Helipads in Heaven By Shanti Hershenson - Time Travel/ Contemporary
This is my post during the blog tour for Helipads in Heaven by Shanti Hershenson.
In Helipaps in Heaven famous author Dillon Hershkop gets enlisted as the test subject for an experimental time travel endeavor. She must confront her past trauma in order to gauge inspiration for a new bestseller.
This blog tour is organized by Lola's Blog Tours and the tour runs from 27 November till 17 December. You can see the tour schedule here.
By Shanti Hershenson
Genre: Time Travel/ Contemporary
Age category: Young Adult
Release Date: 15 October, 2023
That is why, when Dillon receives the opportunity to become the test subject for a time-traveling experiment hosted by JPL’s brand new Center for Experimental Science, she seizes the opportunity to explore La Cañada—and the places she grew up around—without any immediate reservations. In exchange, she can write a brand new memoir both about time travel and the nearly forgotten experiences that shaped her into the talented woman she is today. That is, if she returns.
Dillon is soon thrown head-first as an adult spectator into the complicated world of her ten-year-old self—fondly nicknamed Goose—from her love of helicopters, writing, and all things Elton John, to her unreceptive fourth-grade teacher, Ms. Vincent, her sourly judgemental classmates, and the missed opportunities of a fourth-grade writer with a smothered voice.
As she observes the childhood she does not entirely remember, she begins to realize that there are reasons for the holes in her memories—things she must not remember, because if she does, it may become impossible to stand back and watch the oil of her bottled-up trauma be poured into a fire from a distance. And if she goes against the direct orders of the laboratory, the effects of tampering with a nearly unknown science may permanently disrupt the fabrics of time, space, and Dillon’s existence.
From the teenage author of You Won’t Know Her Name, Helipads in Heaven is a deep and heartwarming adventure of time travel, childhood ambitions, and at the core, a love letter to unique children and those who dare to dream.
Guest Post
Dillon “Goose” Herskop and Me
If you ask me about it, I’ll probably tell you that Helipads in Heaven, my latest novel and perhaps my favorite, is a work of complete fiction. The names, characters, and incidents portrayed in it are the work of my imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities, is entirely coincidental.
But that isn’t entirely true.
If you’re not familiar with Helipads in Heaven, it is a brief book that follows Dillon Hershkop, a famous author, and her journey as she travels twenty years back in time as part of an experiment hosted by La Cañada’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. There, she observes her younger self, fondly nicknamed Goose, and the events—both good and bad—that led to her stardom. While I am evidently not nearly as successful of an author as Dillon is, there are pieces of me in her. This is especially so with Goose, her younger self. Many of her experiences are things I’ve experienced as well—being bullied, being ignored and treated poorly by teachers, and most of all, having big dreams that many would call unreachable. Goose yearns to be a famous author. She yearns to share her stories with the world and touch the hearts of her future readers. I was exactly the same. I still am.
Besides the big, overarching goals we both share, Goose and I have many similar interests. We both love cats, listening to Elton John (whose music plays a fairly large role in the story), Star Wars, and watching helicopters take off and land. Since the book happens to take place where I grew up, many of the locations Goose and Dillon travel to are places I’ve been to many times. The helipads—Benedict Heliport—which Goose frequents is a place my parents used to take me after school. I moved from Los Angeles when I was eleven, but since I frequently visit, I always drive past the helipads.
I find that true events and experiences provide some of the best motivation and this is no different with Helipads in Heaven. The characters may have different names, there may be little things about their personalities that are different from the true people they’re inspired by, and I, of course, am no time traveler, but Helipads in Heaven still has a piece of me inside of it like no other book I’ve ever written. It would simply not be the same without the inspiration behind it.
About the Author:
Shanti Hershenson's first two novellas were published when she was in the sixth grade, although her writing journey started long before then. Ever since she could hold a pencil, marker, or crayon, she was creating stories. They started from pictures, mere scribbles, and eventually, turned into captivating tales.
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