Ben Bonnema
Ben Bonnema is an author, playwright, and musical theater writer. He has received a Jonathan Larson Grant, Fred Ebb Award, and the Harold Adamson Lyric Award. Theater: THE APPLE BOYS with Jonothon Lyons (“Clever, catchy songs” –The New Yorker; Bucks County Playhouse), ONE WAY with Christopher Staskel (NAMT, Johnny Mercer Writers Colony at Goodspeed), BOYS WHO TRICKED ME (Musical Theatre Factory, “heart-healing musical theatre" -Joshua Barone of the New York Times), THE LOST GIRL with Arianna Rose. New Media: PETER PANIC with James Marion (Adult Swim Games, two million downloads). Ben holds an M.F.A. from NYU's Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program. Harper-Collins will publish his debut novel THE GRAVITY OF US in 2027.
THE GRAVITY OF US
A queer love story set within a secret astronaut training program on a remote island, following two young men whose fight for humanity's future will take them to the furthest reaches of the galaxy.
"After the Drought, we called ourselves Generation Omega...we were the last generation that still had the chance to fix things."
Engineer Tommy Nyle knows his best option is signing up for the mysterious Voyager program. He'll be paired with a pilot to travel through a wormhole, hopefully finding a new planet for humans to call home. He expects the training to be difficult and the journey to be dangerous. What he doesn't expect is falling in love with Zach Moore, his Voyager partner.
On the remote Indonesian island where Voyager training takes place, Tommy and Zach begin to suspect the Program directors aren't telling them everything, so they begin organizing their coworkers to find the truth. Intimate relationships are forbidden, but soon Tommy and Zach decide they'd rather risk being found out than resist their attraction to one another. And when the mission becomes even more perilous than any of them expected, Tommy must ask himself: If he's not prepared to be brave at the end of the world, will he ever be?
Publication
US, Canada: Harper-Collins (Mira)
Release date: 6 April 2027
