Adrift on the Sea of Rains (Apollo Quartet) (edition 2012)

Sales's novella is very Hard SF one, but as it becomes clear rather quickly it is set in an Alternate History. This may seem like being a contradiction, but Sales manages to make it work very well.
Interestingly it is neither the Hard SF nor the Alternate History elements that are the best thing in this story. What stands out most is the feeling of desolation and claustrophobia that Sales conveys through his writing. There is an underlying tension to the whole of this, that together with the chilling Alternate History scenario in the background makes for a very eerie read.

Being a fan of Alternate History, I care about how "what if..." scenarios are presented. It doesn't matter how interesting an idea the diversion from our history is if there's no plausible way to get to the alternative world that the story contains. Fortunately, that is not a problem here. Sales presents a future that seems to be just a flicker of coincidence away from the history we know.

There is something that has to be mentioned about the Hard SF in this novella, namely that it very easy to argue that there is none. This may sound a bit strange of me to say when I have already stated that this is "very Hard SF", but the SF is only Hard SF in the Alternate History setting of the story.
If you, like some people I have seen online, argue that Alternate History is Fantasy, rather than Science Fiction, then this would be a Fantasy novella. As someone who has a strong interest in History, I would say that Alternate History is without a doubt Science Fiction (, i.e. scientific speculation about how history could have diverged), and thus I don't hesitate to say that this is a Hard SF story in an Alternate History setting.
Without going into spoilers, I will say that there is an element that isn't very realistic. But in the way it is handled here that is not a problem. Rather it feels as an integral part of the alternative timeline of the story, and in my opinion doesn't detract anything from the Hard SF feel of this novella.

The story itself is very well written. Sales manages to convey a lot in a limited amount of space, especially the worldbuilding is excellent. Most of the history of this timeline is presented in its own passages, as retrospectives. I found this to work very well, they add to the main storyline without being disruptive to the flow of the story.
I've already mentioned the tension of this story, and that builds nicely as the narrative moves along. It's never clear what is going to be the conclusion to this tale, and the ending comes with a very satisfying twist.

There's no doubt that this story will be a great read for those who are fans of Hard SF, and the Alternate History elements make it worth picking up for fans of that genre. It's connection to the Apollo program will also make this a good read for anyone interested in real world human space exploration.

This review was originally published on my blog: http://weirdmage.blogspot.com/ ( )

Marvelous alternate history of the race to the Moon, complete with Nazi macguffin. ( )

http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2081469.html

excellent bleak alternate space race with Nazi occult McGuffin, and twist at the end. ( )

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. ( )

Adrift on the Sea of Rains is a poignant and quietly powerful tale of an Apollo space program that never quite was the one that we, who lived through it, remember.

In this alternate history, the Cold War is much hotter and a militarised Apollo program has established a small moonbase that houses a secret technology project aimed at changing history. As the story opens, nuclear war has destroyed Earth and a handful of astronauts are stranded on the Moon with limited supplies and no chance of resupply. Most have drifted into an almost catatonic existence of ritual behaviours and tedium apart from the base commander and the scientist operating the secret project, who is trying to find an alternate history in which Earth is not destroyed. His success galvanises the group into action, to cobble together an Apollo return module to bring one man home safely to a space station they can see in Earth orbit, to mount a rescue for the others.

Sales has painted an exquisitely detailed picture of the Apollo era technology and blended our Cold War history into an all too believable version of what might otherwise have happened. Reading this story, the first of a quartet, in the days following the death of Neil Armstrong, shook me to the core and took me back to my schooldays and the thrills of the real Apollo program as it happened. It haunts me still - I can't stop thinking about it. ( )