Ben Madilynn
As someone who runs in different circles around Cebu’s creative scene, I find that I meet so many fascinating people along the way. Every time this happens, it never ceases to amaze me. I’ve met one of Cebu’s top hosts voiceover talents, someone who reads audiobooks for a living, someone who earns money by creating sound effects, a genius light designer, talented theatre actors, brilliant musical directors, incomparable songwriters, and so many more.
As of late, I recently reconnected with one of my brother’s high school classmates who is actually one out of two members of a novel-writing duo called “The Brothers K.”
Reminiscent of the Grimm Brothers, “The Brothers K” are two actual brothers — Kevin James Ferraren, a 28-year-old flight student and Kyle Jacob Ferraren, a 24-year-old BS Psychology graduate. Both proud Cebuano writers, the brothers recently published their debut novel called: “Answering the Human Question: A Gnome’s Essays on Mankind.”
The book chronicles a Gnome’s journey alongside the human race within a fantasy world. The Gnome writes the story as a series of essays addressed to his King, who’s launched an inquiry into Humanity as part of the “Human Question” — this big political controversy that’s shaken up that world with the question: “Can humans ever be equal to the Elderkin?” In the fantasy genre, “Elderkin” refers to the long-lived established races of the world, like elves, dwarves, gnomes, dragonborn, etc. It’s a story of human resilience as the human race goes through highs and lows through an abridged passage of thousands of years through an immortal being’s eyes.
The brothers shared that what inspired them was a mix of Tolkien’s storytelling and world-building and the anime “Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End,” which frequently appeared on their streaming app as they wrote the story. They also took a look at actual historical events such as the Age of Imperialism and the First World War for additional inspiration.
When I asked them about the themes they considered core to the book, Kevin had answered that some of the core themes would be the ongoing conflict of Man against Nature, the human capacity for greatness and indomitable will to overcome adversity, and the enduring legacy of those we hold dear.
So much can be said about the feat these two brothers have accomplished by turning their literary dreams into a reality. Because of my schedule, I’m still currently in the process of finishing the book, but I would have to say that there were parts of it where I laughed, I cried, and felt all the feelings. Depending on how you digest it, I consider it as somewhat of an almost-cozy-yet-page-turning read for those who enjoy the fantasy genre.
It’s something fresh and new coming from the budding literary talent in Cebu.
