The Halo-Halo Review is pleased to interview authors in the aftermath of their books’ releases. This issue’s featured author is Jose Elvin Bueno:
What is your most recent book?
Sindicato & Co. (Penguin Random House SEA, 2021)
Who published and when was it released?
PenguinRandomHouse SEA, September 2021 in Asia and November 2021 worldwide.
What has been the response/what has most surprised you about the response?
Without giving away any plot point or endorsing violence, the singular reaction that I continue to receive is: "that ending!" So maybe, there is a there, there.
Say something not obvious or known about the book.
It started as a short story. Then as the atrocity that is Duterte's War on Drugs worsened, it also grew into a novel. As I was writing, I stopped reading the news, otherwise, it could have ended as multiple volumes.
What are you working on right now?
My next novel. I have already nailed down the controlling idea and have decided on its title. I am currently doing research, which, for me, is one of the fun parts of writing. Talking to people, visiting places, and taking a peek at the repository of human folly that is the Internet. Then jotting down notes on a ream of bond paper. In longhand.
*****
Jose Elvin Bueno is a Filipino-American fictionist, playwright, and novelist. His latest book is Sindicato & Co. His first novel, Subversivo, Inc., was awarded the Grand Prize in the 63rd Palanca Awards for Literature. He currently lives in New York.
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