Brooklyn-based Phil Stamper is the author of The Gravity of Us, a smart, heart-warming YA debut about two teen boys who fall in love when their lives are uprooted for their parents’ involvement in a NASA mission to Mars. As part of our Books With Pride campaign, we invited Phil onto the blog and asked him a couple of questions about his new book.
Read on!
Please tell us about your new book, The Gravity of Us!
PS: Thank you for having me! I like to describe The Gravity of Us as a contemporary reimagining of the ’60s space race, where two sons of astronauts fall in love after their lives are uprooted for their parents’ NASA mission to Mars.
The story follows Cal, a successful social media journalist with half a million followers who’s used to sharing his life online. But when his pilot father is selected for a highly publicized NASA mission to Mars, Cal and his family relocate from Brooklyn to Houston and are thrust into a media circus.
Not long after, Cal meets Leon, another “Astrokid,” and finds himself falling head over heels—fast. As the frenzy around the mission grows, so does their connection. But when secrets about the program are uncovered, Cal must find a way to reveal the truth without hurting the people who have become most important to him.
Phil Stamper
What is it about the idea of a space mission that made you want to set it as the backdrop to a queer teen love story?
PS: I’ve always been captivated by NASA’s Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo missions in the 1960s and ’70s. While I was fascinated by the science and technology behind these missions, one thing that always called out to me from the background was that the astronaut families essentially became the celebrities of that era. They had to be immaculately dressed, polished, and ready for the spotlight, all while not knowing if their husbands or fathers would come home alive that night. I wanted to capture this tension while also showcasing a present-day queer love story.
Your lead characters are Cal and Leon. What is one thing you love about each of them?
PS: I think there’s so much to love about both of them, but I’m a bit biased! For Cal, he’s such a passionate, flawed character. He’s a little selfish at times, but he also treats all the relationships in his life thoughtfully. So many things stand out about his character, but I especially love how he interacts with his mom and how he takes steps to understand her experience with anxiety.
What I love about Leon is that he fully has his heart on his sleeve from the first page. He can be guarded when it comes to the media or his expectations with this mission, but once he lets people like his sister or Cal in, he really opens up to them fully. Not in an attention-stealing way, not in a way to unload his problems on them, but just in an attempt to be earnest and transparent. Cal’s a character who cares so much about authenticity, so he’s immediately drawn to Leon’s honesty.
What do you want readers of The Gravity of Us to take away with them after reading it?
PS: One thing I love about the feedback I’ve gotten so far is that everyone gets something different out of the story. There are a lot of elements to this story—friendship, politics, first love, social media, family, mental health, finding your voice and more—which means there’s truly something for everyone.
That said, I drafted The Gravity of Us during the 2016 election in the U.S., a time when so many people (especially queer teens) felt hopeless. I hope this story shows readers that, even if you screw up from time to time, anyone can change the world—and when you use your voice, people will listen.
What is your favourite thing about writing contemporary YA?
PS: Contemporary YA has always especially resonated with me, because I’ve seen firsthand how impactful these stories can be. Real world teen stories—even ones in bizarre settings like, say, NASA’s first human mission to Mars!—can be aspirational at times, but it’s also important to have readers’ experiences mirrored in stories and book covers on the bookshelves. I love that in writing contemporary YA, I get to highlight the excitement, power, and beauty that exists in the real world. I don’t see myself straying from the genre anytime soon. That said, I do love reading across all age groups and categories. There are so many great books out there!
Do you have a favourite book or series? If so, what is it and why do you love it?
PS: If I had to pick one book, it would be The Serpent King by Jeff Zentner. Amazing characters, beautiful prose, and this atmospheric rural American setting that made me homesick in the best way. But I can’t just pick one, so I’m breaking the rules! Recent faves include Like a Love Story by Abdi Nazemian, The Grief Keeper by Alexandra Villasante, White Rabbit by Caleb Roehrig, and Bloom by Kevin Panetta and Savanna Ganucheau.
Who do you most admire in the writing world?
PS: Oh, what a great question. I admire all of the authors out there who have poured so much of themselves into a pretty unforgiving, but at the same time amazing, industry. That said, I admire all of the other queer YA authors out there most. The support for queer YA is amazing, and it means so much to me to know that there are many books out there that would have helped me greatly as a teen.
But it’s not easy. There’s still so much pushback, so much censorship out there, and that’s hard to handle sometimes. Through this process, many of us must relive and process our own trauma on a regular basis to make sure teens don’t go through the same things we did, or at least, make them feel less alone if they do.
Do you have any unusual writing and/or reading habits?
PS: Well, as a reader, I dogear pages. That’s something that gets Twitter riled up from time to time … but I only do it in books I own, so people can get over it! As a writer, I think my most unusual writing habit is that I can’t write consistently. There’s so much advice out there that says “real” writers should be writing 500 words a day, but that’s just not how my brain works. I’ll go weeks or months without writing, but once I’m in the right mindset for it I can break 10,000 or more words in a weekend. Early on, I shamed myself a lot for doing that, but I don’t worry about it anymore.
Are you currently working on anything else? What’s up next for you?
PS: My second book is another standalone YA contemporary novel with a queer main character. (See a trend here?) In this book, seventeen-year-old Marty Pierce escapes a close-minded, stifling living environment in rural America, and moves to London to jump-start his career as a classical oboist. Along the way, he reconnects with old family, makes new friends that accept him for who he is, and finds first love … with the wrong guy. It’ll be released in early 2021 in the U.S., but no date has been set for other territories just yet, so stay tuned for more info there!
And finally, what is the best piece of writing advice you have ever received?
PS: My favourite piece of advice is to keep trying. Focus more on the process of writing than on one specific book. The market’s always moving, and things are so subjective. I know that every time I write a book, I get the feeling that that is my best work. But as soon as I put my soul into another piece, I realise it’s not true. Keep trying out new stories. Write what comes naturally to you, even write what doesn’t. Try a bit of everything, really. Another piece of good advice I repeat often is to stick with your writer friends—it’s a rough journey at times, but they’ll get you through the worst of it!
Thanks Phil!
Find out more about Phil Stamper and The Gravity of Us here
The Gravity of Us
Cal wants to be a journalist, and he's already well underway with almost half a million followers on his FlashFame app and an upcoming internship at Buzzfeed. But his plans are derailed when his pilot father is selected for a highly-publicized NASA mission to Mars.
Cal finds himself thrust in the middle of a media circus. Suddenly his life is more like a reality TV show, with his constantly bickering parents struggling with their roles as the "perfect American family." And then Cal meets Leon, whose mother is another astronaut on the mission...
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