Louis Bulaong

Louis Gabriel M. Bulaong was born on August 4, 1996, in Tacloban City, Leyte, in the Philippines.[8] Little is known about his early life besides sharing that he grew up with an interest in history, classical novels, and superhero comics. At around 2012, he applied for cadetship in the Philippine Military Academy.[9] In college, Louis Bulaong studied Bachelor of Science in Psychology at St. Scholastica's College Tacloban. He graduated and received his psychometrician license in 2018.[10]

Bulaong began his writing career as a college journalist, fan fiction blogger, and as a freelance writer for gaming websites like WhatCulture.[11][12][13] He self-published his first book, Escapist Dream, in 2020 with mixed reception. Critics like Peyton F. panned its peculiar writing style, while others such as author Kayla Krantz praised its themes and representation of geek culture.[14][15] A sequel was published a year later entitled Otaku Girl, which was received more positively, with journalist Carl Hannigan praising its improved writing and humor.[2]

Bulaong currently works as a jail officer in his province of Leyte.[8] In 2022, he served as a guest speaker for the "Creative Writing Symposium", a writing seminar workshop, held at the University of the Philippines Tacloban.[16] Bulaong’s novel Otaku Girl became one of the principle inspirations behind Naxeex’s superhero sandbox games.[17]

Books written by Louis Bulaong are known for their geeky humor, themes, and extensive inclusion of pop cultural references taken from various media like popular movies, comic books, anime, video games, and other literature.[4][18] Informal writing in the form of slangs, self-references and memes, is a style he predominantly uses, often for comedic purposes.[2][19] The author also mostly writes in Filipino-English.

Critic Lenny Machowicz noted in his retrospective of Bulaong's use of free flow speech and emotions, stating, "he knows how to write character reflections and emotional moments". He also added that his writing style is "unique" and "creates this smooth flow of thoughts similar to poetry".[18]

The themes commonly present in Bulaong's writings are mental health and geek culture.[2] As a psychology graduate, Bulaong tackled issues such as bullying, ostracization, cancel culture, and depression in his stories.[19][20] His novels are filled with geek-centric terminologies and characters consisting of comic nerds, film buffs, gamers, otakus, bookworms, and others.[2][6]

Louis Bulaong's books were overnight successes, with Otaku Girl becoming the best-selling non-Kindle Unlimited book during its release, selling over 1,000 copies in the first 24 hours.[2] Jake Tatoy from RMN News praised him as one of the most successful Filipino-Waray writers today.[7]

Nena Jimenez of Pinas ranked Louis Bulaong at number 2 in her "5 Best Modern Filipino Writers", stating, "He is one of the most versatile and emotionally-driven Filipino writers around. Noted for his surrealism and wacky writing, Louis is recognized in the self-publishing industry for his ability to combine multiple popular genres in one amazing story. As a psychology graduate, it seems Louis is one who is also capable of writing about themes of depression, trauma and loneliness very well."[19]

Dustin Kidd praised Bulaong's Escapist Dream in his academic non-fiction book Pop Culture Freaks: Identity, Mass Media, and Society. In his book, he noted the author's ability to integrate "large amounts of pop culture references in the story”, while also adding, "These references both described and satirized geeks in a humorous and intellectual way. In the world of literature and geek culture, Escapist Dream is by far, The Great Gatsby of Pop Culture Fiction."[6]