Don't Look Back: Hawaiian Myths Made New

In Don't Look Back: Hawaiian Myths Made New, editor Christine Thomas has collected 17 tales of old Hawaii—lovingly re-imagined and retold for the 21st century. Old meets new in this one-of-a-kind anthology, as Hawaii's best writers—Maxine Hong Kingston, W.S. Merwin, Victoria Kneubuhl, Alan Brennert, the late Ian MacMillan and a dozen others including Thomas herself—present favorite myths and legends in surprising contemporary settings. Here, the reader finds Pele in therapy, Maui as a superhero, the cannibal king Oahu Nui in a world of shady deals and political corruption, the star-crossed naupaka lovers as Honolulu high-school sweethearts and other updated versions of Island legends.

"Myths ultimately serve to instruct and inspire," Thomas notes in her introduction to the book. "They educate; they counsel. They provide palpable and relevant lessons for modern lives, whether in recognizing true love, gathering strength to abandon a route headed for destruction, garnering self-confidence, or avoiding and escaping domestic violence."

With a foreword by noted Hawaiian language scholar Dr. M. Puakea Nogelmeier, Don't Look Back explores myths both familiar and esoteric via literary genres ranging from straight-ahead literary fiction to romance to science fiction to poetry.