About Michael R. Barrick

The moniker "Atratus" is from a Latin word originally meaning "mourning clothes" but more generally meaning "dressed in black". The word is used frequently as a species name in taxonomy for animals differentiated from other members of their genus by black colouring. For example the Australian black swan is cygnus atratus. I chose the word as a pseudonym in deference to the long history of black-clad artists and intellectuals.