What's Going On? Eyes on Africa and the Caribbean
What's Going On? Eyes on Africa and the Caribbean
Author Maurice M. McCallum: Blending Jamaican Folklore and Fantasy in New Novel
Ever wanted to decode the mysteries of the Caribbean fantasy genre? Our riveting exchange with author Maurice M McCallum gives you an insider's glimpse into this captivating world in his novel, "Return of the Owl." In an intricate blend of Jamaican folklore and fantasy, McCallum weaves the tale of the Ol Hige, a shape-shifting witch, alongside three young protagonists on a quest to uncover a nefarious secret. McCallum speaks candidly about his passion to exert Caribbean stories and perspectives in the fantasy realm, ensuring a rich, diverse narrative.
"Return of the Owl" by Maurice M. McCallum is available now on Amazon online bookstore. Grab your copy today!
[00:00:00] Moronke Oshin: Hello and welcome to What's Going On? Eyes on Africa and the Caribbean.
Grace Oshin: Join us as we follow social and economic development issues in and around Africa and the Caribbean. If it relates to Africa, the Caribbean, and the people of the African diaspora, we'll talk about it. What's Going On? Eyes on Africa and the Caribbean wants you to stay connected to the people and places that you love.
[00:00:25] Moronke Oshin: So join us. We're your hosts, Moronke Oshin Martin and Grace Oshin
[00:00:49] Moronke Oshin: welcome back to What's Going On? Eyes on Africa and the Caribbean. Today, we're talking to Maurice M. McCollum, a young author who's promoting his new book, Return of the Owl, a novel that is said to take Jamaican folklore to a new level. According to the book jacket, In Return of the Owl, readers are transported to the town of Belle Isle, where a seemingly peaceful community hides a sinister secret, I'm not gonna say any more other than to ask Maurice to tell us a little bit about this intriguing book.
[00:01:25] Moronke Oshin: Welcome Maurice.
[00:01:27] Maurice McCallum: It's a pleasure to be here. It's a book about monsters, you know, folklore, Jamaican folklore, you know, many books have different levels of folklore, um, based on the origin. Um, it's about a 17-year-old girl who tries to stop a malevolent spirit from taking over her town with her friends.
[00:01:50] Maurice McCallum: You know, um, what inspired me to write this book really was. I'm a very huge fan of folklore, fantasy stories, one of them being Harry Potter by J. K. Rowling. I've read all her books. And just the whole, love for fantasy and wizards and monsters and stuff like that intrigued me just by reading those books.
[00:02:18] Moronke Oshin: I mean, I've always had an interest in those from watching movies and animation and stuff like that. But reading those books really, really gave me an edge into wanting to write. I mean, I've always been writing. I just wanted to see how well I could do by tapping into that, that, um, that feeling of writing a book.
[00:02:41] Maurice McCallum: And that's how I ended up writing that. Um, Jamaican folklore stories have always been interesting to me. And I've always wondered why there weren't more stories about... Jamaican folklore because we have a lot, you know, we have a lot from Ali Palmer to River Muma to Three Finger Jack, Rolling Calf and Ol Hige.
[00:03:06] Moronke Oshin: Ol Hige I'm very familiar with.
[00:03:10] Maurice McCallum: I've always heard of Old Hyke but I didn't really pay much mind because they have, they have used so many stories about um, White Witch of Rosal, Three Finger Jack and Rolling Calf. They've always had poems and short stories about that. I even wrote a short film about Rolling Calf but you know, it's just sitting there.
[00:03:30] Maurice McCallum: I'm hoping to use it one day. But I said I wanted to do something different. So the Ol Hige storyline became intriguing to me because nobody has ever really used the Ol Hige storyline. So I was like, well, let me be the first one to do it. Even though it's not really, it's not really out there in your face like that.
[00:03:53] Maurice McCallum: I didn't really push it to say it's an Ol Hige story, but that's, that's what the story is really about. The Ol Hige and people within that realm of that story. So even though it says Return of the Owl, there's a reason why it's called that. And when once you read it, you know why that's being used.
[00:04:13] Moronke Oshin: So what does that title mean?
[00:04:16] Maurice McCallum: Return of the Owl? Mm-hmm. . All right. So there are many different iterations of, um, the ol hige. and what she's capable of. So the old hag is a powerful witch who can shape, shape, transform into any object, transform into any animal. And what her power is, is that she sucks the life force out of children in order to gain more power and also look more beautiful, younger.
[00:04:42] Maurice McCallum: Because she's an old hag, an old witch that can transform into anything. And she sheds her skin to, to, to transform into a new body. And a more powerful figure, right? So I've always wondered what, what, what, what object or what creature I could use for her in this instance. And I remembered watching a show called Avatar the Last Air Bender.
[00:05:11] Maurice McCallum: It's an animation. And there was an episode where, um, These people were in a library and there was a giant owl, a very scary looking owl. I was like, he is terrifying, really terrifying. He's like 70 foot tall, bird, large wings, and like hollow, hollow dark eyes. And like, you know, and then I started thinking, since the owl I can transform into anything, like anything, and this is my story, I can do what I want.
[00:05:44] Maurice McCallum: So, that's what I decided to use an owl. Okay. Because giant owls, I mean, owls are naturally pretty birds, but you have some owls that are very scary. Absolutely. So I didn't, I wanted to use that as a catalyst for the old Hyge. being able to transform into something terrifying, something frightening, this giant bird with red hollow eyes and stuff like that.
[00:06:11] Maurice McCallum: So I wanted the all to be scary and menacing and intimidating.
[00:06:17] Moronke Oshin: Okay. All right. And you have two young children, I believe, who are involved in solving The mystery, it's actually three, three young, young kids, as you can see at the back of the book, it's at the back of the book. You see three friends.
[00:06:36] Maurice McCallum: It's basically similar. Like Harry Potter. Harry Potter has three friends who, who solve mysteries and stuff like that. So I decided to use that as well. Three friends. And I remember we were having a conversation earlier and you said that you were also inspired because we often don't see young black children in these kinds of stories.
[00:07:02] Maurice McCallum: So explain that a little bit. All right. So. You normally, when you read books, watch, watch a lot of shows, you normally see Caucasian individuals or you see Caucasian inspirations for different types of stories. You rarely get to see Black, African, um, stories that showcase our likeness. You might see it once in a while, but you don't see it often, especially in novels.
[00:07:35] Moronke Oshin: You don't really see the novels, right? So I wanted to change that narrative, you know, a lot of people love Harry Potter. You see Harry Potter is not black, he's white, you know, so I want to, especially we as a, as a colored people, we love fantasy as well. We love those types of stories as well. But we love to see it from our own eyes, from our own perspective.
[00:08:01] Maurice McCallum: We love to see people who look like us. Um, tap into that type of realm or world. Right. Um, so I wanted to do that. I mean, I could have used a boy. What I didn't want to do was to seem like I was ripping off Harry Potter. The inspirations came from Harry Potter, but I wanted to use my own stories, my own creative outlet to tap into that realm.
[00:08:29] Maurice McCallum: So, I used two girls. Okay. And one of the girls being the central character, the main, the main character, who is Annalisa. So this would basically generate two young black girls who want to see themselves as heroes. As heroines, you know, like a coming-of-age story, dealing with, um, family, life, and trying to just balance all of this in between.
[00:09:01] Maurice McCallum: So this little girl, though, is taking it up on her, up on her shoulders to solve the mystery of... The baby deaths happening in the Belle Isle district, especially her younger brother, who's in a coma because of these attacks. So, it's mainly because of her brother. The inciting incident really is her baby brother got sick from this.
[00:09:29] Maurice McCallum: This, this supernatural illness, she didn't know this at the time, but when other babies have gotten sick now with the same illness and they have died, but he's in a coma, it catapulted her into wanting to figure out, to find out why this is happening. Okay, so she went into a kind of... So she and her friends now, come again?
[00:09:52] Moronke Oshin: No, continue.
Maurice McCallum: Okay, yeah, so this really pushed her. to really solve the mystery of what is happening. So, because her baby brother got sick, babies have died. And because she got to see the witch in person. So, all those connected really enabled her to say, okay, something is not right in the town. So, she needs to figure out what's happening so she can save her baby brother.
[00:10:19] Maurice McCallum: Because at this point he's in a coma and it's possible that he could die. Just like the other babies. Mm-hmm. . So, in order to prevent that, she's set out to find out who this old hug is, who this woman is. Looks for clues. She looks for persons connected to her. There's a chapter that her, that, that's dedicated to her grandmother.
[00:10:42] Maurice McCallum: That chapter is, is one chapter that is. Coordinated from the grandmother's perspective. So that one chapter there is the grandmother narrating, not Annalisa. So that's for one chapter. Basically, it details how the Old Hige came to be, the connection between the grandmother and the Old Hige, and why certain things are happening now.
[00:11:08] Moronke Oshin: Okay, so she kind of like introduces us to Old Hague, right? Yes. puts that into context. Yes, in her childhood. Okay, so we go back in time a little bit to, to get that understanding and that perspective. So what did you learn when writing, when writing this book, especially as a male author, looking at it from a female perspective?
[00:11:32] Maurice McCallum: Well, what I learned basically is that females go through a lot, especially teenage girls, where they have to bear the responsibility of doing things as, as a young woman, how they, how they should be portrayed in society. the responsibilities that they have and how hard it is for them to coexist in a male dominated world.
[00:11:59] Maurice McCallum: And honestly, writing it was hard because I didn't want to, I wanted to really understand how a female, um, go through things on a day to day. I wanted to figure out how females interact with each other, especially mother daughter relationships. So, I need, I wanted to figure that out. And watching a lot of shows and reading other books and stuff like that kind of gave me the insight.
[00:12:27] Maurice McCallum: And maybe I still have more to learn, but read writing, it comes with a lot of research, you know, a lot of focus. You don't want to just write something just for the sake of writing, you have to make sure that the characters are written properly. That is why I do an outline first. I do an outline first for me, the outline is for me.
[00:12:50] Maurice McCallum: So, when I'm writing, I know what I'm writing. So, I don't go off a tangent. And sometimes when I write, what I have in the outline is not necessarily in the book because new ideas always come. So sometimes I tend to write it down, um, like scrabble, scrub, scribble, something stuff done and make a mess of the paper and stuff so that the actors keep fresh and stuff.
[00:13:13] Maurice McCallum: So but writing, writing um, a female character was a bit challenging but I overcame it. And writing is hard, it's very hard because sometimes writers block comes and you have to sit and think about okay I don't like, I don't like how she says this and there are times when it can get repetitive and I hate that but
[00:13:37] Maurice McCallum: You know, it's a learning process when you're writing. So, I always sit and think first, and I talk out my dialogue before I write them. Like, how would a woman say this? Or how would a female or teenager say this? You know, because, um, Men and women have different languages in how they communicate and talk with each other.[00:14:01]. So I wanted to make sure that the female voice was significant. It was, it was, um, sincere.
[00:14:14] Moronke Oshin: Would you say it was genuine? Okay. Would you say that you did justice to the, to the female perspective? in there?
Maurice McCallum: I think so. I can't say, um, yes, I did. I mean, I think I did. It's for my, it's, it's for the readers to, to tell me that I did the female character justice. I've gotten one response so far. Okay. Um, so I think that was, uh, that was a win in my book.
[00:14:40] Maurice McCallum: I'm waiting for others to let me know, like, Yeah, this is how a female because Annalisa is, um, is, uh, is a type of character that she, she's headstrong. She considers herself a leader and she's very hard headed at times can be a bit ignorant. I mean, I mean, I guess I put myself in that character because sometimes I am like that.
[00:15:06] Maurice McCallum: And I could put a bit of my family, my family life into that in terms of my last name and how I. How I do things, how I look at things is kind of integrated into her. She's strong willed. She, she doesn't like to see people being hurt. You know, she's the only one in the community who is outspoken and will tell her mind, no matter the consequences, that I mean, that's my nature.
[00:15:39] Moronke Oshin: So she's also incredibly courageous too, to take this on.
Maurice McCallum: Yes, yes. Right, right. When nobody else would answer, that's where the secret really expands. There are so many secrets that happens in this, and it's being unravelled, really, by her. And individuals she has met, you know, that really put the pieces together, and stuff like that.
[00:16:10] Maurice McCallum: So, it's all because of her brother. Why she's really doing this and because of what happened to, you know, All the babies. And pertaining to the malevolent force that has been surrounding the community. She and her friends take up the task when nobody else would. When nobody else would. Right. And because of the danger they face, they don't know the outcome of what will happen.[00:16:38] Maybe they survive, maybe they won't survive. But. You know, in order to, to find peace in your community, again, somebody has to do something.
Moronke Oshin That's incredibly brave. What surprised you the most as you, as you were writing this book? Well, that I could actually come up with something like this.
[00:17:00] Maurice McCallum: Yeah. You said every day you, you get to do something like that. Okay. Cause you said you were a big Harry Potter fan and you like all the folklore. So, you know, Yeah, you can like something, but you can like something so much that doesn't mean you can actually put something like that together. So that really surprised me.[00:17:20] You know, it's 16 chapters and 250 odd pages. Interesting. Okay. I didn't know I could do all of that and to come up with, with, with certain, um, come up with a, with a plot line and different characters and linking them to each other. There was a process, you know, how to make sure everything was, it was, you know, smooth order.
[00:17:45] Maurice McCallum: So the one thing that surprised me was doing the grandmother chapter. That was, like I said, that was, that one was the most interesting part for me, connecting the dots of where it all started. Exactly. The grandmother's tale. And that chapter is called grandma's tale. So, the narration is coming from grandma's perspective now when she's telling about her life growing up with her brothers and and living with her parents meeting the witch at that time.
[00:18:17] Maurice McCallum: This is where we're introduced to the witch, you know, and that whole chapter there is just detailing how she met, the things that transpired, what we see until the end. I think that chapter was the most interesting chapter for me to write. Okay, that's interesting.
[00:18:41] Moronke Oshin: That's good to hear. So, you started talking about some of your personal experience. Did you use much of your own personal experience in writing this book? If so, how much?
Maurice McCallum: I mean, not much, I guess. In terms of Annalisa, some of my own personal character traits, I guess, went into the book. I've used my family name in the book. Okay. And, um, yeah. And, um, I think I've used it. In one particular instance with between her and her father, um, when, when, when he was alive, uh, stuff like that, but not much, not much, not much into that, but I, I've, I've, I've basically dedicated my book, um, Recently, I've been, I put the dedication to my father in the book because he passed away in December.
[00:19:39] Moronke Oshin: Oh, sorry to hear that.
Maurice McCallum: Yeah, and that kind of threw me off because at the time before he passed, I was, I started writing this book in 2015. No, sorry, 2016. Okay. So, it was a long, long time I've had this book. Um, writing, and I didn't know what to do with it. And it was last year.
During that time, were you, were you writing or did you stop for a period?
[00:20:10] Maurice McCallum: No, no, no. I had finished. I had finished. I had started in 2016 and it took me two months to finish the book. Oh, my goodness, two months? Yeah. I had a lot of time on my hands at the time I was working. So, you know, yeah, I had that time. And during that time when I finished, I didn't know what else to do. I didn't know.
[00:20:33] Maurice McCallum:When I finished writing it, I didn't know what else to do, you know, so it sat there and didn't know what to do, tried to find people to edit it for me, didn't get it done. So, years went by, I kept revisiting it and said, I wrote this for a reason, I can't just have it sitting here. And I took it upon myself.
[00:20:56] Maurice McCallum: To do some editing myself because I'm a literature major from the university so I could, I was able to do such things, but still you need professional editors to do because what, what you see. What you think you see, they, they won't see it, or what you don't see, they will see. So, I did a bit of my own editing.
[00:21:15] Maurice McCallum: There are a lot of, a lot of changes in this book. There are a lot of changes, and chopping, and adding, and stuff like that. So, a lot of editing went into this book. So, years went by, and last year it started to get, um, Editing, um, the editing was done, things were being chopped and refined and stuff like that. [00:21:39] Maurice McCallum: So no, it was time to get it out. Um, last year, December, when I was teaching online, I heard that my father passed on. It kind of threw me off. I didn't know what to do. Um, it was because of my father, why I'm in China, both of my parents helped me and my brother to get here. Okay. You know, well, my father was the one who did all the driving, all the, uh, the going, all the going around.
[00:22:11] Maurice McCallum: He was called the human GPS. because he knew everywhere. Yeah. He was the one that drove us everywhere. We needed to go make sure that we had everything we needed to come to China. And it's because of him where we're here, you know, um, while I got to finally edit my book, the book cover was done and everything.
[00:22:34] Maurice McCallum: I was like, I was depressed. I even know to this day, I'm kind of still, you know, really for the fact that he's not here anymore. So, I wanted to do one final act for the book, which was to dedicate the book to him. If you look at the back of the book, you will see his picture. Okay. You'll see his picture. So, I wanted to do one final, because I honestly, I honestly didn't. [00:22:59] have a plans to, I didn't have any plan to dedicate the book to anybody. I didn't plan to have a dedication really. At least I didn't think I was going to do it. But I thought it was fitting to have him as my dedication for everything that he has done. To, to, to do all the sacrifices that he has made to this moment.
[00:23:21] Maurice McCallum: So I just wanted to, to, to show him that, hey, because of what you did, this is happening. I have a book now. I'm a full-fledged author now. And you can rest easy knowing that. All you did was not in vain.
That's beautiful. That's beautiful. So, moving along that line, tell us a little bit about yourself, because you also have, uh, quite an interesting background. [00:23:43] Moronke Oshin: You're a graduate of the Edna Manley School of Drama and the University of West Indies. So, so tell us about, you now teach writing and drama and you've written for film and television. What, what can you share with us about, uh, about that aspect of, of your life? You were in, uh, Jamaica for Well, I, I teach Let's go, let's start in Jamaica.
[00:24:07] Maurice McCallum: You were in Jamaica for how long? before you left for China? Well, I've been living in Jamaica like all my life. I left in 2019. Oh, okay. Okay. So, it's, it's pretty recent. Okay. Yeah. I left in 2019. So I've been in China for four years. You know, this is the first time in a long time since I've traveled. The last time I traveled was 2000.
[00:24:33] Moronke Oshin: That was years ago.
Moronke Oshin: Why China?
Maurice McCallum: So the first time I traveled, well, China wasn't really my first pick. My mother always Um, I should try to come to China, you know, because you know, when you work in China, you, you get free accommodations and stuff like that. So, I wasn't really banking on it, but at the time, Jamaica, the job market in Jamaica was poor, very, very poor.
[00:25:03] Maurice McCallum: And a lot of teachers were leaving, a lot of people were leaving, you know, so I saw, I've been, I've been making applications. All over and I saw an ad in the paper in the job section in the paper and I made an application and I made many applications to China but this was the one that that stood out that actually replied and yeah, the results issued from there.
[00:25:35] Moronke Oshin: So you'd recommend China as a Place to work, perhaps? Well, Temporarily, permanently. What's your take?
Maurice McCallum: I would say temporarily. I would say temporarily. I would say temporarily. Okay. Yeah. I would want to delve more into that because, you know, certain situations. I would say temporarily. Good opportunities?
[00:26:03] Maurice McCallum: There are good opportunities, but there are some cons to it that I don't want to delve more into that because there's a lot of cons.
As with everywhere, right? I mean, we can say that too about the United States, the pros and cons also. So you have been teaching writing and drama. At what level? Well, I, well, I wouldn't say writing.
[00:26:27] Maurice McCallum: Um, well, I taught English and drama. I taught mostly drama. I have a drama education diploma and a bachelor's in literature in English. So I was trained to teach drama. But English comes. With it, in a sense, because you have to know English in order to teach drama, and you have to know English in order to write.
[00:26:52] Maurice McCallum: So I've been teaching drama for, um, let's see, about two years, really. And English, English literature and language. around the same time. They're in between English language drama and literature in between. So that's basically two years I've been teaching it. I taught for three months at a center, um, that dealt with, um, script writing, creative writing and stuff like that.
[00:27:23] Maurice McCallum: So I taught creative writing. No, I taught script writing for three months at a center for young adults who wanted to learn how to write. You know, so that was, that was a challenge for me and I found it exciting, you know, to be teaching screenwriting.
Are you a little bit of an actor yourself?
Maurice McCallum: I have been doing acting, I was, I've been in plays in high school, I started drama in high school.
[00:27:48] Maurice McCallum: That is where all the performing arts came about. Okay. Actually, I actually started acting in church, church plays and stuff like that. So, my first really writing debut was when I. Started writing plays for my church. Okay. Christmas plays. And the first Christmas play I remember that was the most memorable Christmas play that I have ever done was the one I wrote and everybody loved.
[00:28:16] Maurice McCallum: And from then on, everybody wanted me to write Christmas plays. Ah, so that was the talent. So, I've been, I've been doing acting, right? So, it started from there and I've been acting ever since. Uh, the love for drama really started in high school, even though I've acted in church plays long before that. It started in high school.
[00:28:37] Maurice McCallum: I've been doing. doing drama plays, um, entering festivals. Um, I was in the choir, I was in the drumming club, you know, everything started from there and it culminated into me going to Edna Manley. Edna Manley now is where I've done all the dramatic plays. Um, all productions, working backstage, having a lead in a production.
[00:29:04] Maurice McCallum: Um, I even did a Shakespeare play, which I never thought I would do. A Midsummer Night's Dream. I'll never forget that production. A Midsummer Night's Dream. Yeah, my first Shakespearean play. Yeah. Um, and then from there, I went to university and I did literature in English to, you know, I mean, do a lot of writing, reading and stuff like that.
[00:29:32] Maurice McCallum: And the writing really started. to become an interest to me during that time. So the acting wasn't really an interest anymore. I was more focused on the writing, the writing aspect. Right. Yeah. That's more challenging.
You've tapped more into your Into your creative, um, your creativity, right? Right. So you're a screenwriter and I'm reading here that you have written for film and television, right?
[00:30:07] Maurice McCallum: Right. Um, let me tell you how that started. Um, so let's see for years after I leave in college and stuff, I've, I've, I've always attempted to reach out to players in the industry to get me started into writing. You know, some writing jobs, you know, I've been applying to other agencies, you know, hoping to get a start into something, but without having that experience, nobody would really hire you because I've, I've sent applications, like walked through the various jobs and handling applications, never got a reply.
[00:30:50] Maurice McCallum: Um, so I kind of fell down and I said, in order to get into the door, I should just write myself. Just write some scripts, write some ads, just do something to show. And it's because of that I was able to get into the, getting through my first ad job, advertising job. Mind you, the advertising jobs are not what they are cramped up to be. [00:31:17]. They are. Cutthroat. I've had, I've been at three ad agencies before and I've written ads, some that never met, never, never get, never got off the cutting floor, you know, some never made it to the, to the, to the final stage. Um, some did, but yeah, it, it was a, it was a harsh and mellow moment for me because I wasn't really treated with respect.
[00:31:46] Maurice McCallum: from the other workers there in terms of my writing ability, you know, so I kind of felt depressed and felt like nobody respected my writing. Nobody wanted me to work on anything. So that was an experience that I had, but I would never want to revisit again. I've always wanted to work in an ad agency, got a chance to work there and I have learned things.
[00:32:12] Maurice McCallum: And I have regretted things, but yeah, so after that, I, I started, took a break from writing for a time, right? Um, I have some friends or colleagues, I should say, in the industry who I've gotten a chance to work with. I even wrote a short film that is on YouTube now, I've, I've applied it to, I've sent it to many festivals, never won, but I've nominated for.
[00:32:44] Maurice McCallum: Um, it's because of those colleagues and I was able to do stuff like that, but, you know, I wasn't really getting much praise or recognition from, from those projects or from them, you know, and I've, I've spoken to many. Jamaican filmmakers, screenwriters who I saw certain projects that they were doing. And I said, I wanted to do something like that.
[00:33:10] Maurice McCallum: I would say we could link up. And I was like, yeah, yeah, sure. And never got anything from them. So years later now, I was on YouTube and I saw this video. Um, there was this actress dressing headlamp. At the time, she did a film called Diary of a Bad Man, and I saw it on YouTube. She was at the Palace. She was at one of the theaters in Jamaica promoting the film, and I saw her.
[00:33:39] Maurice McCallum: I was like, wow, this looks interesting. And it was there and then that I got the courage to inbox her and tell her about myself and how I was interested in writing. And I loved her stuff. Even though I've just known about her and I sent her some samples of my writing and I've, and from then I've been writing for her ever since even today, I'm still writing for her.
[00:34:06] Moronke Oshin: Nice. And she's the publisher. She's the publisher of my book right now. I've written a lot of scripts for her. She, she's the reason why I have so many scripts now in my catalogue. And Love After was one of the main projects that we have worked on and it's even out now in, um, it's a short film. It has entered many festivals and won many awards and now currently.
[00:34:33] Moronke Oshin: What's that about? Love, Love After, what's that about?
Maurice McCallum: Love After? Mm hmm. Okay, so Love After is about a TV show host who is going through challenges trying to balance her job and trying to save her family. Mm hmm. One being, being, um, one being her daughter. She and her husband had split and they have like issues and stuff. [00:34:59] Uh, the husband is trying to gain custody of, gain, custody of their daughter. Mm-hmm. . And she is afraid that she's going to lose her daughter because her daughter is everything to her and she also is, Uh, drunkard. Well, I won't say drunkard. She has a drinking problem and it basically affects her, her ability to do her job properly and it affects her family life. [00:35:27] Maurice McCallum:: It affects her family life. resulting in her losing her daughter and losing her job. So, she basically is in a turmoil trying to balance keeping her job and not destroying the relationship with her daughter. Okay.
Moronke Oshin: So, you've had some experience there writing for, uh, for women and in women in the female voice.
[00:35:53] Maurice McCallum: Yeah. I didn't really look at it that way, but yeah. Yeah,
Moronke Oshin: I mean, we're talking about some serious issues here that a lot of women face. So, in many ways, you've gotten quite close to the female perspective on key things. So, you have a lot of work now, a lot of scripts now in that genre. And you're pursuing that area of work too? [00:36:22] Moronke Oshin: Or... Are you going to work on other books?
Maurice McCallum: Yeah, um, I have another book that I'm working on. I'm actually doing the outline for right now. I should have started in the summer. I should have started writing the outline in the summer. I probably would have started doing chapters already. But things have been happening throughout the summer.[00:36:42] That's, you know, kind of causing that process. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It was a very, very rough summer. So, I didn't really get a chance to do anything, you know, but I started now, but I'm working on another, on another book. It's a continuation from the first one. Okay. So, you know, but what I want, what I want is for that book.
[00:37:02] Moronke Oshin: I said, so we're going to see kind of like a series here. Yes.
Maurice McCallum: Yeah, well, this basically, um, I wanted to do three, three books, you know, um, the second one would be a continuation of the first one. The third one would basically be like a prequel, like the events before Return of the Owl. Ah, interesting.
[00:37:29] Moronke Oshin: Interesting.
Maurice McCallum: Yeah. So I had that, I had that mapped out. Um, but the second one is the continuation of the first one, three years after the events of Bell Isle. Okay. But what I want, what I want is for the first book to gain some traction and get some sales, you know, and a lot more reviews before I really push on the second one.
[00:37:52] Moronke Oshin: Okay. Is, is, is there anything But I've, I've started, I've started writing it online. Okay. Okay. Is there anything you would like people to take away from, from your book, from this book?
Maurice McCallum: I want people to get an understanding of the Jamaican folklore, Jamaican stories. And I want young black girls to feel like they can overcome anything, that they can do anything if they put their mind to it.
[00:38:19] Maurice McCallum: Just like Annalisa, young teenagers who feel like the world, the world is, is on their shoulders and they have to prove to themselves that they have to prove things. I want young girls to show, to see that they don't have to prove anything to anybody, but just to be themselves. And to have people that are, that are like family, keep them close, you know, I want them to, to, to, to have that, that sense of that belonging, that they don't need to have a lot of friends to feel whole, just to have two best friends who, who will ride or die with them throughout anything.
[00:39:02] Maurice McCallum: And there was a line in the book, there was a line in the book nearing to the end. One of the characters says, if you want, if you want to give up and stop fighting, we will give up with you. But if you want to fight, we will die fighting beside you. Something like that.
Moronke Oshin: Okay. All right. That's powerful. Share some advice for aspiring authors.
[00:39:26] Maurice McCallum: Well, the first thing is to find something that interests you. Find something that you love. They always say to write what you love or write what you know. Find something that you love. that you always wanted to talk about and write about it. Find something that you love. Find something that you want to know about and just write it.[00:39:47] Just write. First thing, the first thing to do is just write. Everything else will come afterwards. All the editing and the trimming and the checking sentence errors and the spellings and stuff like that will come afterwards. But just start writing. Think about things that you love and just start writing.
[00:40:07] Moronke Oshin: Okay. And that's how you got started
[00:40:12] Maurice McCallum: I love fantasy. I prefer fantasy stories over nonfiction or dramatic stories. I can do dramatic stories as well, but I find fiction writing so much easier or so much more fun. Yes, because you're able to, you are able to get away with a lot of stuff when you do fiction. There are no holds bars. There are no restrictions when it comes to writing fiction.
[00:40:39] Moronke Oshin: Interesting. That's beautiful. Your book is available on Amazon, correct? Yes. Yes. And we will make sure that, um, is there anything you want to tell them about how to acquire this? Um, how to get to this book? Is it only on Amazon? For now, it is on Amazon. I've clicked on Barnes Noble and Goodreads and I was able to see Okay.[00:41:05] But I'm not sure they're available. If people are able to go to get them on it, that's good, you know, but for now, I think it's only on Amazon. Okay. People can still check Goodreads and Barnes and Noble. Okay. And buy it from there, you know, the More the merrier. Yeah. But yeah, they can get it on Amazon. Okay. All right.
[00:41:27] Moronke Oshin: And it's available now. And this was published, when did it come out? August 26th. Okay, so it's new. Brand new folks. Brand new. World of the Press. Wonderful. Thank you. Yes, definitely. Thank you so much.
Maurice McCallum: Um, and I'm planning to turn one day, one day, one day. You will see this on the big screen. I don't know when, don't know how It might take years, but it'll be on the big screen.
[00:41:56] Moronke Oshin: Oh, good. So you're going to turn it into a screenplay. That's what I'm planning on doing. Nice, nice. That should make for very interesting viewing. Very interesting. Yes. I, I, I, I agree. Wow. Can't wait. I can't wait. Yes, it was, uh, and I appreciate your support for purchasing the book. Oh, absolutely. And you can leave a review when you're finished.
[00:42:19] Moronke Oshin: Absolutely, I will. Do. I love the cover. Yes. Um, and you know, I, I, the design idea was mine. I didn't design it, but the design, I, the, the, the idea for who I wanted it to be mm-hmm. was my idea. Like it very much. So that's a compliment right there. Yes. I love it as well. Yes. It's good to, um, good to talk to you.
[00:42:42] Maurice McCallum: Thank you for having me. It was been, it has been a pleasure. It's a, it's a pleasure talking to you too. Keep us posted on the book. I'll put all the information that you have given me on our site and recap some of it in the, in the intro. Thank you very much. Good talking to you. All right. Thank you so much, Maurice.
[00:43:03] Moronke Oshin: If you enjoyed the show, we'd love to hear from you. You can also follow us on Facebook at Eyes on Africa Caribbean and on our website, eyesonafricacaribbean. com. Until next time, thanks for listening.
