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Thursday, August 10, 2017

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com ARTS

Tal Klein discusses sci-fi 
debut novel ‘The Punch’ 

With his debut novel “The 

Punch 
Escrow,” 
author 
Tal 

Klein constructs a thrilling and 
thought-provoking 
narrative 

that blends the realms of love 
stories, hard science fiction and 
reeling suspense in one cohesive 
and addicting work. Set in the 
near future, the world of “The 
Punch Escrow” is characterized 
by teleportation as the dominant 
means of transportation as well 
as the shadowy corporation that 
controls it. The novel follows 
protagonist Joel Byram after he 
is accidentally duplicated mid-
transport and must confront 
the ensuing consequences to his 
autonomy and his marriage. In an 
interview with the Daily, Klein 
discussed his fascination with 
teleportation, his writing process 
and the cinematic potential for 
the world of “The Punch Escrow.”

Klein’s novel exists in the 

genre of hard science fiction, a 

niche category of sci-fi defined 
by its commitment to scientific 
accuracy within the fictional 
narrative. Before writing his 
novel, Klein spent three years 
doing 
rigorous 
research 
to 

understand the intricacies of 
his imagined technology and 
ensure its feasibility. The pages 
of “The Punch Escrow” are 
distinctly characterized by the 
massive footnotes at the bottom 
of almost every page, in which 
the protagonist explains the real 
science behind the seemingly 
imagined concepts and tech. 
Klein’s fluid movement between 
literary voice and scientific fact 
sets his novel apart from others 
in its genre. Teleportation in 
the novel acts as a catalyst 

for the novel’s major conflict. 
As 
a 
marketing 
executive, 

teleportation 
holds 
certain 

interest for Klein beyond its 
scientific challenges.

“I think the thing that really 

attracted me to teleportation was 
that I was told it was impossible. 
And, you know, I’m a startup 
guy. I’m an entrepreneur, and I 
started companies, and I market 
products, and whenever someone 
tells me something is impossible 
I see that as a challenge... I 
wanted to find an origin story 
for the commercialization of 
teleportation, 
like 
when 
did 

it 
become 
anthropologically 

accepted by society, and then put 
a plot inside that world,” he said.

“The 
Punch 
Escrow” 
also 

deals largely with the theme of 
societal control by a dominant 
and 
secretive 
corporation. 

This theme is largely present 
in contemporary society, with 
Snowden’s 
revelation 
of 
the 

NSA’s 
civilian 
monitoring 

programs and the practice of 
internet companies collecting 
and selling user data. When 
asked 
about 
these 
literary 

themes in conjunction with their 
presence in the real world Klein 
explained, “I think one of the 
things we have to accept is that 
as society evolves, data becomes 
currency, 
telemetry 
becomes 

currency... I don’t advocate for 
that kind of world in the book, 
and I don’t warn about that kind 
of world in the book — I see it as 
a pragmatic continuance of the 
current vector that our society’s 
on today.”

“What I do see is a large 

disenfranchisement in the world 
with this notion of governmental 
control and I think the way I 
drew corporations in my book is 
not so much corporate takeover 
of governments — it’s more 
presented in the context of people 
revolting 
against 
the 
notion 

of being managed by things 
they 
don’t 
understand. 
And 

corporations, although they may 
be capitalistic and greedy, are at 
least defined by profits and losses 
which are tangible things we can 
grasp onto,” he added.

While Klein is a successful 

chief marketing officer, he is new 
to the process of writing novels. 

In describing his writing process, 
Klein remarked on the surprises 
of being challenged after already 
achieving professional success. 
“What surprised me is how 
humbling the editorial process 
can be. It’s ruthless. And I’m 
40, so I felt like I’ve gotten to 
an age where I no longer have to 
be humble.” Regardless, Klein 

emphasized 
the 
welcomed 

humility of the process and his 
reignited passion for writing: 
“If I could change anything, 
I would have started writing 
novels earlier in life, because I’ve 
found a lot of zen in the process 
of writing.”

Klein and his team recently 

negotiated 
a 
landmark 
deal 

with Lionsgate for “The Punch 
Escrow” and two subsequent 
books. 
As 
the 
books 
don’t 

necessarily have to be sequels, 
Klein 
is 
excited 
to 
explore 

aspects of his imagined world 
that were only hinted at in “The 
Punch Escrow.” What’s next for 
Klein is another period of heavy 
research, furious writing in the 
stolen hours of the night and 
hopefully “The Punch Escrow” 
on the silver screen.

“There’s 
a 
lot 
of 
things 

that happen in ‘The Punch 
Escrow’ that I spent a lot of 
time researching that obviously 
didn’t make it into the book... 
So right now, I think in a lot 
of ways what I’m doing is a 
lot of research. Right now I’m 
researching ‘The Last War,’ and 
I’m reading a lot of books on 
letters from the front, soldiers 
from World War I and World 
War II. Lionsgate calls this 
project ‘The Future,’ they don’t 
call it ‘The Punch Escrow,’ 
because they bought a world,” 
he said.

SYDNEY COHEN

Daily Arts Writer

Of his 56 novels written over 

43 years, Stephen King has 
most often referred to his eight-
volume epic “The Dark Tower” 
as his magnum opus. Spanning 
multiple 
genres 
and 
literary 

universes, the series tells the 
story of Roland Deschain, the 
last of a noble group of pseudo-
knights called gunslingers, who 
constantly strives to reach the 
titular tower, which functions as 

a kind of lynchpin at the center 
of the multiverse, keeping the 
forces of darkness at bay.

Due to the at times outlandish 

nature of the books, a direct 
adaptation would have been 
nearly impossible. There’s even 
an argument to be made that to 
have done so would have missed 
the point of them entirely, as one 
of the major themes of the series 
is the power of art to create new 
worlds. The problem with the 
adaptation of “The Dark Tower” 
isn’t that changes were made. 
It’s that the changes that were 
made resulted in a film that only 
fleetingly brushes up against the 
epic tone to which it aspires.

The most baffling of director 

Nikolaj Arcel’s creative decisions 
comes into focus early on, as much 

of the focus takes place in the real 
world as opposed to more fantastic 
settings. Early scenes are devoted 
almost entirely to the relationship 
between Jake Chambers (Tom 
Taylor, “Broken Hearts”) and 
his family, as the young boy feels 
distanced from his family due 
to visions of the Dark Tower. 
Not only is this type of broken 
family dynamic — communicated 
through longing glances at photos 
of happier times — commonplace, 
but it is at a total disconnect with 
the rest of the story. Was there 
really no better way to begin an 
epic western-fantasy-horror piece 
than with 20 minutes of generic 
family drama?

What’s more is that after a 

brief jaunt to Mid-World, a post-
apocalyptic alternate dimension, 
the drama returns to New York 
City so Roland (Idris Elba, “Star 
Trek Beyond”) can partake in 
fish-out-of-water jokes. It’s not 
that Elba doesn’t sell the humor 
of the moments, or even that 
humor itself is unwelcome, but 
juxtaposed against a quest to save 
an infinite array of universes from 
an impending army of Satanic 
creatures, these kind of jokes have 
not only been done before, but 
they feel completely out of place.

Perhaps 
what’s 
most 

disappointing 
about 
this 
is 

that, for the too-brief scenes 
set in Mid-World, “The Dark 
Tower” is actually quite a bit of 
fun. As Roland, Elba provides a 
presence that is perhaps never as 
commanding as it should be, but 
still embodies the stoic, tragic 
essence of the character that 
makes him so interesting. 

BOOK REVIEW
MOVIE REVIEW

“The Punch 

Escrow”

Tal Klein

Geek and Sundry

What surprised 

me is how 

humbling the 

editorial process 

can be

‘The Dark Tower’ 
does book injustice

JEREMIAH VANDERHELM

Daily Arts Writer

“The Dark 

Tower”

Rave Cinemas, 

Quality 16

Columbia 
Pictures

COLUMBIA PICTURES

Idris Elba locked and loaded

Read more online at 

michigandaily.com

