Issue 01 (Fall 2025)
ISSN 2819-7348
Background art: “Bloom in the Moonlight” by Kathryn Wadel
Here is issue one, published October 2025, when the veil starts to thin between our world and the spirit realm.
Reclamation is an act of return, protection, and creation—an ever-shifting answer to the longing for our ancestors, the ache of disconnection, the urge to guard what’s sacred, to ignite art, to breathe freedom.
This issue is for the dreamers and protectors, the warriors and storytellers who whisper to Mayari or the manananggal in quiet moments, charge their anting-anting under moonlight, imagine video game battles with Filipino mythology, and carry enough garlic to make the aswang tremble in their boots. If this is you, welcome—you’ve found your hearth.
We hope you enjoy these selections!
Love,
Nathalie De Los Santos
Editor-in-Chief
Thank you to Lele Chan, who created the Ginger and Smoke wordmark, Erica Dionora, who helped design the website, Sam Moore, our copy editor for volume 01, Domenic De Los Santos for her comms work, and Dani, Asia & Maria always, my Filipino-Canadian Book Fest crew.
Fiction
My Baby by Mary Poirier
Learn the New Light by Samantha Garner
Unkind Smiles by Renato Gandia
The Man With No Teeth by Carlo Javier
Clara and Mirabel by Alyssa Sy de Jesus
Abscission by Roann Enriquez
Power Failure by Grace Sanchez MacCall
Kati by Sheilah Madonna Mortel Salvador
Lady of the Nightbloom by Nathalie De Los Santos
Non-fiction
Manananggal by Julia Palmiano Federer
Babaylan by Isabella Medalle
The Magindara: A Secret Within Me by Roselle Panganiban
Poetry
when i get reincarnated as a manananggal by Alyzza J. Casas
Tikbalang by Alexa Tajanlangit
halimaw, tao by Jessamine Liu
Isang Araw sa Isla Greuthungi, Fireflies, whale sharks and coconut trees by Maria Antonieta Pimentel-Elger
Kopo’s Flowers, Mayari by Kristoffer Young
Art
BIRINGAN: A Myth Reimagined by Harvey Nichol Espiritu Santos
Bloom In The Moon Light by Kathryn Wadel
Kabigat with the Head of Chal-chal’s Son by Bulan Embong
Lapu Lapu by Romeo Reyes
Mga Mangangaso sa Dagat at ang Huling Buwan sa Kalawakan by Misael “Gio” Manning
Sirenas by Dionne Co
BIRINGAN: A Myth Reimagined by Harvey Nichol Espiritu Santos
Bloom In the Moon Light by Kathryn Wadel
Kabigat with the Head of Chal-chal’s Son by Bulan Embong
Lapu Lapu by Romeo Reyes
Mga Mangangaso sa Dagat at ang Huling Buwan sa Kalawakan by Misael “Gio” Manning
Sirenas by Dionne Co
About / Contact
ginger & smoke is a digital publication produced in Vancouver BC, dedicated to reclaiming Filipino folklore, mythology, and fairy tales—retelling them with new fire while honouring their roots. Here, the boundaries between genres blur, but the heart beats strongest for fantasy and speculative fiction.
About the editor-in-chief and publisher
Nathalie De Los Santos is a writer and creative. She created PilipinxPages, a platform that features Filipinx authors. She was a fellow of the Lambda Literary Retreat for Emerging LGBTQ Voices, where she workshopped her YA fantasy novel Diyosa Mata under the tutelage of Aiden Thomas. Her short story Bakunawa and the Seven Sisters was shortlisted by Fractured Lit, and her novel Debt of the Heart was longlisted by Anvil Press. She is one of the key organizers of the Filipino-Canadian Book Festival. Her publications appear in Magdaragat: An Anthology of Filipino-Canadian Writing, The Globe and Mail, SAD Magazine, and more. She also hosts the Filipino Fairy Tales, Mythology, and Folklore podcast.
Contact gingerandsmokemag@gmail.com for inquiries and questions.