Echo Nova Interview and Giveaway

About the Book

Book: Echo Nova

Author: Clint Hall

Genre: YA Science Fiction

Release date: January 14, 2024

Dash Keane is about to become the biggest star in history.

As a poor teenager living in the Dregs, Dash Keane can only escape his dismal reality by competing in illegal rooftop races and staying up late to watch the timenet with his younger brother.

When there is an opportunity to participate in a competition set thousands of years in the past, he uses his rooftop racer skills to catch the eye of Mr. Myrtrym, head of entertainment for the massive Dominus Corporation.

It is the chance of a lifetime when Dominus Corp. hires Dash to be a timestar—the focus of his own series in which he must survive some of the most dangerous periods in history, including the Cretaceous period, feudal Japan, the Wild West, and the Golden Age of Piracy. But when empathy for the people of the past conflicts with the desires of his new employer, he must decide whether the price of fame is worth it, a decision that may cost him everything.

 

Click here to get your copy!

 

About the Author

Clint Hall is a storyteller, speaker, and podcast host. He has been writing stories since middle school, where he spent most of his time in class creating comic books. (Fortunately, his teacher not only allowed it; she bought every issue.) Known for instilling a sense of hope, wonder, and adventure, Clint is the author of Steal Fire from the Gods (finalist for several awards), and has been published across multiple anthologies and magazines. Find him at ClintHall.com or “The Experience: Conversations with Creatives” podcast, available on all major platforms.

 

 

More from Clint

Time is our playground

What happens when the past becomes the ultimate adventure?

If we could travel back in time, but nothing we did in the past affected the present, would we still consider the past to be “real”?

And if not, how would that “un-realness” impact the way we treated the past and, more importantly, the people who inhabited it? Would they still have fundamental human rights? Would they be protected by laws? Or would we see them as another resource to be exploited?

These are the driving questions behind Echo Nova, though I didn’t have these themes in mind when I started writing the book. I just wanted to write a fast-paced, fun story about a young hero going on adventures through time.

But as I began world-building and plotting, I faced the same issue as so many sci-fi writers before me. In time travel stories, the people going into the past often need to be careful not to make changes that would alter the future. Say the wrong thing to the wrong person in the past, and you might cause a ripple effect of changes that would prevent you from ever being born!

Of course, the problem of being unable to change anything can make for an exciting story with high stakes and lots of tension. The hero must walk a proverbial tightrope to achieve a difficult mission while altering as little of the timeline as possible.

But what if that wasn’t the case? What if the ripples of change in the timestream moved at the same speed as time itself, meaning that if we did alter something in the past, those changes never caught up to us?

For example, if we went back to 2004 and chopped down a tree, it would take 20 years for that “new” reality with the missing tree to reach 2024. But by then, we in the “present” will have moved forward 20 years to 2044, and we’d still have our tree.

If the present is unaffected, the past could become our playground. We could do whatever we wanted.

While that sounds great at first, as I developed the story, I realized that there could also be dire consequences, both in the past and the present.

In Echo Nova, the world’s governments have decreed that because changes to the past don’t impact the present, the past is not “real” but only residual energy and not under the protection of nations and their laws. Corporations can purchase past periods, mining them for valuable resources and owning the people of the past—called “echoes”—like property.

Time travel has also become a pastime of the wealthy. If you have enough money, you can travel back in time to go on a dinosaur safari, watch gladiators battle in the Colosseum, or attend a feast hosted by Cleopatra.

For everyone else, the past is mainly experienced through broadcasts operated by these corporations. These broadcasts feature people called “timestars” who go on adventures in the past to entertain people in the present.

But exploiting humans for our own personal gain and entertainment has terrible consequences, even for those who may claim that they’re “only watching.” When we start to view people as anything other than individuals with rights, flaws, intrinsic value, and everything else that makes us human, the damage goes both ways – hurting those who have been dehumanized as well as those who are guilty of dehumanizing, even if they did so passively.

For instance, while working on this book, I watched the O.J. Simpson documentary and was struck by how people behaved during the infamous Bronco chase. Here was someone accused of a heinous crime, fleeing police while threatening to end his own life, and people responded by flocking to the streets and overpasses to watch. They held up homemade signs while laughing, waving, and smiling for the multitude of news cameras. This wasn’t real life to them. It was part of the show.

As an author, it’s hypocritical for me to be overly critical of entertainment. Further, I believe there is incredible value in well-told stories, both real and fictional, across all mediums. And sometimes, I’ll even admit that I need to turn my brain off and watch something relatively mindless for an hour or so.

But if we’re not careful, we can lose pieces of ourselves on the altar of entertainment.

Echo Nova explores these questions, as well as our culture’s relentless obsession with fame and the dark places in which we can find ourselves in our pursuit of it.

If that all sounds a bit heavy, the book also features pirates, gunslingers, and temporally displaced sea dinosaurs.

After all, sometimes you just need to read something fun.

Interview with the Author

1) What does success as an author look like to you?

First off, thanks for having me on your blog!

I know it sounds cliché, but success for me is simply writing cool stories that I love.

This attitude is closely tied to my faith, and I strive to be genuine when discussing this topic. I think about it a lot. It’s important to define what success means to you.

I’m goal-driven and ambitious; I still work a day job and would love to make enough money to support my family solely as a fiction author.

However, if that never happens, it doesn’t mean I wasn’t successful. I enjoy my day job, and it gives me the time to write. Many authors rely on their writing to make ends meet, and that’s perfectly valid. For me, success is about creating stories that are fun, exciting, and honest.

I want to inspire hope, wonder, and a sense of adventure in my readers. If I can keep doing that, I’ll be successful.

2) Which character did you connect to best in this book?

I suppose it’s cliché or obvious to say the main character, but I connected with Dash. He’s driven by the idea that he needs to accomplish something grand to be significant.

Life often feels that way, as if the world tells us our value comes only from our achievements. This emphasis on accomplishment can overshadow the importance of relationships. Dash struggles with that. He doesn’t intentionally disregard others, but his priorities are misplaced. He’s too focused on what he can achieve, and his sense of value is tied to that.

I’ve experienced that feeling where I thought I had to accomplish something impressive to validate my worth.

3) What inspired this book?

Before I wrote Echo Nova, I spent years on another project with multiple POV characters and a massive scope. I loved working on that project, but once it was done, I wanted to write something that felt different.

That desire inspired the tone of Echo Nova, which features a single main character on a more straightforward journey. While the book is light and enjoyable, it also explores deeper themes, like the desire for fame and the potential desensitization it can cause in how we think about and relate to others.

Ultimately, I wanted to create something fast-paced and fun, but that still had a clear sense of purpose and lots of heart—that’s the essence of Echo Nova.

4) Which author influenced you most?

Many authors have left their mark on me—C.S. Lewis, Max Brooks, Pierce Brown.

However, while writing this book, I was particularly inspired by Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. That book made me feel a certain way, and one night, after I didn’t win a big award for which I was a finalist, I turned to it for escape. I stayed up late in a hotel room, reading it on my phone and taking solace in its voice and fun tone.

While some people think of that book for its nostalgia and pop culture references—elements I appreciate but don’t resonate with as much given my age—what truly speaks to me about Ready Player One are the themes about the importance of relationships.

When I wrote Echo Nova, I tried to capture many of those same emotions and ideas, although in very different ways.

5) What is your favorite Bible verse?

That answer changes for me every so often, but for the past year, I have kept thinking about Proverbs 3:5-6: Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways submit to Him and He will make your paths straight.

It makes me think about my relationships with my sons. They’re still young and don’t always fully understand why I do what I do. They often resist things that I’m trying to do that will not only be good for them but also really fun.

While I always try to approach those moments with understanding, I also can’t help thinking, ‘If you would only trust me and trust that I have your best interest in mind at all times, it would be better for you in so many ways, and you would also get to have even more fun.’

Then I realize that God is probably often telling me the same thing. He wants me to trust Him. I won’t always understand. I won’t always see where we’re going. But if I trust Him and follow His ways, it will not just work out.

It’s going to be awesome.

Blog Stops

The Lofty Pages, January 31

Simple Harvest Reads, February 1 (Author Interview)

Texas Book-aholic, February 2

Denise L. Barela, February 3 (Spotlight)

Library Lady’s Kid Lit, February 4

Artistic Nobody, February 5 (Author Interview)

Locks, Hooks and Books, February 6

For the Love of Literature, February 7 (Spotlight)

Wishful Endings, February 7

Guild Master, February 8 (Author Interview)

Blossoms and Blessings, February 9 (Spotlight)

For Him and My Family, February 9

Fiction Book Lover, February 10 (Author Interview)

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, February 11

A Modern Day Fairy Tale, February 12 (Spotlight)

Tell Tale Book Reviews, February 13 (Author Interview)

Giveaway

To celebrate his tour, Clint is giving away the grand prize of a $50 Amazon Gift Card, a signed copy of the book, and a bookmark!!

Be sure to comment on the blog stops for extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/00adcf54146

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