Phases of Gravity - Softcover

Simmons, Dan

3.58

1,333 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1587541068 ISBN 13: 9781587541063

Publisher: Olmstead Pr, 2001

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Richard Baedecker's chance to be an astronaut was, without a doubt, one to be envied by many, but is his strange encounter with a woman who has the ability to uncover enigmas of his past and future equally coveted? Richard Baedecker, an ex-astronaut, must have thought that walking on the moon would be the greatest challenge in his life, until he meets a mysterious woman who leads him through his past to find higher meaning. Baedecker is challenged by his past and throughout his journey confronts his troubled son and the woman he loves. He searches through his almost forgotten childhood, from his move to Oregon to the death flight of the Challenger. He confronts two fellow astronauts, one who claims to have found the truth and one who has found a mystery in death. Richard Baedecker once walked on the moon, but everything the ex-astronaut has ever done seems only a simulation, a preparation for something bigger. Vivid, compelling and brilliantly written, this is an exploration of the human heart and a journey through regions more remote than the celestial. Original to say the least.

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From the Inside Flap:

Richard Baedecker, the aptly named hero of this extraordinary novel, is a man adrift, searching for a lost sense of purpose. A former astronaut, Baedecker once walked on the moon, briefly escaping the tidal pull of gravity itself. Sixteen years later, gravity and other entropic forces have overtaken him. His marriage has ended. His professional life has grown increasingly meaningless. His relationship with his only son has all but disintegrated. At this critical moment, against the unlikely backdrop of Poona, India, Baedecker encounters a remarkable young woman named Maggie Brown, who will point him toward the “places of power” he has left behind and help him rediscover his essential self.Phases of Gravity is a novel about the power of dreams and the possibility of second chances, about journeys remembered and newly undertaken. It is also, like so much of Dan Simmons's work, a deeply affecting reflection on “the richness and mystery of the universe.” Moving effortlessly from the surface of the moon to the small towns of the American Midwest to the sacred Black Hills of South Dakota, and filled with wisdom, unexpected turnings, and flashes of irreverent wit, Phases of Gravity is, by any definition, a major work, the kind of durable, fully realized creation that only a master novelist could produce.

About the Author:

Dan Simmons, a full-time public school teacher until 1987, is one of the few writers who consistently work across genres, and perhaps the only one to have won major awards in all of them. He has produced science fiction, horror, fantasy, and mainstream fiction, and is now launching stunning works in the thriller category. His first novel, Song of Kali, won the World Fantasy Award; his first science fiction novel, Hyperion, won the Hugo Award. His other novels and short fiction have been honored with numerous accolades, including nine Locus Awards, four Bram Stoker Awards, the French Prix Cosmos 2000, the British SF Association Award, and the Theodore Sturgeon Award.

In 1995, Wabash College presented Simmons with an honorary doctorate in humane letters for his work in fiction and education. He lives in Colorado along the Front Range of the Rockies.

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