Morning Star's Child

About the Book

Morning Star's Child is the painful spiritual journey of Kevin McCulloum from the Church's unspoken directive to her gay sons. The confusion of the soul that comes from the church's rejection forces the young man born under the influence of planet Venus, the planet of love and beauty to search for spiritual honesty and compassion on the teachings of Buddha and Jesus Christ. It presents the story of two young men that due to circumstances not under their control are unable to love one another and their attempt to cheat their ill-fated relationship.

We are introduced to Kevin as his puritanical father rejects him when the father realizes that his beautiful son is gay. In a trip to Italy he finds out from a gypsy fortune teller that he is fated to a life of loneliness and that he is doomed to not finding his ideal mate or partner in life. He comes back to Chicago only to find that his father still rejects him.

In the year when the planet Venus has completed its' 8 cycle run across the sky and has emerged from the underworld Kevin runs away to Puerto Vallarta where he meets a priest and recognizes him to be his other half from previous lives. Because our hero is not meant to find happiness in this life cycle he is sent away by his priest friend to find the life he is unable to give him. But before he leaves they travel to the Copper Canyon to make a sacrifice to the Goddess of Love where they swear to love one another in this life. In doing so they attract the attention of the gods trapped within the stars to their doomed relationship.

In the canyon an Indian priestess tells Eduardo that Kevin will live an unfulfilled life and that when the 8 cycles of planet Venus going around the sun have been completed once again Kevin will come back to him dying, and together they will witness the passing of their souls. Kevin is made to forget all that has happened in Mexico but he is promised that on a night when witches rule the night and the time has come for his return he will remember all that has been hidden from him.

We find our hero now living in San Francisco. He is an incredibly beautiful man who has not been able to form a lasting relationship with anyone including his father but who has been true to the spiritual honesty and compassions to others. He has written a fictional novel mirroring his experiences in Mexico.

Eight cycles of Venus going around the sun have passed since he was made to forget meeting Eduardo and Kevin is now thirty years old. On this fated year Kevin finds out that he doesn't have long to live and is dying of AIDS. And on the night of Halloween when witches rule the night he descends to the Castro to join the feast. On this night all is revealed to him and he remembers as he was promised the truth.

He leaves San Francisco and returns to Mexico in search of Eduardo for the meeting and passage of their souls.

About the Author

Jose Aguilar received a degree on International Politics at Cal Poly University in San Luis Obispo and a Journalism degree at San Francisco State University. He moved to San Francisco to start a career in Journalism and eventually his interest turned to Creative Writing. Jose's study of politics, love of traveling, and photography is evident in his writing as he tells the story of the human experience. His first novel Season of Death is a political drama set in the turbulent years of civil war in Central America. In his continued search for the creative experience he is currently working on a third novel about growing up in Costa Rica.

Jose was born in Costa Rica and currently lives in Oakland, California. He has worked as an elementary teacher, a journalist in San Francisco since 1987 and he worked in Advertising for 13 years.