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Adrift on the Sea of Rains (Apollo Quartet Book 1) Kindle Edition

by Ian Sales (Author)

14 customer reviews

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WINNER OF THE BRITISH SCIENCE FICTION ASSOCIATION AWARD. 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...

Length: 80 pages

Book 1 of 4 in Apollo Quartet (4 Book Series)

Complete Series

Apollo Quartet (4 Book Series)

Ian Sales

Kindle Edition

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Product Details

File Size: 175 KB
Print Length: 80 pages
Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
Publisher: Whippleshield Books (April 26, 2012)
Publication Date: April 26, 2012
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
Language: English
ASIN: B007Y4CWZG
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Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #207,849 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
- #677 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction > Hard Science Fiction
- #852 in Kindle Store > Kindle Short Reads > Two hours or more (65-100 pages) > Science Fiction & Fantasy
- #1234 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction > Hard Science Fiction

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Customer Reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars

5 star		57%
4 star		29%
3 star		0%
2 star		7%
1 star		7%

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful

Ian Sales: Remember that name

By Cliff Burns on April 20, 2012

Format: Hardcover

ADRIFT ON THE SEA OF RAINS is a short book that manages, in the course of about fifty pages, to sum up the appeal of Ian Sales' writing. Mr. Sales is an author of undeniable skill, his prose solidly constructed, his ideas swiftly and concisely expressed. He also presents his readers with original concepts and slants, bending perspectives and creating genuine unease and disorientation. ADRIFT ON THE SEA OF RAINS rewrites the history of the Space Age, posits an alternative timeline where a small outpost of men on the moon represent the last remnant of the human species. Their desperate efforts to escape their grotesque fate lead to unexpected consequences; the resolution of the tale is masterful and entirely in the spirit of the rest of the volume.

In the past few years, Mr. Sales' work has been appearing in high profile anthologies and has earned positive critical attention in the United Kingdom. It won't be long before fans of speculative fiction around the world will be seeking out his latest effort, eagerly anticipating each new release, wondering where he will take us next.

Ian Sales. Remember that name. You're going to be seeing it on award shortlists very, very soon...

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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful

A compelling read....

By Mr. Lister on May 24, 2012

Format: Kindle Edition

Reading this book reminded me of Moon, very cerebal and elegantly crafted. It has a refreshing blend of fact and fiction which helps make it all the more interesting.

It's a very enjoyable read and in keeping with the adage "always leave the mwanting more" Mr. Sales has set himself a high bar for the second book which I shall be eagerly awaiting.

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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful

Brilliant

By S. Blodgett on May 23, 2012

Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase

An absolutely brilliant portrayal of astronauts trapped on the moon after Earth is destroyed by nuclear apocalypse. While not a very long work, Mr. Sales packs more drama, hope and despair into this story than many novels five times it's length. The atmosphere and writing are a work of art and the story is utterly compelling.

Its a great story and I recommend it even to those who don't normally read science fiction. This novella proves that indie authors can easily stand amongst the big name authors out there.

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

Glorifying the details where salvation lies

By 2theD on May 22, 2014

Format: Kindle Edition

Ian Sales' Apollo Quartet is an unabashed glorification of the heydays of NASA infused with speculative science fiction. The first story, a novella titled "Adrift on the Sea of Rains" (2012), is heavily based on material researched from NASA's moon landing integrated with the lore of Nazi wonder-weapons or powerful tools, generally called Wunderwaffe (unrelated to Sales' similarly titled shortstory [2012]).

Before approaching "Adrift on the Sea of Rains", the reader should possess or otherwise assume three attributes: (1) glorify the science and personages of early NASA to the point of idolization, (2) have a high toleration for acronyms (for which there is an appendix), and (3) able to suspend belief for the enjoyment of a story.

The 53 pages of the EPUB file contains 39 pages of story and 11 pages of appendices which feature a list of abbreviations, a glossary, a bibliography, and a list of online resources. The glossary is a mix of NASA historical fact mixed with speculation about an alternative reality of NASA's space program (beyond Apollo 17).

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Initially, NASA's space mission were an attempt to supersede Soviet prowess in the same field of study and to gain the upper hand on the new battlefield miles above the Earth, but the American people fell in love with the lore of astronauts and the glory of victory. NASA continued the mission in the name of science, leaving Americans disenfranchised with the glow of space victory. Science began to reign supreme, legends became myth and the whole charade of space exploration became merely a tool of science.

Colonel Vance Peterson, USAF, is station on the moon. That base, Falcon Base, was established in 1984 with modified modules destined for America's space station named Freedom.Read more ›

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

Brief, elegant, poignant

By scott on July 31, 2013

Format: Kindle Edition

Ian Sales has authored a very short, concise look at a group of astronauts facing a horrifying fate: they are the last living members of humanity. Stranded on the moon. With nothing but a planet shrouded in ash to return to, and only enough space for four of them to make the journey.

The small genius of this novella is that it elegantly packs despair, anger, isolation, and triumph into very few pages. Every sentence and phrase is carefully constructed, and every word not subservient to the immediate goal of the work has been pared away. The result is an incredibly well crafted, tight, and suspenseful piece of work. A real tour de force in short fiction.

Mr. Sales even manages a welcome twist at the end, as well as flirting with the weird side of alternate history (the weirdwaffe of Nazi science), while maintaining a grounded, and eminently believable approach to the settlement on the moon and the attempt to return home.

I look forward with great anticipation to the next 3 works in the quartet. Bravo Mr. Sales!

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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful

Great alternate space story, with extras

By average on June 22, 2012

Format: Hardcover

An alternate history of a Cold War that escalated into apocalypse. A hotshot fighter pilot (of the not so mythical SR-91 Blackbird successor in this reality) and colonel responsible for a shootdown incident that helped heighten tensions is given a command of the US moonbase. The apocalypse part happens while they are there. So the small contingent of nine men manning the base is cut off.

To make things weirder, they have the Nazi Bell. Here they can use the strange advanced energy device to cross worlds with a bit of jerryrigging. A functioning Earth is what they need to find to survive given their lack of supplies.

As an added bonus this short book has appendices that list all the Apollo missions for this story, the terminology and also a reading list of fictional and real space science work of interest.

All in all, this is excellent.

4.5 out of 5

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

Never again!

Oh how I hate to leave bad reviews....
So this is not so much a review, but my experience with this book.
The good things are that it is a short book, and inexpensive. Read more

Published 4 months ago by Arash

Whoa! This is deep.

There are certain ways that stories like this are supposed to end. When that ending doesn't comply to our expectations, we have to step back and consider what the author wants us... Read more

Published 4 months ago by DeJ

Fantastic lunar alt-history

Loved this! I'm a fan of hard science fiction, and Sales has details in both his science and the alternate histories he posits, but it's the evocative tone, excellent pacing and... Read more

Published 5 months ago by Rue

Simplistic

I just couldn't get into this story. In fact, while I recall the general outline of the plot, I can't tell you a thing about the characters beyond that the narrator was the leader... Read more

Published 7 months ago by Dione Basseri

This is very much like the short story science fiction of...

This is very much like the short story science fiction of yore—fascinating, intense, big bang pay-off. Pretty terrific story (heavy on atmosphere) and just terrific writing. Read more

Published 13 months ago by Mike Mongo

Too real to be alternative history

I have a problem sometimes with alternative histories, in that they tend towards extremes. It’s natural. Read more

Published 15 months ago by Michael J. Martineck

Recommended with Reservations

Apart from Stephen Baxter's NASA trilogy, I'm not aware of any alternate histories of the American space program. Read more

Published on November 12, 2012 by Randy Stafford

Impressive detail, beautiful descriptions and tense characterizations

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. Read more

Published on August 16, 2012 by Berit Ellingsen

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