[Hot Off the Press] Vile Creatures: Stories

New book from the Ateneo Press Vile Creatures meets dark complexities with empathy

Everyone has dark impulses. Everyone has desires and secrets buried away from the harsh judgment of the light. What happens when these deep and dark thoughts are given the space to exist, to thrive? A new release from the Ateneo University Press, Vile Creatures: Stories, compiles nine gripping tales filled with visceral violence and tender sentiment, offering a strange yet profoundly real view of the human condition against an unforgiving Third World megacity. 

Each story takes its time to unfold as the author guides the reader into the intricate psyches of the characters. Through Abola’s immersive prose and unpredictable plots, the reader is left at the edge of their seat, wondering what direction the story will take them. Will the ending be comforting? Will it be tragic? Will it somehow be a mixture of both? One story focuses on a man struggling with the tangled web of duty and desire. One story unravels the complexities of love and jealousy in the relationship between two sisters. The titular story follows a mother who wrestles with her hopes for a better life and the guilt of leaving her child with a possibly dangerous caretaker. Vile creatures does not fear the sharp edges of its characters nor does it hide away the raw fragility within all of them. 

Jose Y. Dalisay Jr., author of Voyager and Other Fictions, praises Abola’s writing style: “In an age conditioned by social media, not all readers will take easily to Exie Abola’s measured prose and his contemplative tone. But those who do will be rewarded by the voice of an author with a penetrating understanding not only of how language but how life itself behaves—often in seeming disorder, but ultimately in execution of a dramatic logic made inexorable by the author’s craft and vision.”

Ian Rosales Casocot, author of Bamboo Girls, highlights Abola’s fascinating characters: ”I want to celebrate it for the preciseness of its storytelling craft. I also want to celebrate it for offering something visceral to ponder as it presents story upon story consisting of a wide variety of Abola’s titular “vile creatures”—people of desperate means, unholy fantasies, and dark intentions who are nonetheless made thoroughly human because the writer does not hesitate to plunge us deep into their worlds and somehow make us complicit in their wickedness, their very human monstrosities. Rarely am I so disturbed—but also so engaged—by such characters in Philippine fiction as I am by these stories. This book is a triumph.”

Vile Creatures is more than just a collection of stories, it is an invitation to ponder on the inexplicable depths of human emotion and the complexities of life itself. Haunting and captivating, these stories mirror the darkness present within ourselves and the modern world we live in. As Daryll Delgado, author of Remains, states in his review, “These stories stay with you, disturb you, and make you want to dive back in for more.”

About the Author

Exie Abola is a prizewinning writer of stories and essays whose work has appeared in literary journals, magazines, and anthologies. For over two decades, he taught English and creative writing at Ateneo de Manila University. He has written about theater and the arts as well as lifestyle pieces for the newspapers, and now works as a freelance writer. Vile Creatures is his first book of fiction.

Vile Creatures: Stories by Exie Abola is published by the Ateneo de Manila University Press under the Bughaw imprint. The book retails at PHP 400 and is available at the Ateneo University Press Bookshop in Bellarmine Hall, and the Press’s official Lazada and Shopee stores.

Get your copy in paperback: Website│Lazada and Shopee