Filipino American author Dom Magwili reads from his fantasy epic novel, The Infernal Promise: Book One of Legends from the First Hemisphere.

In The Infernal Promise, a humble wagon train filled with immigrants headed for San Francisco suddenly finds itself lost in a faraway world, caught in the middle of a planetary invasion where animals walk and talk like people. The travelers face battle axes and power staffs, with hostile giants on four legs and two, eager for their death.

However, this is not your typical wagon train. It includes assassins posing as missionary nuns, a Filipino gambler armed with a Bowie knife and rattan fighting baton, two Chinese brothers leaving their lives as fighters for the prosperity of a land called Gold Mountain, and Japanese adventurers looking to make America their home.

Author Dom Magwili wrote the book because “I wanted to see myself in these stories,” he said. “I have written stage plays and screenplays. Their subject matter contained adventure, the fantastic, and swashbuckling, so I combined all of these things in The Infernal Promise. Magwili is currently writing the follow-up to The Infernal Promise, titled Soldiers of the Hook and Eye, with publication planned for 2023.

This event is proudly sponsored by the Filipino American Center at the San Francisco Public Library, Philippine American Writers and Artists (PAWA), and the San Francisco Filipino Cultural Center.

About the Author

DOM MAGWILI is an instructor for the Department of Asian American Studies at California State University, Fullerton, and the resident acting teacher for the Los Angeles-based East West Players Theatre Conservatory, the nation’s premier Asian American theatre company. He designed and taught the first course about Asian American theatre at California State University, Long Beach, and lectured at UCLA on the history of Asian American theatre. A native of Oakland, Calif., Magwili has worked as a playwright, screenwriter, and actor across a variety of genres.