"Orion's Belt and Other Writings" is an unusual first collection of fiction. It not only puts together Abad's five stories, but carries an introductory piece called "The Stick" which presents a disturbing theory of language, fiction, and the author's own workshop with himself on two of his stories. While the first story "Tarang" is a surprise as it were from reflections on fiction in "The Stick," the four other stories spring directly as fiction from the author's own life. "I cannot write anything that isn't true," says Abad. "Yet anything when written is already fiction; it is how one sees things. At the same time, language too is fiction; it is our first fiction, and the story or poem, a second."

Born in Manila in Feb. 5, 1939. UP A.B. English, 1963: MA and Ph.D. University of Chicago, 1970. Founded with four other poets the Philippine Literary Arts Council (PLAC) which puts out the Caracoa, the only journal in Asia devoted to poetry in English. Currently teaches at the University of the Philippines where he is University Professor and Director of the UP Creative Writing Center.

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