Soto's characters are finely drawn, as are their philosophically thorny conflicts with each other . . . Amid the discovery of alien life, a touching meditation on humanity. --Kirkus ReviewsA literary debut subverting classic sci-fi tropes set in gentrified Chicago, Silicon Valley, and across the vastness of the cosmos. From the streets of gentrified Chicago, to the tech boom corridors of Silicon Valley, This Weightless World follows a revolving cast of characters after alien contact upends their lives. We are introduced to Sevi, a burned-out music teacher desperate for connection; Ramona, his on-again, off-again computer programmer girlfriend; and Sevi's cello protg Eason, struggling with the closure of his high school; after a mysterious signal arrives from outer space. When the signal--at first seen as a sign of hope--stops as abruptly as it started, they are all forced to reckon with its aftermath. In San Francisco, Sevi fights to find meaning in rekindled love; and Ramona-determined to build an AI to prevent mankind's self-destruction-begins to feel the weight of past mistakes. And in Chicago, Eason measures his commitment to an estranged childhood friend against the chance of escaping neighborhood troubles. A dazzling deconstruction of science fiction tropes, This Weightless World looks to the past for a vision of the future.