This Weightless World

A Novel

by Adam Soto

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Pub Date Nov 09 2021 | Archive Date Oct 26 2021

Astra Publishing House | Astra House

Literary Fiction | Sci Fi & Fantasy

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Description

"It's precisely Soto's refusal to be 'weighted' down by decades of genre tradition, to instead turn the trope on its head and in doing so remind us that no-one but ourselves is coming to save us, that makes This Weightless World such an exciting and radical novel." —Ian Monde, Locus

"Set in Silicon Valley and Chicago, This Weightless World considers questions of morality in a world where people feel powerless in the face of formidable systemic forces." —Laura Adamczyk, A.V. Club

A literary debut subverting classic sci-fi tropes set in gentrified Chicago, Silicon Valley, and across the vastness of the cosmos.

From the streets of gentrified Chicago, to the tech boom corridors of Silicon Valley, This Weightless World follows a revolving cast of characters after alien contact upends their lives.

We are introduced to Sevi, a burned-out music teacher desperate for connection; Ramona, his on-again, off-again computer programmer girlfriend; and Sevi’s cello protégé Eason, struggling with the closure of his high school; after a mysterious signal arrives from outer space. When the signal—at first seen as a sign of hope—stops as abruptly as it started, they are all forced to reckon with its aftermath. In San Francisco, Sevi fights to find meaning in rekindled love; and Ramona–determined to build an AI to prevent mankind’s self-destruction–begins to feel the weight of past mistakes. And in Chicago, Eason measures his commitment to an estranged childhood friend against the chance of escaping neighborhood troubles.

A dazzling deconstruction of science-fiction tropes, This Weightless World looks to the past for a vision of the future.

"It's precisely Soto's refusal to be 'weighted' down by decades of genre tradition, to instead turn the trope on its head and in doing so remind us that no-one but ourselves is coming to save us...

Advance Praise

“This Weightless World filters its alien encounters and deep-space expeditions, its dreams and anxieties about the centuries to come, through the beating hearts of a few struggling, yearning, fumbling, desperate, modern-day human beings. It’s not so much a novel of ideas, asking, ‘What does the future hold for us?,’ as a novel populated by characters who can’t stop asking themselves that same question. Reading it, I was reminded that caring about the fate of the planet is really a matter of caring about the fates of its billions of distinct and individual inhabitants, with their billions of distinct and individual futures.”

—Kevin Brockmeier, author of A Brief History of the Dead

“This Weightless World filters its alien encounters and deep-space expeditions, its dreams and anxieties about the centuries to come, through the beating hearts of a few struggling, yearning...

Marketing Plan

National media campaign including print, radio, and online coverage

Pitch for feature stories and author profiles

Pitch original fiction and essays by the author to print and online media, on timely topics including AI and gentrification

Multi-month social media prepublication campaign on Astra House's Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram

Virtual and/or in-person author tour including independent bookstores and festivals (Texas Book Festival, Chicago Humanities Festival, Bay Area Book Festival, Brooklyn Book Festival, etc)

Highlight in Astra House newsletters and on website

Digital marketing/publicity campaign including features and reviews

Targeted outreach to sci-fi, tech culture, and regional literary media (Texas, Chicago, Northern California)

Bookseller outreach

ARC giveaways on Goodreads and NetGalley

Library Marketing

Targeted #Bookstagrammer outreach

National media campaign including print, radio, and online coverage

Pitch for feature stories and author profiles

Pitch original fiction and essays by the author to print and online media, on timely...