MAXIMUM VOLUME is
not about making noise but about creating space for emerging Filipino writers
and new narratives.
When (co-editor)
SARGE LACUESTA and I formed our specialty publishing imprint et al, one of our
goals was to encourage younger writers, to show them their voices matter, that
they matter. We want to help grow a more vibrant readership, one that
appreciates, supports and celebrates the different kinds of stories being
written in our country. We want to help readers discover authors they may have
previously been unaware of.
We issued a call,
sounded the clarion for stories by writers under forty-five years old, and were
overwhelmed by the response as submissions came in from all over the country
and abroad. It was a difficult but rewarding task for both us—we had more
excellent stories than we hoped.
—Excerpt
from the book’s introduction by
DEAN FRANCIS ALFAR
