It was just a hoverboard. Nobody was supposed to die. Dale Adams has worked hard to leave his troubled past behind for a brighter future at Emory University. But when he makes a discovery that will change humanity forever, avoiding the spotlight becomes the least of his concerns. Small experiments have attracted big attention. And not all who notice want Dale to be successful. Or even alive. As Dale's world collapses around him, his fate intertwines with that of a girl he hardly knows. Their only hope for survival is to disappear into Atlanta's seedy underbelly, the very place Dale has tried so hard to leave behind. Time is running out, but if they can survive long enough science will be rewritten by the most unlikely of authors. .
Yes, Mitty Walters is a pen name. It's a tribute to the classic, not the recent. When I read that story, I was a homeless teenager who was never sure where he would be sleeping the next night. I had an instant connection with Walter Mitty. But I always felt like his dark reflection. Walter's wild fantasy life helped him to escape his boring reality. But my fantasy was just to have a boring reality.
Too bleak? Fine.
The truth is I joined the Merchant Marines when I was fifteen. When they asked for ID, I gave them my dead cousin's birth certificate. Next thing I knew I was on a bus headed to Savannah. When I hopped my first freighter, my heart was filled with all kind of romantic notions. But three straight days of puking cajoled me back to reality. I didn't set foot on land for another four months.
The Merchant Marine is not some mysterious gateway to adventure for young lads. It's just work, sweat, and misery. I didn't get marooned on any island, didn't rescue any damsels in distress. I just toiled away pointlessly. The most adventure I had was getting arrested in Thailand with a bunch of drunken idiots that I didn't even know. I learned to speak a little Cantonese while I was in there, though. I wasted away for a eighteen months, until the riots began.
Crap. Too bleak again?
Look. You can be honest. You don't care who I am. You just want to go on wild ride. I'm cool with that. Let's do dis, yo. Just pick up the book and let's bounce.
Well, call me a hog and butcher me for bacon! I'm enjoying this book more immensely than a coyote on a jackrabbit. In all seriousness I'd wanted to do a review of this book, like forever. Mitty himself was prodded by me, of course, to be friends on Goodreads. This gives you some inkling how impressed I was with this tome that takes place in Atlanta. I since moved here, which is like infamous, now because of Trump, Palm Beach, Florida. We call him a local touron. I'm sure you can pick up the wit, lol. I used to live in Atlanta for twenty years before moving back home because of serious medical complications. It's so nice to be part of the GRs community and share intelligent ideologues by loquaciously writing our reviews such as this. Now, being from Atlanta, isn't the major reason I'd loved this book so much; it's the wonder writings of Mr. Walters! The beginning takes off with a bang and quickly unravels into some pretty wild physics, as in anti gravity and skateboards. How much fun is that? Without revealing too much, I can say the government's interest is very acute as is many nefarious business organizations. This is a feel good, have fun book, so let it carry you away. I was both impressed with Mittys scientific knowledge of physics, and he unique ability to keep the reader entertained and wanting more. I loved this book all in all, and can see great things to come in his future endeavors as a writer. Peace and puppies, Murf the Surf
This is very rare for me but I have to, at least, start a review before I finish the book (as opposed to the 50 books this year that I still haven't got around to reviewing).
Breaking Gravity is, in short, about what happens socially and economically if somebody discovers anti-gravity. The physics is shit! And I don't mean the actual hand-waving that permits and anti-gravity.
I wish I could remember who defined a fantasy as a story in which we had to accept precisely one impossible thing. I think that's a ridiculous standard, but a fine thing to aspire to. So, in this story, the impossible thing is the anti-grav device. Fine. But then we're told that on its high setting, this device launches objects into orbit—and yet, it only managed to embed a half filled coke can in a ceiling rafter, and nobody died. That's just to suggest that perhaps there was too much emphasis on making the science seem right (and failing) instead of concentrating on the real story.
And there's a heck of a story.
I couldn't possibly count the number of times I've lost interest in a thriller because somebody's trying to suppress a secret, and our hero could solve the whole problem by finding a few good journalists to break the story wide open.
It's exactly the same here, but... Dale Adams has discovered “free energy”. Obviously, that threatens everybody who profits from the energy industry, and no doubt a lot of people who you wouldn't expect. And Dale's far too naive to survive. But Dale is smart enough to know that he can just publish his plans, and then it would be pointless to go after him.
Except, he runs to his friends in the slum he grew up in, and they say “you've got a billion dollar idea, and you're going to give it away?
“What about us?”
So, after hundreds of thrillers, almost all of them written by people better known than Mitty Walters, somebody has finally addressed the question of, “if going public could save your life, why wouldn't you do it?”
And, I might add, he's highly entertaining while he does it.
“Mitty Walters”? That name sounds familiar for some reason. Oh, the secret lives that authors lead...
Now that I've finished, I have only one thing to add. The book ends very abruptly. That's unusual, but I can't say it's wrong. The story was done; I honestly can't say anything would have been gained by continuing.
Mitty Walters has, at an early stage in his career, learned a valuable lesson about writing science fiction. The most successful authors know that in good sci-fi, the "science" aspect of it in incidental. The story is about PEOPLE that we can relate to. People are paramount and the "science" is secondary. Breaking Gravity would have succeeded even if it was written about a man in the 1800's who discovered the internal combustion engine, rather than a man in the 21st century who discovers a way to counteract gravity. Walters makes you feel like you're in the story with the hero. This story is for all of us who wishes that WE stumbled onto the invention of the ages...or at very least won the lottery. Dale Adams is "Joe Everyman"... a young man in his 20's who comes from a humble background replete with shady gang banging friends and unique relatives. Dale lucks out and discovers a way to counteract gravity. Immediately he is beset by unknown assailants trying to stop him from sharing his discovery. Helped by a lovely girl and gang-banger buddies from his childhood, Dale has a wild ride hiding from "the Man". I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The pace was fast without being disjointed. The scenery in Atlanta was vivid. The plot was believable. The story left me both feeling that the conclusion was satisfactory but there could definitely be a sequel that would stand alone. I can't wait for one!
I really enjoyed this book , but did skim through about 1/2 of each gravity- magnetism explanation, as those I know very well, and found them a bit, fumbling.
The story is interesting, I liked the characters and loved the ending!
If you enjoyed Ready Player 1 then you’ll enjoy Gravity. Very entertaining book, fast pace with just enough science to explain without overwhelming. Will read more by the author when they are published.
From the suggested playlist to use as a soundtrack, to the working email address, I enjoyed a lot about this book. The characters were compelling and I particularly how Dale and how I viewed him changed when he encountered his old friends.
Wow… Just finished the ride. And it was a wild and wooly one! The end came to a screeching halt…but in a kewl way. This book kept me excited to read every new paragraph and page. So much about how the media and government can and will twist the truth so much that it looks like balled up aluminum foil, with no hope of being straightened out and seeing it how it really was. Keep up the good work, MW.
When I picked up Breaking Gravity, I didn’t expect to spend every free moment of my weekend eagerly trying to finish the novel! The book included a collection of characters I became quickly attached to… From Dale’s first presentation to the panel, I found myself cheering him on and hoping that he would succeed in his “mission to live the life that [his] mom had envisioned for [him]..." and put some jerks in their place along the way. I enjoyed the down to earth, often humorous dialogue between characters; I think Walters has a gift for both dialogue and character development. I felt a familiarity with many of the characters, and I hold a special place in my heart for Jorge. They say you can’t go home, but Dale did exactly that as he returned to his questionable roots in Doraville for refuge, but as one might expect… hijinks did ensue. The author provided just the right amount of scientific explanation to make the fantastic feasible, to allow for the suspension of disbelief necessary to fuel the story. I found myself imagining extensions of Dale’s scientific discovery… wondering what other applications of his ideas were possible. I think the book is begging to be adapted into a screenplay. I longed to see certain scenes play out on the big screen and wondered who would play my favorite characters! I have to give a nod to the music playlist and website; I thought they enriched the experience of reading the book and allowed me to savor the experience just a little bit longer. Overall, I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, and I really look forward to what comes next from Mr. Mitty Walters. Don’t make us wait too long!
Fun light science fiction/thriller read. Dale Adams is about to graduate from Emory University. He works part-time for a computer repair business. While making a repair, something odd occurs, and his natural curiosity causes him to experiment until he can replicate the event. He presents his findings as part of a class-project business plan presented to a group of venture capitalists. At this point the fireworks, which include all variety of murder and mayhem begin.
Mitty Walters has given Dale a conversational voice appropriate for a well-educated but pretty normal early twenties guy. He is articulate, smart enough to learn on his own, dumb enough to go along with the crowd he runs with, and focused on having the life his deceased mother desired for him. Walters seems to have a pretty good handle on Atlanta, and, in some ways, the neighborhoods seem almost to be characters in the story. On the downside, Dale and his friends are being sought by the ubiquitous "them," one group that wishes to bury his discovery in the defense of their wealth and another that wishes to control his discovery in defense of "normal." This makes an otherwise good tale somewhat predictable but not necessarily less enjoyable.
Read it for fun and swashbuckling action - think of Indiana Jones and the Secret Newton - or read it as an allegory in which discovery or change is in danger of being squashed or controlled.
Se lit facilement sans véritablement approfondir les conséquences d'un bouleversement majeur et avec la bonne dose de paranoïa sur le pouvoir des puissants (on sait tous que le pneu inusable existe mais qu'il ne sera jamais commercialisé, on sait tous que la durée de vie des objets est calculé, je dirais même que la date légale de la retraite l'est en fonction de notre espérance de vie etc etc) bref l'histoire d'une découverte qui risque de trop bouleverser notre univers économique et un jeune héros (Dale) pas trop stupide accompagné de quelques ami(e)s qui survit aux professionnels du crime et réussit à faire connaître sa découverte La ficelle a déjà été utilisée mais elle fonctionne toujours ! un bon moment de distraction : pas certain qu'il m'en reste plus qu'un agréable souvenir d'ici quelques semaines ...
Dumbfounded!!! I read a ton of books, too many to be able to write reviews for them all, or even many of them. I had passed this book over dozens of times, but after reading the reviews others had written I finally decided to give it a read. Boy am I glad I did. From the humor of the accidental discover - to the sadly real idea that greedy corporations might want to bury the idea - - this book struck a chord. I devoured this book straight through in a few hours. The sadly realistic part of this comes from my own childhood where inventor friends of the family had ideas and working concept models, bought by the auto manufacturers, never to see the light of day again. Hoping to read more from this author soon! One of the only two authors who's new release mailing list I have subscriber to!
OK, where's the 10 star button? Every now and then as I troll the free SCIFI books I come across a good read. This is better than that. This is "Martian" quality writing. Mr. Walters' writing skills let you slide into the narrative on page one while he spins a great tale that draws you in. With a title like 'Breaking Gravity' you know that the 'science' won't hold up to deep inspection but Walters gives a good enough explanation to let you suspend disbelief enough to enjoy the book. Really enjoy the book. Get it while it's still free, but be sure not to read it until you can finish it; you really can't put it down. Oh, and read thru to the last page and click on the link -- great fun! Now I gotta go out and find out what else this guy's written.
An enjoyable enough story if you aren't looking for real science fiction. There was definitely fiction although, I think the author was re-living a version of his former life intertwined with the plot of his novel. The science was sketchy, at best and not very believable. It seems that the only reason there was any science at all was to serve as a reason for the author to tell a good guys vs bad guys story. The author kept me turning pages even though I didn't think the book was much or a science-fiction novel. It was a fun romp through the hood with plenty of "good guys", "not so good guys" and obvious "bad guys".
Well, It's hard to review this book because I almost enjoyed it to the very last chapter which was very short and an early and unexpected ending.
The book is a very good Sci-Fi thriller with lots of action and even some romance. It has minor flaws but for me the major one was a sudden jump to the end of story. It was that sudden I thought my book is not complete and maybe there are more pages that I don't have.
By the way, I liked the way this book is written and look forward to read the writer's future books.
The principles described in this raucous adventure may or may not be sound but the story is highly entertaining! The hidden powers that wish to keep the status quo truly do exist! Much of this fictional tale is based upon reality! This a must read by any serious Scifi fan. I received this book for free without a prior request for review, but it is very deserving of praise!
Will someone please turn this into a movie? This story begs to be on the big screen if you ask me. Suspenseful, fast-paced and great fun. The premise is one that a lot of people will find interesting and timely. Ideal for young adults and old youngsters. I enjoy reading a book (especially a debut by an Indie!) that allows me to forget that I'm reading, and pulls me in to the story. Couldn't put it down. I'm looking forward to the next offering from Mitty Walters.
Imaginative, technically savvy, rebellious fun. Non-stop action, perfectly timed action.....and if anyone says it's just for young adults, they're wrong
Being an electromagnetism / relativity buff, this book was particularly fun. It doesn't hurt that I live in Decatur and so it made a difference that Mr Walters got the geography right. Excellent read. I highly recommend it on many levels.
Probably one of the best, new Sci-Fi books I've ever read. One thing though... he could have tweaked the ending just a tad and made a series out of it (I wish he did). Great book!
Many authors forget that we readers have a choice of entertainment. We could watch television, listen to the radio, dozens of paid and unpaid websites. Reading is always the best option, if you can find something worth reading. I've never read this author before, but I'll bet it won't be the last time.
This was brilliant. The protagonist's invention is the stuff of dreams, and the violence that its discovery invokes is, once one comes to think about it, probably inevitable. This was a joy to read, and I recommend it without hesitation.
Mostly a lark and the main character, for as bright as he is otherwise, is frustratingly naive.
This is bordering pretty hard to YA territory but has its moments. Whatever; the idea is neat and probably would take most people less than a week to read; an afternoon for some.
Be prepared for a wild ride, but a fun time. Not what you expect, some science, a bit of economics, a little politics,and a lot of good reading. Enjoy, I did!
Enjoyable quick read with enough twists and turns to keep the reader guessing as to the final,outcome of the story. My only complaint is that it was not long enough! I could easily spend another 2 hrs reading Mitty Walters .
This is five star writing and a five star story. So we'll written, the characters are great. Loved the story line!! I would love more books starring Books and Kermit!