Ardain Isma
CSMS Magazine
Two weeks ago, I had the pleasure to speak with fantasy author Rose Carmel Gaspard. We spoke at length about her novel titled “Selah: Book of Books Chronicles.” It tells the story of Selah Jacobi, a boy abandoned at birth by her mother. Miraculously, a nurse discovers the baby in a dumpster near the hospital where he was born. She applies for adoption and is allowed to do so. Tragedy soon befalls the boy as his adopted mother and grandfather die, and he is left alone to navigate through the New York City Foster Care system.
Selah’s shuffling from one foster home to another, however, does not last long. As the author puts it, “because there is something about the boy the foster families find uncomfortable.” It is a profound gaze, an authoritative stare “they find unsettling.” The story soon takes a dramatic turn, taking the reader to a fantasy world, away from the world that we all know best as humans. This happens when Selah finds out “he is part of a powerful ancient bloodline tasked to maintain the balance between the human realm and that of the Unseen.”
Rose is a social worker by profession. Understandably, the author’s expertise in the field is vividly demonstrated in the narrative. “Is that why you’ve decided to frame the story this way?” I asked her.
“Yes, I’ve worked in social services 18 years after I got out of college,” she said. And she went on to say she’s also worked in Georgia where she did placements. At her job, she was the social worker who had to find foster homes for children who were removed from their homes and placed in the care of the state of Georgia.
Rose Carmel Gaspard, like me, is Haitian-American. So, in the latter part of our conversation we switched to the Haiti’s dilemma, a country ravaged by social unrests and one for years has been wallowing in a web of poverty, lawlessness and economic stagnation. I could see the passion in her eyes when she talked about her upbringing in New York after she immigrated there with her parents at the age of 10—her struggle to immerse in a totally different society.
Rose is currently working on her second book in the same series. To learn more about her literary works, you can follow her on Twitter.
You can watch the video below.
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