Writers Read: Gabriella Buba

Gabriella Buba is a mixed Filipina-Czech author and chemical engineer based in Texas who likes to keep explosive pyrophoric materials safely

contained in pressure vessels or between the covers of her books. She writes epic fantasy for bold, bi, brown women who deserve to see their stories centered. Her debut Saints of Storm and Sorrow is a Filipino-inspired epic fantasy out with Titan Books. Saints has been named one of Spotify’s Best Audiobooks of 2024, and Buba a Spotify Breakout Author of 2024, and Saints was one of Reactor’s Reviewer’s Choice: Best Books of 2024.

Buba's new novel is Daughters of Flood and Fury.

Recently I asked the author about what she was reading. Buba's reply:

Right now I’m deeply into the research part of my writing process for 2 new works I can’t yet discuss in detail so for secret gothic novel I’m doing the following research readings.

I am studying the art history, and religious significance of a number of medieval manuscripts from France, Germany and the Czech Republic. To that end I have been studying the following books. One of my favorite, because it was clearly created by a 14th century French monk who should have been born a comic artist was, The Cloisters Apocalypse 1: An Early fourteen century manuscript in facsimile provided by the metropolitan Museum of Art New York, and The Cloisters Apocalypse 2: Commentaries on an early fourteen-century manuscript by Florens Deuchler, Jeffrey M Hoffeld, Helmut Nickel.

Another highlight has been my study of Liber viaticus Jana ze Stredy, Commentary by Pavel Brodsky, Katerina Spurna, Marta Vaculinova and a reproduction from Knihovny Narodniho Muzea. Although the majority of the work was in Czech and Latin as an example of Czech illuminated art it was an amazing resource.

I’ve also been delving into Slavic and Czech folklore, with a special focus on witches, demons, and seasonal myths and magic. To that end I am reading Panslavonic Folklore Volumes 1 & 2 by W.W. Strickland, translated from Karl Jaromir Erben’s A hundred genuine popular Slavonic fairy stories in the original dialects, my favorite part being a diagram which charted the alignment of different Slavic myths and folklore with the seasons, and Slavic Folklore a Symposium by Lord Albert Bates, which had wonderful drawings and photos of artifacts of early Slavic anthropological studies.

Then as research for secret historical novella I’m reading The Escape: World War 2 by Celedono A Ancheta, containing a firsthand account of survival during the war of a guerrilla fighter and his family. It was especially impactful as it echoed a number of family stories shared with me by my grandmother who grew up during Japanese Occupation. I also read Under Japanese Rule: Memories & Reflections by Angelito L. Santos, Joan Orendain, Helen N Mendoza, Bernard LM Karganilla, edited & with introduction by Renato Constantino. This was a much more academic text, however I found it especially valuable as it contained personal accounts and stories from the war from all ages and stations of life and across the Philippines, especially focusing on children which is often overlooked in war texts.

I’m also reading a number of books on Philippine folklore including: Philippine Folklore, translated from the spoken tagalog by Fletcher Gardner MD, which taught me that if Jack is the most common European folktale hero name, Juan came over from the Spanish and became the most common Filipino one. Girl Who Turned Into A Fish and Other Classic Philippine Water Tales as told by Maria Elena Patern was one of my favorite of the numerous folklore books picked up for this round of research mainly because of the gorgeously illustrated images that accompanied the stories. Huge shout out to the Library of Congress without which I would not have been able to access a tenth of these titles.

Outside of my current research deep dive, I read fiction for my authorial career, both blurbing for other authors and for market research.

Some current highlights include The Gryphon King by Sara Omer, which had man eating Pegasus and satisfied everything the horsegirl in me desired. Black Salt Queen by Samantha Bansil, I fell in love with the twisty complicated Sapphic tragedy playing out with the Queen, and A Spell for Change by Nicole Jarvis who brought the perfect southern gothic vibes for a steaming summer.

And lastly some reading I’m doing just for me, I’ve been slowly making my way through recipes from Filipinx: Heritage recipes from the diaspora by Angela Dimayuga and Ligaya Mishan, an absolutely gorgeous and fascinating cookbook full of diaspora stories about family and food. This week I made sawsawan and a mung bean stew I loved growing up.

Then just for comfort reading, because I can’t read in the genre I’m actively drafting, I’m reading The Sapphire Heiress by Ella Leon, a historical romance with a Filipina lead, that is feeding the void Brigerton being on hiatus left in my soul.