Vincent Ternida is a screenwriter, filmmaker, and writer living in Vancouver, British Columbia. His work has appeared in Ricepaper, and his story “Elevator Lady” was longlisted for the CBC short story prize in 2019. Ternida immigrated to Canada from the Philippines.
Fiction
The Seven Muses of Harry Salcado
Toronto: Dark Helix Press / Asian Canadian Writers’ Workshop, 2019.
Publisher’s Synopsis (From its website)
Ma misses the sun, warmth and colors of their faraway homeland, but her daughter sees magic in everything — the clouds in the winter sky, the “firework” display when she throws an armful of snow into the air, making snow angels, tasting snowflakes. And in the end, her joy is contagious. Home is where family is, after all.
The Seven Muses of Harry Salcedo follows the trials and tribulations of its disgruntled titular character as he manages his three vices: caffeine, overthinking, and dead-end relationships. Ten years after migrating to Vancouver, this former third culture kid has grown sick of the West Coast and seeks solace in his dream to move to Toronto. He vacillates between his on-and-off paramours, overbearing parents, and exhausted confidants. As he slowly approaches forty and his personal window for escaping the coast closes, Harry rushes to write the novel he’s always wanted while there’s still time.
Vincent Ternida’s humorous, poignant, and heartbreaking book contrasts the uncertainties of migration, ambition, and love with the beauty of the Lower Mainland. It is an exciting new take on the classic Asian Canadian narrative.
Anthology (Short story)
Immersion: An Asian Anthology of Love, Fantasy, and Speculative Fiction
Will be ordered
Ternida, Vincent. “Not All Bears Drink Mead.” In Immersion:An Asian Anthology of Love, Fantasy, and Speculative Fiction, [edited by] JF Garrard, Allan Cho, William Tham. Vancouver: Asian Canadian Writers’ Workshop ; Ricepaper magazine : Toronto: Dark Helix Press, 2019, 11-21.
Links
Publisher Dark Helix Press
Profile spotlight from the Diaspora Dialogues website
Vincent Ternida page on IMBD.com