WHEN the popular HBO series “Game of Thrones“ (“GoT”) aired its finale recently, much was made over episode writers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss’ decision to “subvert expectations.” They served plot twists that some fans tagged as “lazy.” Some “GoT” devotees were so aghast that they started a petition to pressure HBO into producing a “GoT” Season 8 remake. Over 1.5 million people signed that petition. While that number may not be enough to persuade HBO to oblige them, it drives home the fact that one has to be a competent writer to succeed in subverting expectations.
Award-winning writer Charlson Ong’s stories are not set in the series’ fictional continent of Westeros, but he can teach Benioff and Weiss a lot about subverting expectations the right way. In Of That Other Country We Now Speak and Other Stories (University of the Philippines Press; 139 pages; 2016), Ong does this through 11 tales featuring lost and bewildered men who manage to do surprising acts of damnation and redemption — or a combination of both.