Young Author Turns New Chapter In Life

Photo Credit: Carlo Rojas

Kyle Chais turned 21 today. 

That's quite an accomplishment given what he has been through. 

He is the author of a new fantasy novel, Nameless, which is about a demon trying to break free of his doomed state. And Chais had some personal demons of his past that appeared to be unconquerable. However, he found a way to use his imagination to free himself  from the limitations of growing up poor. 

As a teenager, Chais spent time in a homeless shelter with his mother. He lived in extreme poverty but found his "ticket" out of poverty without picking up a basketball or a microphone. Instead, he pursued a career at science-fiction writing--a genre with a lack of notable African-American writers.

Now, he's anything but nameless with articles being written about him in The New York Daily News and MSNBC's Afrocentric news site, The Grio. 

But Chais has somebody in his life to remind him that he's still a regular person: his mother.

"My mom will say 'You're not too talented to do the dishes!'," the Medgar Evers College student said.


He's studying social work and psychology as a way of helping at-risk teens one day. And despite a busy schedule, Chais finds time to work on more books including one with a working title of Gagaland. But it's not about the pop star Lady Gaga. Instead, it is a fantasy about breaking the laws of physics.


"Gagaland is a higher realm where you can freely break the laws of physics; 2 plus 2 can equal 5," Chais explains. 


"It's complete nonsense because you can literally make non-sense into sense just like a baby utters 'Goo goo ga ga'." 


After all Chais has overcome, he shouldn't have a hard time helping others make sense out of things formerly thought of as incomprehensible. Keeping with that theme, the young author says that his newest series of books is being made to "defeat Twilight"--referring to the popular book and movie series.


If folks need an example of how to take life's lemons and make lemonade, all they have to do is ask him for the recipe. 


~ Zack A. Isaacs