After speaking with the publisher, we have decided to change the name of the novel. A colleague of mine at EA and fellow writer, Ben Smith, pointed out that a major science fiction film titled “Gravity” is coming soon. It’s being directed by Alfonso Cuarón, who previously created the extraordinary Children of Men, produced by Legendary Pictures, which did the fantastic 300 and The Dark Knight, and stars the brilliant Robert Downey Jr. as a sole survivor of a space mission, desperately trying to return home to Earth. This sounds like it’s going to be a huge and fascinating film, which of course poses a confusion question if our novel has the same name.
At the same time, “Gravity” was originally the working title of the novel, which I replaced with “Tearing the Sky” a third of the way into writing the novel. I wrote that phrase, felt it had a certain poetry to it, and immediately made it the title. When we took it out to publishers, a lot of experts counseled me on the value of a single-word title, and made a convincing case to go with the working title “Gravity.” It fits the novel well, since the gravitational force plays a significant, ongoing role in the story, both literally and figuratively. I saw the logic of it, but I was sad to let go of the more literary name I had become fixed on.
Given that, I’m very pleased to share with you that we are going back to the name I originally wanted to use, “Tearing the Sky.” The publisher Bad Moon Books is behind this 100%, as is our artist John Picacio, who see this as a much more distinctive title that gets you asking questions more interesting than “is this a physics textbook?” I’ve updated the site with the new title, and I hope it resonates with you. I still can’t tell you why that title makes sense for the book, or even what it means. We’re close to an announcement though, so those questions will be answered soon. Almost there!
Cheers,
Jamil
Comments on this entry are closed.