Since its inception in 2023, publishing house Exploding Galaxies has steadily built a reputation for bringing once-overlooked pieces of Filipino literature into the modern-day spotlight. On August 26, Exploding Galaxies announced the release of its third title: a new edition of Erwin E. Castillo’s 1992 epic The Firewalkers, which will include a new preface by the author as well as an introduction by Erwin Romulo.
The novel, set in 1913, follows the inhabitants of Lakambaga, Cavite, as they navigate the chaos of American colonial rule. Its main protagonist, police sergeant Gabriel Diego, attempts to keep the peace while a sinister presence leaves mangled corpses of children around the town. Weaving in elements of historical fiction and magical realism, Castillo crafts a gripping tale of power, belief, and survival that he hopes, as he writes in the new preface, “to confront the present with amuletic relics of an invented past.”
“Nobody ‘should’ read [The Firewalkers],” Castillo noted in an interview with Exploding Galaxies. “But if ever you begin, I hope you will find it knowledgeable, intelligent, and good-hearted, loving and brave. There are rip-roaring adventures here, and many romances, and the music of the living and the dead.”
Exploding Galaxies’ edition of The Firewalkers will officially launch on September 15. Pre-orders for the book begin on August 26.
