Chris McKinney's new novel, the cleverly named "Mililani Mauka," will be released by Mutual Publishing in May.

McKinney's previous works, including "The Tattoo" (19990 and "The Queen of Tears" (2001) have been described as cutting edge — and cut they do, through romanticized views of the Islands to the reality of contemporary Hawai'i. The 240-page paperback will be another in this vein, about two families who collide  — the Motts, new homeowners in suburban Miliani, and the Krills, homeless in Wai'anae. McKinney is the winner of an Elliott Cades Award for Literature (2000) and two Ka Palapala Po'okela awards from the Hawaii Publishers Association.