Item: The Punch Escrow
Author: Meg

Welcome to Swoony Boys Podcast! This is our stop on the The Punch Escrow Tour hosted by Irish Banana Tours! We are so excited for you to get to know more about this book and its author, Tal M. Klein!

Today we’ve got a fun interview with Tal for you! You don’t want to miss a word! But first, let’s start with the 411…

About the Book

The Punch Escrow by Tal M. Klein
Published by Geek & Sundry on July 25th, 2017
Genres: Sci-Fi
Pages: 319
Goodreads Buy the Book

It's the year 2147. Advancements in nanotechnology have enabled us to control aging. We've genetically engineered mosquitoes to feast on carbon fumes instead of blood, ending air pollution. And teleportation has become the ideal mode of transportation, offered exclusively by International Transport—a secretive firm headquartered in New York City. Their slogan: Departure... Arrival... Delight!

Joel Byram, our smartass protagonist, is an everyday twenty-fifth century guy. He spends his days training artificial intelligence engines to act more human, jamming out to 1980's new wave—an extremely obscure genre, and trying to salvage his deteriorating marriage. Joel is pretty much an everyday guy with everyday problems—until he's accidentally duplicated while teleporting.

Now Joel must outsmart the shadowy organization that controls teleportation, outrun the religious sect out to destroy it, and find a way to get back to the woman he loves in a world that now has two of him.

INTERVIEW

Hi! We can’t thank you enough for taking the time to chat with us today! We’re excited for our readers to get to know you and The Punch Escrow a little better. Ready to start? Here we go…

Let’s start easy. Tell us a little about what sparked you to write The Punch Escrow. What was your favorite scene to write?

It all started with a non-sequitur. My CEO at the time overheard me complaining about J.J. Abrams’ over the top use of lens flare in the Star Trek reboot, and he yelled “It’s BS!” It turned out he wasn’t yelling about the lens flare, but Star Trek‘s transporters. This guy was an expert in quantum physics, and went on to explain that nobody in the right mind would ever step into a transporter if they knew how it worked. So I decided to solve that problem then and there.

Most of my favorite scenes entail spoilers so, instead, I’ll tell you about one of the darlings I had to kill during the editorial process; a scene that didn’t make it into the book. It had to do with the legal process my protagonist had to go through in order to prove that his identity belonged to him. I’m fascinated by identity theft, even moreso by identity reclamation. In the future presented in The Punch Escrow, our identities are tethered to synthetic organs (implants) called “comms.” They’re like a combination of phones, augmented reality glasses, and basically every wearable you might imagine, except instead of carrying or wearing them, their functionality would be implanted within you. In my 2147, these comms are what we use to authenticate ourselves. Our protagonist finds himself without a working comms and thus has to find a way to prove that he is who he is without any supporting evidence.

Do you have a favorite part of the writing process?

I love the “getting lost” part. I do most of my writing early in the morning before my family wakes up. I’d often set my alarm for three or four in the morning, then start writing, and the next thing I’d know it was several hours and a few thousand words later.

We haven’t written science fiction, but we have to assume that a fair amount of research goes into a book like this. Is that accurate? Do you enjoy that part of the process?

I loved doing the research, but mostly because the research part involved working with scientist friends of mine. It was a very collaborative process and I learned a ton. I very much doubt I would have enjoyed it as much if the research was merely me slumped over a computer looking for stuff on the internet.

The Punch Escrow reads almost like you’re watching a movie. When you were writing did you visualize it that way? Any chance we will see TPE on the big-screen?

One of my editors, Matt Harry, has an MFA in screenwriting and teaches screenwriting classes. He introduced me to Blake Snyder’s Save The Cat methodology. So, you might say the book was heavily influenced to swing cinematic by shifting the hero’s journey into three acts over nine beats.

The answer to your second question is affirmative. The book has been optioned by Lionsgate and James Bobin (one of my favorite directors!) is attached to adapt and direct.

This is one of our favorite questions to ask authors. If you could introduce one of the characters from this book to a character from any other author’s book, who would it be and why?

I’d love for my protagonist, Joel Byram, to meet Off To Be The Wizard’s Martin Banks. They’re both smartass slacker-hacker antihero types. Maybe they wouldn’t get along, but they sure would be entertaining to watch.

Let’s talk about teenage Tal for a second. If you could write a letter to yourself at 17 years old, what would be in that letter?

Wear hats less often. Enjoy your hair while you’ve got it!

Let’s switch gears for a second and talk about other people’s books. Is there a book or series that you feel is underappreciated that you want to spread some love for?

Yes! So, I already told you about Off To Be The Wizard. It’s the first book of the Magic 2.0 series by Scott Meyer. That series is popular enough, so I don’t need to boost it. Instead, I’d like to boost a different Meyer book, Master of Formalities – it’s one of the funniest, most astute sci-fi comedies I’ve ever read.

How about a mini round of This or That?:

E-book or Printed? Printed, always.

Introvert or Extrovert? Can I answer “or”? It really depends on the day.

Beach or Mountains? Beach!

Classic or Current? Oooh, I want to say both, but, okay … Current.

Star Wars or Star Trek? Babylon 5

We’re obviously big lovers of swoon around here, and we’re firm believers that guys swoon too. So, tell us. What makes you swoon?

My daughters. Without fail, every time they say, “I love you, daddy.” … Swoon!

Is there anything you’ve always wished someone would ask you in an interview? (We want the answer too!)

Q. Would you like a martini?
A. Yes, please.

Thank you so much for stopping by! This was definitely one of our favorite interviews!

❤❤❤❤❤

Meet Tal M. Klein

Tal M. Klein was born in Israel, grew up in New York, and currently lives in Detroit with his wife and two daughters. When his daughter Iris was five years old, she wrote a book called I’m a Bunch of Dinosaurs that went on to become one of the most successful children’s book projects on Kickstarter —something that Tal explained to Iris by telling her, “your book made lots of kids happy.” Iris then asked Tal, “Daddy, why don’t you write book that makes lots of grownups happy?” Tal mulled this over for a few years, and eventually wrote his first book, The Punch Escrow. It won the Inkshares Geek & Sundry Hard Science Fiction Publishing contest, and will be the first book published on Inkshares’ Geek & Sundry imprint.