I’m so excited to have Joshua on the blog today to celebrate the release of his new novel, Ecosystem, which sounds amazing. Don’t forget to enter the Rafflecopter contest at the end of the post for your chance to win a signed copy of Ecosystem! Here is the fabulous cover:

Seventeen-year-old Sarah is a Sensor, gifted with the ability to survive within the sentient Ecosystem that swept away human civilization centuries ago. While the remnants of humankind huddle in small villages of stone, Sarah uses her psychic connection to the Ecosystem to travel freely in the wild in search of food, water, and fuel. Sarah doesn’t fear the Ecosystem—but she hates it for killing her mother when Sarah was a child. When she hunts, she hunts not only for her people’s sustenance but for revenge.

Then Miriam, an apprentice Sensor, is lost in the Ecosystem, and Sarah sets out to rescue her. Joining Sarah is Miriam’s beloved, Isaac, a boy who claims to possess knowledge of the Ecosystem that will help their people survive. The harrowing journey to find the missing apprentice takes Sarah and Isaac into the Ecosystem’s deadliest places. And it takes Sarah into the unexplored territory of her own heart, where she discovers feelings that threaten to tear her—and her society—apart.

A thrilling fantasy adventure from the author of Freefall and the Survival Colony series, Ecosystem is the first book in a YA trilogy that includes The Devouring Land (2019) and House of Earth, House of Stone (2020).

About Joshua:


Joshua David Bellin has been writing novels since he was eight years old (though the
first few were admittedly very short). A college teacher by day, he is the author of three science
fiction novels for teens and adults: the two-part Survival Colony series (Survival Colony 9 and
Scavenger of Souls) and the deep-space adventure Freefall. His new book, the YA fantasy
Ecosystem, releases on April 22, 2018 (Earth Day). Josh loves to read, watch movies, and spend
time in Nature with his kids. Oh, yeah, and he likes monsters. Really scary monsters.



Joshua was kind enough to answer some questions about his newest book so I’ll let him take it away!



1) The idea of a sentient planet is fascinating and terrifying. How did you come up with the concept for Ecosystem and was it influenced at all by current events such as climate change?




I’ve always been a huge Nature geek–whether that meant playing with frogs when I was ten years old (see the photo) or, more recently, participating in environmental advocacy on issues including climate change, fracking, and so forth. Maybe this explains why, as a writer, I’ve been drawn to extreme environments–the desert setting of SURVIVAL COLONY 9 and SCAVENGER OF SOULS, the dead planet of FREEFALL, etc. So the thought popped into my head one day, “What if I set a story in a world where the environment wasn’t just threatening but was actually aware, and angry, and out to get human beings?” That led to other questions: “How would people survive in such a world? How did it come into existence?” And once I started asking those questions, I couldn’t stop until I had all the answers!




2) That’s awesome and leads right into the next question. I’m a huge research nerd, and love the research part of writing my books (sometimes to the point of procrastination), so can you talk about what research you had to do for Ecosystem and if you discovered something along the way that surprised you?




I don’t want to give too much away about the science of ECOSYSTEM, but I did do some research into the emerging field of genetically engineering natural systems. It’s kind of JURASSIC PARK territory, but not for entertainment; it’s more a matter of trying to restore ecosystems that have been critically damaged by human activities. I also had to do lots of research about existing organisms and habitats, because in the Ecosystem, lots of plants and animals that exist today have changed in ways that make them dangerous to human beings. I’d say the most surprising thing I discovered had to do with the medicinal properties of certain plants. I tweaked things for the purposes of fiction, but it was really fascinating to learn about traditional methods of healing.




3) It sounds fascinating and seems like it entailed a ton of research which takes time. I see that you also teach college classes, so how do you balance all your researching/writing time with your work without losing your mind?




Would it be safe to say that I don’t?