Press Release

FILIPINA-CANADIAN Publishes Breakthrough Fantasy Novel

Charlottetown, PE, CANADA.
15 October 2013



Filipina-Canadian Cindy Lapeña recently released her first novel, The Lost Amulets, online through Amazon and CreateSpace in both paperback and digital versions. The novel is an exciting and masterful fantasy written for young adults but sure to appeal to all ages, in the same way J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series did. Already, she is being compared to best-selling authors Lloyd Alexander and Cornelia Funke.

"...your tone and content reminded me of the Lloyd Alexander books. I’ve always been big on folklore and mythology from around the world, so this was fun to read...I liked this very much. You have all the pieces in place for an epic bestseller for your target audience. It’s already better than Cornelia Funke, and she sells like hot cakes."
 
- Paul Bowersox,       Pennsylvania
 


The Lost Amulets is the story of four teenagers who are drawn into the magical world of Dapit-adlaw, where mythological and supernatural beings live. They join a party of Littlefolk and Otherfolk, consisting of dwarves, elves, gnomes, and a kapre to seek lost amulets that are instrumental in the controlling natural elements so that they can restore some balance to nature. Their adventure takes them all over the islands of Dapit-adlaw, where they encounter other supernatural beings and mythical creatures, including aswang, sigbin, buwaya, siyokoy, kataw, and more.

What makes The Lost Amulets an important and significant addition to the corpus of Philippine Literature is how it integrates classical and ancient Philippine myths into an urban fantasy adventure. It introduces a vital aspect of Philippine culture to the world and presents it in a thoroughly enjoyable manner. It is a refreshingly new concept that is more than welcome as it provides a unique replacement for the tiresome vampires, zombies, and werewolves that are the current mainstay of urban fantasies.

The Lost Amulets is the first book in Cindy’s upcoming trilogy, The Amulets of Panagaea.

Besides being a first-time novelist, Cindy Lapeña is also a past-winner of the prestigious Carlos Palanca National Awards for Literature. She received the 3^rd place award for a full-length play in English in 2007, her first entry to the annual Awards. She is the author of the reference series 101 Fun Games, Activities, and Projects for English Classes (also available on Amazon and CreateSpace), which draws on her extensive experience as an English teacher and training consultant in the Philippines. She currently resides in Prince Edward Island, Canada, where she is an arts and teaching consultant, a practicing artist and writer, and owner of Art ‘n’ Words Studio & Gallery.
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About Cindy Lapeña
C.P. Lapeña began writing when she was a very young child and wrote for school publications throughout her youth. Her literary works centered mainly around poetry and some short fiction, besides numerous essays and academic papers. She is an avid reader of fiction and has always dreamed of publishing novels.
 
In 2012, she took the plunge and signed up for NaNoWriMo, completing her 50,000 words within the month, and completing the novel the next month. Since she migrated to Canada in 2007, she has written several reviews for onrpei.ca and maintains a blog (mimrlith.wordpress.com) where she shares poetry, essays, art and other random works and ideas. Before that, she had written several educational and academic texts, as well as a full-length play that won 3rd prize in the Philippines's prestigious Carlos Palanca National Awards for Literature in 2007.
 
She has also been a teacher of writing and communication and holds a Master of Arts in English Literature.