Children of a Fireland: A Novel

The inhabitants of sleepy old Kanewai town are rudely awakened when disturbing messages begin showing up on the wall of the abandoned movie theater. No one knows who's behind the mischief, but everyone is speculating as frantic attempts are made to cover up the graffiti and repair the damage done to the reputations of friends, family, and the “victims” themselves. Is it the ghost of Casey Akana, the theater's original owner, come back to slander the people of Kanewai–in particular Hiram Ching, whose father had bankrupted him in the good old days after the war? Threats, armed vigilantes–nothing can stop the offensive remarks from appearing. After Ching mysteriously drops dead of a heart attack, even the town priest is baffled and gives into pleas for an exorcism. But when Father Fonseca falls to his death from the theater's roof, the townspeople lose their only savior–or so they think until more ugly secrets are revealed and further hypocrisy is exposed.

• Gary Pak, Author