In JR Alila's NOT ON MY SKIN, the all-American Harmony City is not exactly harmonious. Individualism, prejudice and arms-length neighborliness greet Ochome--an alien poet and suburbanite, who has staked out his evenings in one of the city's downtown cafes. Harmony City's peace hardly is skin deep: There is a daily stalemate at the fertility clinic, and wherever Ochome turns, he sees, hears, and constantly feels souls cursing "Not on My Skin"-- a protest mantra against nuances of prejudice he sees, hears and feels in the city cafe and beyond. The cafe crowd has a few regulars who, like most...

In the historical novel, THE LUO DREAMERS' ODYSSEY: From the Sudan to American Power, a journey that started more than five centuries ago in the Sudan has ended in the White House. Along the way, a child and a troubled dreamer, Ajwang' the Dreamer (a.k.a. Ramogi) survives the knife of ire of a man robbed of his bead of wisdom. Decades later, the sons of Ajwang' must part ways with a child dead between them because of vengeance over a "bead of passion" and a "spear of power." Centuries later, an orphan must "develop wings," fly out of Colonial Kenya to Alaska, and plant his seed, a boy dreamer...

In Joseph R. Alila's first anthropological novel, SUNET ON POLYGAMY, marital cultural lore and spirituality combine to breed a tragic confusion in a land faced with a deadly new disease epidemic, with public debates raging as to whether the killer is ancestral chira (curse) or Acute Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS). In this work of fiction, Joe Ochom, a young man testing his verbal skills in the art of seduction, soon realizes that corralling an educated girl (Megan) requires more than adorning his high school blazer in the marketplace. He proves cowardly-a weakness his principal competitor,...