Blog Archives
Gravitido
Gravitido, by Simon Carr, is a wild comic sci-fi adventure about a human-made gravity-powered child who grows up on the scorching planet Titunal after surviving the destruction of Atlas Nine. Adopted by the wonderfully dry Dari and warm-hearted Jen, Gravitido begins life as a mystery, a baby who “doesn’t weigh anything, it’s like I’m holding nothing but air.” From there, the book builds a galaxy-sized story around identity, power, rebellion, and a lot of very silly conversations in very dangerous places.
The story follows Gravitido as he leaves home to discover what he was created for and ends up challenging Gidering, the AI ruler who has enslaved humanity. The setup has the shape of a chosen-one space epic, but the real charm is in how casually strange everything feels. Spaceships look like rocks, robots argue about handbooks and air fryers, and deadly missions are constantly interrupted by petty debates, awkward misunderstandings, and characters taking themselves just seriously enough to be funny.
Gravitido is an appealing lead because he’s powerful, vain, decent, and confused in a very human way. He wants purpose, but he also wants applause. He wants to save people, but he has to learn what freedom actually means after the fighting stops. That gives the book more emotional weight than its jokes first suggest, especially when Gravitido admits, “I’m a weapon, not a leader.” The line captures one of the book’s strongest ideas: being made for one purpose doesn’t have to decide who you become.
The supporting cast gives the novel much of its personality. Obfit brings bluster, loyalty, and unexpected leadership. Megabolt, the anxious ship, adds a great comic rhythm. Henry and Francis are standout robot characters, turning even guard duty into a stream of absurd workplace banter. Gidering, meanwhile, works well as both a galactic threat and a warped mirror of the humans who created her. The book’s comedy keeps the tone light, but underneath it, there’s a sharp interest in domination, fear, prejudice, and what happens when a civilization builds tools to do its worst thinking for it.
Gravitido feels like a big-hearted space comedy with a rebellious streak. It’s packed with oddball worldbuilding, fast dialogue, slapstick action, and enough sincerity to make Gravitido’s journey matter. The book is best when it lets cosmic stakes sit right beside ridiculous arguments, because that’s where its personality shines. It’s a story about a manufactured hero finding his own place in the universe, then making room for everyone else to dance the swishy wishy with him.
Pages: 388 | ASIN : B0GX32PG1M
Various Conflicting Layers
The Reentrant follows the experiences of a dying biochemist who is the first to try a technology that will upload her consciousness to the digital realm. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
From the very first word, the heart of this story was the bond between mother and child, so it made sense to start there. Then it was about peeling away all the various conflicting layers that make us the complex creatures that we are, about venturing beyond humanity, about the ultimate sacrifice. Aurelia has everything taken from her; her body, her soul, her sanity. But as long as her motherhood is intact, she doesn’t lose herself.
The science inserted in the fiction, I felt, was well-balanced. How did you manage to keep it grounded while still providing the fantastic edge science fiction stories usually provide?
That’s really encouraging to hear. It was definitely a fine line to tread, to only reveal the tip of the iceberg. Behind the scenes, there’s everything from orbital physics to astrobiology to Lorenz transformations, but that’s just to build a realistic world. A story is how the characters interact with that world, and I had to remind myself of that constantly. That being said, there are plenty of nuggets in there that are deserving of a deep dive if they happen to spark your interest.
Do you have a favorite scene in your story? One that was particularly enjoyable to write?
I had a lot of fun constructing the planet Oclaris. I wanted to create an intellectual puzzle for the characters in order to showcase their strengths and weaknesses. It’s a savage place, entirely alien, and not a landscape I’ve seen in either cinema or literature. I find a lot of science fiction has Earth-like biomes on other worlds. But where’s the fun in that? So I opted for something new. The real challenge was figuring out the mechanics and making it plausible. I could talk for days about the quirks of that world!
What is the next book you are working, on and when will it be available?
I have a few projects on the go in various genres, but my next release will be a historical novel called, My Blade is Me. It’s set in 12th-century Persia, centered around the Nizari Isma’ili sect, a fascinating chapter in Middle Eastern history. A bit of a curve ball from what preceded it, I guess. But you’ve got to go where the wind takes you! It will be available early next year.
Author Links: GoodReads | Facebook | Website | Amazon
Aurelia is a loving mother and a celebrated biochemist. Aurelia is also dying. To provide support for her autistic son, she offers herself as the first test subject in a technology called Reentrancy, a process that aspires to digitize a consciousness. But nothing at the forefront of science is ever so simple. When Aurelia awakens, she finds herself adrift in deep space, lost and far from home. She will stop at nothing to find what became of her child.
