Vida Cruz-Borja

@laviecestmoi

Ignyte Award- and National Book Award-winning Filipina writer and editor of SFF. Books: Song of the Mango and Other New Myths (2022), Mirror Marked (2025). Rep'd by Stevie Finegan. Website: Ko-Fi:

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Vida Cruz-Borja@laviecestmoi· 9d

*prays for some money*

Vida Cruz-Borja@laviecestmoi· 19d

Dammit why do I have no money

Two cats with huge eyes and holding paws while wearing wedding clothes

Vida Cruz-Borja@laviecestmoi· 20d

Very late and remiss in not posting this, but if you're in the UK, "The Hopeless Romantic's Guide to Enchantment" is now 25% off at pre-order until tomorrow! I have a story here called "Speaker snd Calligrapher" and I had lots of fun writing it!

The Hopeless Romantic's Guide to Enchantment is 25% off at pre-order til tomorrow!

Vida Cruz-Borja@laviecestmoi· 24d

It's been years since we last cooked shakshuka, to the point that some of our friends haven't tried the dish my spouse and I are known for. Made it earlier and it's just as good as I remember. Baby liked it too 💜

Vida Cruz-Borja@laviecestmoi· Jun 24

Snippet of the lecture:

How to Figure Out the Right Structure for Your Narrative

As a writer on the internet in the last few years, you will probably have come across discourse on conflict in storytelling and how perhaps using a less familiar narrative structure will yield a story with no conflict. Personally, I don’t like the word “conflict” for reasons beyond the scope of this lecture, but let’s get this out of the way first.

There is no such thing as a story without conflict.

Conflict is present even in stories told in structures that originated in cultures beyond the US and Europe. If you’re looking to write a “cozy” story or perhaps a story that doesn’t stress you out—whatever that may mean—consider narrowing the stakes to the personal, slowing down or breaking up the pacing, or playing with tone and style. Maybe even something more episodic in structure might suit such a story. Which is to say, if you were hoping that this lecture would teach you how to write a conflict-less story via narrative structure, you're out of luck. What I hope you take away from it, however, is how to land on the right structure for any story you write.

Vida Cruz-Borja@laviecestmoi· Jan 3

I closed my eyes as I took the screenshot, so it must be meant to be! Claiming this energy and throwing all my troubles to the sky ✨

Your 2026 Word is "hopeful" on a gradient backgroundof sea green to eggshell white

Vida Cruz-Borja@laviecestmoi· Nov 26

Your girl finally got her author copies!!!

Long-haired Southeast Asian woman holding purple-toned book up to her face so that only her eyes are visible

Twelve copies of purple-toned Mirror Marked laid out in two rows, fan-like, against a gray sofa seat

Vida Cruz-Borja@laviecestmoi· Aug 1

Looking for the following in your next read? ✅ Shadow mommy villain ✅ WLW ✅ Queer rep ✅ Wedding drama ✅ Generational trauma ✅ Pop culture references from the last 30+ years ✅ Philippine mythology Pre-order my debut fantasy/horror novella MIRROR MARKED here: pspublishing.co.uk/mirror-marke...

Book cover. "Mirror Marked" and Vida Cruz-Borja is on the spine and lower center front cover. Background is a moody purple, denoting a dense crop of trees. Middle ground features a sinisterly grinning woman with black hair and blue-green skin. She is backlit by the mirror she holds up in the foreground, which contains a scared woman in a white dress running amid a riot of color. Other elements include a gold coin, a jar with a face, and a sigbin—a creature with long pointy ears and fangs.

Vida Cruz-Borja@laviecestmoi· Jul 18

Now with title and byline! As a reminder: ✅ Shadow mommy villain ✅ WLW ✅ Queer rep ✅ Wedding drama ✅ Generational trauma ✅ Pop culture references from the last 30+ years ✅ Philippine mythology Pre-order my debut fantasy/horror novella MIRROR MARKED here: pspublishing.co.uk/mirror-marke...

Vida Cruz-Borja@laviecestmoi· Jul 12

ICYMI: My debut fantasy/horror novella is now up for pre-order! Link below and cover illustration by Allaine B. Leoncio attached 💜 pspublishing.co.uk/mirror-marke...

The foreground: A completely black hole is framed by a golden coin amulet and a brown jar with a face on the right; and a sigbin—a brown feral-looking creature with claws and long pointy ears 5 times bigger than its head on the left. There are also vines on either side.

The mid-ground: A woman with a bluish tint to her skin and unruly black hair smiles sinisterly while holding up a small mirror. Inside the mirror is a girl with long black hair and a white dress running away scared amid a kaleidoscope of colors.

The background: Gnarled trees frame the woman amid a moody purple background.

Vida Cruz-Borja@laviecestmoi· Jul 11

✅ Generational trauma ✅ Wedding drama ✅ Body issues ✅ Philippine mythological creatures ✅ Shadow mommy villain ✅ Queer rep (bi, lesbian, pan, NB) ✅ Might make someone create a WorldCon panel about strong female characters w/ an anti-lesbian bent MIRROR MARKED is now available for pre-order!

A story about the weight of generational trauma . . .
. . . and the cycle of harm it creates inside a family, every word of Vida Cruz-Borja’s novella MIRROR MARKED is saturated with mystery, magic, and drama.

It’s the wedding of the decade. The Petronios—a family as wealthy and influential as they are mysterious—gather at their ancestral villa for a grand wedding. But beneath the glittering surface is a venue steeped in centuries of tragic romance, strange secrets, and dangerous enchantments shaped by the family’s long heritage.

Enter Kelly, a wedding planner. Able to see magic and no stranger to public façades and the dark truths they conceal, she’s the perfect choice for the job—or so it seems.

As the wedding day approaches, Kelly finds herself entangled in more than seating charts and floral arrangements. The villa awakens haunting memories of her past, forcing her to confront long-buried truths about herself and the Petronio family as she finds herself falling hopelessly in love with their eldest daughter, the beautiful and powerful Marga.

Vida Cruz-Borja@laviecestmoi· Jul 10

Reading material for tonight (for research purposes 😂), "The Secret Romantic's Book of Magic" edited by @marieoregan.bsky.social and Paul Kane! Thanks to @charlesatan.bsky.social for getting me my copy!

Pink book with gold foil accents reading "The Secret Romantic's Book of Magic: 12 Spellbinding Romantasy Stories"

Olivie Blake
A.G. Slatter
Tasha Suri
Katherine Arden
Kelley Armstrong
Hannah N. Maehrer
and many more

Edited by Marie O'Regan & Paul Kane

Vida Cruz-Borja@laviecestmoi· Jul 4

Hubby helped me style my cane for his cousin's wedding tomorrow 💜

Purple can wrapped in beige jute cloth with an artificial vine of flowers and leaves in different shades of purple wrapped around the cloth

Vida Cruz-Borja@laviecestmoi· Jun 18

Like his father before him, Oblong sleeps like this

A brown and white dog with a black face sleeping on his back, back paws in the air and front paws curled on his chest. His floppy ears have flopped to the side

A brown and white dog with a black face sleeping on his side, back paws up on the concrete platform/wall and front paws stretched out. His floppy ears have flopped to the side

Vida Cruz-Borja@laviecestmoi· Jun 16

Lol a decade late to _that_ millennial trend I was once too broke to indulge in

On the left, four pieces of avocado toast, two with a slice of cheese each, all with cherry tomatoes and basil, on a square plate. There are two soft-boiled eggs in a gray-green ramekin on the right, and a mug of cold iced tea above the ramekin.

On the left, four pieces of avocado toast, two with a slice of cheese each, all with cherry tomatoes and basil, topped off with runny eggs on all pieces of toast, on a square plate. There is an empty gray-green ramekin on the right, and a mug of cold iced tea above the ramekin.

Vida Cruz-Borja@laviecestmoi· Jun 13

My class on the inactive protagonist c/o the @carlbrandon.bsky.social is happening this weekend! See you there 😄

This is the Inactive Protagonist

Day 1: Characterization & Worldbuilding

June 14, 2025

Vida Cruz-Borja with the Carl Brandon Society

This is the Inactive Protagonist

Day 2: Tension & Structure

June 15, 2025

Vida Cruz-Borja with the Carl Brandon Society

Vida Cruz-Borja@laviecestmoi· May 4

Congrats to all! Very deserving. This would have been hard for me if I'd been a judge. Hope they've got a great theme next year too!

Vida Cruz-Borja@laviecestmoi· May 4

The winners of the Moss Universe Philippines National Costume portion are: 1. Caloocan 2. Ifugao 3. Iloilo Province 4. Sultan Kudarat 5. Baguio (threaded) At least one of my faves is here (Ifugao) 💜

Vida Cruz-Borja@laviecestmoi· Mar 15

My sched for #PhilippineBookFestival 2025 tomorrow: - 11am to 12pm: Book signing for "Song of the Mango and Other New Myths" at Ateneo Press's booth - 5pm to 6pm: Book launch for "New Philippine Speculative Fiction 1" at Vibal Publishing's booth See you there!

Poster for my book signing at Ateneo Press

Vida Cruz-Borja@laviecestmoi· Feb 18

Got my contributor copy yesterday!

Me in a red dress and denim jacket, glasses on and no makeup, with green earrings of the leaves of Lothlorien, holding up a copy of "Mapping New Stars: A Sourcebook on Philippine Speculative Fiction."

Vida Cruz-Borja@laviecestmoi· Jan 29

At last, after many mishaps and months, my box from the UK is finally here 😭

A brown balikbayan box duct taped around the corners sitting atop a yellow cart

Vida Cruz-Borja@laviecestmoi· Dec 22

Setting up my planner for next year. Hopefully illness will not derail me from continuing this one, as it does every year 😅

A blank planner lies open, revealing one page divided into four, and stuck with red stickers for the days of January. On the right is the pad where the stickers came from.

Vida Cruz-Borja@laviecestmoi· Dec 8

Attended the Sinagtala Tarot launch event last night and received my contributor copy—and boy, is it gorgeous. It's such a dream come true to be able to write words for this awesome marriage of tarot and Philippine mythology! Pre-orders ship out January 2025. ✨

Me, with my long wavy black hair and white shirt with a blushing ghost with a bowtie on it, smiling next to a big brown box. The box has a wrapper printed with a moody but ecstatic surrealist painting of a woman draped in only a white cloth, perched on a ring of red vines. To one side is a heart haloed by the rays of the sun. Beneath the woman and the vines is a carabao looking on.

The inside of the box. The interior has closeups of hibiscus flowers of pale and dark pink on the design. The box contains three cards: an about card, a bigger thank you card, and a certificate of authenticity with gold foil. The box also has a small brown wooden box carved with a flower motif radiating outward with a stylized "S" at the center. Actual dried flower petals are scattered around the box within the box.

On a woven gray placemat lie several items in two rows. On the top row is the small brown wooden box with the carved flower motif and the stylized "S," the blue guidebook with the same motif on the cover in yellow and red, and some of the tarot cards lying facedown. The cardback has the S, another flower motif, and what looks like the sun's rays cutting through it. The bottom row has the other half of the deck spread out in arc, face up. The art features, from L to R: a giant with many heads in expressions of agony, a naked and humanoid fairy perched on a tropical flower, half of an old bearded man in a mushroom salakot squatting on a bigger mushroom, a woman in a yellow veil and purple dress looking to the right, a ghostly figure with long black hair descending on a tower, s demon with a horse's head, and a woman with a melancholy expression looking up at a small open umbrella above her while her hair trails behind.

Vida Cruz-Borja@laviecestmoi· Dec 5

Without downloading any new pictures, where are you mentally?

Two columns.

L: a chihuahua in crocheted pink top with a big red heart dangling from the collar that says "Lily Lu." The chihuahua is baring its teeth in hostility. Above the photo are the words "My mental illness when I'm alone"

R: the same chihuahua being held up by presumably its owner's hands. It seems to be smiling and docile. The words above the photo read "My mental illness at my psychiatrist appointment"

Vida Cruz-Borja@laviecestmoi· Nov 24

Proof of life 🌻

A skewed selfie taken in the car. I am in the passenger seat, hair pulled back, wearing glasses with a black frame, grinning. Behind me is a brown dog in mid-yawn. It looks like he's smiling/baring fangs for the camera.

Vida Cruz-Borja@laviecestmoi· Nov 22

Pinoy Reads Pinoy Books will be tackling my book for their next talakayan meeting on Nov. 30 at Harong Café 💜 should be a fun afternoon!

Poster text:

Book Talakayan: Song of the Mango and Other New Myths
Featuring: Vida Cruz-Borja
November 30, 2024
3:00 - 5:00 PM
Harong Cafe
56 Mother Ignacia Ave. Q.C.

Vida Cruz-Borja@laviecestmoi· Nov 18

I have zero regrets hiring Miguel Co to do the cover art of my book. I believe it's the reason people are still buying it two years from publication. Miguel got nominated for a BSFA for Best Artwork because of it, too 💜 so, invest in your own work and respect that of other creatives!

The cover art of my book features a diwata with green skin and green hair with a single pink gumamela flower and a golden circlet. The hair trails off into leaves. She has a flowy white dress on. Her eyes are glowing snd have no irises. She's holding up a glowing mango in one hand. The book cover has a gold border and it has my byline and the title in the lower right corner in the same gold color.

Vida Cruz-Borja@laviecestmoi· Nov 17

Omg 👀 My book will have been published two years ago this month. Somehow it's still one of the top selling books of AUP during the 2024 Manila International Book Fair! I'm really humbled by the support. Thank you for making my published author dreams come true ✨ www.rappler.com/life-and-sty...

Text, with my book's title circled in red:

"Filipinos are writing everywhere—the question is how to get those works published," Bolipata-Santos said.

Here are the top 10 best selling books from the Ateneo University Press during this year's MIBF, in no particular order:

- The Philippines is Not a Small Country by Gideon Lasco
- Unrequited Love: Duterte's China Embrace by Marites Vitug and Camille Elemia
- My Lola's Love Letters: A Novel by Ines Bautista-Yao
- False Nostalgia: The Marcos "Golden Age" Myths and How to Debunk Them by JC Punongbayan
- Isabela: A Novel by Kaisa Aquino
- Stray Cats: A Novel by Irene Sarmiento
- The Collected Stories of Jessica Zafra
- Song of the Mango and Other New Myths by Vida Cruz-Borja
- The Age of Umbrage by Jessica Zafra
- Introduction to Philippine History by John S. Arcilla, S.J.

Three copies of my book, "Song of the Mango and Other New Myths." The cover features a diwata with green skin and green hair with a single pink gumamela flower and a golden circlet. The hair trails off into leaves. She has a flowy white dress on. Her eyes are glowing snd have no irises. She's holding up a glowing mango in one hand. The book cover has a gold foil border and it has my byline and the title in the lower right corner.

Vida Cruz-Borja@laviecestmoi· Nov 14

Your last saved meme is your moral philosophy My moral philosophy is #LOTR, nice

A 4x4 grid. First row of labels: has no idea what's going on, knows about half the plan, knows more than they're sharing. First column of labels: is having a great time, is just along for the ride, is having a terrible time. L-R, top to bottom: Pippin, Gimli, Gandalf, Sam, Merry, Legolas, Boromir, Aragorn, Frodo.

Vida Cruz-Borja@laviecestmoi· Nov 13

We know each other and we follow each other but I will show you Bear anyway