Gerald Brennan 
Public Loneliness 
Yuri Gagarin’s Circumlunar Flight

October, 1967. Yuri Gagarin sits atop a Proton rocket, ready to launch. After several turbulent years in the public eye, he’s been chosen in secrecy to captain the Soviet Union’s latest space spectacular: the first manned flight around the moon.


The second story in the
Altered Space series,
Public Loneliness is a detailed and imaginative look at a country and a space program with a curious schizophrenia regarding publicity and secrecy. Based on extensive research, it’s also a lively and literary story that references familiar classics (like Hemingway’s
The Old Man and the Sea) and forgotten landmarks of Soviet socialist realism, while also touching on universal themes of adventure, alcoholism, heroism and shame. It’s a compelling look behind the massive posters at the all-too-real man who led the human race into space.


The titles in the
Altered Space series are wholly separate narratives, but all deal with the mysteries of space and time, progress and circularity. Each one is an ensō of words in which orbits of spacecraft, moons, planets, and people allow us fresh perspectives on the cycles of our own lives.

Circa l’autore

Mr. Brennan earned a B.S. in European History from the United States Military Academy at West Point and an M.S. in Journalism from Columbia University in New York. He’s the author of
Resistance, and a series of space books including
Zero Phase,
Public Loneliness,
Island of Clouds,
Infinite Blues, and the forthcoming
Alone on the Moon. He’s done extensive original research for his space titles, including interviews with former astronauts (some of whom have walked on the moon) and technical consultation with retired NASA engineers, but budgetary constraints have prevented on-site outer space research. (So far.) His writing has appeared in the
Chicago Tribune,
Hypertext Magazine,
The Good Men Project, and
Innerview Magazine. He’s the founder of Tortoise Books; he’s also been a frequent contributor and co-editor at Back to Print and The Deadline. He resides in Chicago.
Follow him on Twitter @jerry_brennan