Ian Sales - Adrift on the Sea of Rains

[Nerds_feather]

Just finished Ian's novella, and wanted to see if anyone else has as well? If not, I highly recommend it--it manages to capture the "magic" classic hard science fiction, but felt quite original and daring to me as well.

If you have read it, what did you think?

 

[Ursa major]

I've read this novella - I was able to purchase one of the numbered copies at Eastercon 2012 - and very much enjoyed it.

I posted, in another thread, something author Lavie Tidhar said about the book:

Having read it, I really can’t rave about this novella enough. It is 1950s science fiction as could only be written by someone in the 21st century, a knowing, smart, ambitious story where hardly a word is out of place.

I can't really disagree with that.

 

[Southern Geologist]

Hm, the ebook is available for $4 and this sounds right up my alley. I'll grab it and read it as soon as I have money.

 

[Nerds_feather]

I've read this novella - I was able to purchase one of the numbered copies at Eastercon 2012 - and very much enjoyed it.

I posted, in another thread, something author Lavie Tidhar said about the book:

I can't really disagree with that.

That's pretty much what I thought, in a nutshell. Saw it has gotten a BSFA nomination as well!

 

[Southern Geologist]

Having now read it, I have to admit that I was impressed. He does a good job with the hard sci-fi elements in the sense that they're present but don't leave the reader screaming in boredom. (Granted, I'm a science nut so I'm probably not the best judge of this.) For that matter, given that Sales has criticized certain writers of the past (Asimov, for example) for bland prose I was very curious to see how his prose shaped up. I'll give him credit where credit is due, he's a talented prose stylist.

By the way, the second novella in the series is out. I picked it up today.

 

[Timba]

I've read this novella - I was able to purchase one of the numbered copies at Eastercon 2012 - and very much enjoyed it.

I posted, in another thread, something author Lavie Tidhar said about the book:

I can't really disagree with that.

I am curious what you paid for a signed paper copy as $4.00 for a 75 page e-book seems a little steep to me. Since the second novella in the series is 80 pages it would seem we are looking at $16.00 for a 300-350 page e-book which seems pretty over the top price wise.

 

[Ursa major]

I can't recall the price. I don't think it was the one on the back cover. (Ian might be able to recall.)

As to why I paid whatever it was.... First, I'd already read something Ian wrote about flying boats (there's a link to it from here) and I liked the imaginative way he built the story. Second, if you'd seen what I was paying for meals and accommodation at the Eastercon, you'd realise that the book seemed pretty reasonably priced. Third, in buying a book there's always a risk that it's awful. Two dollars for 1000 pages of boring drivel would be two dollars too much, whereas I bought a well-written novella/novellete (I haven't counted the words ) and looked forward to reading the next one (which I now have and also liked).


Besides, the length of a work should be that best suited to getting the story across. Just because some authors present us with thousands of pages doesn't necessarily make the book better value. And given that not even a big lottery win would give me a second's more time in my life, sometimes I'd prefer a book to be shorter (as I rarely skip paragraphs or chapters; unless they're meant to be songs).

Finally, a question: would you pay twice the normal price for a recording of Chopin's so-called Minute Waltz** that lasted two minutes, even if it was played as fast, but with extra repeats - perhaps in different keys - added? I don't think I would.


** - Waltz in D-flat major, Op. 64, No. 1

 

[iansales]

Price info:
Adrift on the Sea of Rains limited hardback is £5.99 incl UK p&p (£5 if bought in person)
Adrift on the Sea of Rains paperback is £3.99 incl UK p&p (£3 if bought in person)
Adrift on the Sea of Rains ebook is £2.99

I had to increase the prices for hardback/paperback for book 2, since Amazon takes a 60% discount which means I take a loss on every copy they sell. This doesn't apply to the ebook, so I kept the price forthat the same.

The Eye With Which The Universe Beholds Itself limited hardback £6.99 incl UK p&p (£6 if bought in person)
The Eye With Which The Universe Beholds Itself paperback £4.99 incl UK p&p (£4 if bought in person)
The Eye With Which The Universe Beholds Itself ebook £2.99

I priced the ebook at £2.99 (both, incidentally, are 80pp in pbk/hbk) because that struck me as a fair price. Put the price too low and people will assume it's rubbish. On the other hand, it's hard to justify pricing the ebook the same as a paper copy, since the unit costs are negligible.

 

[Sourdust]

I am curious what you paid for a signed paper copy as $4.00 for a 75 page e-book seems a little steep to me. Since the second novella in the series is 80 pages it would seem we are looking at $16.00 for a 300-350 page e-book which seems pretty over the top price wise.

Try buying a book of poetry some time - most of the pages will be blank space.

I think there's been a problematic drift towards 'size queen' attitudes in genre fiction consumption (even in the anthologies, which, as Paul Kincaid has noted, are twice the length they used to be), to the extent that personally I'm almost happy to pay a premium for a novella, simply to promote the form. Lack of concision - aided and abetted by commercial publishers - is one of the plagues of contemporary sf.

(That said, haven't actually read Adrift yet - but intend to.)

 

[Timba]

Ursa and Sourdust your points about concise writing and the story only being as long as it needs to be ring true for me also but on a limited budget and since I read for pleasure and entertainment the length has some import to me also. If I spend $16.00 for a 300 page book and $16.00 for a 400 page book and both are worth reading then I get a 33% increase in my entertainment value with the 400 page book. Does not mean that the shorter option is unworthy but it may well be priced out of my current entertainment budget as I am trying to fill the reading hours I have available.

 

[iansales]

Never mind the quality, feel the width

 

[Southern Geologist]

Don't forget about re-reading, either.

On a more serious note, I do find myself more willing to re-read shorter works at relatively short intervals. When I look at a 900 page brick I find myself thinking 'Ehhhhh, I read that once do I REALLY want to dive in again so soon?'...and then don't read it again for several years.

 

[Timba]

Gee, thought I had explained I agreed about quality but...never mind closed minds and all.

 

[Southern Geologist]

Gee, thought I had explained I agreed about quality but...never mind closed minds and all.

If Ian will forgive me for speaking for him, I think what he's trying to get across is that a high enough quality can 'overcome' for lack of a better term a shorter (book) length. To borrow your example, you may get more enjoyment out of the 300 page book than the 400 page book if the shorter one is a better quality work. More time doesn't necessarily = more enjoyment if you're dealing with a book that is merely good rather than great. I could just be projecting my position onto Ian's post, though, and I'm sorry if this is the case.

 

[Timba]

If Ian will forgive me for speaking for him, I think what he's trying to get across is that a high enough quality can 'overcome' for lack of a better term a shorter (book) length. To borrow your example, you may get more enjoyment out of the 300 page book than the 400 page book if the shorter one is a better quality work. More time doesn't necessarily = more enjoyment if you're dealing with a book that is merely good rather than great. I could just be projecting my position onto Ian's post, though, and I'm sorry if this is the case.[/QUOTE

I totally understand that point but to assume one can only find that level of quality in Ian's writing is a bit over the top for me. Plenty of pretty fine authors putting out work these days and I seldom spend more than $10.00 so somehow a $16.00 equivalent seems a bit much.

 

[Nerds_feather]

I totally understand that point but to assume one can only find that level of quality in Ian's writing is a bit over the top for me. Plenty of pretty fine authors putting out work these days and I seldom spend more than $10.00 so somehow a $16.00 equivalent seems a bit much.

I think it's far to say, then, that this book isn't the right choice for you. It is a good piece of writing, though.

 

[iansales]

Gee, thought I had explained I agreed about quality but...never mind closed minds and all.

Actually, it was a joke. (It's a well-known expression on this side of the Atlantic.)

But, seriously, there isn't a linear progression between price, page-count or quality or enjoyment. A 80-page novel at $4 doesn't mean it'll scale up to a 240pp novel at $16. If my book was that long I would probably have priced it much lower than that. I felt $4 was the correct market price-point for a book of my length and type.

Also, enjoying a 300-page novel doesn't mean necessarily mean you'll enjoy a 400pp novel a third more. I can think of plenty of thick novels that are terrible, and probably would have been much improved by losing a few hundred pages. And though it's not more me to say, but my 80 pages might prove a more intense reading experience than someone else's 160 pages

 

[Ursa major]

There was a British comedy, set in a tailoring business, called Never Mind the Quality, Feel the Width (1967-71), which means that phrase's comic implications are more resonant with some of us on this side of the Pond (and, possibly, of a certain age...).

 

[iansales]

Oy! I'm not that old

 

[Nerds_feather]

Finally got my review written!

Suffice to say I liked it