Tessa Barbosa: Filipina-Canadian Author Shines in Fantasy Genre with "The Moonlight Blade"
Discover the enchanting world of Tessa Barbosa, a Filipina-Canadian author whose debut fantasy novel, "The Moonlight Blade," is captivating readers. By day, Tessa writes software help, but by night, she crafts fantastical tales from her home in Vancouver, Canada. When she's not writing, Tessa enjoys creative pursuits like painting and crafting. Dive into our exclusive interview with Tessa Barbosa to learn more about her incredible contributions to the fantasy genre and her reflections on the literary landscape.
Narra is depicted as having no weapons, training, or magic, yet she possesses fierce grit. How did you develop her character to emphasize these qualities, and what message do you hope to convey through her resilience? Is there a particular scene or moment in the story that you found especially challenging or rewarding to write? Can you share why?
I always enjoy an underdog story. When The Moonlight Blade begins, Narra is a poor traveling merchant, but she quickly gets pulled into the intrigues of the capital city where the powerful possess both money and magic. She is at a disadvantage from the start, bullied for her lack of sophistication, and unable to protect herself from magic. The love for her family is what gives her the strength to keep going.
Family is a recurring theme in the story, and one of the hardest scenes for me to write was when Narra is finally reunited with the mother she's been trying to find for most of the book. How do you convey a lifetime of relationship in a few pages? All the love, but also all the hurt they've caused each other from choices they've made?
How does Filipino culture influence the setting, characters, and overall narrative of Narra Jal's story? Are there specific cultural elements or traditions that you wanted to highlight?
It's everywhere in the story, both thematically, and world-building. For me, writing this book was a meditation on diaspora, and what 'home' means. What is 'home' to you when everyone talks about a place you've only heard about in stories? The world of the story is inspired by a "what if". What if the Spanish never colonized the Philippines and magic was real? Who might we have become? I did research on pre-colonial cultures, but also used imagination to build up another three hundred years of history. It's a story about families and how utang na loob, and unquestioning respect for our elders, can sometimes go wrong, but it's also about finding love and strength in community.
Though perhaps the biggest part of why I wanted to write this was the lack of Filipino representation in the stories I read growing up. I wrote what I wanted to read: a story where we get to be the main characters, to be heroic and unapologetically ourselves, even if that is sometimes messy and complicated.
What book in the Canadian literary canon do you think is a must-read? And why?
Because I've always been a fantasy reader, I'd recommend Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. It's a standalone novel inspired by Mayan mythology, that is both beautiful and heartbreaking. Casiopea wants to escape her terrible life, and accidentally releases the God of Death, who promises to grant her wish only if she helps him win back his throne in the underworld. To fail means her death, of course, but to succeed she has to outwit both gods and monsters.