A tribute to the works of Nathaniel Hawthorne, this moral allegory examines the limits of natural science and the supernatural reality of the soul. A bright young zoology professor arrives at a prestigious Long Island college filled with jaded, materialistic scientists. But in a tower high above their heads, the college's angelic heiress devotedly watches over a collection of handmade animals made of a more mysterious stuff than cloth and string.

A new Epic Poem set in ancient Italy, the Laviniad tells the story of bronze-age Lavinium right after the death of the Trojan War hero Aeneas. His young son Ascanius is thrust to the fore as leader of the Trojan emigrants and native Latins, now threatened by the bloodthirsty Etruscan tyrant Mezentius. Meanwhile Aeneas's faithful widow Lavinia conceals a secret that drives her to flee the safety of the city past the swords of the enemy and into the Italian wilderness.