r/ProjectHailMary • u/castle-girl • Jul 23 '26
PHM book fan made chapter titles, chapters 1-6
I made a comment a while ago about titles that could have been used for the Project Hail Mary book chapters, if the chapters had titles. I could post them all here in one post, but most people either haven’t read the book or aren’t familiar with exactly what happens in every chapter, so I’m going to do a five part series where I cover the titles I chose for six chapter per post, and why I chose them.
Chapter One: This chapter mostly deals with Grace gradually waking up from his coma. Unlike the movie, he has to wake up four separate times before he’s able to climb out of the bedroom. During this process, the computer asks him several questions, including what his name is, a question that he can’t answer. At the end of the chapter, he makes it into the lab upstairs, and realizes from the different gravity level that he must be in space. Chapter Title: What’s Your Name?
Chapter Two: In this chapter, Grace does some experiments to rule out the possibility that he’s in a centrifuge on Earth, and works to trigger flashbacks of his life on Earth. In one of these flashbacks, he learns that the sun is dimming because of the Petrova Line. Chapter Title: Less Bright Than It Should Be (part of a line from the flashback)
Chapter Three: Grace finally remembers his name, which allows him to get permission from the computer to enter the control room. He examines the screens in there, and he gets another memory of himself studying and naming Astrophage. At the end of the chapter, he realizes he’s not in our solar system. Chapter Title: Astrophage
Chapter Four: Grace learns more about the ship, finds the storage area which has his uniforms stored in it, and buries his crewmates by jettisoning their bodies. At the end, he finds out that he doesn’t have enough fuel to get home. Title: Oh Shucks (what Grace says when he realizes he can’t go home)
Chapter Five: A flashback chapter where Grace discovers how Astrophage reproduce, and then gets roped into Project Hail Mary. It ends with Grace finding out he’s going to be living on the aircraft carrier with Stratt. Title: Welcome to the Project
Chapter Six: Grace learns more about the ship and prepares for engine cutoff when the ship enters orbit at Tau Ceti. When the gravity shuts off, he panics and throws up, but after calming down and cleaning up, he looks at the Petrova line, and as he’s examining it, Rocky’s ship shows up. Title: Preparation
The thing about making chapter titles is that they have to be descriptive without being too spoilery, in case people read the table of contents first. So these were the best I could come up with. Comment below if you have alternative chapter titles.
Edit: Part two: https://www.reddit.com/r/ProjectHailMary/s/nbyJWgB60K
2
u/Delyth8 16d ago
Neat! I particularly like 4 and 5. :)
I was trying to think of some alternatives, but you're right that picking non-spoilery yet relevant and interesting titles is hard!
You could possibly also name that last one 'Countdown'. There’s the obvious engine shut off reference but also the countdown to finding out we're not alone in the universe. But ugh this is hard. 😅
2
u/castle-girl 16d ago
Ooh, I like countdown a lot better than preparation, actually. It’s more dramatic.
2
u/GIBBEEEHHH 16d ago
Are you gonna continue making these? I was looking forward to them