'Moondogs', Alexander Yates' debut novel, is a book about self-identity, set in the familiar streets of Manila. It's success has given Yates an opportunity to return to his 'hometown' as part of his international book tour.

MANILA, Philippines — American novelist Alexander Yates, Manila was the perfect place to set his debut novel “Moondogs”, a tale about self-identity, superpowered policemen, and an evil rooster. After all, Manila is his hometown.

Born to a father who served in the American Foreign Service, Yates spent his childhood growing up in countries like Haiti, Mexico, and Bolivia.

But among the countries he has been to, it's the Philippines that has gone on to have a special place in his heart.

“I think it was in my senior year of high school that I thought of Manila as my hometown because a lot of friendships crystallized in that moment.

I was dating a woman who became my wife here in the Philippines, we had our prom at the Manila Hotel!” Yates recalls with a laugh. “When I went to the United States for college and thought of home, it was Manila that I was thinking of. It's an important time that you crystallize into the adult that you're going to be, and I was here during that influential time of personal growth.”

Yates was recently brought back to the country by National Book Store for a number of book signing events. He was also part of a forum entitled “Life of A Novelist”, held during the Manila International Book Fair run at the SM Mall of Asia's SMX Convention Center. “Before Ever After” Filipino author Samantha Sotto was also in the forum.

“This is the first time I've been back since 2004. Makati and Ayala, that area was different than I remembered it.

Every year it gets so much more built up. What I remember as parking lots are now buildings!” he shares. “Everyone's been super sweet and supportive at the signing events. There are a lot of questions about process and getting published, and what Manila means to me.”

Homecoming

Coming back to his hometown with his first novel in hand is certainly something to remember for Yates, who says that he has wanted to become a writerever since he was in elementary school.

An admitted bookworm, he says that it was looking at a shelf full of books that first got him interested in writing.

“I remember very vividly that I was in fourth grade and I was looking at this rinky-dink bookshelf with all these books, and it dawned on me that it was someone's job to write those, and it sounded at the time like an easy job. From there I kind of got into becoming a storyteller,” he says.

This early epiphany was further enforced by his stay at the International School Manila (ISM), where he says his mentors inspired him to pursue his early interest in the written word. His drama teacher, Tammy Monsod, was one particular influence.

“I was in her acting class and I was a crappy actor. It was clear to me that I was never going to be an actor, but that class turned me into an artist. It really made me passionate about doing more than just paint-by-numbers writing, to consider writing as a process of discovery,” he shares.

It was also writing that would serve as an outlet for him when he left the country in the year 2000 to study at the University of Virginia, where he says he grappled with being an American not at home in America. As someone who grew up everywhere else but the United States, Yates says it was difficult for him to get used to the country that was supposed to be his own.

“People kind of assumed that I knew the score and that I knew the right football team to cheer for. I felt very much out of water in the States,” he recalls. “But Manila felt like home for me. I was really nostalgic about Manila and I started writing stories about Manila.”

When Yates came back to the Philippines in 2004 to work as a contractor for the United States Embassy, it was the 2004 election season that welcomed him back, and the country's colorful political climate proved to be fertile ground for his imagination. Several characters in "Moondogs", for instance, might feel familiar to some Filipino readers.

“I fully anticipate that people are going to draw single line connections but that's not the case. They're inspired by multiple people and that's how they started in the book,” he says. “There's an FPJ vibe, a Manny Villar vibe. Now they've evolved into their own thing.”

Hard Work Pays off

Taking that initial inspiration and turning it into an actual novel, however, would turn out to be more arduous.

Yates says he took five years to write the novel, with two and a half years spent on writing the first draft. It would take another two and a half years to revise. But all that hard work, it would seem, was worth it.

“Moondogs” has already received quite a bit of advance praise, with Yates being called a “unique literary voice.” “Moondogs” is also being lauded for its “vibrant intensity that is both lyrical and thrilling.”

Yates says the praise is something he did not plan for or expect.

“I didn't think that I would sell the book. I was just focusing on writing the best book that I could write, and also writing the book that only I could write,” he says. “This is the book that reflects my own particular hang-ups and cultural obsessions and my nerdball obsessions with superheroes and evil chickens. This is the book where I could be the weird person that I really am.”

While there have been books written about Manila before – Alex Garland's “The Tesseract” and James Hamilton-Paterson's “Ghosts of Manila” are two such examples – Yates says that it's still a wonder why American writers have not used the country more in their work, considering how fertile a setting for fiction the country is.

“It kind of shocks me that the Philippines is not more visible in the American popular imagination. I think the reason why it's not present in the American popular imagination is the story of our adventures in the Philippines is not the way we like to see them ourselves,” he explains. “We talk about colonists in History class, it's always in world history, not in American history.

It's amazing that not a lot of people know that we have a colonial history in the Philippines. I think because of this shared history, for American authors, there's a draw there.”