate having trouble with was registering his new magazine.

"Learning the government regulations... I didn't realize how much they stick their finger into everything," he sighs.

As well, there were costs to consider.

"As always, my costs are limited. My budget was limited," he says.

To get the magazine distributed, Kenneth spent a lot of time cold-calling local bookstores, many of which were interested.

"The first issue was pretty much a one-man job. They (bookstores) were interested because it's the first of its kind. No other publication in the Philippines does genre stories, especially on the commercial level that I want to do it. Commercial with quality, of course," he says.

He must have been doing right: the second issue, which came out in April, had a stellar cast of contributors, as well as some sponsorship.

"I don't know where they came from," Kenneth says in an awed voice of his second batch of contributors. "Maybe word just got around."

He also found a helping hand with artist and illustrator Elbert Or, who has become the magazine's creative director.

"El is a really big help. I'm very poor visually and I bow to all that he says. In fact, he can manipulate me if he wants," Kenneth laughs.

The first issue was a success, resulting in support from some of the most influential names in Philippine literature, including Butch Dalisay.

"I asked help from other writers like Butch Dalisay, Jesica not Jessica? Zafra, and Butch wrote back. At first, he didn't. He didn't think I could pull it off," Kenneth explains.

"But when I got the first issue out, I sent it to his house and he said, 'You did it! Ok, I'll help you.'

“So he wrote about it in his Philippine Star column, Pen Man, and it came out this January. I'm very grateful that he wrote about it and he defended genre. I'm so grateful to Butch because when you have Zeus on your side, it really feels wonderful."

All this begs the question: are Filipinos, notoriously famous for not reading, willing to support a magazine that contains nothing but stories?

"With the advent of Harry Potter, I think we've got a lot more genre readers among the youth, and for that, I'm grateful," Kenneth says.

Kenneth knows the value of starting young, so he's very conscious about making the stories in Philippine Genre age-friendly to genre lovers from kids up. "If you give a young lady or a young man (works by) Edgar Allan Poe, they have to grow into that. Even if you give them (the book) A Wrinkle in Time, they have to grow into that, not like in the past when the Internet and the media wasn't such a big thing. However, you give them Encyclopedia Brown, which is a kiddie genre thing, oh, they're into it, and they'll go further. That's what I’m very conscious with in the digest. I want it to (address) that level first," he says.

Stories in the magazine aren't exclusively for kids.

"I'm open to (heavier stories) because I know that it's not just the teens but also (those in their) early 20s (who read the mag), so a little heaviness is fine. But I don't get enough crime and mystery. And I don't get enough humor or light pieces, so I'm looking for that, also – a more young adult or teen writing sentiment that is genre."

Though Kenneth's only requirement from a contributor is that the writing be good, it is noted that two Chinese-Filipino authors appeared in the second issue. These are Sean Uy, who won Blogger of the Year in 2005, and Crystal Koo, who graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in English majoring in Creative Writing from the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City.

Kenneth admits that his Chinese-Filipino upbringing helped a lot when he was putting the magazine together.

"If I wasn't entrepreneurial by nature, which I know I am, I wouldn't have thought of the digest in the first place," he says.

"There's a business side to it, which is why costs are low. I just want to get the stories out as best I can, given the budget I'm given. So there has been a practical side to it. "

But even the most conservative planning and excellent execution, will amount to nothing without readers, he says. With the popular Harry Potter fantasy adventure story series ending, it won't be long before television and the internet take up kids' and teens' free time once again.

It's something that Kenneth is fighting against.

"I do want kids to read. You were right in saying that in general, they don't," he says.

I remember my nephew's auntie gave him a copy of The Hobbit because she remembers reading it when she was young.

“And this dumb Xavierian says, 'Auntie, why did you give it to me? I don't read.' And walang masabi yung Auntie until mga 10 minutes later, 'Ang tanga tanga mo!'"

Funny as the anecdote may be, it only serves to highlight the all-too-real situation that youngsters are in now. Kenneth hopes that Philippine Genre Stories and other publications like it will change that.

As for the future, Kennethis pragmatic.

"I haven't thought further than getting through the issues this year, another four issues, so one for April, three more until the end of the year, every quarter. I'm committed to (publish) at least until December, then I'll assess. If it (does well), then I'll have more next year.

“Everything depends not just on sales or sponsors but quality of stories. Sales are equated to readers. If I get the readers, sales will follow."

Philippine Genre Stories can be found in Booktopia, Books for Less, Popular Bookstore, Comic Quest, Mag:Net, the Ateneo Bookstore, and soon A Different Bookstore and Landes and Hobbes.

Writers who want to contribute to the magazine can check out http://www.philippinegenrestories.blogspot.com/