Enjoy an excerpt from OCULUM ECHO, available now...

 

OCULUM ECHO is out today! October, 1 2022!

It's book two in The Children of Oculum series. Book one, OCULUM, was published in 2018 and was nominated for the OLA Silver Birch and the SYRCA Diamond Willow awards. It's also been optioned for a television series. Thank you to my wonderful publisher, DCB Young Readers, for inviting me to revisit this world.

Please allow me to introduce the charming ECHO1, and to share a little of Echo's first chapter with you:

"ECHO1 

Wake, Echo1. 

I wake.

Open your eyes, Echo1. 

I have eyes. I open them. Light. 

Now try your hand, Echo1. 

I lift my hand. I have never had a hand before. 

The voice in my head speaks again, Hello, Echo1. This is Guide. Are you ready? 

Yes, Guide, I am ready. I can answer Guide inside my head! 

Then there are more instructions from Guide, the voice in my head. 

Find your feet, Echo1. 

I lift my boot. I take two shaky steps. 

Jump, Echo1. 

I jump. 

Touch your nose, Echo1. 

I touch my finger to my nose. 

Speak out loud, Echo1. 

I say, “Call me Echo.”

Then I do many physical and mental tasks, as Guide requests. 

When I am found to be functioning well, Guide says, Echo1, are you ready for your journey? 

Yes, Guide, I am ready, I answer in my head. 

Then step outside and leave your outpost, Echo1. I open the door. 

I step outside. It is very different from inside. There are trees, a small mountain, and clouds in the sky above me. I blink in the sunlight. My outpost is a hard, domed metal shell slightly larger than me. The silver letters above the door read “ECHO1.” 

There are many words and ideas that I understand, but I also have many questions for Guide. 

Guide, how long have I been asleep? Guide answers, Eighty-three years. 

Who put me here? Guide answers again, The Makers.

 Where am I? Guide says, Your birthplace, the ECHO1 outpost. 

What am I? Guide doesn’t answer right away, then says, You are a creation, but what you become is up to you, Echo1. You will learn as you go. I will help you. 

Am I alive?"

I'll stop there, but you can read the rest of Echo1's first conversation with Guide here. This is a middle-grade, post-apocalyptic story about climate change, war, technology, and a near future that I hope no one has to live in. There is love, friendship, and sacrifice in this story, it is age-appropriate, yet the main message is something like, "technology may be one of our greatest achievements, but at what cost? And where will it lead us?"

Order OCULUM ECHO here. For media copies, interviews, events, please contact DCB. I'll be holding a book launch soon, stay tuned for details on that.

All posts on this blog about OCULUM and OCULUM ECHO.