Thanks, Stephanie. (Ok, I just wrote a big reply, but i had to quickly erase it because it might be a spoiler some way, and I need to purse my lips and sit on my typing fingers until I hit Publish on Sunday.)
Jesus, Adam. This is tremendous and painful to watch. What a horrible way to go. Your detail in this one is impeccable and so balanced. You must have done quite a bit of research.
I’m now reduced to speaking in emoticons. I feel like a five-year-old who has been given and a secret and is incapable of not giving something away (even though they think they aren’t.)
Love calling it “The Ink”. I’d be too intimidated by the physics to write a story like this but I have always loved the idea of somehow getting caught floating away in the spacesuit. Frightening for sure, but being out there could also be described as “religious” as they said, spiritual in a good way. Looking forward to part II!
it just occurred to me i HAVE read some of your newsletter the incredible story of the restaurant work in LA how you met your wife and somehow lost track but glad to find it again!!
My writing is a bit all over the place thematically and genre-wise so it's not surprising that the memoir account of my restaurant isn't naturally associated with an astronaut. 😀 Thank you for the kind words, Appleton.
The plots are not necessarily the same, but the demeanour of the main protagonist and the overall cool and realistic approach to space exploration (no warp drives, everything is following Newtonian mechanics and is difficult) were what I saw some commonalities.
I think you are secretly aiming for this to land on the big screen, Adam. Oh my, oh my, what a beautiful piece of writing. You have such a great feel for rendering the amount of thinking and researching that went into this invisible, for pulling my heartstrings. How are you able to get me attached to this astronaut commander so quickly that I want to rescue him? I want to spend more time with Mikhail, like several hundred pages.....
Hah! You are very, very kind. You are right on both counts, I think. A lot of work did go into this one, and I have a the small ultra-secret fantasy of a story someday making its way to a screen. I have 96 to go to pull it off.
Hang on to your heartstrings like a spaceship tether, btw. 😀
Holy smokes. Such aching beauty—a rarified view and an absolute privilege to read. The fanatical (in a good way) attention to detail and nuance throughout and the relationship flashbacks all amplify the impossible bigness of what is happening within the protagonist
Oh, excellent Adam ! You know how I can tell when I get lost in the suspense of a story ? It’s way past my bed time. If I were holding the book version, I would be reading faster and faster, too absorbed in the story to stop turning the pages and shut off the lights . So it is the highest compliment when I tell you I turned off the light at 11:30pm after I wrote this comment while your story was still fresh in my mind.
Though a bit of a different scenario, I found myself humming David Bowie’s ~ Space Oddity.
😍 I certainly thought about Space Oddity - how could I not think about Major Tom - but the recording that drove this is a piece of classical music actually. Les Comptes d’Hoffman, Act 4, “Belle Nuit, o nuit d’amour” The recording with Placido Domingo. Seiji Ozawa conducts. Even if you’re not a classical music lover, you’ll get it. The tune is probably familiar, probably not the singing though. I can’t tell you anymore. 😀
Beautiful. Heartbreaking. You’ve left us untethered in a black expanse with Mikhail.
Thanks, Stephanie. (Ok, I just wrote a big reply, but i had to quickly erase it because it might be a spoiler some way, and I need to purse my lips and sit on my typing fingers until I hit Publish on Sunday.)
Ok, thank you for not spoiling but— !!!
Jesus, Adam. This is tremendous and painful to watch. What a horrible way to go. Your detail in this one is impeccable and so balanced. You must have done quite a bit of research.
💯 on the research. 🤐. And 🙏.
I’m now reduced to speaking in emoticons. I feel like a five-year-old who has been given and a secret and is incapable of not giving something away (even though they think they aren’t.)
Sunday.
Someone is going to do a Sociology PhD dissertation on the use of emoticons, if they haven't already.
You think. 😡
Adam, do I need to tell you to go out and touch grass?
I had to look that up.
<more laughing emojis and a brain exploding emoji>
😂😉🤔😱🙌😀😅🤣
You think? 🤔
You think? 😀
You think?
Love calling it “The Ink”. I’d be too intimidated by the physics to write a story like this but I have always loved the idea of somehow getting caught floating away in the spacesuit. Frightening for sure, but being out there could also be described as “religious” as they said, spiritual in a good way. Looking forward to part II!
I actually had a long conversation with an MIT physicist in a space program to get some of this right! Yes, 💯 on your second point.
Whoa! Nice resource.
A brilliant guy, one of my son’s best friends from college.
it just occurred to me i HAVE read some of your newsletter the incredible story of the restaurant work in LA how you met your wife and somehow lost track but glad to find it again!!
My writing is a bit all over the place thematically and genre-wise so it's not surprising that the memoir account of my restaurant isn't naturally associated with an astronaut. 😀 Thank you for the kind words, Appleton.
holy shit
got my attention
thankyou chloe hope
i mean like who ARE you? 😅
Thanks, Appleton and @Chloe Hope.
We have to wait a week for part II?! No!! But for real, Adam, this is so well done. I was completely in it from the get-go. Impressed.
Thanks, Holly. I’m painfully aware it’s long. Nothing should be long on Substack, but the piece won. 😂
Well, it may have seemed long. But I was hoping for it not to be over yet. So, a for sure sign of not too long for this reader. ;)
It is very poetic and moving. I had reminiscences of Heinlein's "The Green Hills of the Earth" and early stories of space exploration...
Thank you, Dr. I may have read that years ago, because the title rings a bell, but I will need to revisit.
The plots are not necessarily the same, but the demeanour of the main protagonist and the overall cool and realistic approach to space exploration (no warp drives, everything is following Newtonian mechanics and is difficult) were what I saw some commonalities.
Oh my good God! My pulse is up, the adrenaline of this story. Even knowing what’s going to happen, all of it. A rush of blood.
I think you are secretly aiming for this to land on the big screen, Adam. Oh my, oh my, what a beautiful piece of writing. You have such a great feel for rendering the amount of thinking and researching that went into this invisible, for pulling my heartstrings. How are you able to get me attached to this astronaut commander so quickly that I want to rescue him? I want to spend more time with Mikhail, like several hundred pages.....
Hah! You are very, very kind. You are right on both counts, I think. A lot of work did go into this one, and I have a the small ultra-secret fantasy of a story someday making its way to a screen. I have 96 to go to pull it off.
Hang on to your heartstrings like a spaceship tether, btw. 😀
Bloody hell. You weren’t wrong. I’m devastated. Thank you.
🤐. 🙏.
Holy smokes. Such aching beauty—a rarified view and an absolute privilege to read. The fanatical (in a good way) attention to detail and nuance throughout and the relationship flashbacks all amplify the impossible bigness of what is happening within the protagonist
Thanks, Eric. 🙏 That's what I'm going for.
I love classical too. On my way to check it out! Thanks!
Wow, this was a real treat. I read it as a portrait of love
You’ll be happy to know we’re not in Las Vegas anymore.
thanks for that. Still haven't been able to play cards since then
It is indeed. Just wait.
Oh, excellent Adam ! You know how I can tell when I get lost in the suspense of a story ? It’s way past my bed time. If I were holding the book version, I would be reading faster and faster, too absorbed in the story to stop turning the pages and shut off the lights . So it is the highest compliment when I tell you I turned off the light at 11:30pm after I wrote this comment while your story was still fresh in my mind.
Though a bit of a different scenario, I found myself humming David Bowie’s ~ Space Oddity.
Another compliment.
I absolutely love that song.
😍 I certainly thought about Space Oddity - how could I not think about Major Tom - but the recording that drove this is a piece of classical music actually. Les Comptes d’Hoffman, Act 4, “Belle Nuit, o nuit d’amour” The recording with Placido Domingo. Seiji Ozawa conducts. Even if you’re not a classical music lover, you’ll get it. The tune is probably familiar, probably not the singing though. I can’t tell you anymore. 😀
Great. Really great.
Thanks, Mark. I’m very proud of this piece. I’ve worked on it for weeks now.
OMG! That was incredible!! What a story.
Jeanine! Thank you. It’s very, very intense. I hope that the ending is a (tiny little) sledgehammer. (In its way.)