Me: Hello all! This is Amber Forbes signing in to interview When Star Die’s Amelia Gareth! We are honored to have her here, especially since she is so busy with the next book in the trilogy. So, Amelia, tell us a little bit about yourself.
Amelia: Well…um…there isn’t a whole lot to say. I’m a sister at Cathedral Reims and I desperately want to be professed.
Me: Why do you want to be professed? I hear the road to profession is unbearable.
Amelia: Is anyone important going to read this.
Me: What do you mean by important?
Amelia: Anyone who would use my words against me.
Me: Not at all!
Amelia: Good. I want to be professed because my little brother is a witch. I hope that by serving Deus, we will be forgiven for the sins my parents have placed upon him.
Me: I heard you ran away from home. Tell me a little bit about that.
Amelia: You see, when parents commit a Seven Deadly Sin for a prolonged period of time, the child born from those sins is a witch. I suppose after my birth, my parents grew careless. As far as I know, they were never careless before I was born, so I’m the lucky one. But my brother…well, I will cleanse him. He is working to become a priest, and I am working to become a nun. There is no greater gift than to serve Deus.
Me: That’s a lot for you two. Tell me what it’s like being in Cathedral Reims. I know in the book we don’t get a full view of the workings because of circumstantial matters.
Amelia: Well, when we all come in, we are simply known as sisters. We all refer to each other in that way unless we’re very close to one another, such as my best friend Colette and I. All convents do things differently, but we’re all novices until were professed, as in novitiates. When we first enter, it functions much like a finishing school: full, three course meals, classes, socialization time, more classes. But then we’re slowly weaned of things until we’re eating bland meals, being beaten into silence during classes, allowed no more socialization except to pray, and must attend all Liturgy of the Hours, which are moments of prayer with the professed. Then we must endure harsh trials to become professed. Once we’ve passed those, we are nuns and can choose vocations, such as teaching, or we can choose to pray all day for suffering to end. I want to do teaching.
Me: The inner workings of Cathedral Reims sound complex. How do you feel about all that?
Amelia: It isn’t the most ideal life for me, but I dream of becoming professed nonetheless. Witches are so hated in our world. Everyone is taught to hate them from birth for little reason other than our Vulgate tells us to. We’re fed the religious readings of the Vulgate from the time we are able to understand and onward.
Me: What about you? Do you hate witches?
Amelia: I wasn’t rabidly fed the Vulgate, so I was able to think on my own. But I can’t hate them when my brother is one.
Me: That mind of yours will get you places. Anything more you want our audience to know?
Amelia: I want them to know that while this is a paranormal romance, things are…unconventional. It won’t seem that way at first, but hopefully readers will be able to deduce early on just what is really happening. If not, there are fun surprises in store.
Me: Thank you. This is Amelia Gareth! Stay turned for more on When Stars Die! Amber signing off!
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