Tablay by Katrina F. Olan

New Intramuros: a hyper-technological smart city surrounded by heavily armored walls. Beyond it, vast mountains and jungles teeming with hostile machine life called aswangs. For over a century, the Philippine Mech Force has been fighting the aswangs with mechs of their own—and talented pilots to fly them.

Anya grew up watching her father, the famed General Armin Valerio, lead the charge during Operation Tablay—an all-out bombing campaign aimed to annihilate the aswangs once and for all. Everything changed when the operation failed, leaving her father an incapacitated man.

Fourteen years later, Anya Valerio enters the Philippine Mech Force and quickly becomes a rising star. However, when she finds out a dark secret about the aswangs, it’s up to Anya and her partner—the reserved but brilliant engineer, Chino Jose—to stop the fight before the consequences are irreversible.

Tablay is Filipino for electric charge. It is the soul of the city, the mover and shaker of machines, the spark between two hearts. But most of all, Tablay aims to shine light on the relation between technology and our society’s ethical choices.

“Clever. Imaginative. Grounded. It looks back to our past and reimagines our future.” - Juan Ekis, Palanca-award winning poet and playwright

“A noteworthy piece of literature that delivers heart-pounding and visually stimulating action scenes, heartfelt character dialogue and thought-provoking themes…” - The Bosun

“A gripping, thought-provoking adventure that is both amazing and heartfelt. The real magic of Tablay is its ability to replenish our diminishing faculty to wonder.” - The Time of Assassins Literary Guild

Art by: Paul Medalla, Marc Gallo, Joie Reyes & Jia Yumul