A quick listen to an overall entertaining story, but it's definitely not consistent. By far the biggest problem I had with this was the too-intrusive acronym explanations. I think that a simple way to get across the same point would be to use the full term the first time, and then the acronym after that. Also, there were quite a few acronyms that didn't need to be expanded (e.g. AFB). Sure, not every reader will know what all of these terms mean, but this is book is going to appeal only to a very specific set of readers - and those readers will all be able to follow the story even if they don't know every expanded acronym. However, while nearly every subsystem in the Apollo space system got a shoutout, there was a major piece of hardware that got barely more than a handwave, and it was a bit distracting waiting for both the backstory as well as the actual operational description of this piece of equipment, and then to see that it never came.
My second gripe is possibly more with the narration - the narrator would spell out some acronyms that are pronounced as words (such as TAC - it was either "TACK" or the full Tactical Air Command, and it wasn't "The TAC" and definitely not T.A.C.), while pronouncing others that are usually spelled out in that context (such as LEO for Low Earth Orbit).
My final gripe is, again, with the narration - the narrator was a bit flat, and it would be a little jarring when he'd switch to a paragraph that started a flashback or memory. Ideally there'd be a little pause there to let the reader know that there was a context switch occurring, but the narrator just barrelled right through the paragraph gap, leaving me to wonder if I'd skipped ahead in the narration.
So in the end, the story itself was interesting, the flashbacks only made sense to explain some motivations near the end, and the acronym issue was a bit distracting. ( )

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. ( )

Literary-Hard-SF: "Adrift on the Sea of Rains" by Ian Sales

Published 2013

I’ve been getting pushes from a lot of my SF buddy-reading friends to tackle the Quartet series (the 4 books). Here I’m limiting myself reviewing-wise to just the first book for now (more later on). What we have here is SF at its finest. If there’s a heaven and a hell for SF works, this one definitely belongs to the high spheres. The novel’s subject matter: The Apollo programme went much further than in reality, and it was also used to establish a reality-shattering technology that aimed to switch between universes. Seems easy and belonging to the mundane spectrum of SF, right? No.

You can read the rest of this review on my blog. ( )

http://speculiction.blogspot.sk/2014/07/review-of-adrift-on-sea-of-rains-by-ian.... ( )

::Palimpsest of Ambiotic Susurrus::


Adrift on the Sea of Rains by Ian Sales

This is where I got the title from.

You will have to read it to find out.

It's a novella that might remind you of some of the old early 60's Twilight Zone Episodes.

If you like Twilight Zone you might appreciate this.

One warning is that I do not think the characters in this novel come up to the standards of the characters in the old TV shows.

Also there are some annoying problems in format:

There are no dialogue quote marks which made it difficult for me to tell if someone is talking or the main character is thinking or what.

There are six flash back sections, which were difficult and annoying to me. In the e-book they are two page single paragraphs that are italicized and constitute a wall of text or exposition that has the same affect I get when a needle skips on a record.

I know I lost something but not sure how much.

I get to the end and have to look back to see where I lost track. It's important because I believe within this expository is a clue to most of the motivation of the main character.

The writer appears to me to be trying to make the story scientifically authentic. So, there's a lot of science description to make the reader get the impression that they are working in a time close to our present time and near to and maybe a bit beyond our present level of space exploration.

It's a world where US and USSR are still in a cold to lukewarm war. In this world it has gone too far. The space program has had many more lunar expeditions. The last expedition crew are now the only survivors.

These survivors are using a Nazi device that launches them into parallel universes. They are searching for a parallel where the earth hasn't been destroyed.

For me the story comes off rather flat and the characters seem to be the problem. We see the story through the eyes of the one man, a pilot, who is having the flashbacks. Unfortunately I couldn't easily see the man in the flashback as being the same man in the story.

He's supposed to be a professional pilot who has had quite an extensive career with a lot of training and experience from the flashbacks. In the story he comes off to me like some high school bully who could care less about his classmates(the other survivors).

I see the rest of the crew from the main characters point of view and I keep thinking they might as well not be there.

I have no sympathy for this man and he seems to have no real depth.

I think that the flashbacks are suppose to also tell me his motivation. And it does seem that the final outcome might be deducible from the picture we get out of the flashbacks.

Not my cup of tea, but it did give me the elements for the name of this review.

J.L. Dobias
( )