down the other dark corridor

While you all patiently wait for the third TRESE book, might I interest you with another dark delicacy?

In case you didn’t know, there’s another occult investigator stalking the streets of Manila. His name is Mike Lasombra and you’ll meet him in the pages of David Hontiveros’ TAKOD.

Ruel de Vera gives us a quick overview of the book: Something’s rotten in what was once the little settlement of Mapayapa. And now, years later, Mike Lasombra returns to this place from his past with a curious pendant around his neck. After encountering a wizened old woman who knows more than she’s letting on, Mike will discover the throbbing dark secret of Mapayapa. The bloody, frightening shadow behind Mapayapa will require more of Mike than he ever imagined. All this, in straightforward horror and in allegorical manner, is stuffed into Hontiveros’s compact and creepy novella.

Wawi Navaroza, who designed the cover the book, has this to say about her TAKOD experience: Curious title, I thought. It's in VISAYAN dialect. (The Visayas, as we all know, is replete with its wealth of folklore and islands famed for sorcery). From my Cebuano vocabulary, the word "takod" translated in Tagalog is "hawa"... contagious, contagion, to be contaminated. As in virus, disease, or like Vampires and the Dark Gift.

But Takod isn't about vampires. The characters in the story are a mix of both traditional (filipino folklore hotshots) and original (even more grotesque creatures shaped by Dave's fantasmagoric imagination). His protagonist is a brooding attractive man who has an arsenal of physical and psychic skills.

And Karen Kunawicz provides some safety precautions : After reading (TAKOD), you may want to pack an extra flashlight, holy water, crosses, garlic, amulets, oracions, power objects and tools of protection spells on your next road trip. Oh, and you’ll want to make sure there is nothing wrong with the ignition on your car.

Read the first chapter of the book at:
http://davidhontiveros.com/author.html

You can most probably find a copy of TAKOD at all major bookstores.