![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/10A.jpg\")
<\/a>C.A. Gilchrist poses with his memoir \u201cThe Truth About Demons.\u201d (Photo courtesy of C.A. Gilchrist)<\/p>\nGilchrist grew up in suburban Philadelphia, dealing with a mother who was hearing voices and being pulled into a cult, along with his father\u2019s death, homelessness, and more. However, through his hardships, he found sanctuary at the public library.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cLibraries, for me, always, will always be a safe place,\u201d Gilchrist said. \u201cThey\u2019ll always be a sanctuary. They\u2019ll always feel like a church, and I always feel comforted, and I feel engaged and excited.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gilchrist has worked in several roles throughout his life, including running an art gallery, an entertainment company, a video production company, and pursuing solution engineering.<\/p>\n
Now living in San Diego, he credits libraries and books with enabling him to share everything he\u2019s experienced. <\/p>\n
Additionally, his memoir gave him a broader understanding of his own life.<\/p>\n
\u201cWriting the memoir was a cathartic experience, and it sort of put an exclamation point on my understanding of what I went through,\u201d Gilchrist said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs I gained distance from the earlier events that created me, so to speak, from all the joys and the pains, I started to feel a desire to express it and to share it,\u201d he said, adding that he \u201cprimarily wanted to share it for the benefit of people who might be going through some of the things that I went through.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gilchrist said that he approached his life story almost like a researcher, allowing for emotional distance as he revisited painful events.<\/p>\n
\u201cI analyzed my life as if I were researching someone else,\u201d he said. \u201cI assembled stories from different parts of my journey to tell an overarching theme, in an entertaining, engaging and hopefully inspiring way.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Gilchrist\u2019s book is serious, he also used dark humor to tell his story.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s joy and humor even in the darkest times, and one can find humor even when you\u2019re at your lowest level,\u201d Gilchrist said. <\/p>\n
The memoir covers the period from 8 to approximately 28 years old. He says he went through a series of dramatic changes as he grew from a child into a teen and eventually faced still more turmoil as a young adult.<\/p>\n
The writing process gave him a new way of looking at the people around him too, he said \u2013 particularly his parents. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt gave me deeper insight into them as human beings\u2026 (and) deeper insight into a lot of the souls that I met through that journey.\u201d<\/p>\n
For others walking down the same or a similar path, he says, \u201cFind resources and find the courage to rebuild a life, and whether those resources are books, mentors, friends, family, don\u2019t suffer alone.\u201d<\/p>\n
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![\"An](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/timesofsandiego.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/4.jpg?ssl=1\")
<\/a>A young C.A. Gilchrist poses on his bike. (Photo courtesy C.A. Gilchrist)<\/p>\n