To my rad writer pals for making writing not just an activity but a community: Thomas Calder, John R. Saylor, Aaron Devine, Karen Russell, Nate Brown, Philip Dean Walker, John Copenhaver, Robert Kerbeck, Bridget Hoida, Bryan Hurt, Lindsay Chudzik, Jonathan Church, Emma Komlos-Hrobsky, Rob Spillman, Sam Ashworth, Gale Marie Thompson, and everyone at BOA Editions. Zach Doss, we miss you.
Thanks to The Writer’s Center, my literary home in the D.C. area, and to my colleagues Margaret Meleney, Laura Spencer, Grace Mott, Laureen Schipsi, Brandon Johnson, Tessa Wild, and Amy Freeman.
I owe a debt to these authors and editors of books on the Soviet space program: Asif A. Siddiqi (Sputnik and the Soviet Space Challenge); Siddiqi and James T. Andrews (Into the Cosmos); Eva Maurer, Julia Richers, Monica Rüthers, and Carmen Scheide (Soviet Space Culture); Colin Burgess and Rex Hall (The First Soviet Cosmonaut Team); Nick Abadzis (Laika); Jim Ottaviani, Zander Cannon, and Kevin Cannon (T-Minus: The Race to the Moon).
In memory of Jeremy Mullins and Kirk Lawrence. It’s been ten years, but you’re still the two people who’ve pushed my creativity the most.
In honor of everyone, human and canine, who died in pursuit of the cosmos.
Thank you to my brother, Josh, my parents, and the whole family for being supportive of life paths as diverse as rocket science and writing.
All my love to Stephanie Grimm, who I think is quite nice.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Zach Powers is the author of Gravity Changes, which won the BOA Short Fiction Prize, and his work has appeared in such places as American Short Fiction, Black Warrior Review, The Conium Review, and the Tin House blog. First Cosmic Velocity is his first novel.
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ALSO BY ZACH POWERS
Gravity Changes
Copyright
G. P. Putnam’s Sons
Publishers Since 1838
An imprint of Penguin Random House LLC
Copyright © 2019 by Zachary J. Powers
Penguin supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture. Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any form without permission. You are supporting writers and allowing Penguin to continue to publish books for every reader.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Names: Powers, Zach, author.
Title: First cosmic velocity / Zach Powers.
Description: New York, New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, [2019]
Identifiers: LCCN 2018044742| ISBN 9780525539278 (hardcover) | ISBN 9780525539285 (epub)
Classification: LCC PS3616.O94 F58 2019 | DDC 813/.6—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018044742
Photo credit: Maria Starovoytova/shutterstock.com
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
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