Ian Sales's Blog - Posts Tagged "apollo-quartet"

The second book of the Apollo Quartet is starting to come together. Much of the research has been completed and the plot has been nailed down in its more or less final form. So I thought I'd tease a little by posting the blurb...

"The Soviets were first to the Moon, so the US responded by putting a man on Mars. They've not been back since. They didn't need to - what they found there gave them the stars. But the universe has proven to be inhospitable and far too dangerous to colonise or exploit. Fifteen years after the first flight to another star, the US has only a research station on one exoplanet. At least, it had. Phaeton Base seems to have disappeared. As the twentieth century draws to a close, the US sends Bradley Elliott, the only man to land on the surface on Mars, to discover what happened to the missing research station. What he discovers not only explains the Fermi Paradox but has profound implications for humanity's future among the stars..."

Apollo Quartet Book 2: The Eye With Which The Universe Beholds Itself... coming late September 2012.

Paul Weimer reviews Adrift on the Sea of Rains for SF Signal, and summarises his review as:

PROS: Excellent use of space science; doesn’t overstay its welcome; solid prose.
CONS: An ending that feels a bit forced even given its symbolic power.
VERDICT: Interesting premise with solid, if not quite perfect, execution.

See the full review here

An audio version of Adrift on the Sea of Rains has just been published by Starship Sofa - see here. I didn't really believe the story would work as a podcast but, with some careful editing by Adam Pracht and myself, I think we managed it. Go and check it out and you'll see what I mean.

However, we couldn't really have the narrator read out the glossary, and since that's part of the whole Adrift on the Sea of Rains reading experience, I've published it on the Whippleshield Books blog, both as a blog post and a downloadable PDF. See here.

The pieces are slowly coming together, and while I hope to have copies of the third book of the Apollo Quartet, Then Will The Great Ocean Wash Deep Above, ready for World Fantasy Con at the end of October, things are getting a little tight. But here is the cover art.



Again, it's by Kay Sales, who did the cover for The Eye With Which The Universe Beholds Itself. It's also an excellent illustration of the story.

The blurb on the back reads:


It is April 1961. The Korean War has escalated and the US is struggling to keep the Russians and Chinese north of the 38th parallel. All the men are away fighting, but that doesn’t mean the Space Race is lost. NASA decides to look elsewhere for its astronauts: the thirteen women pilots who passed the same tests as the original male candidates. These are the Mercury 13: Jerrie Cobb, Janey Hart, Myrtle Cagle, Jerri Sloan, Jan Dietrich, Marion Dietrich, Bernice Steadman, Wally Funk, Sarah Gorelick, Gene Nora Stumbough, Jean Hixson, Rhea Hurrle and Irene Leverton. One of these women will be the first American in space. Another will be the first American to spacewalk. Perhaps one will even be the first human being to walk on the Moon.

Beneath the surface of the Atlantic Ocean, deep in the Puerto Rico Trench north of San Juan, lies a film bucket from a KH-4 Corona spy satellite. It should have been caught in mid-air by a C-130 from the 6549th Test Group. That didn’t happen. So the US Navy bathyscaphe Trieste II must descend twenty thousand feet to retrieve the bucket, down where light has never reached and the pressure is four tons per square inch. But there is more in the depths than anyone had expected, much more.

This is not our world. But it very nearly was.


When we get nearer to the publication date, I'll post a teaser from the first chapter.

At conventions, I usually offer copies of Adrift on the Sea of Rains, The Eye With Which The Universe Beholds Itself and Then Will The Great Ocean Wash Deep Above in paperback as a set for £10, and I've decided to extend that offer to my Whippleshield Books website. Including postage & packing to UK addresses. (It's a little more for EU addresses and rest of the world addresses.)

Yes, only £10 - including P&P, for Apollo Quartet 1, 2 and 3 in paperback. Buy it here. While stocks last.



Incidentally, I still have signed limited edition copies of The Eye With Which The Universe Beholds Itself and Then Will The Great Ocean Wash Deep Above available. They can also be ordered through the Whippleshield Books website.

The second edition paperbacks of Adrift on the Sea of Rains, The Eye With Which The Universe Beholds Itself and Then Will The Great Ocean Wash Deep Above went on sale via CreateSpace a couple of weeks ago, but I now have copies for the Whippleshield Books website, should you prefer to purchase them directly.



I still have a few limited edition hardbacks of The Eye With Which The Universe Beholds Itself and Then Will The Great Ocean Wash Deep Above available, and until the release of All That Outer Space Allows I'm also running a special offer if you purchase all three second edition paperbacks, £12 for UK, £15 EU, and £18 for rest of the world - see here.