By the Forces of Gravity: A Hybrid Memoir by Rebecca Fish Ewan

Winner of the Memoir Magazine’s award for innovative storytelling, Rebecca Fish Ewan’s coming-of-age hybrid memoir By the Forces of Gravity is told through drawings and free verse.

Set in 1970s Berkeley, California, Rebecca’s story reflects on a childhood friendship cut short by tragedy. In an era of laissez-faire parenting, Rebecca drops out of elementary school and takes up residence in a kids commune — no parents allowed! — and we follow her, bestie Luna, and their hippie cohorts as they search for love, acceptance, and cosmic truths. Full of adventure and heartache, By the Forces of Gravity promises to pull you in.

Lovers of hybrid creative nonfiction work will enjoy this book as it combines poetry, memoir, and artwork. Not quite a graphic memoir, it's often shelved as one at local bookstores.

Advance Praise

“By the Forces of Gravity is like nothing you've ever read. Rebecca Fish Ewan has invented a wildly unique new genre that will transport you to a wildly unique time and place where love and experimentation reigned, children were intentionally left unparented, and everyone, it seemed, spent their days chasing far-out trips. In this vividly magical and terrifying world, a once-in-a-lifetime friendship blooms between two girls. At turns utopian and tragic, By the Forces of Gravity will forever change the way you think about love, childhood, the meaning of family, and what it means to be fully alive.'' --Ariel Gore, author of We Were Witches

''Rebecca Fish Ewan's By the Forces of Gravity is a visually and emotionally compelling coming-of-age memoir. Her inventive prose and picture narrative recreates the tumultuous counter-culture movement in Berkeley, California, capturing the intricate, psychedelic zeitgeist of the 1970s. Together, the drawings and text weave an intimate story of a young girl finding her soulmate and mentor as they search for cosmic consciousness. This free-verse-comic takes us on an epic trip of alternative lifestyles, sex, drugs, rock-and-roll, loss and ultimately redemption.'' --Chip Sullivan, author of Cartooning the Landscape

''Rebecca Fish Ewan's illustrated prose conveys an intimate look into life in Berkley in the 1970s. It resonates with the pure and all-consuming love of friendship, revealing the complex truth of a girl abandoned by parents and society. Ewan's free verse is clear and immediately immerses the reader in the thoughts of young Becky Star Fish, and the accompanying drawings deepen the emotional resonance of the book, allowing us another way to access the thoughts and feelings of a narrator we can't help but feel affection for.

I entered the story as a neglected twelve-year-old girl, trying to find her way in a world that she didn't feel too young for. I entered this story as a forty-four-year-old mother, wanting to rescue this girl and feed her something with sustenance. And I entered this story as a teenager consumed with that achingly vibrant love for a friend. An unflinching work of tender beauty, By the Forces of Gravity is an intimate memoir to be savored, re-read, and shared with your own soul friends.'' --Lara Lillibridge, author of Girlish: Growing Up in a Lesbian Home

About the author: Rebecca Fish Ewan is a poet/cartoonist/writer and founder of Plankton Press, where small is big enough. Her writing, cartoons and hybrid-form work has appeared in Brevity, Punctuate, Under the Gum Tree, Mutha and Hip Mama. She also creates zines and teaches in The Design School at Arizona State University (her creative writing MFA home). She has two books of creative nonfiction: A Land Between and By the Forces of Gravity (June 2018). Rebecca grew up in Berkeley, California, but now lives in Arizona with her family.

Product notes: This compelling illustrated/hybrid memoir is filled with 200+ drawings by the author; it's not only a memoir, but it's also a book full of artwork.

Info:

• ISBN: 978-0-999-4299-7-6

• Format: Paperback

• Pages: ~400

• Trim: 6x9

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