Island Boy is the story of Paco, an odd naïve boy afflicted with bruxism. Alienated from his cold mother, alcoholic stepfather, and an indifferent town, he sought home elsewhere. After recalling an anecdote of a sanctuary that adopted outcasts, he musters the courage to escape a familiar life and embarks on a journey to find the only place he was sure could offer him true home. As he navigates a world growing beyond him, he is forced to negotiate with an assortment of characters, from the poor to the affluent, from policemen to petty criminals, from nuns to nonconformists; and in between, are questions, from the hows to the what ifs, from questions of what is wrong and what is right to whether or not the fabled land exists at all, from whether or not the world would allow him his calling to whether or not he was asking the right questions.Mark Bulahao is a Filipino writer, artist, and father to a one-eyed Shih Tzu. From elementary to high school, he wrote fables, short stories, and bad poetry; and drew comics of various genres: historical, fantasy, slasher, superhero, and video game fanfiction. He dropped out of college twice and started working as an illustrator in 2011. Since then, he has worked on a few novels and novellas. Island Boy is the first to be finished.