JR Alila Novels' Blog: NEVER AGAIN, EVER

JR Alila Novels' Blog: NEVER AGAIN, EVER

Joseph R Alila (Author of the novels THE LUO DREAMERS' OYDSSEY; THE MILAY CURSE; NOT ON MY SKIN;....) http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B002QD5TDM

BITHRIGHT (A Luo Tragedy)

BIRTHRIGHT (A Luo Tragedy By Joseph R. Alila
(Author of the novels THE LUO DREAMERS' OYDSSEY; THE MILAY CURSE; NOT ON MY SKIN;....) http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B002QD5TDM

BIRTHRIGHT (A Luo Tragedy) is a narrative of how one man’s cruel silence over his son’s ancestry almost destroys the latter among a people who value bloodlines and order in marriage. The battle over birthright among the sons of Odongo has turned tragic. Atieno is a victim of rape; she then enters a marriage that destines her to the rank of second wife. Her son Okulu is a beaten man: he walks with the tag of bastard (kimirwa); he is of dubious virility because of a grandfather who saw him as an alien seed, and he watches helplessly, as Juanita, his wife, breastfeeds another man’s sons, because the clan must grow. Recent events have alarmed Atieno: Juma, Odongo’s spiritual first son, has just posted a perfect middle-school graduation grade. Before that, Odongo relocated Okulu to a piece of land near the latter’s maternal uncle’s home. In Atieno’s analytical mind, Odongo literally had returned Okulu to his mother’s people.
While high on an oath Atieno just administered, Okulu critically wounds Aura, his stepmother. Then Okulu turns his rage on his stepbrother, Juma, Odongo’s spiritual first son. In a twist of instant justice, Okulu’s blind rage turns tragic, as he loses the function of both hands after Grace, Juma’s dog, bites him off a rabbit carcass.
The same night, Juma is running for his life, he rescues a young woman from a quagmire. But she is the metaphorical untouchable pearl he never would touch, for she is his stepsister.
If Owinyo and five of the Odongo daughter should come out as the peacemaker in this novel, Then Abich must join her mother and Okulu as the bad trio. But sometimes good things happen to bad people; Abich reaps a bundantly from her notorieghty, when she captures a “mentionable” new husband amid the tragic drama to have visited Thim Lich in her time.
BIRTHRIGHT (A Luo Tragedy) unfolds within the context of a polygamous marriage in a traditional African home, which is a religious institution with social and spiritual bounds. When husband and wives breach the rules, the tragic conflicts like what befell the Odongo home are the more probable. BIRTHRIGHT should be judged alongside great literary works worldwide.

Check for copies here
http://www.amazon.com/Joseph-R.-Alila/e/B002QD5TDM
JR Alila

SYNTHETIC LIFE FORM!!!!

Here comes a laboratory-synthesized bacteria, made from "bench chemicals" courtesy of Venter et al. This grounbreaking Work is reported in Nature. Bioethicists are understood to have reviewed and okayed the work, perhaps because it promises custom synthesis of barerium-based bioreactors. Religious folks are alarmed at men "playing God."
The new organism is the creation of Venter et al (see link below)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/may/20/craig-venter-synthetic-life-form

Technological Wonder: Blind Man Sees throough the Tongue

This British soldier lost sight in combat, but can now see through the tongue.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34276015/vp/35873717#35873717

Amazon.com: Joseph R. Alila: Books, Biography, Blog, Audiobooks, Discussions

These novels and poetry novels are now selling at amazon. A number are available at discounted prices online. ipad version of SUNSET ON POLYGAMY is on the way! O THE AMERICAN POLYGAMIST is dueling it out against other novels at a Penguin contest.

Amazon.com: Joseph R. Alila: Books, Biography, Blog, Audiobooks, Discussions

Lake Elementaita is Dead

Destruction of water-catchement areas such as the Mau, excessive water use and droughts have combined to kill Lake Elementaita in Kenya. Or is it partially dead or seasonal?
http://www.nation.co.ke/News/-/1056/819794/-/vnlfl7/-/index.html

Author Joseph R. Alila

Author, Poet and Novelist Joseph R. Alila is a native of Kenya. JR Alila is a Chemist by training. JR Alila considers creative writing to be a natural consequence of the aging process. JR Alila has written extensively on his Luo people's marriage and other cultural practices, criticizing them where criticism is due, and shedding a sage's light so as to put meaning to old traditions. JR Alila's mournful caution against the practice of polygamy in the era of the AIDS virus comes in SUNSET ON POLYGAMY. JR has written extensively on pride, bigotry and prejudice in the spiritual/cultural novels, THE MILAYI CURSE, NOT ON MY SKIN, and SINS OF OUR HEARTS.
In his writings, JR treats each of his characters as "the total person"---a writing style that has made such works as WHISPER TO MY ACHING HEART, SUNSET ON POLYGAMY, THE LUO DREAMERS' ODYSSEY: FROM THE SUDAN TO AMERICAN POWER, NOT ON MY SKIN, and THE WISE ONE OF RAMOGILAND, to be informative anthropological treatises on people and their physical, spiritual, political, cultural, and social circumstances.
When JR set out to write he had no voice or agenda. His objective was to tell stories about his Luo people and his experiences as a Christian, a Luo, an African, and a World Scholar uprooted from his home base to chase scientific dreams. But Eight Novels and two Epic Poems (RATENG' AND BRIDE and THIRTEEN CURSES ON MOTHER AFRICA) later, he finds himself speaking increasingly for the burdened and voiceless African women and widows (in THE THIRTEENTH WIDOW, SUNSET ON POLYGAMY, and WHISPER TO MY ACHING HEART) whose yokes are the marital culture and practices whose original intentions were protective, but now turned spiritual death traps from which there is no escape.
JR has found his political voice in RATENG' AND BRIDE (Kenya's 2007 Presidential contest), THE LUO DREAMERS' ODYSSEY: FROM THE SUDAN TO AMERICAN POWER (A historical-cum-spiritual fictional march of the Luo into the world's only citadel of power---inspired by Obama Presidency), and THIRTEEN CURSES ON MOTHER AFRICA (An Epic Poem; theme: Africa is deluded with perilous crises, a lot of which are due to amnesia, poor leadership choices, greed, greedy friends and brother-on-brother conflicts, with Ebony the African Woman and her children bearing the brunt of their deadly consequences).
Eight novels and two epic poems later, in THE WISE ONE OF RAMOGILAND and THE LUO DREAMERS' ODYSSEY: FROM THE SUDAN TO AMERICAN POWER, JR Alila comes out as a sage's torch illuminating various aspects of the Luo journey, Luo cultural practices, Luo spirituality, and Luo thought.
Finally in the novel, NOT ON MY SKIN, JR Alila describes the American experience, consciousness and attitudes at street level, inside houses of worship and at the work place. This author has come of age.

These books are now available at Amazon AUTHOR CENTRAL, where this Author/Poet/Novelist from Nhiwa (Kenya) is proudly featured. This author has come of age, friends and fans.
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B002QD5TDM