Dwellers: A Novel: Winner of the Philippine National Book Award

This dark fantasy is sure to take your breath away.

The rules are strict and absolute:
Rule No. 1: Don't kill the body you inhabit.
Rule No. 2: Never mention your previous name again.
Rule No. 3: Don't talk about your previous life. Ever.

But what happens when, in escaping your old life by stealing a new one, you jump out of the frying pan and into the fire?

Cousins from a clan of "dwellers"--people who inhabit the bodies and lives of others--become brothers when they take over the bodies of Jonah and Louis. An injury forces them to remain in the brothers' house, where they discover that the basement holds a dead body! As old and new secrets come to light, it becomes clear that every action always has consequences.

Fans of Richard Morgan, Adam Silvera, and Blake Crouch's speculative fiction will adore Eliza Victoria's action-packed supernatural mystery. Winner of the Philippine National Book Award, Dwellers is the urban fantasy novel that you won't want to miss!

Winner of the prestigious Philippine National Book Award!

ISBN-13: 9780804855235

Media Type: Hardcover

Publisher: Tuttle Publishing

Publication Date: 08-16-2022

Pages: 160

Product Dimensions: 5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

Eliza Victoria is the author of several award-winning novels including the Philippine National Book Award-winner Dwellers (2014), Wounded Little Gods (2016), and her science fiction collection Nightfall (2018). Her fiction and poetry have appeared in online and print publications, including in LONTAR: The Journal of Southeast Asian Speculative Fiction,The Best Asian Speculative Fiction, The Dark Magazine, Dark Regions Press's Stranded: Lone Survivor Deserted Island Horror Stories and The Apex Book of World SF Volume 5.Her work has received top Philippine literary awards, including the Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature.She lives in Australia. Aldy Aguirre is a Manila-based illustrator and visual artist who specializes in watercolor and gouache, drawing inspiration from nature, memories, and dreams. He has contributed artwork to a number of children's books and is a member of Ang Ilustrador ng Kabataan, a Philippine organization dedicated to the creation and promotion of children's literature.

Read an Excerpt

Part One: A Strange House in a Strange City
Chapter One:

"The Holmes and Rahe stress scale lists 43 stressful life events that may lead to illness. I read this in a bookùbeing wheelchair—bound and injured I can do mostly nothing but read. Every life event has corresponding Life Change Units. This is my list—

Death of a close family member — 63
Personal injury or illness — 53
Change in living conditions — 25
Revision of personal habits — 24
Change in residence — 20
Change in sleeping habits — 16
Change in eating habits — 15

—for a whopping total of 216 Life Change Units. I don't know if I should add "Gaining a New Family Member" (39 points); I've known Louis (I should get used to calling him this name—Louis) all my life, but I've never shared a house with him. Does that count?

He stresses me out because he looks stressed out with all the cuts on his face and arms. His constant attention is breaking my heart. Maybe he could add the 39 points to his own list.

If I add that, I get 255 points, still 45 points short of the requisite 300, which means "at risk of illness". At this point, I'm still not at risk? "Risk of illness is moderate".

This is bullshit.

How many Life Change Units apply to a "Change in Body"? "Change in Residence is a mere 20 points. A change in body is a thousand—fold more disorienting.

I don't know why I'm even bothering with this stress scale. It doesn't apply to Louis and me. Our collective stress is on a whole other planet.

I should be doing something more productive.

I wish I could walk.

I wish I could just kill this body and inhabit another."

— Victoria, Eliza. Dwellers: A Novel. Tuttle Publishing, 2022, pg. 6-7.

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