The Kite of Stars and Other Stories

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The Kite of Stars and Other Stories.

The Kite of Stars and Other Stories is a collection of short fiction by Dean Francis Alfar, published by Anvil Publishing in 2007.

1 Stories
2 Synopsis of stories
3 Citation

[edit] Stories

"L'Aquilone du Estrellas (The Kite of Stars)" (first published in Strange Horizons, Jan. 2003)
"Terminos" (first published in Rabid Transit : Menagerie, May 2005)
"Saturdays with Fray Villalobos" (first published in A la Carte: Food & Fiction, 2007)
"The Maiden and the Crocodile" (first published in Story Philippines, 2006)
"The Dragon in the Bell"
"How Rosang Taba Won a Race" (first published in Philippine Free Press, July 2006)
"Gumamela" (first published as "Hindi Ako Gumamela" in Ab Ovo 1, 2002)
"An Excerpt from Princess of the Sultanate (Ghazali 1902), annotated by Omar Jamad Maududi, MLS, HOL, JMS." (first published in Story Philippines)
"The Middle Prince" (first published in Bewildering Stories, September 2006)
"Into the Morning" (first published in Bewildering Stories)
"In the Dim Plane" (first published in Digest of Philippine Genre Stories)
"Six from Downtown" (first published in Philippine Free Press, June 2006)
"Four Letter Words" (first published in Manual, Dec. 2005)
"(push)" (first published in Stuff Magazine, May 2001)
"MaMachine"
"Hollow Girl: A Romance" " (first published in Latitude: Writing from the Philippines and Scotland, March 2006)

[edit] Synopsis of stories

[edit] The Kite of Stars

The story starts with a scene from the ending of the story where the main character, Maria Isabela, finds it hard to calm herself as she is about to finally fulfill her goal. The story then flashes back to Maria Isabella on her sixteenth birthday receiving gifts of purses full of coins, to spend on anything she wants. She wanders through the maze-like market to look for the musical conch shells she wants to buy. As she wanders, she sees a handsome young man crossing the street with his eyes closed.

Believing that the man is sure to die, she decides to change the outcome of events by stepping on the tail of a nearby dog. Luckily, her action results in the man surviving a near-death experience. Wondering why he was walking with his eyes closed, she starts asking around the marketplace. She learns the reason from a butcher’s boy who seems to know a lot about the man, whose name is Lorenzo du Vicenzio. Apparently, Lorenzo only saves his sight for the stars.

Amazed, Maria decides to take on the challenge of finding a way to make Lorenzo look at her. She hits upon the idea of becoming a star herself. She approaches a man named Melchor Antevadez who is known to be the best kite-maker. At last, Maria was ready for the idea of Antevadez. However, the required components for Antevadez's design are scarce. Together with the butcher’s boy, she embarks on an adventure to get all the necessary ingredients over a span of sixty years. Unfortunately, by the time they return, Antevadez has already passed away. Fortuitously, he left the design with his son, Reuel Antevadez, who then builds the kite.

Having successfully made the kite, Maria floats high into the sky and is about to achieve her goal by shouting the name of her man. She then realizes that she wasn’t able to ask the butcher’s boy’s name, and that Lorenzo already has cataracts. In the end, Lorenzo is not able to see Maria. She remains an unnamed star.

[edit] Saturdays with Fray Villalobos

This story starts with the main character, Monja Barraquias, reminiscing about her trips with Fray Villalobos every Saturday. She narrates how they visited the homes of Indios in the country of Hinirang, to evangelize the pagan natives. She also narrates how she was always puzzled about the approach Fray Villalobos took in evangelizing the natives. Fray Villalobos would always pack ingredients for cooking and take them to the Indios' houses. There, he would cook native dishes with the family and teach Monja Barraquias how to prepare these dishes. Then they would sit and eat together with the natives. After every narrated trip, she would always write down the ingredients and the steps in cooking the dish.

However, not all the natives accept them. One Saturday evening, while making their way back from one of their usual visits, an Indio priest blocks their path. The Indio priest challenges Fray Villalobos to a "duel of faiths". Monja Barraquias pleads with Fray Villalobos not to go through with it, but he insists that it is something he had to do. The Indio priest kills Fray Villalobos in the fight, and commands Monja Barraquias to go home and stop the evangelization. However, she does not give in to his command. Instead, she continues the work of Fray Villalobos, cooking and eating with the native Indios. She also narrates how, in her anger, she killed the Indio priest who killed Fray Villalobos. The last dish she lists is dinuguan.

[edit] The Maiden and the Crocodile

The story begins with the last scene, a girl leaving with a crocodile’s heart in her hand. The story is narrated in reverse - starting from the end and finishing at the beginning. The story begins when she strikes the crocodile with the right spear to open him up and get his heart. The story goes back to the time when the girl is showing the crocodile the net she is going to use to trap him. Then we hear about them coexisting in the jungle despite their different appearance and backgrounds, and how the girl softens the crocodile’s heart with her charm and words. We see them meeting for the first time, with the crocodile in the river and the girl on the banks, gazing at each other. We then hear about how the girl has always felt left out since she could not feel anything. It is revealed that she does not have a heart. When she goes to a brujah to inquire about her problem, the wise woman suggests that she go and take the heart of the great bu’aia.

[edit] Gumamela

The main character, Aponikalandao, has a dream about running through a field and a forest towards a hill away from Babalay Anonan, with stones pointing up the sky. There, she finds a handsome man who repeatedly asks her to come with him. Aponikalandao refuses his offer, bragging to him that she’s not a gumamela. She then runs away from the man back to Babalay Anonan.

After waking up from this recurring dream, she moves away from bed and sees Dikono preparing his spear for hunting. They say goodbye and part ways. That night, she has the same dream again. Afterwards, she goes to the lake to wash her family’s clothes. While washing, Dikono approaches her and gives her a gumamela. Aponikalandao bleeds and faints instantaneously. She wakes up with her mother explaining about their relationship with the gods who in turn ask the same offer she hears in her dreams. After the explanations, she has the same dream again. She still refuses to go with him, thinking of the first women who were asked by the same god. When she refuses his final offer, the handsome god sheds tears. Finally, she forces herself to wake up.

[edit] Four-Letter Words

Time = Tile Anton, the main character, narrates his usual morning routine, including his wife and how she prepares his things for him. We also see Anton's routine in the office, where he is always the first to arrive and clock-in.

Tile = File Anton thinks about the Management's future plans to computerize everything. It's a big issue for him since he's in the filing department. Nobody seems to listen to his thoughts on the matter, except for Sheila from Accounting. Anton sees Sheila as a very beautiful woman.

File = Fine Anton has sexual fantasies about Sheila from Accounting. He writes down his erotic descriptions of her on lined paper.

Fine = Find Thirty years later, Ronald Bueno, a company archivist, finds seventeen thousand, six hundred and forty pieces of lined paper with Anton’s descriptions of his desire for Sheila from Accounts. Ronald Bueno packages it and couriers it to Anton's last known address.

Find = Mind Anton receives the Fedex box containing thousands of pages with his writing.

Mind = Mine Anton calls a woman and tells her that he received a package containing love letters that he never sent her. The woman asks Anton to read her one and she laughs while he reads.