Dr. Jessica Housand, an alumna of Fielding, has published her debut novel titled Blood Gilt through Little Studio Films Publishing. The work is described as a transnational literary crime saga and political family tragedy.
The novel follows Alejandro Whitmore Santiago, a university student in Florida who was born in El Salvador. The story tracks his journey from being separated from his family during the Salvadoran civil war and being sent to a sugarcane plantation to becoming the reluctant heir to his American father's smuggling empire. The narrative involves Alejandro being sent back to El Salvador to secure his father's interests by buying the loyalty of his lost family.
Housand stated that while the novel is not a technology book, her PhD work in Media Psychology at Fielding influenced her approach to narrative psychology. She used a close third-person perspective to allow readers to experience the memories, assumptions, and divided loyalties of the protagonist. Her interest in the subject matter stemmed from a fascination with how political violence enters private life, specifically regarding the Salvadoran civil war, migration, and inherited violence.
Housand earned her PhD in Media Psychology from Fielding and later obtained an MPH from Johns Hopkins University. Her academic research has focused on the intersections of mental health, technology, and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on psychological stress and usage behavior in VR applications.
