THE TRAVELER
The Traveler is the story of a reluctant time-traveler and his extraordinary son, and the bond between them that even millennia cannot break. An adventure full of heartbreak, hope, and futures beyond imagination.
It’s a day like any other when Scott Treder first jumps forward through time. One moment, he’s on his way to work, fingers drumming the steering wheel. The next, he’s tumbling headlong down the road, his car gone, a dozen panicked voicemails from his wife waiting on his cell.
7:51 am. Monday, April 13th.
A blink of an eye.
The Traveler is the story of a reluctant time-traveler and his extraordinary son, and the bond between them that even millennia cannot break. An adventure full of heartbreak, hope, and futures beyond imagination.
It’s a day like any other when Scott Treder first jumps forward through time. One moment, he’s on his way to work, fingers drumming the steering wheel. The next, he’s tumbling headlong down the road, his car gone, a dozen panicked voicemails from his wife waiting on his cell.
7:51 am. Monday, April 13th.
A blink of an eye.
7:52 am. Tuesday, April 14th.
An entire 24 hours, gone.
This one moment—this first spontaneous slip—marks a change in the course not only of Scott’s future, but that of the world. From this point on, at precisely 7:52 am every morning, Scott inexplicably travels forward in time in ever-doubling intervals. First one day lost in a blink, then two, then four, until weeks, even years, are passing him by in an instant.
Meanwhile, his wife is left alone to pick up the pieces of the life they once shared together, and, before long, Lyle, Scott’s genius seven-year-old son, will surpass him in age.
Because while his dad is rocketing forward in time, Lyle is growing up—graduating early, studying at Berkeley, becoming the foremost scholar of quantum physics, all in an attempt to bring his father back…
Meet an extraordinary father and son in this captivating, heart-wrenching speculative debut.
- Tor Books
- Hardcover
- June 2026
- 384 Pages
- 9781250428554
Buy the Book
$28.99
About Joseph Eckert
Joseph Eckert grew up in Northern Wisconsin before heading to the University of Wisconsin-Madison to study history. He later attended the University of Iowa and received a master’s in political science. He’s been writing speculative fiction since high school and remains most interested in placing believable characters in unbelievable situations. Joseph currently lives in Greater Seattle with his wife, daughter, and grumpy old cat.
Praise
“If you loved books like The Time Traveler’s Wife, then you must read this story. It’s equal parts a harrowing time-travel novel and a family drama that will tear at your heart. It’s one of my favorite debuts this year. Do not miss it.” —James Rollins, #1 New York Times bestseller of A Dragon of Black Glass
“The Traveler is high-concept adventure fiction at its best. It’s compelling, full of heart, and contains some scenes of truly haunting beauty. But more than anything this novel is addictive as hell—at every point on Scott Treder’s fabulous journey I was desperate to know what happened next!” —Gareth Brown, USA Today bestselling author of The Book of Doors
“Moving and profound…a story that’s heart-rending yet a powerful cry of hope.” —Claire North, author of Ithaca
“A bold, ultimately uplifting saga of one man’s accelerated journey into an unknowable future and its impact on the young boy who will one day change the world.” —Shelf Awareness
“Joseph Eckert has used his enviable imagination to take the reader on a fabulous journey through a multitude of futures, both awesome and horrific, until you reach the ultimate end. Seriously recommended.” —Peter F. Hamilton, bestselling author of Pandora’s Star
Discussion Questions
- What were your initial theories about the cause of Scott’s transits?
- If you had been in Amy’s situation, would you have remarried? How are Scott and Lyle able to stay fiercely bonded despite the extraordinary separations they endure? What traits do they share as father and son, and what are the key differences in their personalities?
- When we meet Scott’s parents and learn about his close friends, Severine and Sophie, we see that he was able to escape a difficult upbringing. What determines whether personal history will repeat itself in a parent-child relationship? What accounts for the path taken by Lyle’s son, Xavier?
- Discuss the role of thinkers in the novel, from Professor Maggie Paulson and her early tests to Anjari, the scholar of the Word of the Traveler. How do their approaches compare to Lyle’s as a protégé of Donald Rhineland, learning to engineer a waveform disruptor for Scott? What supernatural elements were the greatest human minds unable to account for?
- What are the best and worst things about Scott’s life after he begins wearing the protective exoskeleton?
- In the novel, what is the nature of religion and mythology? What does it take for a text to be deemed sacred and for a person to be deemed a prophet? What enables Lyle to stay hopeful? Is hope different from faith?
- How does the storytelling shift when we hear from Scott’s female descendants, beginning with great granddaughter Jennifer (a.k.a. Lieutenant Hayward), followed by Miri and Lily?
- What was it like to experience the museum in chapter 29? If you decided to leave an archive for your descendants, what would you want them to know about the world you inhabit? What do the artifacts of your own daily life say about you? How could they be misinterpreted?
- What ultimately enabled the rise of the Vale Riders? Why couldn’t humanity reverse the trajectory of destruction with an equal measure of love?
- If you could be reunited with a departed loved one for just twenty-four hours, who would you choose, and where would you want to spend that time together? Could you be satisfied with a pseudo-sentient version of the people you love?
- Did The Traveler echo your perceptions of time and memory as the events of your own life have unfolded—sometimes seemingly in the blink of an eye?
- In the novel’s closing chapters, as you contemplated the power of the Central Overmind (and its Raven), the Consciousness, and the Omega, what truths emerged about what it means to survive—and what it means to exist?
Guide written by Amy Root Clements