We chat with author Gabriella Buba about the fiercely imaginative Filipino-inspired fantasy debut Saints of Storm and Sorrow, which follows a bisexual nun hiding a goddess-given gift is unwillingly transformed into a lightning rod for her people’s struggle against colonization.
Hi, Gabriella! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
I am a mixed Filipina writer and chemical engineer based in Texas who likes to keep explosive pyrophoric materials safely contained in pressure vessels or between the covers of my books. I write adult epic fantasy for bold, bi, brown women who deserve to see their stories centered.
When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?
My mother will tell you about the time when I was 3 years old I made her write a letter to Disney because I was CONVINCED the ending to Pocahontas was WRONG and I could fix it for them. And the anecdote holds true because I got my real start writing and sharing stories when I discovered fandom and fanfiction. I probably wrote 2 million words in fix-it fics and AUs (Alternative Universe) honing in on the type of stories I wanted to tell before I made the jump to writing original stories.
Quick lightning round! Tell us:
- The first book you ever remember reading: Goodnight Moon
- The one that made you want to become an author: Tamora Pierce’s The Emperor Mage permanently re-wired my brain
- The one that you can’t stop thinking about: Wolf of Oren Yaro and the entire Bitch Queen Chronicles by KS Villoso lives in my brain rent-free.
Your debut novel, Saints of Storm and Sorrow, is out June 25th! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Typhoon wielding nun drowns colonizers
What can readers expect?
Saints is a lush, lyrical epic fantasy about hitting the point where you can’t keep swallowing down your grief and anger any longer and maybe the only solution to the injustice is to wash it all into the sea.
Where did the inspiration for Saints of Storm and Sorrow come from?
The inspiration for Saints came when I ran across a story about the oldest extant black Madonna in the Philippines encountered by the Spanish in 1571 and enshrined as Our Lady of Guidance at the Ermita Church in Manila. I was reading a scholarly speculation about the statues origin as an unknown precolonial diety/anito or perhaps an east Asian idol, until the Spanish had claimed as Mother Mary and installed her in a church. I wondered if the goddess was angry her true name had been forgotten. And that thought sparked the rest of Saints of Storm and Sorrow.\
Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
I have a mile wide soft spot for Catalina, my sapphic nun and Lunurin’s lover. Even when I hate her, I love to hate her. Cat is such a complex character, her faith and the things she’s done to survive under colonization have set her at constant war with her own identity as a mestiza and lesbian. I really empathized with loving someone so imperfect and conflicted, and how hard it can be.
What a stunning cover! Can you tell us a bit about how it came to life?
I have to give so much credit and love to Nat Mack my cover designer. She put a bold, brown, and beautiful Filipina front and center and that’s all I could’ve asked for. I fell in love with Nat’s dynamic character design at first sight, and then we were able to collaborate on the fine details like textiles, weapon design and dress that I think made Lunurin come fully into focus.
This is your debut published novel! What was the road to becoming a published author like for you?
It was a certainly a long and winding road. I actually sent a very early draft of the story that became Saints to a small press in 2012. It was my first time sharing original work. The press was kind enough to give me a detailed and UTTERLY crushing rejection. As a result I stopped sharing original work for years (a big regret of mine). Luckily, I never stopped writing.
Then in 2018 with my partner’s active encouragement to stop hoarding my stories like a dragon I began querying with another iteration of Saints that wasn’t ready. But, by 2018, I’d grown a lot and found writing mentors. They helped me realize that there was an audience for characters and stories about people like me under the #ownvoices umbrella. That’s when I realized that the reason Saints had never worked was because the story and characters had been Filipino all along. It was a lightbulb moment. I re-wrote Saints entirely in 30 days resetting the story into a Filipino-inspired archipelago, reworking the magic system to Tagalog precolonial myths.
When Saints was accepted to Pitch Wars 2021 my wonderful mentor Mic Domenici helped me through two major revisions which got Saints submission ready. My querying journey after Pitch Wars was incredibly nerve-wracking. When I finally signed with my agent Ramona Pina, 9 months after Pitch Wars, I’d sent over 300 queries and had 50 fulls out! Luckily for me querying was the hardest part of my journey. Saints went on submission without any further revision, and it sold to Katie Dent at Titan books after a little over a month.
I couldn’t have asked for a better partner for my first publishing experience. Katie always sees what I’m putting down and asks me to make it more, bigger, and can I add more dragons? And I love her for that. I’m so excited to work with her on Saints 2.
What’s next for you?
I am currently working Saints 2 in which we will return to Aynila where Alon and Lunurin attempt to unite their allies and the scattered stormfleet to stand against the Codician Armada that has come to retake Aynila.
Lastly, what books have you enjoyed so far this year and are there any that you can’t wait to get your hands on?
I’m still riding The Hurricane Wars high, truly Filipino fantasy writers have been on a roll lately and I’m so excited to for A Monsoon Rising to come out.
I was lucky enough to be asked to blurb Mistress of Lies by KM Enright, and I don’t think anyone is ready for how lush, bloody, and sensual that October romantasy release will be.
As for my truly towering TBR, I’m most excited to dive into the Last Bloodcarver by Vanessa Le and Of Jade and Dragons by Amber Chen! I’m also desperate to start He Who Drowned the World by Shelley Parker-Chan and finish the Radiant Emperor Duology!
