And it is time once again to get solar powered. We welcome you back to the solar powered podcast. My name is Ryan Hall. Thank you so much for joining us on what I believe is going to be a special episode because I've got one of those announcements that I've been holding back. I've been really sitting on for a long time. And one of the biggest moments of my author career. It's it's one of the biggest moments of my author career, and I don't say that lightly.
But I think really before we dig into this, I wanna share a story. I know me, a storyteller, go reconfigure, but I wanted to share a story. It was maybe 2,004. I was in a deep, dark hole in my life. I think it was as depressed as I've ever been in my life. I was between jobs. Had to move back in with my mom and dad in a temporary situation that ended up being way more temporary than way less temporary than I thought it was gonna be.
But this is also around the time when my mom and dad were really kinda going downhill with their with their own mental health and their own addiction and the pain that goes along with that. And I was really looking for really any kind of relief, really any kind of connection with another human being. And I stumbled upon this Yahoo chatroom, which if that doesn't say how old this was, I don't know what does. But it was in a but it was a chatroom for fellow adult children of alcoholics.
And as I am kinda scanning the, you know, kinda scanning the room and different messages, I found this one user with a very interesting username. The username was reen, r e e n. Now it was interesting to me because that was one of my more tolerable nicknames in high school. I had this math teacher named mister Gray, who had a who had a pretty bad I think it was a cleft palate, and he could not, for the life of him, say Ryan. He always called me Ryan, and that nickname kinda stuck.
And, again, it was one of the more tolerable nicknames I developed in high school. But it was more than the but it was more than the username. It was what this user said that really kinda drew me in. So I sent her a private message, and that ended up being the best friend that I have ever had. Her name was Noreen, And for several years, you know, for 20 years close to 20 years, we you probably exchanged over a 1000 emails, and that was exclusive of what our relationship was.
It was all, like, email and Facebook Messenger. We never said a word to each other, but I consider her the single greatest friend I have ever had. I have told this woman secrets that I have told nobody but god. And it was maybe 2017. And I hadn't heard from her in a long time, and I got curious. I Googled her name. The first hit that I got was her obituary. Turns out that she had passed away on July 4, 2016, and I had no idea. Now this woman, she she was a fascinating woman.
She was, like she was an academic type and always sort of held like, aspirations of being a fiction writer, of being a fiction author. And she, you know, once upon a time, she she really encouraged me. She really encouraged me. She nurtured me. She really saw something, like, really saw a spark in me as a young and admittedly a troubled author, a a a troubled young writer that I couldn't see. And, you know, she also she it's kind of funny.
She, like her father, her late father, was a high ranking member of the Shawnee tribe. Her mother was white, but her father was native. And Noreen taught me just so much about kind of the practices of, of a native spirituality. That just sound incredibly fascinating. I mean, even at a point, I was honorary honorarily adopted into their tribe.
But, you know, as my career as an author is starting to flourish, is starting to develop, is starting to really grow, I've always wanted a way to honor her just to kind of honor her as what she meant to me when I was kind of in that young and troubled and just riddled with self doubt phase of my life, but I could never figure out a way to do it. And then let's flash forward to just, you know, just like late spring of 2024. This was right around the time when I was laid off. Right?
I got this idea for kind of this I don't wanna call it a purgatory place in the afterlife, but that's exactly what it is. And I kinda developed a story idea from there. And what happened with that story idea has morphed and developed into my new book. I know I can't help I can't help it. I'm like a compulsive writer. I guess it's better than having other compulsions. And that's what I'm here to announce today. My new book is coming out in July of 2025.
Now that date is very significant, and I will certainly touch on that as we move forward. But my new book, the title is the eternal Encore. Now this story takes place in 2 different dimensions. The first dimension is in the special place in the afterlife that is called the stuck. Now the stuck is where souls go when they pass away, who have unfinished business in the world, in the in the mortal world.
Like if somebody has a dream that they might not have pursued, or if somebody had, you know, an aspiration of some kind, that life, that fear, that circumstances kept them from, from pursuing, that's where they go and they can get a passage into heaven. If they can go back, if they, they, they get assigned to somebody on earth to help them and support them to find their voice so that they can tell the story of their claim. So I wanna tell you about my 2 protagonists.
My first protagonist is her name is Melba. Now that name is significant by the way, because Melba was the was the name that the actual first name of my late aunt Joy, who if you're familiar at all with my story, I think you know just how significant when Joy passed away back when I was 7 years old, back in 1984, it just like my the entire kind of DNA of my family just sort of shifted.
But Melba, once upon a time, had aspirations of being a jazz singer, like playing in smokey nightclubs, just, you know, kind of like Ella Fitzgerald. Right? Kinda like Billie Holiday. Kinda like those greats from the golden age of jazz music. But circumstances kept her from kept her from living that dream. And when she passes away, she gets sentenced to the stuck.
Now her assignment, she, you know, she's stuck there for a while pun intended, but she's stuck there for a while until she gets her assignment. Now her assignment is to mentor and guide a troubled but gifted young, piano prodigy named Jamar. Now Jamar lives in Queens, New York, lives with his grandmother, who was a jazz legend in her own right once upon a time.
But Jamar but she but Melba is tasked with helping him, helping Jamar find his voice and help him fall back in love with music to erase kind of his doubt, his, you know, his fear to really find himself as an artist. This is a deeply personal story even though I've never been in that world. I was never in the world of a late night TV show host, but that's beside the point. I've also never been out.
Yeah. I've also never been held hostage in London and, you know, you know, as I've said, once upon a time, it's not a lie. It's a gift for fiction, but the eternal encore, this, you know, this story, it's a it's a deeply soulful story to me. It's a deeply personal story for me. And in many ways, the relationship between Jamar and Melba in so many ways. It's it's inspired and influenced by the relationship between a young writer named Ryan Hall and the relationship that I had with Ring.
You know, there's there's so much like, I poured so much of myself into this book. There's just there there's a lot of there's a lot of joy. There's a lot of sadness in this book, I believe. But, ultimately, I believe this book, the 2 main themes of this book, it's a story of redemption, and it's also a story of the power of mentorship and not just the relationship between Melba and Jamar either. I'm not gonna spoil everything for you, but, you'll have to read the book when it comes out.
The eternal encore. It's something that I have I've always wanted to write a book kind of set at least partially in the afterlife, and this is really freaking good. I think this is really freaking good. Now as we get closer to the release of the eternal one core, I will have much more, much more.
I wanna dig, I wanna do, like, deep dives into the characters kind of in my in my process of writing this book into my process of creating these characters, because I think there's a lot of value in it, not just for the readers, but also for further fellow writers and fellow authors, to be able to get a a look inside my process of what I have done, how I've created these characters in this book. It's a good one y'all.
It really is a good now the question that some of y'all might be wondering is since this is coming out on October 1st, why in the world am I releasing it in July of 2025? It's simple. July of 2025 will mark the 10th anniversary of me becoming a published author. My OG book baby, it's, I like to call it written in the stone came out in July of 2015.
And July is kind of a special month for me as not only was it the month when I became a published author for the first time, but it was also the month that in 2009 that I almost died. But that is a different story for a different podcast. And what better way to what better way to pay tribute to my OG book baby than to than to welcome the eternal encore into the world.
So, again, you will be hearing much more about this book, the story, my influences in creating this book, and really the special way that this book came about. I know I say this every time, but I think it's the best thing I've ever done. I think it's the best story. I think it's the most compelling story. I think it's the the most heartfelt piece of writing I have ever done, and I can't wait to share it with y'all.
Once the cover design hits, once the, you know, once any presale information comes about, you'll be the first to know. The eternal encore cannot wait to share it with y'all. And I think that'll wrap it up for this episode of the solar powered podcast, celebrating the world changing magic of ordinary people sharing extraordinary stories. Kinda sounds like kinda sounds like the relationship between me and Reen once upon a time, but that'll do it for this episode. Thank you so much for watching.
Thank you so much for listening. If you want more information about me, my books, my publishing services, my coaching services, check out royal hearts media.com. You can follow me on the social media machine at Ryan hall rights on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. And yes, it is still Twitter. I refuse to call it that other thing, or you can just shoot me a good old fashioned email at ryan.hall atroyalheartsmedia.com, but that will do it for this episode until we meet again.
This is Ryan Hall saying, thanks for watching. Thanks for listening. I love you all so long for now and go get solar powered. Take care.