Song of the Manatee: Aria of Light is book one of a two part saga that will take you around the cosmic block, back in time to Earth's early Eocene and far into its future, across galaxies and alternate dimensions of time. In 2199, sixteen year-old Swan Black lives in an ideal society. Every need is supplied by the ostensibly benevolent Central Government, whose motto is: To Encircle and Protect the People. With a few notable exceptions-as far as they're concerned, Swan Black should never have been born. As as an albino, her fair skin and violet eyes fated her to scorn and ostracism in a...

The year is 1970. In a blue-collar suburb of Boston, two eleven year-old Catholic girls struggle to come of age in a culture still very much dominated by men. They watch in dismay as their fathers and priests determine the lives of the women around them. Loyalty to family and church is paramount; women and children suffer in silence rather than expose the men who do them harm. Frances Orillio is an adopted, only child; she is self-critical, anxious, and vulnerable. Maddy Malone is one of six children, and grew up in a rough housing project scrapping with the boys. Although they are strikingly...