BadAsstronauts

First published in 2012 as Occupy Space, Grady's debut science fiction novella inspired by the Occupy Wall Street movement, about a group of amateur astronauts who lead a rescue mission to space. Walter Reddie is a washed up, former astronaut who takes it upon himself to build a rocket ship to rescue his cousin, who is stuck on the International Space Station after a mission gone wrong. If America won't rescue its astronauts, Walter will do it himself. Violating numerous laws, common sense, logic, and reason, Walter Reddie becomes a lightning rod for people who aren't ready to lay down and die just yet. His "redneck NASA" becomes the promised land for losers, drifters, rocket junkies, pyromaniacs, misfits, dreamers, science nerds, and astro-hippies who still believe that the future of America is in space. But chances are they'll blow themselves up, get arrested, or kill each other before they ever get into low earth orbit.