This book contains my impressions and perspectives of the Philippines, the United States, and the world for that matter, of my life struggles and dream of opportunity. It’s intended as a guidebook for regular and ordinary life both in the Philippines and in the United States depending on your inclinations, abilities, income and economic status. Consider this as a report from my own listening post. It contains actual interviews with people and excerpts from newspapers, magazines, books and the Internet. My intention was to depict my own personal life and my family ‘s, and write about my own story based upon personal experiences, but also to describe certain mores, attitudes, customs and cultures of various people in Philippine and American society as I see or interpret them, trying not to offend or annoy. My observations may not jibe with some people’s cultural make-up, political conviction, religious beliefs, personal experience, sensitivity and interpretation of certain issues and things, but such is life. I know that no matter where I stand and wherever I go, it’s always my opinion against any others, and I have lots of opinions that can cause obvious negative reactions in the simplest of minds. The world is full of cuckoos and we even admire some of them depending on who you ask. When it comes to some very burning questions, the first casualty is truth since there’s a big difference between knowing the real story and the story we’re told. The historical events and lore that I have used as backdrop are based upon factual records and are of common knowledge in the Philippines and in the United States, but people inject their own spin, opinion, hypocrisy, dogma, self-righteousness, politics, pandering, feeling, insight and experience into certain circumstances, as I did. I have tried to be as truthful and transparent as possible in my own light. You can scoff at me but I have no political agenda and I’m not a conspiracy theorist. I am just that I am. I’m not rewriting history but trying to give history its true light and history is fickle. In my defense I quote the philosopher Voltaire “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it”. I also have to show my credentials as Filipino so as to be able to tell Filipino jokes and not get in trouble, in consideration that this is my swan song. I have lived in these United States since 1968, been drafted to the conflict in Vietnam, worked long and hard in my profession, have family, traveled far, now retired, and have seen so much of the American society that I almost think of myself as a native. On this note I beg for tolerance.

This anthology presents a bird's-eye view of the whole range of Philippine folk literature.

An exhaustive study that may well be the first attempt to analyze and systematically classify traditional Filipino games, an important aspect of the Filipino traditional heritage.

Philippine Folk Literature: The Proverbs is Volume VI of the author's eight-volume Philippine Folk Literature Series. The present collection focuses on the proverb--a terse didactic statement, handed down through generations, the wisdom of many and the wit of one. It ordinarily suggests a course of action or passes judgment on a situation. This work is a national collection of Philippine proverbs--a putting together of available proverbs from allover the country, listed alphabetically, in dictionary fashion, according to the most significant word in their English translation. Thirty-six Philippine languages are represented in this collection. As an introduction to the collection, the essay Philippine Proverb Lore, is reprinted, to provide readers with an overview. For each entry, the following kinds of information are given: (1) the English translation, (2) the proverb in its original Philippine language or languages, (3) language label and source (collector/collections); and (4) foreign parallels, if any.

The Aswang Complex in Philippine Folklore: With Illustrative Accounts in Vernacular Texts and Translations.This book is a bold attempt to present to the reader and to students of Filipino society and culture one of the dominant Filipino beliefs, the aswang. For some strange reason the belief has never been explored for its usefulness in the field of literature or social studies. Even educators shy away from it, branding the belief as superstitious and therefore hot to be perpetuated. While this view is entertained, however, there is continued use in the schools-including the nursery schools-of Western tales like "Hansel and Gretel," 'Rapunzel," "Snow White," and so forth, dealing with witches, dwarfs, and other people of lower mythology. It is sad to note that while we accept these stories as entertaining to our children, we reject our own folktales about equivalent characters as superstitious and undesirable.It is about time that we changed our perspective, that we accepted our own literary heritage and used it if we are to make education meaningful to our children. Maximo D. Ramos has provided us with one way to achieve this. Of course the present volume is only one of his many works on Philippine folklore.While he presents the materials in this book as folklore, these can also be regarded as ethnographic data in that they deal with one of the dominant aspects of Filipino folk culture. The aswang belief may be viewed as socially functional in many communities. Our own field notes on the subject matter indicate that aswang tales are used by many people as a medium of social control. For example, when a child frets at night or becomes unruly during the day, adult members of the family or sibling caretakers generally use the aswang belief as a means of quieting the child or of disciplining him. When one wishes to protect his fields from unnecessary trespass by others, all he has to do is make it known that an aswang haunts the place and no one will dare enter the premises, especially at night. Deviant behavior is also handled through avoidance, and the aswang label is handy for this purpose. Once the label is set, deviants are either coerced into conformity to what is acceptable behavior or are effectively deprived of their legitimate status in the community.Thus seen, it is understandable that the aswang belief has persisted in our society over such a long period of time.

From the earliest days of oral history to the present, the vampire myth persists among mankind's deeply-rooted fears. This encyclopedia, with entries ranging from "Abchanchu" to "Zmeus," includes nearly 600 different species of historical and mythological vampires, fully described and detailed.

The Spring and Autumn Annals or Chunqiu is an ancient Chinese chronicle that has been one of the core Chinese classics since ancient times. The Annals is the official chronicle of the State of Lu, and covers a 241-year period from 722 to 481 BC. It is the earliest surviving Chinese historical text to be arranged in annals form.

The bestselling Journey to the West comic book by artist Chang Boon Kiat is now back in a brand new fully coloured edition. Journey to the West is one of the greatest classics in Chinese literature. It tells the epic tale of the monk Xuanzang who journeys to the West in search of the Buddhist sutras with his disciples, Sun Wukong, Sandy and Pigsy. Along the way, Xuanzang's life was threatened by the diabolical White Bone Spirit, the menacing Red Child and his fearsome parents and, a host of evil spirits who sought to devour Xuanzang's flesh to attain immortality. Bear witness to the formidable Sun Wukong's (Monkey God) prowess as he takes them on, using his Fiery Eyes, Golden Cudgel, Somersault Cloud, and quick wits! Be prepared for a galloping read that will leave you breathless!

This major source of Chinese mythology (third century BC to second century AD) contains a treasure trove of rare data and colorful fiction about the mythical figures, rituals, medicine, natural history, and ethnic peoples of the ancient world. The Classic of Mountains and Seas explores 204 mythical figures such as the gods Foremost, Fond Care, and Yellow, and goddesses Queen Mother of the West and Girl Lovely, as well as many other figures unknown outside this text. This eclectic Classic also contains crucial information on early medicine (with cures for impotence and infertility), omens to avert catastrophe, and rites of sacrifice, and familiar and unidentified plants and animals. It offers a guided tour of the known world in antiquity, moving outwards from the famous mountains of central China to the lands “beyond the seas.” Translated with an introduction and notes by Anne Birrell.