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Defying Gravity
In 1947, there’s an alien invasion looming and humankind’s best hope is a brilliant nineteen-year-old woman.
When the A-bomb ended the war, with a power unlike anything humans had ever witnessed, Mary Goss was driven to gain the knowledge to prevent another war from ever beginning. Now the Army has come calling, looking for “a few good men” for a top-secret project. Instead, they find that the best and brightest is Mary.
Much to Mary’s horror, the project reveals an alien invasion. Yet at every turn, her efforts to intervene are thwarted by small-minded engineers who can’t look past her gender and age. She’d dealt with her fair share of discrimination in university, but with the fate of the world on the line, there isn’t time to waste on petty differences.
When the A-bomb ended the war, with a power unlike anything humans had ever witnessed, Mary Goss was driven to gain the knowledge to prevent another war from ever beginning. Now the Army has come calling, looking for “a few good men” for a top-secret project. Instead, they find that the best and brightest is Mary.
Much to Mary’s horror, the project reveals an alien invasion. Yet at every turn, her efforts to intervene are thwarted by small-minded engineers who can’t look past her gender and age. She’d dealt with her fair share of discrimination in university, but with the fate of the world on the line, there isn’t time to waste on petty differences.
95 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 26, 2022
4 people are currently reading
14 people want to read
About the author
Tony B. Richard
20 books10 followersTony B. Richard lives in Vancouver, Canada. He is a computer programmer (coder), instructor, and a Star Trek, Star Wars, and Stargate fan. He had this story in his head for decades, but during the Covid-19 pandemic, he thought it was time to put it down on paper.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
February 4, 2023
this was a great start to the Earth's Secret Alliance series, it had a great use of aliens. Tony B. Richard does a great job in telling a story and keeping me invested. I enjoyed what I read and can't wait for more in this series.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
January 13, 2023
Tony B. Richards' Defying Gravity takes place in 1947, with a nineteen-year-old Mary. She is highly intelligent and has graduated from college with an astrophysics degree. She sets out to find a job and finally hears back from the army. Although it is the last place she expected to hear from, she accepts a job that is classified and didn't give her much information on what she'd be doing. Her one condition was that she didn't want to make anything that could harm others; instead, she is faced with protecting an alien race from their foes.
The book is written very well, with no spelling or grammar errors that I noticed. I wasn't a fan of the main female character, Mary, at first because she believes everyone is against her because she is a girl living in a time where females didn't have the same rights, but she eventually learns a life lesson.
Although I'm not a fan of books with "episode" layouts, as some may be, I will say that the ending does leave the reader wondering what happens next for Mary and her crew.
Overall, I give the book a 4 for being well written, telling a unique story, and keeping me engaged.
I was given an advance review copy for free in exchange for a honest review.
The book is written very well, with no spelling or grammar errors that I noticed. I wasn't a fan of the main female character, Mary, at first because she believes everyone is against her because she is a girl living in a time where females didn't have the same rights, but she eventually learns a life lesson.
Although I'm not a fan of books with "episode" layouts, as some may be, I will say that the ending does leave the reader wondering what happens next for Mary and her crew.
Overall, I give the book a 4 for being well written, telling a unique story, and keeping me engaged.
I was given an advance review copy for free in exchange for a honest review.
January 16, 2023
I was pleasantly surprised by this book. You can't often tell what you're really going to get from a self-published title, and one only available digitally.
I like alien, first contact stories. I like very much the idea of a young woman with a PhD proving to the "big boys" that she more than knows her stuff. I liked that it was a quick approachable read, and would easily recommend it as a high interest, low lexile read.
The only thing the author could've done more of is more on the science. That's as important as the growth arc for both Mary and her colleagues.
I think it's billed as being part of a series, but I don't think series is the right word. It's more of a "universe" as I feel like Mary Goss's story stands alone. I do, however, think having read the earlier "episodes" would improve my grasp of the "universe" the author has built.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I'm leaving this honest review voluntarily.
I like alien, first contact stories. I like very much the idea of a young woman with a PhD proving to the "big boys" that she more than knows her stuff. I liked that it was a quick approachable read, and would easily recommend it as a high interest, low lexile read.
The only thing the author could've done more of is more on the science. That's as important as the growth arc for both Mary and her colleagues.
I think it's billed as being part of a series, but I don't think series is the right word. It's more of a "universe" as I feel like Mary Goss's story stands alone. I do, however, think having read the earlier "episodes" would improve my grasp of the "universe" the author has built.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I'm leaving this honest review voluntarily.
March 29, 2023
Read this as an ARC copy, so I'll ignore that it says "Chapter 8" , for about 4 chapters.
PRO : The setting is a fun mix of the movies Hidden Figures and The Arrival. It felt like a fun take on a very under-utilized time period of America in literature.
CON : The amount of nonsense that the military allows these civilian employees get away with is way to much. I won't spoil it, but when you become a questionable risk to the mission, you would be gone immediately.
PRO : While the comment above is a negative for the military presentation, it's the only one. Overall, the Officers and NCOs are well depicted.
CON : Mary gets a job of a lifetime and still manages to whine that she's not going to wear a uniform lol. In the real world, civilians get be made to wear uniforms or lose their jobs,hell, look at McDonald's.
PRO : The science stuff was fun, and not too difficult to grasp for a non lavish vs major reader.
CON : Mary's conclusive thoughts about herself towards the end was interesting but feels like we needed a little bit more of "showing" that she was being an Unjustified asshole. As a reader, I felt she never attacked anyone First verbally, etc.
All in all, this was nearly a 4 star novella for me, but the characterizations the mustache swirling men made me question the grade. As well as the military that was there to allow the antagonists' nonsense to continue unquestioned for a long time when They are the ones in charge. Also, it didn't bother me, but I could see readers getting upset from the lack of description on the aliens, Hough I enjoyed their characters and technology, and how their technology effected the humans.
Grade : 3 stars
B -
My YouTube review :
https://youtu.be/doD_olDX9uM
PRO : The setting is a fun mix of the movies Hidden Figures and The Arrival. It felt like a fun take on a very under-utilized time period of America in literature.
CON : The amount of nonsense that the military allows these civilian employees get away with is way to much. I won't spoil it, but when you become a questionable risk to the mission, you would be gone immediately.
PRO : While the comment above is a negative for the military presentation, it's the only one. Overall, the Officers and NCOs are well depicted.
CON : Mary gets a job of a lifetime and still manages to whine that she's not going to wear a uniform lol. In the real world, civilians get be made to wear uniforms or lose their jobs,hell, look at McDonald's.
PRO : The science stuff was fun, and not too difficult to grasp for a non lavish vs major reader.
CON : Mary's conclusive thoughts about herself towards the end was interesting but feels like we needed a little bit more of "showing" that she was being an Unjustified asshole. As a reader, I felt she never attacked anyone First verbally, etc.
All in all, this was nearly a 4 star novella for me, but the characterizations the mustache swirling men made me question the grade. As well as the military that was there to allow the antagonists' nonsense to continue unquestioned for a long time when They are the ones in charge. Also, it didn't bother me, but I could see readers getting upset from the lack of description on the aliens, Hough I enjoyed their characters and technology, and how their technology effected the humans.
Grade : 3 stars
B -
My YouTube review :
https://youtu.be/doD_olDX9uM
December 29, 2022
Good read! Kinda flimsy on facts and science.
This was interesting and well written with out spelling or grammer errors found in lots of unlimited books. I like that the main character is a young woman. No I'm an old grandpa with 3 daughters and 4 grand daughter's. I do look forward to the next book in i series. Thanks to the author.
This was interesting and well written with out spelling or grammer errors found in lots of unlimited books. I like that the main character is a young woman. No I'm an old grandpa with 3 daughters and 4 grand daughter's. I do look forward to the next book in i series. Thanks to the author.
December 29, 2022
Another great little read from Tony. The series is coming together brilliantly. I’m not one for Sci-Fi but I really enjoy these short stories
January 18, 2023
I really wanted to like this book, I really did. The cover artwork is amazing! It is science fiction featuring strong, intellectually brilliant women as main characters – I am a fan of sci-fi and I appreciate stories with strong, smart women. The storyline is set in the 1947– and I like historical fiction. It checked lots of boxes before I even started reading – unfortunately, the characters ended up one dimensional, and the plot had too many holes and historical discrepancies which caused me to stop my suspension of disbelief and prevented me from enjoying the book.
This episodic sci-fi novella series is clearly written by a huge fan of sci-fi tv shows like Star Trek. The author even titles books in the series as “episodes.” And while I get that the author was trying to make this story an ideal utopia where everything is neatly packaged and resolved like a one-hour tv show, it just didn’t work for me.
Right at the start of “Defying Gravity: Earth’s Secret Alliance - Mary Goss: Episode 1,” it was hard for me to suspend my disbelief that Sergeant Malcom Dow, a black man in 1947, could be a high-ranking officer involved in a top-secret project for the US army as it wasn’t historically accurate. Yes, I understand that this book is science fiction, and I have no qualms about person of colour featured in any books, in fact I appreciate what the author wanted to portray here, but if a story is set in a specific time period on Earth, then you have to either explain the historical decadency somehow in your narrative or be historically accurate. Upon a quick google search, I learned that it wasn’t until 1948 (a year after this storyline is set to take place) that an executive order ‘officially’ ending segregation in the Armed Forces of the United States was implemented, and we all know that racial segregation continued to take place even after the Civil Rights movement in the 1960’s.
Another gaping hole in my suspension of disbelief is that the main character, Mary Goss, a highly intelligent young woman, received her PhD in astrophysics at MIT at age nineteen. While there are trailblazing women in astrophysics and astronomy, even today it is a mostly male dominated field. The 1940’s weren’t progressive towards women even attending university, let alone study a predominately male field like astrophysics. More information was necessary in the narrative to explain how Mary even got into MIT, not just fluff if off as Mary was smart. Also, the bit about the reason she didn’t have any friends in university is that she alienated herself from her colleague classmates and insulted her professors with her know-it-all pretentiousness enraged the feminist in me – why the victim blaming? This story didn’t need to be set in 1947, as women struggling for acceptance in a male dominated world could be any time period, even today in 2023.
The final straw for me was that there was little explanation of the aliens – just a notation of their home planet and they needed help. It was too simply written without little to no background information on them. Lots of questions were left unanswered.
I was gracious given an advanced copy for review through BookSirens. While readers who enjoy fan fiction might enjoy this ‘episode’ and even the series as a whole, it falls to short for me and it is just not my cup of tea.
Rating 1.5 out of 5 stars
Defying Gravity: Earth’s Secret Alliance
Mary Goss: Episode 1
By Tony B. Richard (with Lydia Payge)
This episodic sci-fi novella series is clearly written by a huge fan of sci-fi tv shows like Star Trek. The author even titles books in the series as “episodes.” And while I get that the author was trying to make this story an ideal utopia where everything is neatly packaged and resolved like a one-hour tv show, it just didn’t work for me.
Right at the start of “Defying Gravity: Earth’s Secret Alliance - Mary Goss: Episode 1,” it was hard for me to suspend my disbelief that Sergeant Malcom Dow, a black man in 1947, could be a high-ranking officer involved in a top-secret project for the US army as it wasn’t historically accurate. Yes, I understand that this book is science fiction, and I have no qualms about person of colour featured in any books, in fact I appreciate what the author wanted to portray here, but if a story is set in a specific time period on Earth, then you have to either explain the historical decadency somehow in your narrative or be historically accurate. Upon a quick google search, I learned that it wasn’t until 1948 (a year after this storyline is set to take place) that an executive order ‘officially’ ending segregation in the Armed Forces of the United States was implemented, and we all know that racial segregation continued to take place even after the Civil Rights movement in the 1960’s.
Another gaping hole in my suspension of disbelief is that the main character, Mary Goss, a highly intelligent young woman, received her PhD in astrophysics at MIT at age nineteen. While there are trailblazing women in astrophysics and astronomy, even today it is a mostly male dominated field. The 1940’s weren’t progressive towards women even attending university, let alone study a predominately male field like astrophysics. More information was necessary in the narrative to explain how Mary even got into MIT, not just fluff if off as Mary was smart. Also, the bit about the reason she didn’t have any friends in university is that she alienated herself from her colleague classmates and insulted her professors with her know-it-all pretentiousness enraged the feminist in me – why the victim blaming? This story didn’t need to be set in 1947, as women struggling for acceptance in a male dominated world could be any time period, even today in 2023.
The final straw for me was that there was little explanation of the aliens – just a notation of their home planet and they needed help. It was too simply written without little to no background information on them. Lots of questions were left unanswered.
I was gracious given an advanced copy for review through BookSirens. While readers who enjoy fan fiction might enjoy this ‘episode’ and even the series as a whole, it falls to short for me and it is just not my cup of tea.
Rating 1.5 out of 5 stars
Defying Gravity: Earth’s Secret Alliance
Mary Goss: Episode 1
By Tony B. Richard (with Lydia Payge)
February 4, 2023
I Feel Her Pain . . .
Mary Goss is admittedly an amazing intellect. But her interactions come off as lack of maturity in understanding what she is up against being a 19-year-old female in a male-dominated career choice. Her brilliance is seen as snobbery by most, or female attitude. That alone would alienate her from her peers. Her easy acceptance of aliens felt almost like a shrug instead of excitement at verification that they exist and having a million questions for them. Her reaction just didn’t feel real. In her situation, I would have been immensely frustrated trying to make myself heard by the “experts” in the field who would never accept her as their equal, even though she was far beyond most of them.
Because all of these things crossed my mind, I probably didn’t focus on what the author wanted as the “take-away” from this story line. The line that says “with the fate of the world on the line, there isn’t time to waste on petty differences” may be true, but it is so much more than that at work here. Credibility has to be carefully developed, and a young person like Mary just doesn’t have the patience. Not that she is wrong, but she won’t convince anyone by letting them frustrate her. I could feel all these things, but I don’t think it made a convincing book.
Mary Goss is admittedly an amazing intellect. But her interactions come off as lack of maturity in understanding what she is up against being a 19-year-old female in a male-dominated career choice. Her brilliance is seen as snobbery by most, or female attitude. That alone would alienate her from her peers. Her easy acceptance of aliens felt almost like a shrug instead of excitement at verification that they exist and having a million questions for them. Her reaction just didn’t feel real. In her situation, I would have been immensely frustrated trying to make myself heard by the “experts” in the field who would never accept her as their equal, even though she was far beyond most of them.
Because all of these things crossed my mind, I probably didn’t focus on what the author wanted as the “take-away” from this story line. The line that says “with the fate of the world on the line, there isn’t time to waste on petty differences” may be true, but it is so much more than that at work here. Credibility has to be carefully developed, and a young person like Mary just doesn’t have the patience. Not that she is wrong, but she won’t convince anyone by letting them frustrate her. I could feel all these things, but I don’t think it made a convincing book.
February 6, 2023
This Novella checked a lot of boxes for me. I was feeling like a short read and have always been a fan of sci fi. The story was fun and engaging. Dr Mary Gods just finishes her phd in astrophysics at an extremely young age but cannot find a job as she has alienated everyone in her academic sphere due to her belief that she is better and smarter than everyone and that all males are out to sabotage her and her career. As a last resort she applies for an unknown job at the army and gets it. It turns out that aliens are real and she is brought into the fold to help develop tech based on alien help.
There is unfortunately very little background info about the aliens. Perhaps this will develop as the series develops but it felt lacking in this story.
Over the noon Mary develops both tech and her own philosophy and makes lots of progress personally. She becomes a hero and is promoted. The end is a cliffhanger which leads nicely into a story that will presumably work towards her helping the aliens more directly. There is a lot that could have been better developed in this story but I quite enjoyed the hour or so read and will look out for more in the same series…
I got this book for free as an advanced reader copy from book sirens and am leaving this review voluntarily.
Originally reviewed at ianreads.com
There is unfortunately very little background info about the aliens. Perhaps this will develop as the series develops but it felt lacking in this story.
Over the noon Mary develops both tech and her own philosophy and makes lots of progress personally. She becomes a hero and is promoted. The end is a cliffhanger which leads nicely into a story that will presumably work towards her helping the aliens more directly. There is a lot that could have been better developed in this story but I quite enjoyed the hour or so read and will look out for more in the same series…
I got this book for free as an advanced reader copy from book sirens and am leaving this review voluntarily.
Originally reviewed at ianreads.com
February 14, 2023
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Even though it was short, it was truly a gem to read. We follow Mary on her journey as she became a Doctor in Astrophysics, too much dismay of her male professors. It seems that she can't escape the male dominance of the University, as she can't seem to find a job in any lab.
When she takes up a secret job with the military, it seems that male animosity towards her is still the same. She never thought she would work with extraterrestrials in a location unknown. They must find a way to thwart an alien invasion, but will she succeed when she is sabotaged at every turn?
A very good read and I was a bit sad that the story was over, it had the right amount of action and conversation between the aliens and the group of engineers. And the struggles women have to face in a male dominated environment.
Even though it was short, it was truly a gem to read. We follow Mary on her journey as she became a Doctor in Astrophysics, too much dismay of her male professors. It seems that she can't escape the male dominance of the University, as she can't seem to find a job in any lab.
When she takes up a secret job with the military, it seems that male animosity towards her is still the same. She never thought she would work with extraterrestrials in a location unknown. They must find a way to thwart an alien invasion, but will she succeed when she is sabotaged at every turn?
A very good read and I was a bit sad that the story was over, it had the right amount of action and conversation between the aliens and the group of engineers. And the struggles women have to face in a male dominated environment.
February 9, 2023
First in YA science fiction with aliens novella series.
Our 19 year old heroine encounters prejudice, discrimination, obstruction and opposition. Fortunately, some men become allies despite the military background.
She experiences a personal redemption on top of redeeming her main antagonist through her creativity and genius. We get to meet friendly aliens and I can see how the story could progress both scientifically and with relationships. A quick and easy read.
It's difficult to describe why I didn't feel it was the full package. Maybe the writing had more telling than showing and that's why I didn't feel completely satisfied.
I received a free advance review copy, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Our 19 year old heroine encounters prejudice, discrimination, obstruction and opposition. Fortunately, some men become allies despite the military background.
She experiences a personal redemption on top of redeeming her main antagonist through her creativity and genius. We get to meet friendly aliens and I can see how the story could progress both scientifically and with relationships. A quick and easy read.
It's difficult to describe why I didn't feel it was the full package. Maybe the writing had more telling than showing and that's why I didn't feel completely satisfied.
I received a free advance review copy, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
March 3, 2023
I think this is a great science fiction book that approaches the story at a good pace. Mary has to overcome the obstacle of others listening to her due to her being young and a girl. She overcomes this obstacle very well near the end of the book while leaving the book open to another book in the series. I appreciated how Tony B. Richard explained Mary and the aliens, as well as other characters in the book, to seem as real as possible. I am looking forward to seeing where this series goes.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
April 4, 2023
Really a 3.8. A cute family friendly sci/fi fantasy that can be reading one or two sittings. What happens when you are the smartest one you know but not a people pleaser? What happens when the military comes calling and wants you to work with the aliens to get to the moon and back? Definitely read aloud material.
I received this ARC free from BookSirens and am happy to leave this reveiw.
I received this ARC free from BookSirens and am happy to leave this reveiw.
November 16, 2024
A very nice and easy read. I love how it handles the theme of women in men dominated fields and how to overcome it. I love how it was built and told. Overall just a really nice read.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
December 23, 2022
Defying Gravity sounded interesting but wasn't quite what I expected for a story about first contact with aliens. Main character Mary is a genius level astro-physicist forced into a world she isn't quite mature enough to understand. Given that story takes place in 1947 I understand her defensiveness and hostility to the people she studies and works with because she is like a fish out of water. I just wish the story focused less on that and more on the contact with aliens.
Beings from a planet called Zalma come to ask Earth for help with a conflict with another race called Moad. Holy cow, so we just walk into a lab and start having scientific and mathematical discussions and ignore the fact there is life in the universe?? Teenage Mary just accepts these non-human beings as finally meeting someone on a par with her and gets to work.
The story was simplistic even for a YA and didn't really get going before it ended. In fact when I reached the last page I thought it was just another chapter ending. I would probably recommend it for ages 8 to 10 years old.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Thank you Tony B Richard and BookSirens for the opportunity to read this book.
Beings from a planet called Zalma come to ask Earth for help with a conflict with another race called Moad. Holy cow, so we just walk into a lab and start having scientific and mathematical discussions and ignore the fact there is life in the universe?? Teenage Mary just accepts these non-human beings as finally meeting someone on a par with her and gets to work.
The story was simplistic even for a YA and didn't really get going before it ended. In fact when I reached the last page I thought it was just another chapter ending. I would probably recommend it for ages 8 to 10 years old.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Thank you Tony B Richard and BookSirens for the opportunity to read this book.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews