coming soon: ‘after lambana’ – words & story by eliza victoria, art by mervin malonzo

One day I was reading up on the Prohibition Era and the many ways people tried to find loopholes in this ill-conceived law (for example, pharmacists could dispense whiskey for whatever illness, so after the law was passed all of a sudden there were A LOT of pharmacists), and I thought of injecting some elements of fantasy in this scenario.

What if there is such a thing as Magical Prohibition, and people are getting sick with illnesses of magical origin? Will people break the law just to be cured? How will doctors deal with these diseases? Will HMOs cover this? And so on.

The story that emerged from this “What if” is After Lambana.

Here is the blurb, as I initially pitched it to artist Mervin Malonzo:

Lambana, the realm of the Diwata, has fallen, the Magical Prohibition Act has been signed into law, and there is something wrong with Conrad’s heart. Only magic can delay his inevitable death, and so he meets with Ignacio, a friend who promises to hook him up with Diwata and magic-derived treatments, illegal though this may be.

But during the course of the night, Conrad may just discover Lambana’s secrets – and a cure to save his life.

My script runs for around 160 pages, but the events will occur in only one night.

Here are two teasers created by Mervin: one showing our two main characters (Conrad and Ignacio), and one featuring blood and flowers.

Beautiful and violent.

I am excited about this, Mervin is excited about this, and I hope this is a story you all will look forward to and support.

Thanks for reading!