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Adam Roberts
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The Midas Rain Kindle Edition

by Adam Roberts (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.0 out of 5 stars 93 ratings
Solid gold. More gold than anyone's ever seen. And it's hurtling through space toward Gary, Indiana. It's Paul's for the taking, if only he can figure out how to steal a meteor...

A sci-fi heist thriller from Adam Roberts

Gary, Indiana, 2080. An industrial spaceport, and there’s nothing glamorous about that, especially when space mining is in full swing.

A massive company has made Gary the Earth-side landing point for its biggest payloads. Day in and day out, iron-ore meteors are hauled down from space, spreading dust and pollution across the city on their way to the ground. The work is gruelling, dangerous and except for the few lucky enough to be employed, there’s precious little of it. Houses and whole buildings are vacant and abandoned, most people with means have long ago left.

This is where Paul grew up, the hard way. Sometimes, when The Company isn’t too precise about where it drops its loads, whole neighbourhoods get smashed from above. That’s why Paul joined the Fire Department: to help when things go wrong. To save lives.

But Paul moonlights as a thief—hijacking trucks, stealing loads. Everyone left in Gary has a side-hustle.

Now he gets word of a crew that's planning the biggest heist in the history of the world. Not jacking a truck or robbing a bank, but stealing a meteor.

A very special meteor.

A meteor made not of iron and dust, but of solid gold. Trillions of dollars worth.

This crew needs an inside man, and Paul fits the bill.

But can they really pull off such an audacious heist? And more importantly, can he trust them?

About the author:
Adam Roberts is often described as one of the UK's most important writers of science fiction. He has been nominated three times for the Arthur C. Clarke Award: in 2001 for his debut novel Salt, in 2007 for Gradisil and in 2010 for Yellow Blue Tibia. He has won the John W. Campbell Memorial Award, as well as the 2012 BSFA Award for Best Novel. Roberts reviews science fiction for The Guardian and is a contributor to the SF ENCYCLOPEDIA. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. His science fiction has been praised by many critics both inside and outside the genre, with some comparing him to genre authors such as Pel Torro, John E. Muller, and Karl Zeigfreid.
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  1. Print length
    100 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publication date
    April 11, 2023
  4. File size
    3.4 MB
  5. Page Flip
    Enabled
  6. Word Wise
    Enabled
  7. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
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Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0BY74XN8R
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ NeoText
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ April 11, 2023
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 3.4 MB
  • Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 100 pages
  • Page Flip ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.0 out of 5 stars 93 ratings

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Adam Roberts

Adam Roberts

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4 out of 5 stars
93 global ratings

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Top reviews from the United States

  • BigOrangeDave
    5.0 out of 5 stars gritty
    Reviewed in the United States on April 19, 2023
    Verified Purchase
    Gary Indiana is where the crime of the Century is gonna take place if everyone who is double crossing each other manages to stop.

    A most unique cast of characters floats through the smoggy, dirt filled slums of this North American spaceport. Their haunts are memorable, their dialogue just off enough to reflect a strange future, and their planning inspired

    It’s so nice when it author lets a story take just the right amount of pages necessary to do it justice.
    One person found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

  • Brian Clegg
    5.0 out of 5 stars Shows how novellas can work so well for SF
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 17, 2023
    Verified Purchase
    As a genre, science fiction is surely the best-known home of short fiction. Magazines carrying SF short stories and novellas have always been part of the field, and although publishers always claim that books of short stories don't sell, there are still a fair number of science fiction story collections published. The only downside is that publication has traditionally required a larger vehicle before the story can be made public. But ebooks make it possible to sell a novella as a cheap standalone, and a good number of authors have gone down this route.

    As one of the leading current SF writers, Adam Roberts has given us a good example of the opportunities that standalone ebook novellas provide in The Midas Rain. Like a short story, it is too focussed on a single idea to make a satisfactory novel, but has sufficient length to allow some character development and to explore that idea in significantly more depth than would otherwise be possible.

    The novella set in a future where asteroid mining is undertaken by dropping chunks of asteroids onto the Earth, creating hellish conditions for those who live nearby. The payloads are coated in a smart foam that can protect the contents and produce comet-like jets to steer and slow their fall. Midas Rain's central character, Paul Samson, has a philosophy reminiscent of Communist Russia - he wants to help the masses, but doesn't mind hurting a lot of people to do so. Paul plots to undertake the biggest heist ever, waylaying an asteroid on the way to Earth that is mostly solid gold.

    To an extent, the whole story is a vehicle for a central speech by Paul that is effectively a short essay on the nature of money, of gold and of the significance of its inertness. (This is even published without speech marks, emphasising that essay-like nature.) Because his motivation is not what they assume, Paul repeatedly surprises his associates by his actions, ending with the biggest surprise of all.

    This edition does suffer from a couple of small issues. The editing is a little haphazard, and (as was often case with golden age books) the cover image effectively gives away a major plot point. Paul's plan to steal the asteroid is also absurd, because of the one aspect that Paul doesn't discuss in his monologue: gold's dependence on scarcity. But I'm sure Roberts was aware of this, simply adding to the futility of the human condition described here. It's not a cheery story.

    Despite the dystopian setting, this is, though, an enjoyable read, and, as is often the case with good SF, it makes you think, in this case about the nature of money and of the value of gold.
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  • Rev. Andy
    3.0 out of 5 stars OK sci-fi short
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 11, 2023
    Verified Purchase
    It's a neat idea but the writing style gets in the way (why the strange gender switching?) and it gets a bit tedious as it progresses.
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  • Rarely Pontificating
    5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent shortish novel
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 11, 2023
    Verified Purchase
    As usual easy to read Adam Roberts style. If he bothered with exciting endings, would be better known. Exciting beginnings preferred, as if making a point.
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  • Zen
    5.0 out of 5 stars Fun adventure
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 1, 2023
    Verified Purchase
    Enjoyable heist romp from the marvellous mind of Adam Roberts.
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