Launch Day! Happy Book Birthday to Rebecca Fish Ewan & By the Forces of Gravity: A Memoir

Today’s the day! You’ve been hearing us talk about By the Forces of Gravity: A Memoir by Rebecca Fish Ewan for some time now, but June 19 is its official birthday. We’re so proud of this book and Rebecca, and we can’t wait for people to read this unique memoir.

(You can buy it from us here, on Amazon here, or ask at your favorite local book store.)

As an organization, this is a big day for us, too. In 2017, to kick off our print division, we released a special anthology called Selected Memories: Five Years of Hippocampus Magazine. This project included 33 works of creative nonfiction, first published in our online journal. This collection kicked off our imprint, but today, we release our first original, single-author project. I’d like to thank Lindsay Smuck for the stunning cover and Jocelyn Park for the interior design; both of these talented women worked hard on making this book come alive.

There’s so much more I could say about this project, but my intro at the launch party explains a little about how we found that book and what it means to me, so I’ll share it here through the video, as well as the written version.

(Apologies this video is showing so small; seems our template is automatically resizing it. We’re working on it! In the meantime, you can view fullscreen mode.)

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(The text from the video)

We’re honored to be here this evening to celebrate Rebecca’s special moment. When we put out a call for query letters and manuscripts last summer, we weren’t sure what we’d see in our inboxes. We thought for sure we’d find an essay collection or traditional memoir that would end up being our first book. But as I opened file and after file, one stood out. I was pleasantly surprised and completely delighted when I opened up a submission from Rebecca Fish Ewan. It was like nothing I’d seen before — in our inbox, or in a bookstore. It had pictures, it didn’t have punctuation, it took place in an era I’d wished I’d grown up in, it was fun and even a little provocative in places. I think I nearly immediately requested her full manuscript for By the Forces of Gravity.

In a twist of fate, Rebecca sent me a follow-up email, hoping to hear back to me before she headed away for a conference and vacation for a few weeks. Our emails had crossed though, and I had sent her an email that I’d be following up with her in a few weeks, after a conference and vacation. As it turns out, we both were going to the NonfictioNOW conference in Iceland, both planning to drive the Ring Road across the country after the writing event. So we met there, for the first time, in the enchanting land of fire and ice.

We weren’t just choosing a book; we were choosing a partner. And when I met Rebecca in Reykjavik, I knew she and her story were right for us…

But it wasn’t just about us choosing the right manuscript… it was about an author choosing the right press. We’ve been publishing creative nonfiction since 2011 through our online magazine, but this books division is brand new — so we knew we needed to find an author who trusted us to be the right home, to start this journey together. Perhaps, it was gravity the drew us together, too? However these stars aligned, thank you, Rebecca for choosing Hippocampus.

We’re so very proud of you and this book, and we’re grateful we’re the ones that got to help bring it into the world.

Thank you to Charissa and The Hive, and to Rebecca’s family and friends and everyone, for being here to celebrate this occasion with Rebecca and with us.

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We had a wonderful time in Phoenix celebrating with Rebecca this past weekend, and we’re looking forward to a second release party in Berkeley, Calif. on Thursday, June 28 from 7-9 p.m. at Maybeck High School. We hope to see some of our Bay Area readers there!

-Donna