I review books for Interzone, I curate the SF Mistressworks site, and I write my own fiction. I am represented by the John Jarrold Literary Agency.
I’ve had short stories and poetry published in Postscripts, Jupiter, Alt Hist, The Future Fire and the original anthologies Catastrophia, Vivisepulture, The Monster Book for Girls, Where Are We Going?, The Maginot Line and Because of What Happened. In 2012, I edited the original anthology Rocket Science for Mutation Books, and in 2015 the original anthology Aphrodite Terra for Whippleshield Books.
I am the founder and owner of Whippleshield Books, through which I have published my Apollo Quartet. The first book of the quartet, Adrift on the Sea of Rains, was published in April 2012. It won the 2012 BSFA Award for Short Fiction. It was also a finalist for the 2012 Sidewise Award for Best Short-Form Alternate history. The second book, The Eye With Which The Universe Beholds Itself, was published in January 2013, the third book, Then Will The Great Ocean Wash Deep Above, in November 2013, and the final book, All That Outer Space Allows, in April 2015. It was selected for the honour list for the James Tiptree Jr Award.
Also in April 2015, Tickety Boo Press published the first book of my space opera trilogy, A Prospect of War. The second book, A Conflict of Orders, followed in October 2015, and the third book, A Want of Reason, will appear in 2017.
This is my blog.
Bio
Ian Sales was only three when Neil Armstrong landed on the Moon, but he didn’t see it on television because he grew up in the Middle East. He lived in Qatar, Oman, Dubai and Abu Dhabi, before returning to the UK for schooling, spending only the holidays abroad. After graduating from university, he returned to Abu Dhabi to work – first for the Higher Colleges of Technology, and then for a national oil company. He came back to the UK in 2002 and settled in Yorkshire, where he now works as a database administrator for an ISP.
April 9, 2011 at 9:37 pm
Putting this here since I’m not seeing an email address pop up, and you don’t seem to be in the most recent SFWA directory. I stumbled across a pic of part of your SF collection on Library Thing (the one with the shelf of Banks under the shelf of Datlow under the shelf of Dozois, next to the shelf of Crowley…), and I wanted to put in a request for more SF book porn because, well, I do know a bit about that particular addiction:
http://www.lawrenceperson.com/?p=595
Cheers!
PS: Oddly enough the thing I was actually searching for was a pic of the Collins first of Lud-in-the-Mist in dust jacket, since I’ve never seen one and am not sure any actually exist…
August 8, 2011 at 5:56 pm
I have read 2 books now on kindle……but, just as I was getting engrossed in them, they end? Why not write to a conclusion instead of teasing us…..or am I missing the full version somewhere? Thicker than water was the last book i read, great but lost me just as it should have been getting going!
August 8, 2011 at 6:12 pm
They’re short stories and will eventually form part of a series which will explain things.
March 5, 2012 at 1:06 pm
Ian,
good luck with the publishing and the book,
Do contact us through twitter or by mail so we can get in touch.
We will gladly support you through our magazine.
Best regards,
Upcoming4.me
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January 25, 2014 at 7:04 pm
SPOILERS for “The Eye With Which The Universe Beholds Itself” follow.
Hi Ian, greatly enjoying your Apollo Quartet so far. One thing which puzzles me is in “The Eye…”. Elliot uses Buzz Aldrin making a footprint on the Moon as a code, but in your timeline, Apollo 11 aborts due to the famous program alarms. Did you mean for Elliot to “make a mistake” (whoops! I meant Bean)?
Anyway, really looking forward to “All That Outer Space Allows”.
Regards,
Colin
May 26, 2014 at 8:14 pm
Qs: hi, I got here via the Sheffield SF Writers’ blog. Just to ask, is the group still going (the blog is inactive, unless there’s a new one somewhere)? Can people join it anyway? Thanks.
May 26, 2014 at 8:28 pm
AFAIK, it’s still going, but I’ve not been to it for a few years so I don’t know for certain.
October 1, 2014 at 10:06 pm
Dear Ian,
Thank you so much for your review of my grandmother’s novel. It was written in 1966, the year I was born, and she would have been thrilled to think it would be reviewed in 2014. That’s futuristic! It’s possible that in this context she would prefer to be known as a science fiction writer. You can find her plays, at least in movie form, under her maiden name, Tonkonogy. I read the first part of the novel to my son, but since he is quite young, we are saving the rest. He is believed to be an Earthling.
With admiration,
Cynthia
October 2, 2014 at 10:19 am
It’s nice to know the reviews on SF Mistressworks are appreciated, Cynthia. And I enjoyed the book, so reviewing it was no hardship 🙂
April 14, 2017 at 8:20 pm
Dear Ian Sales, Many thanks for your enthusiasm for my work: to find my name on the same page as writers I have always thought of as stars is a great experience. I wonder if you and I ever met at conventions, it is long since I attended them. I am currently sorting out and replacing copies of all my books, and creating bibliography, but find that Al von Ruff has already made a very full list. Saved me a lot of rather hard work.
Thanks again, Josephine Howard (Saxton was my married name, I changed back to my real name about ten years ago).
October 14, 2017 at 3:30 pm
Hi. It seems WordPress only tells you when comments are left on blog posts not on this page. So I’ve just seen this. Apologies. I don’t think we ever met at a convention, although we may have both been at the same one at some point. But I believe we have a friend in common, Kev McVeigh.
March 7, 2018 at 9:47 pm
I just stumbled on this and on SFMistressworks because I was looking for a book I half remembered from many years ago, though I’d forgotten the author’s name and the book title. What I did remember was that it was published by a feminist publisher. Anyway, thanks to your incredible work, I found it: Rhoda Lerman’s _The Book of the Night_ published in paperback by The Women’s Press, SF imprints. I cant wait to re-read this very strange and wonderful book, thank you!
March 8, 2018 at 8:25 am
There’s a full list of The Women’s Press sf titles here: https://sfmistressworks.wordpress.com/womens-press-sf/