By the Forces of Gravity “Throwback” Giveaways Begin: Week #1 — Clothing

Now that we’re a month away from the release of By the Forces of Gravity, it’s time to really have some fun!

By the Forces of Gravity takes us back to the 1970s, and reading about this era is sure to stir up some nostalgia. In fact, no matter in what decade you came of age, reading a book like this will certainly drum up some memories. So, starting each “Throwback Thursday” for the next few weeks, we’re giving you a prompt inspired by the book!

This week, it’s clothes.

In this illustrated memoir, Rebecca Fish Ewan — or Becky Star Fish — is wearing patched jeans throughout the book. She blogged about the story behind these precious pants:

“I wore these pants for years (tweens and teens). They became my voice and my armor. And so when I was picking out clothes for cartoon-me, I only considered the patched pants.”

 

 

We want to know what YOU piece of clothing you wore — and perhaps wore out! — when you were a tween/teen!

Share a picture and/or memory of that one item you loved on social media for a chance to win an advanced reader’s copy (ARC).

• On this post on our Facebook page, add your story or image to the comments section
• On Twitter, simply create a post using the hashtag #gravitymemoir with your tweet-sized story or photo and we’ll find it
• On Instagram, simply use the hashtag #gravitymemoir with your photo or video update and we’ll find it

While we’ll kick these contests of on Throwback Thursday — or #TBT — we’ll run them through the weekend and pick a winner on Sunday!

We’ll share some contributed pictures from all outlets here on the Books by Hippocampus blog. (We’ll update each weekly post!)

(More Throwback ARC contests to come this month! Stay tuned!)

By the Force of Gravity is available for pre-order now and will ship out near its release date, June 19.

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WEEK #1 UPDATE (post edited May 10)

Congratulations to Rae Theodore for winning the first ARC! Rae shared a story (on Twitter) about a pair of bell-bottomed jeans “with rainbow satin stripes that orbited the bottom like planets.” We love the description! Sadly, these pants ended up getting ruined on a family vacation when a plastic laundry basket melted on them. She writes in her Tweet, “‘Stop crying’ my dad said.’They’re just clothes.’ He had no clue….” In a follow-up Tweet, she continued, “It’s one of my first memories, maybe the first, of losing something that nobody else saw the value in.”

Also, thanks to Joseph Edwin Haeger who shared the story to our Facebook thread about a Psycho movie t-shirt he bought at Disney World on a family vacation and stayed with him for many years… until it met its fate: “…my wife eventually snuck the shirt into the trash years after our wedding.” He shared this with a cool Photoshop job he did while in high school that fit the t-shirt quite well… he had a few heads, including one severed.

Also on our Facebook post, Steve Peacock shared a photo of himself wearing a leather vest, similar to one he had work to nearly every concert he attended in the 70s and 80s, including  Judas Priest, Van Halen and Black Sabbath and to  venues including Madison Square Garden in New York City, the Spectrum in Philly, and Asbury Park’s Convention Hall. He commented on the image, “And here I am seen in a recent photo in the Lakewood (NJ) High School where I currently teach — the very same classroom I had once sat as a longer-haired teen who wore his concert tees (and black-leather vest) back in my heavy metal headbanger days.” We love how his story came full circle.

Finally, Kristin Kelly shared to Facebook about a chlorine-scented, gray swim team sweatshirt from 1988. Or rather, she still FEELS like she can smell the chlorine as she slips it on, “only on rare occasions when I need a satorial hug.” She described it as “fraying at the cuffs… softened by years of softening. My one rememberance of belonging from those days.

We LOVED seeing these stories. Thanks so much Rae, Joseph, Steve & Kristin for playing along!