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Apollo Quartet #1
Adrift on the Sea of Rains
A nuclear war has killed everyone on Earth, leaving stranded on the Moon nine astronauts at Falcon Base. With them they have a "torsion field generator", a mysterious device which they hope will find them an alternate Earth which has not succumbed to nuclear armageddon. But once they've found such an Earth, how will they make the trip home? They have one Lunar Module, and that can only carry four astronauts to lunar orbit...
104 pages, Paperback
First published April 9, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 68 reviews
September 22, 2019
This is likely excellent if you like well-grounded hard SF: in an alternate universe, a more advanced Apollo programme leaves astronauts stranded on the Moon when nuclear war breaks out. Luckily, they have a universe-hopping Nazi McGuffin - if they can calibrate it right, they may still make it to a home of sorts.
I loved the premise, but the novella was far more interested in Apollo tech than I am. I stopped looking up acronyms at the risk of wearing out my lookup/back buttons. Still, it’s very well executed and I’d highly recommend it if you’re a bigger fan of real science in your fiction than I am. Me, I found it rather dry and somewhat predictable, if still poignant.
I loved the premise, but the novella was far more interested in Apollo tech than I am. I stopped looking up acronyms at the risk of wearing out my lookup/back buttons. Still, it’s very well executed and I’d highly recommend it if you’re a bigger fan of real science in your fiction than I am. Me, I found it rather dry and somewhat predictable, if still poignant.
February 7, 2017
3.5 stars. This novella reminded me pleasantly of reading Tiptree, right down to the ending. Something about the era, I suppose. Some of the technical jargon and acronyms got tiresome, but will appeal to people who love the Apollo mission era.
October 19, 2014
Apollo 16's LM ascent stage Orion approaches command module Casper, 23 April 1972
Look. Really - LOOK. Here is the literal apogee of human endeavour - a spacecraft, just lifted from a foreign celestial body, journeying home to that blue smudge hanging in the blackness beyond. Have you ever seen anything so achingly analogue? No, forget analogue - this is borderline steampunk - crumpled paper-thin skin, a guidance system with less computing power than your labradoodle's pacemaker and the perfect beauty of shape and finish dictated by function not aesthetics. Move along Jonathan Ive, move along, nothing for you to see or do here…
Growing up with the space race meant that Apollo was and is my porn, my heroin - a flawed and perfect endeavour - either the greatest single act of our species, or the most pointlessly expensive piece of Cold War dick-waving possible, or both, or neither.
Apollo-themed fiction though is relatively rare - at first glance it seems a narrow, limited palette for an author, with little potential for teasing out new narrative journeys. This then is the challenge that Ian Sales has taken on and met with Adrift on the Sea of Rains, an intriguing little curate's egg balanced somewhere between a short story and a novella.
There's a lot packed into very few pages here - deft flashbacks reveal how we got to the novel's opening page - abandoned astronauts on the lunar surface with a lifeless, post-armageddon Earth hanging above their bleak horizon.
Front and centre is Colonel Vance Peterson - an unreliable and, as the novel unfolds, increasingly unlikeable character whose extreme, jihadic anti-communism and total belief in his causes's righteousness may just have led him, and our species, to this point. Peterson and his crew are simply existing in a primitive lunar habitat, watching their food and air dwindle - still technically alive, but really - in essence - dead.
Oh goody, I do like the total abandonment of all hope and joy in a novel - it's The Road, in a vacuum, without even a shopping cart for comic relief. But curses, that's not where Sales is taking us. There's a MacGuffin - the astronauts' only hope is a Nazi wonder weapon that might or might not be able to open alternate timelines and histories.
Mid-read, this didn't work for me - it all seemed too easy - feckless, lazy, welfare-scrounger writing. Wrong Christian, sooo wrong. Y'see, the thing about alternate timelines is that Your Mileage May Vary - not every one is, how can I put this? divergent… This reader was happily fooled by the Twilight Zone sleight-of-hand Sales deploys to deliver his ending - not quite sucker-punched, but pleased I hadn't smart-arsed-it-out - Adrift is almost fable-like in places - you need to just go with it and not Poirot too much at the decisions and actions of the characters.
The story stops dead at 71% on the Kindle, denouement delivered. That's cheeky I thought, but this is no scam - Adrift is a little acronym-heavy in places, so an abbreviations list is a necessity for those poor souls who don't know the difference between a TEI and a TLI (you really don't want to get them confused). The genius here though is how this simple appendix then arcs into a brilliant reworking of the Apollo timeline we know, extending it out and onwards towards the one which Colonel Peterson and his crew stand at the end of. Keep reading people - it's a lovely structural conceit.
Sales describes this as part one of an "Apollo Quartet". More of the same will do just fine, thank you Ian.
The Apollo Image Archive
The picture that opens this review is taken from the Apollo Image Archive, which is definitely worth a good clickaround. Oh, and btw - that's not a batch-processed Instagram retro filter you can see applied to the whole collection - it's history.
July 24, 2015
The first book in this quartet sets the tone nicely: a disaffected astronaut, one of several, is marooned on the moon, and the only hope of returning to Earth lies in a strange device called a torsion field generator.
This story is short, but beautifully written and immaculatively researched. You still get a lot of bang for your buck. Sales sets up some wonderful resonances - but I won’t spoil it for you.
Overall, a great read, and exactly the kind of science fiction I’d like to spend my time reading: accessible, ambitious, genuine, and thoroughly researched.
This story is short, but beautifully written and immaculatively researched. You still get a lot of bang for your buck. Sales sets up some wonderful resonances - but I won’t spoil it for you.
Overall, a great read, and exactly the kind of science fiction I’d like to spend my time reading: accessible, ambitious, genuine, and thoroughly researched.
August 16, 2012
Commander Vance Peterson has been stuck on a base on the moon for two years together with eight other astronauts after the Earth annihilated itself in nuclear war. Each astronaut is handling the difficult situation in their own way. A strange device made during WW2 enables the castaways to find alternate Earths in the sky. When they finally see an undamaged Earth, with a space station in orbit around it, the astronauts must find a way to leave the moon and get help from the other Earth.
Adrift In A Sea Of Rains is a rare mix of realistic and more speculative science fiction. Everything is described in impressive detail; the lunar environment, the base, the equipment from the Apollo-program, the spacecraft, the aircraft, and late 20th century history. I can’t imagine all the research that has gone into it.
Just about the only thing that is not realistic is the alternate universe device. However, the contrast between the speculative and very realistic science fiction feels a little jarring. That’s mainly caused by the device’s title, a “Wunderwaffe”, which brings up images of silly space blimps and Nazi flying saucers in my mind.
Apart from that, I enjoyed the realism of the story, the harsh setting and the different variations on “the right stuff”-personality of the characters a lot. The portrayals are brief, but interesting, and I would have liked to see even more of the astronauts’ interactions, even though they are not always friendly.
There are also many beautiful descriptions of the harsh environment and the situation, such as
“Peterson sits at his desk in the command centre, mapping the boundaries of his cabin fever.”
“ - leaves the spacesuit like a victim on the floor,”
“Scott has put away his personality, consigned it to some corner of his mind where it cannot be battered and bruised by their slow descent into despair.”
These descriptions are more personal and lingering than one often finds in SF, and I found them deliciously effective. Sales’ confident and somber voice fits the theme and setting perfectly.
The finish has a nice twist, although it feels a little rushed, and is an exciting cliffhanger for the next part. I am now very curious about what will happen in the rest of the quartet.
Adrift In A Sea Of Rains is a rare mix of realistic and more speculative science fiction. Everything is described in impressive detail; the lunar environment, the base, the equipment from the Apollo-program, the spacecraft, the aircraft, and late 20th century history. I can’t imagine all the research that has gone into it.
Just about the only thing that is not realistic is the alternate universe device. However, the contrast between the speculative and very realistic science fiction feels a little jarring. That’s mainly caused by the device’s title, a “Wunderwaffe”, which brings up images of silly space blimps and Nazi flying saucers in my mind.
Apart from that, I enjoyed the realism of the story, the harsh setting and the different variations on “the right stuff”-personality of the characters a lot. The portrayals are brief, but interesting, and I would have liked to see even more of the astronauts’ interactions, even though they are not always friendly.
There are also many beautiful descriptions of the harsh environment and the situation, such as
“Peterson sits at his desk in the command centre, mapping the boundaries of his cabin fever.”
“ - leaves the spacesuit like a victim on the floor,”
“Scott has put away his personality, consigned it to some corner of his mind where it cannot be battered and bruised by their slow descent into despair.”
These descriptions are more personal and lingering than one often finds in SF, and I found them deliciously effective. Sales’ confident and somber voice fits the theme and setting perfectly.
The finish has a nice twist, although it feels a little rushed, and is an exciting cliffhanger for the next part. I am now very curious about what will happen in the rest of the quartet.
October 31, 2013
Adrift of the Sea of Rains follows the decaying fortunes of a group of American astronauts stationed on the Moon in alternate-historical version of the late Cold War. The United States and Soviet Union have, in this timeline, done the unthinkable, and nuked each other (and the rest of the world) to oblivion. While this might ultimately doom the stranded astronauts, they have in their possession a Nazi Wunderwaffe called the Bell, which can cycle through "evolutions--alternate dimensions in a physics apparently ruled by M-Theory. The astronauts use the Bell to search for a version on Earth in which nuclear Armageddon has not, in fact, already happened.
Sales intersperses this story (told in present tense) with the (italicized and past-tense) recollections of protagonist Commander Vance Peterson. These segments tell the backstory of war, and Peterson's role in it, in some detail, though Sales never leaves character perspective, and thus mercifully keeps us safe from the horrors of infodumping. Throughout these sections Sales sprinkles little details about experimental aircraft that, judging from the appendix, are based on real Pentagon projects from the Cold War. It's all very nerdy, in the best possible sense of the term...
Read the full review at Nerds of a Feather, Flock Together
Sales intersperses this story (told in present tense) with the (italicized and past-tense) recollections of protagonist Commander Vance Peterson. These segments tell the backstory of war, and Peterson's role in it, in some detail, though Sales never leaves character perspective, and thus mercifully keeps us safe from the horrors of infodumping. Throughout these sections Sales sprinkles little details about experimental aircraft that, judging from the appendix, are based on real Pentagon projects from the Cold War. It's all very nerdy, in the best possible sense of the term...
Read the full review at Nerds of a Feather, Flock Together
July 22, 2012
Interesting hard-SF novella that it's a must read if you are, like me, fascinated by the Apollo program.
December 19, 2018
I got this book in audiobook form as part of a Humble Bundle that had a bunch of other space exploration non-fiction books that I was interested in. The other day I had run out of podcast episodes so I loaded this into my audiobook program.
This is a very short book - probably novella length so it's difficult to discuss without spoilers, so there will be some minor, unmarked spoilers ahead. The story takes place in an alternate timeline where the USA never stopped exploring the moon after the Apollo Project. In this alternate timeline, a group of men have become trapped on the moon and are trying to figure out how to get back home.
It is an old fashioned SF story that reminds me of the style of the short stories in GRRM's Nightflyers collection. If the reader is a NASA nerd they'll probably get a huge kick out of the technical details in the story. For me as someone who just casually follows NASA and was listening to a bunch of acronyms, it could become a little dense. For example, a regular book would have said, "Commander so-and-so pushed the ignition button." But this book had text like, "Commander so-and-so pushed the BLAND (button lander alternative neutral dummy) button"
The glimpses we get of the world via the story are interesting. And I'm not against reading the rest of the quartet. But after the way this story ends, I'm curious where the author goes from here.
This is a very short book - probably novella length so it's difficult to discuss without spoilers, so there will be some minor, unmarked spoilers ahead. The story takes place in an alternate timeline where the USA never stopped exploring the moon after the Apollo Project. In this alternate timeline, a group of men have become trapped on the moon and are trying to figure out how to get back home.
It is an old fashioned SF story that reminds me of the style of the short stories in GRRM's Nightflyers collection. If the reader is a NASA nerd they'll probably get a huge kick out of the technical details in the story. For me as someone who just casually follows NASA and was listening to a bunch of acronyms, it could become a little dense. For example, a regular book would have said, "Commander so-and-so pushed the ignition button." But this book had text like, "Commander so-and-so pushed the BLAND (button lander alternative neutral dummy) button"
The glimpses we get of the world via the story are interesting. And I'm not against reading the rest of the quartet. But after the way this story ends, I'm curious where the author goes from here.
April 15, 2017
Interesting but a bit dry.
August 2, 2021
I was given a copy of this book in exchange for a review.
This is a science-fiction/alternate-history/fantasy mash-up with a largish side of infodump.
The story is post-nuclear-armageddon told from the perspective of Colonel Vance Peterson, USAF (United States Air Force), who is a complete tool. The story revolves around Peterson and we switch between "now" and flashbacks that explain how things came to be. It's hard to say more without getting into spoiler territory.
I didn't like Peterson, you're not meant to, but I don't see how he could ever have possibly gotten into the positions he was put in, based on his behaviour. Because of this, large chunks of the narrative just don't gel and the final twist continues that trend most admirably. This is part one of a four part series and I was ever so vaguely curious as to what might happen next, but when I read the synopsis of The Eye With Which The Universe Beholds Itself it was obviously related in theme (the Apollo program), but there's no connection between the individual stories.
I listened to the audio version of the book, and I think that was a mistake. The infodump is the main problem with the audio version of this story. I understand that approximately a quarter of the text-based book is made up of glossary and timeline. The audio version attempts to work around this by including the expanded version of each acronym the first time it appears. Seems reasonable until you discover that every fifth word is an acronym. OK, that's an exaggeration, but not that much of one, the first paragraph alone chalks up USAF, PLSS and A7LB; OK, that last one's not an acronym, but it still gets an explanation. I was constantly jarred out of the story to process and memorise the expansion of the current acronym.
In conclusion: The story wasn't terrible, but I didn't love it. It was a little like an old Twilight Zone episode (most of which I feel the same way about, semi-plausible with a really annoying end). I would definitely NOT recommend the audio version of this if you want to read it, there's no problem with the narrator, it's just not something made for listening to - stick with eyeballs for this one.
This is a science-fiction/alternate-history/fantasy mash-up with a largish side of infodump.
The story is post-nuclear-armageddon told from the perspective of Colonel Vance Peterson, USAF (United States Air Force), who is a complete tool. The story revolves around Peterson and we switch between "now" and flashbacks that explain how things came to be. It's hard to say more without getting into spoiler territory.
I didn't like Peterson, you're not meant to, but I don't see how he could ever have possibly gotten into the positions he was put in, based on his behaviour. Because of this, large chunks of the narrative just don't gel and the final twist continues that trend most admirably. This is part one of a four part series and I was ever so vaguely curious as to what might happen next, but when I read the synopsis of The Eye With Which The Universe Beholds Itself it was obviously related in theme (the Apollo program), but there's no connection between the individual stories.
I listened to the audio version of the book, and I think that was a mistake. The infodump is the main problem with the audio version of this story. I understand that approximately a quarter of the text-based book is made up of glossary and timeline. The audio version attempts to work around this by including the expanded version of each acronym the first time it appears. Seems reasonable until you discover that every fifth word is an acronym. OK, that's an exaggeration, but not that much of one, the first paragraph alone chalks up USAF, PLSS and A7LB; OK, that last one's not an acronym, but it still gets an explanation. I was constantly jarred out of the story to process and memorise the expansion of the current acronym.
In conclusion: The story wasn't terrible, but I didn't love it. It was a little like an old Twilight Zone episode (most of which I feel the same way about, semi-plausible with a really annoying end). I would definitely NOT recommend the audio version of this if you want to read it, there's no problem with the narrator, it's just not something made for listening to - stick with eyeballs for this one.
July 7, 2017
The basic premise of the story sounded interesting, but unfortunately it's all downhill from there. Ever find yourself having trouble suspending your disbelief because you didn't know exactly how many buttons were on a console in a spaceship? Me either, but apparently that's the sort of thing the author thought was important to this story. I've read and enjoyed hard sci-fi before, but although this story goes into minute details such as which page number in a manual some info is on, or a step by step description of taking off a spacesuit, it then drops the ball completely when it comes to the sci-fi aspects. The story deals with traveling through parallel universes. How do they do this? Some sort of Nazi machine of course. How's it work? Who knows, but we do know exactly how much fuel it takes to escape the moons gravity so lets write about that for several paragraphs.
There's little to no character development beyond basic stereotypes. You have the scientist that isn't fully trained for space. The hard ass military man that just wants to keep his soldiers alive. They of course don't like each other, but they need to work together anyways. The enemy in the story is the soviets of course. Why? Why not? It's got to be some one, and the soviets always make a good enemy for America when in space.
The ending is especially frustrating. Just as things are about to get interesting, it ends. And not in a satisfying way. Maybe with more character development it would've made sense, but it feels like the author gave up as things were leaning towards something interesting and instead hits the self-destruct button.
I should also point out that although this is called book 1, book 2 is not a sequel. Only thing they have in common is the author and that they are space stories.
There's little to no character development beyond basic stereotypes. You have the scientist that isn't fully trained for space. The hard ass military man that just wants to keep his soldiers alive. They of course don't like each other, but they need to work together anyways. The enemy in the story is the soviets of course. Why? Why not? It's got to be some one, and the soviets always make a good enemy for America when in space.
The ending is especially frustrating. Just as things are about to get interesting, it ends. And not in a satisfying way. Maybe with more character development it would've made sense, but it feels like the author gave up as things were leaning towards something interesting and instead hits the self-destruct button.
I should also point out that although this is called book 1, book 2 is not a sequel. Only thing they have in common is the author and that they are space stories.
September 16, 2013
* spoiler * I listened to this novella being read in two parts on the StarShipSofa podcast, and by the end of the first episode I was very engaged by the story. The characters were cheering and thinking they were saved, and I was looking forward to more drama in the second half as I could think of several reasons why they probably weren't saved at all.
Unfortunately the second half was much duller, full of acronyms and technical details about space-craft, fuel and escape velocities, and equally jargon-filled flashbacks to the moon base commander's days as a hot-shot USAF pilot. And the ending sucked! I wasn't surprised by the revelation about the space station at the end, but the commander's actions were ridiculously unbelievable after all his comments about needing to save his men.
After part one, I might have given it 4 stars, but now it't only getting two starts because the jargon drowned out the inter-personal relationships in the second part.
Unfortunately the second half was much duller, full of acronyms and technical details about space-craft, fuel and escape velocities, and equally jargon-filled flashbacks to the moon base commander's days as a hot-shot USAF pilot. And the ending sucked! I wasn't surprised by the revelation about the space station at the end, but the commander's actions were ridiculously unbelievable after all his comments about needing to save his men.
After part one, I might have given it 4 stars, but now it't only getting two starts because the jargon drowned out the inter-personal relationships in the second part.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 19, 2017
This was an intriguing little book about a group of astronauts stranded on the moon when the US and USSR go to nuclear war and destroy the world. However, they also have a Nazi-made (?) device that lets them slip between alternate worlds. They are hunting for a world that hasn't destroyed itself; one where the US still exists and has a space program. And preferably before they run out of food or go crazy (there's already been several suicides). But will they find what they are looking for?
I won't give away the ending (there's a twist!), but as a fan of the space program, I found the appendix as interesting as the story, if not more so, as it outlines an alternate space program that didn't shut down the moon program after Apollo 17, but also headed straight into a world-ending war.
The story, unfortunately, seemed a little... unfinished. It definitely should have been longer. Instead, there's a twist! and then it stops, with no follow through.
I won't give away the ending (there's a twist!), but as a fan of the space program, I found the appendix as interesting as the story, if not more so, as it outlines an alternate space program that didn't shut down the moon program after Apollo 17, but also headed straight into a world-ending war.
The story, unfortunately, seemed a little... unfinished. It definitely should have been longer. Instead, there's a twist! and then it stops, with no follow through.
January 19, 2016
"He knows enough about the ALM to know that the APS is not as powerful as a CSM’s Service Propulsion System. Even at one hundred percent—and that is the APS’s only setting—it will need to fire for longer to give him the necessary Δv for TEI. Even though the ALM weighs around a sixth of a CSM."...
WTF ?
that's some hard sci fi for you, but includes appendices.
taut novella, well-written.
WTF ?
that's some hard sci fi for you, but includes appendices.
taut novella, well-written.
August 2, 2021
Disappointed. I spent too much time flipping between the story and the pages of acronyms at the back. I have the other books in the series but I'm in no hurry to continue based on my experience with this one.
January 1, 2018
1.5
Show, don't tell. Whole lot of telling. Prose is clunky. Weird shifts between past and present tense. Acronym overload. Couldn't get into it.
Show, don't tell. Whole lot of telling. Prose is clunky. Weird shifts between past and present tense. Acronym overload. Couldn't get into it.
March 23, 2013
Adrift On The Sea Of Rains
Okay, in all fairness I will give this book a five in initially breathing life back into the images of space flight as we know it. But I truly don't understand the praises given without any real reviews about the story being told and the content and continuity. And with all the five and four star reviews you would expect someone would have more to say than good job in two or less paragraphs. There really seems to be only one person who had more than that to say.
I really wish there had been more before I plunked down my handful of quarters for the story. I had not ever heard of Ian Sales before reading this. Apparently he has a presence in England with many short stories and work on several web zine sites. You can find him at his own web site and he has links to his book review site that specializes in reviewing the work of female science fiction authors.
More important you can go to the Fiction Desk and read some of his work. http://www.thefictiondesk.com/antholo... I wish I'd done that first. The piece called Faith gives the reader a clear view of the authors style and bent. It seems to be a group of stories that might have been ripped from the pages of news during the heyday's of space flight. Except in some cases there are bits of twists at the end where in others they seem to follow the headlines. Either way it seems to be an introduction to the paralleled universe of Ian Sales. With an introduction to his twisted endings.
The story reads well to begin with; with our hero Vance Peterson the apparent commander of the moon base Falcon.
We're told that he's been there for two years, though he was only supposed to have been there for six month. There seem to be two events that occurred around three weeks before the end of six months. One is the arrival of Dr. Kendall and The Bell, torsion field generator(which seems to be some device made by the Nazis that can push them through to other dimensions to other earths, which is going to come in handy.) The next event at this same time - unless I'm confused- is the death of earth through human destruction. Peterson seems to blame the Russians, which is interesting when considering things later in the story.
The circumstances are grim so the story seems a bit grim and lacking in emotional involvement of the characters. We see mostly Peterson's frustration. There is very little life in this story because things are pretty monochromatic coming from Peterson's point of view.
I'm a bit unclear about what the present time is, but it's mentioned that Peterson has reached the two year mark though at the same time it is mentioned that he's had to put up with Kendall for two years-which can't be right. Its also mentioned that the last flight in was Kendall and his equipment and at that time there was two years of supplies. Assuming the destruction so soon, there likely were no more supplies sent. Lastly it is mentioned that there are 4 month supplies left in that Peterson is convinced they will all be dead in 4 months unless they find an earth that hasn't been destroyed.
I know I'm poor at math but this doesn't add up though if we allow a slop factor of 4 to 6 months it's negligible. I could be wrong about the incongruous timelines but I've read this through three time and the last time was slowly and now I have a headache.
Anyway Peterson is in charge and since the death of earth 3 people have committed suicide, so supplies might last longer. There seems less fear about water and air though I've some questions about the pure oxygen that Peterson seems so free about using up so he can have his private time. With 9 of them left and some one and half or so years gone by; and some incalculable number of shifts in dimensions, Peterson has some time long ago given up his authority and allowed thing to just happen around him.
This is important because we eventually have to deal with his tantrums about the lack of discipline in some of the people. Something, which he is a major contributor to. The base is 6 years old and falling apart so one would wonder just how well the recycling of water and air is working since the two are somewhat mutually inclusive to each other. It's got to be getting old and stale and the equipment might not be holding out.(None of that is mentioned beyond it being taken care of but,I do have my worries anyway.)
The Bell torsion field generator is the only hope and its the main incongruous sci-fi in an otherwise Science Fiction story. But it is part of the Ian Sales universe and that's another story available on Amazon.
Even with the Bell, the whole story holds up well until they find a new earth then things fall apart quickly. I'm just not believing that after a long period of abdication of his authority that Peterson will get it back so easily and then so easily hijack the mission that is vital to their continued survival.
There's some excellent teamwork and science involved in the calculation of getting someone in space and if we don't sit and try to figure out why there isn't something ready to go without all this calculating then its really neat. I just had this problem with knowing that Kendall showed up three weeks before Peterson was to leave. Apparently his departure relies on a flight from earth coming to pick him up. You would think that they would have a backup ready to lift in case the vehicle delivering his replacement encountered problems. But maybe not. Even so after all that calculation to get what they had up into space, we're suppose to believe these rocket scientists forget to include food in the calculation and that the food for one person will take up the weight of three; so only one person can go on this three day flight.
And that sounds really intelligent; we'll send one man on a chancy three day flight by himself so we can be saved. I have this feeling that- way back- when Peterson abdicated his authority that the vacuum created would be filled by the XO or someone else and they would clearly want the best pilot on the job, which apparently is Neubeck.
Clearly though the twist of this story relies on Peterson being the pilot.
Eventually the reader is shown evidence that Peterson should never have been left in command of anything and that he has a tendency to react impulsively upon his own prejudice. There are other secrets there that implicate him into the whole mess that is the death of earth and even Peterson seems oblivious to this.
Needless, read as much of Ian's writings prior to this as you can before reading this to catch the tone of his writing and then it will prepare you for this one and probably the next, which I don't think I'll bother to spend my quarters on.
Ian seems to believe he's creating a new genre here, but I've seen all of this before and it might be a mix of several which would fall within speculative fiction. I'm not sure he's yet reached the pinnacle that he's looking for. Best of luck in that endeavor. You have recaptured the spirit of Space Flight past. Given the setting marvelous and sensuous texture. I just wish you could work a bit more on giving the story and the characters some emotion and life.
Sural
Okay, in all fairness I will give this book a five in initially breathing life back into the images of space flight as we know it. But I truly don't understand the praises given without any real reviews about the story being told and the content and continuity. And with all the five and four star reviews you would expect someone would have more to say than good job in two or less paragraphs. There really seems to be only one person who had more than that to say.
I really wish there had been more before I plunked down my handful of quarters for the story. I had not ever heard of Ian Sales before reading this. Apparently he has a presence in England with many short stories and work on several web zine sites. You can find him at his own web site and he has links to his book review site that specializes in reviewing the work of female science fiction authors.
More important you can go to the Fiction Desk and read some of his work. http://www.thefictiondesk.com/antholo... I wish I'd done that first. The piece called Faith gives the reader a clear view of the authors style and bent. It seems to be a group of stories that might have been ripped from the pages of news during the heyday's of space flight. Except in some cases there are bits of twists at the end where in others they seem to follow the headlines. Either way it seems to be an introduction to the paralleled universe of Ian Sales. With an introduction to his twisted endings.
The story reads well to begin with; with our hero Vance Peterson the apparent commander of the moon base Falcon.
We're told that he's been there for two years, though he was only supposed to have been there for six month. There seem to be two events that occurred around three weeks before the end of six months. One is the arrival of Dr. Kendall and The Bell, torsion field generator(which seems to be some device made by the Nazis that can push them through to other dimensions to other earths, which is going to come in handy.) The next event at this same time - unless I'm confused- is the death of earth through human destruction. Peterson seems to blame the Russians, which is interesting when considering things later in the story.
The circumstances are grim so the story seems a bit grim and lacking in emotional involvement of the characters. We see mostly Peterson's frustration. There is very little life in this story because things are pretty monochromatic coming from Peterson's point of view.
I'm a bit unclear about what the present time is, but it's mentioned that Peterson has reached the two year mark though at the same time it is mentioned that he's had to put up with Kendall for two years-which can't be right. Its also mentioned that the last flight in was Kendall and his equipment and at that time there was two years of supplies. Assuming the destruction so soon, there likely were no more supplies sent. Lastly it is mentioned that there are 4 month supplies left in that Peterson is convinced they will all be dead in 4 months unless they find an earth that hasn't been destroyed.
I know I'm poor at math but this doesn't add up though if we allow a slop factor of 4 to 6 months it's negligible. I could be wrong about the incongruous timelines but I've read this through three time and the last time was slowly and now I have a headache.
Anyway Peterson is in charge and since the death of earth 3 people have committed suicide, so supplies might last longer. There seems less fear about water and air though I've some questions about the pure oxygen that Peterson seems so free about using up so he can have his private time. With 9 of them left and some one and half or so years gone by; and some incalculable number of shifts in dimensions, Peterson has some time long ago given up his authority and allowed thing to just happen around him.
This is important because we eventually have to deal with his tantrums about the lack of discipline in some of the people. Something, which he is a major contributor to. The base is 6 years old and falling apart so one would wonder just how well the recycling of water and air is working since the two are somewhat mutually inclusive to each other. It's got to be getting old and stale and the equipment might not be holding out.(None of that is mentioned beyond it being taken care of but,I do have my worries anyway.)
The Bell torsion field generator is the only hope and its the main incongruous sci-fi in an otherwise Science Fiction story. But it is part of the Ian Sales universe and that's another story available on Amazon.
Even with the Bell, the whole story holds up well until they find a new earth then things fall apart quickly. I'm just not believing that after a long period of abdication of his authority that Peterson will get it back so easily and then so easily hijack the mission that is vital to their continued survival.
There's some excellent teamwork and science involved in the calculation of getting someone in space and if we don't sit and try to figure out why there isn't something ready to go without all this calculating then its really neat. I just had this problem with knowing that Kendall showed up three weeks before Peterson was to leave. Apparently his departure relies on a flight from earth coming to pick him up. You would think that they would have a backup ready to lift in case the vehicle delivering his replacement encountered problems. But maybe not. Even so after all that calculation to get what they had up into space, we're suppose to believe these rocket scientists forget to include food in the calculation and that the food for one person will take up the weight of three; so only one person can go on this three day flight.
And that sounds really intelligent; we'll send one man on a chancy three day flight by himself so we can be saved. I have this feeling that- way back- when Peterson abdicated his authority that the vacuum created would be filled by the XO or someone else and they would clearly want the best pilot on the job, which apparently is Neubeck.
Clearly though the twist of this story relies on Peterson being the pilot.
Eventually the reader is shown evidence that Peterson should never have been left in command of anything and that he has a tendency to react impulsively upon his own prejudice. There are other secrets there that implicate him into the whole mess that is the death of earth and even Peterson seems oblivious to this.
Needless, read as much of Ian's writings prior to this as you can before reading this to catch the tone of his writing and then it will prepare you for this one and probably the next, which I don't think I'll bother to spend my quarters on.
Ian seems to believe he's creating a new genre here, but I've seen all of this before and it might be a mix of several which would fall within speculative fiction. I'm not sure he's yet reached the pinnacle that he's looking for. Best of luck in that endeavor. You have recaptured the spirit of Space Flight past. Given the setting marvelous and sensuous texture. I just wish you could work a bit more on giving the story and the characters some emotion and life.
Sural
October 3, 2024
Ian Sale’s “Adrift on the Sea of Rains” is a finely crafted melding of real and imagined space program events to create an alternate history. And that’s just where the story begins. I hesitate to say too much other than the story opens with a group of men stranded on a moon outpost after the people of Earth appear to have destroyed Earth and themselves.
The moon outpost and its surroundings are described so well, I’m half convinced they really exist. While the characters outside of Peterson are only lightly sketched, their differences are still clear. We find out far more about Peterson and what makes him tick, particularly professionally.
It’s clear the author did his research, and it makes for great realism – from the visuals to the effects of walking in reduced gravity, to the feel of the spacesuit. This realism also extends to the language. A list of acronyms is included at the end, along with an extensive glossary. I struggled at times with the consistently heavy use of acronyms, even if they were realistic. I really wouldn’t have minded if, now and again, the CMP or LMP was simply referred to as the pilot, but it's a small point.
I’d recommend “Adrift on the Sea of Rains” to anyone with an interest in the space program or hard SF. It’s a tight little tale that will keep you engaged.
The moon outpost and its surroundings are described so well, I’m half convinced they really exist. While the characters outside of Peterson are only lightly sketched, their differences are still clear. We find out far more about Peterson and what makes him tick, particularly professionally.
It’s clear the author did his research, and it makes for great realism – from the visuals to the effects of walking in reduced gravity, to the feel of the spacesuit. This realism also extends to the language. A list of acronyms is included at the end, along with an extensive glossary. I struggled at times with the consistently heavy use of acronyms, even if they were realistic. I really wouldn’t have minded if, now and again, the CMP or LMP was simply referred to as the pilot, but it's a small point.
I’d recommend “Adrift on the Sea of Rains” to anyone with an interest in the space program or hard SF. It’s a tight little tale that will keep you engaged.
June 28, 2025
This is an alternate universe story about a crew stranded on the moon while the earth is destroyed by nuclear war. It does cleverly blend fact with fiction to create its alternate universe, but is it enjoyable?
First, let's talk about the writing. It's written in the present tense, which is fine. The flashbacks are written in the past tense, which is also fine. What is not fine is that the dialogue doesn't use quotation marks. This is simply inexcusable.
There's no reason why a reader should be distracted by your artsy, fartsy attempt at being different when they're trying to read your story. The flashback portions are also prone to run-on sentences. For some reason, the present tense sections were better written. It's almost like two different people wrote this.
The story itself is rather bleak, and the ending is a bleak, Planet of the Apes style twist. The main story is only sixty pages, but that's too long. Most of the flashback material adds very little to the story. It would be better as a simple, short story sticking to the present tense portion of the tale. What little exposition the story needs from the past story could easily be summarized very briefly in the present story.
I'll check out the sequels because they're so short, but I wasn't much impressed with this one.
First, let's talk about the writing. It's written in the present tense, which is fine. The flashbacks are written in the past tense, which is also fine. What is not fine is that the dialogue doesn't use quotation marks. This is simply inexcusable.
There's no reason why a reader should be distracted by your artsy, fartsy attempt at being different when they're trying to read your story. The flashback portions are also prone to run-on sentences. For some reason, the present tense sections were better written. It's almost like two different people wrote this.
The story itself is rather bleak, and the ending is a bleak, Planet of the Apes style twist. The main story is only sixty pages, but that's too long. Most of the flashback material adds very little to the story. It would be better as a simple, short story sticking to the present tense portion of the tale. What little exposition the story needs from the past story could easily be summarized very briefly in the present story.
I'll check out the sequels because they're so short, but I wasn't much impressed with this one.
May 7, 2018
This is a short novella about a group of astronauts stuck on the moon in an alternate world where the Earth was destroyed by nuclear war before they could return. They use a Nazi Wunderwaffe to move between realities to try and find an intact Earth but have been stuck there for two years and are running out of supplies.
While it is (very) heavy on the technical detail of living on the moon and Moon-Earth travel, the characters play well and their interactions show the stark range of their adjustments to their situation.
The ending felt a bit Twilight Zone-ish and groanworthy but fit the character of the protagonist. Much of the detailed worldbuilding occurs in the appended glossary and, while not necessary to the plot, it adds depth to the alternate world created.
Beyond the acronyms and mathematical discussions there is excellent character writing and the sense of isolation and holding on for a forlorn hope is powerful. Well worth an hour or so to read.
While it is (very) heavy on the technical detail of living on the moon and Moon-Earth travel, the characters play well and their interactions show the stark range of their adjustments to their situation.
The ending felt a bit Twilight Zone-ish and groanworthy but fit the character of the protagonist. Much of the detailed worldbuilding occurs in the appended glossary and, while not necessary to the plot, it adds depth to the alternate world created.
Beyond the acronyms and mathematical discussions there is excellent character writing and the sense of isolation and holding on for a forlorn hope is powerful. Well worth an hour or so to read.
September 26, 2017
I really liked this novella. It's playing with some clever ideas, has good characters and an interesting ending. I'll definitely check out book two in the quartet. From the first page, you realize that you are in another version of our world. There is something off and it becomes clearer as we progress through the story. The main characters are all astronauts and Ian creates a great sense of loneliness as they drift along in space. Also, the world building is rich even though the story is short. So if you get a chance to read this I recommend it. It is a very short read that I finished in two sittings.
March 22, 2026
A small moonbase left figuratively adrift after Earth destroys itself in nuclear war finds a way to lift itself cross-timeline to something very like our world. But the story doesn't focus on their arrival or deeds - I wish it did! - but rather on their psyches and what the disaster and loneliness has done to them.
It could be an interesting story, but Sales doesn't tell it engagingly as anything other than a set-piece leading up to the ironic end. I'm not sorry I've read it; it's short enough that's not entirely inappropriate. But I'm not interested in going on to his other works in the loose thematic series.
It could be an interesting story, but Sales doesn't tell it engagingly as anything other than a set-piece leading up to the ironic end. I'm not sorry I've read it; it's short enough that's not entirely inappropriate. But I'm not interested in going on to his other works in the loose thematic series.
February 9, 2018
The more I think about it then the more I appreciate this novella. It is short but packs a great deal in, and it is well-written (despite all the acronyms - it came as a great surprise when I discovered that half of the book is an explanation of the acronyms and a glossary of the "technical" bits). I felt that the ending was predictable (and that was slightly disappointing) but then I realised that after a good many decades of reading Science Fiction and having watched "The Twilight Zone" series in my youth, perhaps the sense of predicability wasn't so surprising.
January 23, 2020
This was a pretty interesting story. I enjoyed it quite a bit and was looking forward to seeing what would happen next in the series, but then the story ended in a crappy way. I read the following book, which does not appear to follow any of the same characters. I wish the ending was different and the series continued from where the story took a bad turn.
August 15, 2017
A alternate history SF novella of men on the moon observing the wars down on Earth. The story is good and interesting. The writing leans more on the descriptive and introspection side. It is a quick read and overall entertaining. Fans of hard SF will most likely enjoy this novella.
February 5, 2018
Cool idea for a story, very enjoyable. I took a star off because it is almost boringly technical in places Nothing but a slew of acronyms for pages and pages. Ignore the heavily technical stuff and there's a great story in here.
December 10, 2019
I went into this blind but I loved the scenario. You never quite know what is happening because your POV is a group of stranded astronauts on the moon. But something is definitely wrong. The technical detail in this story is impressive as well.
July 8, 2017
Excessive acronyms, boring start, written in the present tense. Nope.
July 11, 2017
omg the ending!
July 15, 2017
Been interested in this series for a while. Finally got around to it. Wasn't expecting the alternate history element. The ending makes me wonder how Sales will continue the story.
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