Matiti Johnson

Ña Noniep deals with the spiritual battle between a ri-anijnij (an evil Marshallese maker of black magic) and a noniep (a Marshallese fairy-like creature) for the soul of a 13-year old boy, Liki. His goal is to attend high school in America. Through no fault of his own, after a serious car accident involving his father and the family of his best friend, Miko, Liki finds his life threatened by Miko's evil grandmother, Lijimu, who is a woman known throughout the islands as a horribly diabolical maker of black magic. Lijimu casts a spell on Liki, and this drives the unusually nice, polite and studious boy, insane. Only the noniep can help him, but first the noniep must overcome the enormous power of the evil Lijimu. This enchanting battle is waged before the eyes of the boy's parents, Tomi and Delia, his best friend Miko, and his classmates who are all powerless to help him as he descends into a hellish existence.

Laninbwil's Gift is the story of Jacob, an old island man with a complicated secret. When Jacob was a teenager, a noniep, a Marshallese fairy known for helping troubled souls, transformed him from a simpleton into a normal young man. This favor, however, came with a cost: The noniep made Jacob promise that one day he must bestow this new-found intelligence upon another deserving person. After a lifetime of pondering this otherworldly commitment to the noniep, Jacob discovers Laninbwil, a homeless young man. Just when Jacob begins to get close to the troubled youth, Laninbwil unwittingly gets caught up in a war of mystical power between an evil Mejenkwar, a demon that possesses pregnant women, and her archenemy, the gifted, shamanic old woman, Lijimu.