"The Gravity of Us"

Phil Stamper grew up in a rural village near Dayton, Ohio. He has a B.A. in Music and an M.A. in Publishing with Creative Writing. And, unsurprisingly, a lot of student debt. He works for a major book publisher in New York City and lives in Brooklyn with his husband and their dog.

Stamper applied the Page 69 Test to his debut novel, The Gravity of Us, and reported the following:

The Gravity of Us has a lot of themes within it—space exploration, politics, mental health, first love, traditional and social media, family dynamics, etc.—so it would be hard to find one page that fully encapsulates all of these themes. But page 69 actually does a good job of this!

Page 69 is shortly after Cal moves to Houston. Cal has just met the cute boy (and fellow Astrokid) he’s heard so much about, Leon, who takes him on a path behind their houses to escape the press that’s gathered outside Cal's new house. They sit on the swings in a neighborhood park and get to chat for the first time, but they're both a bit hesitant.

“I pause, because even though I’m having a good time, I want to ask him if he really does buy into all this.”

Cal’s not sure who to trust in his new life, and he’s already pretty uncomfortable with how the media’s been treating this mission and his family. He doesn’t know whether Leon buys in, but through this conversation, he realizes he might have found his first ally in Houston…

Visit Phil Stamper's website.

--Marshal Zeringue