The Rainseekers

by Matthew Kressel

Burned out and looking to put her past behind her, a former addict and recovering influencer interviews her fellow travelers en route to witness the first rain on Mars.

Sakunja Salazar had it all. Money, toys, women, and all the drugs money could buy. A breakout Holo influencer, seemingly overnight she lifted her family out of their tiny Mexico City apartment and into the world of the rich and famous. That all changed when she hopped on a rocket and blasted into the cosmos, never to hawk lavender moisturizer again.

What goes up must come down, and when Sakunja finally crashed back down on Mars an alcoholic, addict, and has-been she thought her life was pretty much over. That is, until a magazine editor discovered her photography and offered her a job. Now, she’s the resident documentarian on a barebones expedition seeking to be the first humans to witness rain on Mars. For the first time in her life, Sakunja is turning the spotlight on someone else–interviewing her fellow travelers about what brought them to join this incredibly foolhardy crew of souls adrift in a world unseen.

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Novella

160 pages, Paperback

Expected publication February 17, 2026

About the author

The short:

I’m a software developer and speculative fiction writer with three Nebula Award nominations, a World Fantasy Award nomination, and a Eugie Award nomination. I am the co-host of the Fantastic Fiction at KGB reading series in New York City. And I created the Moksha submissions system, in use by some of the largest publishers in speculative fiction today.

The long:

I’m a software developer and writer of science fiction, fantasy, and horror. My fiction has been nominated three times for a Nebula Award and once for a Eugie Foster Memorial Award. And I’ve also been nominated for a World Fantasy Award for my former editorial and publishing work. My fiction has been translated into many languages, including Japanese, Spanish, French, Chinese, Romanian, Russian, Czech, Polish, and Farsi.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve loved hearing and telling stories. I spent a lot of time alone as a child, and I would entertain myself by creating entire worlds in my head and inhabiting them fully (sometimes to the chagrin of my parents and teachers). This world-building continued well into my adulthood, when, after a particularly vivid dream, I decided to write my stories down. Once I began writing seriously, I’ve never stopped.

My fiction tends to explore themes of loss, death, mourning and rebirth, but also hope and possibility. I consider myself a mindful optimist, even though my fiction can sometimes be very dark. I believe humanity is capable of great feats, but what we often lack is will, imagination, or foresight. Sometimes I tend my fiction to inspire. Sometimes I write cautionary tales. Sometimes I just follow my dream-id where it leads. I’m always surprised by what my subconscious brings up.

I work incredibly hard at my writing, and my only wish is that you enjoy reading my work as much as I enjoy creating it.

My short story “The Last Novelist” was a 2017 Nebula Award finalist as well a 2018 Eugie Award finalist. My short story “The Meeker and the All-Seeing Eye” was a 2014 Nebula Award finalist. And my short story “The Sounds of Old Earth” was a 2013 Nebula Award finalist. My work has also appeared in several year’s best anthologies and received numerous honorable mentions.

My many short stories have appeared in such publications as Lightspeed, Nightmare, Tor.com, Clarkesworld, Analog, io9.com, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Interzone, Electric Velocipede, Apex Magazine, and the anthologies Mad Hatters and March Hares, Cyber World, After,The People of the Book, and many other places.

My debut novel, King of Shards, was hailed as “Majestic, resonant, reality-twisting madness,” from NPR Books. I have a novella forthcoming in 2026 from Tordotcom / Reactor titled The Rainseekers. And a novel, Space Trucker Jess, coming in 2025 from Fairwood Press.

Every second Wednesday, I co-host the Fantastic Fiction reading series at the famous KGB Bar alongside veteran speculative-fiction editor Ellen Datlow.

In 2011 I was nominated for World Fantasy Award in the category of Special Award, Non-Professional for my work editing Sybil’s Garage. The magazine’s website has been archived here.

In 2003 I started the speculative fiction magazine Sybil’s Garage, and the stories and poetry therein have received multiple honorable mentions in the Year’s Best Fantasy & Horror. Under the rubric of Senses Five Press, I published Paper Cities, which won the 2009 World Fantasy Award for Best Anthology.

I have been a long-time member of Altered Fluid, a Manhattan-based writing group which has many successful past and present members, including N.K. Jemisin, Sam J. Miller, Alaya Dawn Johnson, E.C. Myers, Mercurio D. Rivera, and many others. I am also obsessed with Blade Runner (both films).

When I’m not writing, I design websites and write software. I am probably best known for the Moksha submissions system, which I created, and which is currently used by some of the largest SF markets including The Magazine of Fantasy

Reviews

[Cathy Doyle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was provided an advanced copy of this book for review.

Mars’s terraforming has advanced far enough that it can rain again. A group is chosen to try and experience the rain. One of the members, Sakunja Salazar, a former influencer on Earth, documents the trip and her fellow travelers. They all have interesting life stories and the voyage to seeks rain provides an interesting background.

[Megan Middlebrooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25
This novella is essentially a series of connected short story vignettes of the lives of the people on the trip and how/why they have undertaken this dangerous mission. Despite having such short glimpses into the travelers lives, each story is touching and poignant in its own way. I also liked the main character and the framing narrative of her writing an article. Definitely a worthwhile read, one of the better novellas I've read.

[Kami]

Told as a series of life stories about a group on mars looking to be the first to see rain on the terraformed planet, this is more a story of what it means to be human than a plot driven sci-fi. Super quick to read so perfect for a weekend read. Thanks to the publisher for the gifted copy

[Csimplot Simplot · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book!!!

[Kit Garton · Rating 4 out of 5]

A compelling collection of stories and the importance of experiences to humanity, although I did feel that in the stories in the first half, it felt very judgy about people who are poor or addicts. The second half really was what sold me on this book.

[Chad · Rating 5 out of 5]

For 160 short pages you will truly go on a journey. This book follows Sakunja who is on a trip with a very different group to see the first rainfall on Mars. This book reminded me of the book Hyperion quite a bit and that is a complement. I have also seen references to Canterbury Tales. We truly see how an unlikely group full of religious and cultural differences can coexist and how they all want to experience the rain amongst everything else happening in the world. This is a solid 160 pages and I highly recommend.

Thank you to Tor Publishing and Macmillan for my review copy!

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

My thanks to both NetGalley and Tor Publishing Group for an advance copy of this novella that takes place on Mars featuring a diverse cast of adventurers, seekers, dreamers and the lost, waiting for the first natural occurence of weather on the planet they now call home.

I was blessed to have a strong library in our town that had numerous book sales when I was growing up, probably the only way my parents could afford my book habit. We had bag sales where one could pack a bag for a buck or two, so I would go nuts. I was young when I scored a bunch of books about Mars, A John Carter book, War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells, and The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury. The John Carter was basically Conan in space, War of the Worlds had aliens, battles and well aliens. The Martian Chronicles though was different. Mars was just a place, a place of wonder yes, but the stories were about people. People lost, missing things, looking for things, trying to make sense of things. I think this is when I realized that science fiction was about more than cool aliens, laser beams and strange worlds. This is something I think is lost in much that is published now. So it was refreshing to find the human factor an important part of this novella, along with a story that was both wondrous and magical. The Rainseekers by The Rainseekers, by Matthew Kressel is a novella about the future, about people, technology, the small moments, the momentous, and trying to make sense of it all.

Sakunja Salazar was once one of the biggest influencers in the future. A skill that Salazar developed early to get her family out of their dire circumstances, and into the world of wealth, power and safety. Until Salazar realized what is was costing her, pushing things she couldn't care less about, addicted to things that were destroying her, and lost in the spotlight of social acceptance. Salazar hit the spaceways, traveling among the planets that had been settled, and finding a skill that Salazar had no idea she had. An editor for a feature media group saw the photos that Salazar was creating and offered Salazar a job. On Mars a diverse group of amateur adventurers were setting up an expedition to see the first natural rain fall on Mars. Salazar job is to go with them, get a story, and lots of photos. For Salazar this is new. Salazar is used to showing every part of herself, to push things she didn't care for. Now she was to win trusts, her stories, and not judge. Even when the expedition finds unexpected things, things that cold change everything.

A really strong novella, one that hits with the impact of a bigger novel. Kressel does a good job of setting up Salazar, dropping hints on why Salazar got out of the influencer game. Kressel builds the world carefully, sharing bits in stories, in comments, and in speeches that Salazar shares with us. The other characters are just as interesting. A mix of Martian Chronicles, something that is hard to avoid, Canterbury Tales, and a bit of Kim Stanley Robinson, especially showing the changes brought to Mars by the humans. Kressel has a very sure hand creating this story, and again for a novella offers a very rich story.

A science fiction book for those who love stories about humans and the future. As with the best of genre fiction this might be of the future, but deals with the now, the problems we have with social media, the environment, and with human interaction, something that is getting stranger everyday. A really interesting novella, from an author I will be following.

[Melissa Corday · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hopeful. Optimistic. Beautifully human.

The Rainseekers takes place 200ish years in the future and is told from the POV of a washed-up influencer trying to find meaning in life after becoming wholly disillusioned (when the world- and the solar system- is at your feet, what else is there to give a shit about? "In a hundred years, would anyone give a fuck that I once hawked lavender-scented moisturizing cream?"). They do this by strapping themselves with their infinite dollars to a rocket bound for Mars, which is undergoing terraforming processes, to join a crew on the hunt for the first Martian rainfall. Our protagonist describes the trek across the sparsely-grassed planet while she and 45 other pilgrims hunt for a weather system that just might be the first to produce rain. Oh, we have snow already, and frozen water is common enough now. We even have clouds on Mars! But liquid rain falling from the sky? To be the first to behold it, the first to feel it, in the Mount Everest-thin newly-oxygenated air? Well, now, that is truly rarified.

Protagonist Sakunja Salazar isn't in it for herself though. Well, not entirely. She spends the quest for rain interviewing her fellow travelers, asking them simply, "How'd you get here?" where "here" means "Mars". Sakunja looks to answer the question "Who are we, these forty-six fools bumbling across this ancient desert?" Chapters switch between travelling companions backstories and Sakunja (Saki to her friends, if she has any) describing the terrain, her history, the difficulties the red planet throws at them, and at one point, the tragic accidental death of a travelling companion.

Through these vignettes, readers get multiple stories in one: we get, of course, the big and obvious FIRST RAIN ON MARS (hell yeah), and through casual conversation there's some worldbuilding (Saturn and Jupiter are tourist destinations, Mars has beautiful gardens under huge domes, and all the while the Mars Development Council is the bureaucracy from superhell.) but we also get the small human moments, the ones that reveal that all life is important, that every story is worth telling and worth hearing. "Inside every person is a story worth telling, and we have only ourselves to blame if we don’t perk up our ears and listen."

A short book, clocking in at 160 pages, but well worth the read. Highly, highly recommend.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

This novel operates as a series of short stories. It's a good premise and the structure works, although I didn't love the journalist/narrator's voice.

The characters are with each other only for a few days, so there isn't time for them to have the develop the relationships necessary for the social-focused sci-fi, but this doesn't really fit any other standard sub-genre: they're on a journey, but only for a few days; they are on Mars and there's some world-building, but that's really not the focus, even if it's the reason for their trip; they encounter trouble with their vehicle and have to survive on the surface, but for a time best measured in hours.

The pacing is slower and there's not much in the way of adventure or space swashbuckling; sci-fi readers who tend to enjoy spaceship battles probably won't connect to this. Although there isn't a mystery element in this, maybe suggest to readers who liked The Spare Man or other space-set sci-fi?-- the widely-varied cast of characters is the book's main focus and strength.

eARC from NetGalley.

[Danielle Louth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book as a giveaway from Goodreads. Overall, the Rainseekers is an imaginative and engaging science fiction novel that combines adventure with thoughtful questions about colonization and survival. I enjoyed this book despite my usual lack of interest in Sci-Fi type genres. The book was a quick read, almost a short story in format that kept my attention due to the authors writing style without over explanation of the science theories. It is a great choice for readers who enjoy stories about space exploration, harsh environments, and characters facing difficult choices in unfamiliar worlds. I would recommend this book for anyone looking for a quick read with adventure with meaningful themes, rather than fast sci-fi that focuses only on technology or battles.

[Kaitlyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Despite taking place on Mars and in the future, this book barely felt like Science Fiction to me, as it focused on the stories of the characters more than the plot of seeking rain on Mars. It was well-written and edited into a nice short novel, but it read more like a series of vignettes lacking real-time character development, so I struggled to become fully immersed. Solidly 3.5 stars but I wasn't really wowed enough to bump my rating up to 4.

Thank you Tor Publishing Group and NetGalley for the ARC. :)

[keegan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This wants to be a lot more profound than it is, sadly. The main character doesn't have a strong voice which I would argue is critical for this kind of writing (and is very funny given that a plot point is that she's offered a job at a magazine on the strength of her voice). Additionally none of the people profiled in the book really feel like real people to me (their voices are not strongly conveyed either). If you've already read To Be Taught if Fortunate by Becky Chambers and want something like that but not as good, pick this up, if you haven't read the Chambers just read that instead.

[Milo · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Rainseekers is a short but beautiful read. It is couched in this Sci-fi setting in the nearish future, but at its heart, it is story of what it means to be human. The tales are relatable, heartwarming, and heartbreaking all at the same time. If you are in mood for a reflective book, going through a life change, or feel like you are in a rut, I highly recommend The Rainseekers.

Thank you Netgalley and Tor Publishing Group for providing me an ARC.

[Rachael · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this quite a lot, thanks to the publishers for the ARC. A reporter gathers of the stories of the people she travels with as they endeavor to be the first to feel rain on Mars. Good world building, good character building, and by the end I cared quite a lot about whether or not they would witness the rain.

[Morgan Burnham · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super short and easy read, I flew through it! I really enjoyed the premise of this book where you get to hear the stories of several different characters. This book reminded me that everyone has a different story to tell, and we should all take the time to stop and listen to them. Totally recommend if you’re looking for something quick but meaningful!!

[Bea Masters · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a sci fi gal but this was very approachable because of the format and length. Loved the diversity of human stories (and that reading was a central part of all of them). Would def not have picked this up if I didn’t win a copy in a giveaway.

[doowopapocalypse · Rating 3 out of 5]

There’s something very hobbit-like about this book. For all their great works, humanity finds itself more in awkward romances and sitting out under the rain.

[Madison · Rating 3 out of 5]

*A Goodreads giveaway win!* interesting read, wish the storyline would have been expanded upon instead of everyone’s backstory but I liked it!