Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

Cities at Sea
Cities at Sea
Cities at Sea
Ebook318 pages3 hours

Cities at Sea

Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

2.5/5

()

Read preview

About this ebook

Cities at Sea is a story set a couple of thousand years from now. Land-based civilization collapsed long ago as a result of climate change, flooding and impoverishment of soils, wars, and other causes. Knowing that about three quarters of the globe is covered by the sea, all the major coastal cities of the globe saved themselves by moving onto the oceans, developing gigantic, highly sophisticated, entirely self-sufficient rafts on which they now navigate at will. Life is easy in the raft cities for those who conform but is strictly disciplined under constant surveillance.

Sal is a restless young woman who longs for something exciting. She imagines a more intimate connection with the sea and its creatures. She seeks help from a renowned genetic scientist. This leads to extraordinary adventures and changes in her and the city where she now lives. The story ends as a new era begins.

LanguageEnglish
PublisherXlibris AU
Release dateJan 29, 2016
ISBN9781514444443
Cities at Sea
Author

Martin Simons

Martin Simons was born in Derbyshire, England, in 1930. After national service in the RAF, he trained as a teacher at Borough Road and Goldsmiths Colleges. While teaching full time, in the evenings, he studied geography with ancillary geology at Birkbeck College, London University. He graduated with first class honours in 1959 and subsequently became a university lecturer in London and Adelaide. He completed masters degrees in education and in philosophy. He has had lifelong interests in education, philosophy, aeronautics, especially the sport of gliding, and has written extensively about these and other subjects. In 1954, he married Jean, and they had two daughters, Patricia and Margaret. The family moved to Adelaide in 1968. After fifty happy years, Jean died of pancreatic cancer in 2005. Since then, he has lived alone in suburban Melbourne but remains fully engaged with his writing and other activities. In recent years, while continuing to fly and write nonfiction, he has written three very unusual novels, Jenny Rat, Cities at Sea, and The Glass Ship.

Related to Cities at Sea

Related ebooks

Science Fiction For You

View More

Related articles

Reviews for Cities at Sea

Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars
2.5/5

8 ratings3 reviews

What did you think?

Tap to rate

Review must be at least 10 words

  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    Disclaimer: I received a free copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.Although I am not a huge fan of dystopian fiction, the initial premise of the story about living on cities at sea because you can't live on land and the possibility of genetic manipulation to help you be able to live in the water appealed to me.But, from the beginning, this story failed to grab me. It wasn't that the dialogue was the problem (the dialect is Australian). It was everything else.The continuity of the story, the flatness of the characters and the attempt at world building were a big jumble and only added to my confusion as I tried to follow the story. I do not like to be frustrated as a reader and the story frustrated me to no end.I don't normally fail to finish a book, but in this case I couldn't force myself to read any more.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Set in the future, all of the major cities of the world are on huge rafts floating in the ocean. When Sal's raft comes near the Shanghai raft, she meets Jezzy, a scientist who has modified humans to have gills in order to explore the ocean. Intrigued, Sal signs up for the program. When a new captain takes over in Shanghai, Jezzy's team makes the choice to separate from the city.I thought this was a very interesting world and I would be interested in reading a sequel. The author seemed to jump forward in time a lot, skimming over major events and developments. I would have liked to read more details about these in-between times. I also would have like the author to show more character development and interactions among characters. Overall, not a bad book.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Cities at Sea takes place in a future where global warming has flooded most of the continental land of the world. Several larger cities had the foresight to go to sea on large rafts that now sustain their populations and float along according to the currents. A resident on the Sydney raft, Sal wants more to life that floating on land when they are surrounded by water; so when she hears of a scientist on the Shanghai raft that is using stem cells to allow people to grow gills, Sal takes a chance with Jezzybaba to turn her into a new species. In a reverse tale of the Little Mermaid, Sal finds herself after being altered to live in the sea.I really thought I would like the plot of this book, in a world after global warming where cities were now rafts in ocean and now global cooling is an issue! There are definitely many talking points about climate change brought up in this book. However, some of the plot seems to be all over the place. The main character Sal, wants to fit in with the ocean and becomes genetically altered in order to do so. This is another great discussion! However, the characters aren't quite developed enough to fall in love with. The writing also seems to be on a Young Adult level; however, the way sex is approached in this book does not make it suitable for that audience. With some clean-up, I would be interested in a sequel to Cities at Sea since we left the characters in a precarious situation. There is definitely room to grow.

Book preview

Cities at Sea - Martin Simons

VvQabook_preview_excerpt.html}}mƑUs,H6%hHc[7% K&R3 _Bc\`m17IdfQuU&ϟpϪ>9~''OsoS.i%)ԱnMqUMTø?mU }鸦xҿ~ڤ~ˡJx4c/B0&O*u7TRc?/ǡ:XV-[3Y^5 _w^BSjKjN|OoRaʏRaS[VxqbZqH|hHO% ׌qʯhMqus&>Tz;qP0 /C'5(VR)FwĘah\:Pbh+AĽ5CU߅ 3Sگ{cH-ע?rMpC =T#ӤPL# P1?p{hwEׇK (:|=2Fv_,eKw3RuAPx raq7ݏo_CEC/ٽg?fWJҞn$,W}qI&8$z|qPCSzbt`H< Y=/R%m^;`h̳@+A|hp < @}5n(^H;aOx9@]CWEaĜ(0LRP!|7ΰ4?cI4Ev*/<"V`=F>[`k pGƾA nL(HL/3kt 23V>E*eK ps8fq1#}cV&R{lmo 5b~z|¾YD2^*)"ޜk*(=Gw8#ԛYkosG>Aj" yVQ!Wg¹H;c^295(O&0Ax35]Pv ¼!ƹ&Q2lj.xu}Gp\>L{8lmHR{b݊Pmy$$ qU|$AQkbp9ueNaS=QnnŒ>#6"-,eH aQR?<@B@9<_0gl9X+4 xY/ 0;l~,[~$<sG_(=s;c:b/V_\8B £n_h݆<.S)KrCwxa"y:# ( t֎#D IO+ݚ0hѠkAyɠ4 c$yHA[ix'L&zrY2յ.՛wg=`i0]mDl"X(z,Om7.}vdAS̳L'iz7CP,wKח) {ظb8u0.A$h݆80zYGC0OaZi0 71g~31ߐ9$& a48PcFX]Ie#psKf) 3!2Øh+^>Ȋ>pyi2%g7*"t<8*nDǰy<NMi5ޭLMpKa&7ƒC!@qDoVmg#:ʴ/0!ʛ@+%;8Z`Vu> C/ T 6vIxV{`T!O;F(eP% BtD%'B'mN~5nK`E?dư ?SG3"H35)U (`1~g0RDYF*%7s)Іq^B= c{zab ^^/"?'s3!@)}T\{얬{ U8d:@w\iמ\H]7^ MgN7gYݖq0Rz8XPIJ2!`Pđ܋/D!qhTn+(Ic1.Dcy}9iyj7z!FÞnL}1U/ 9 A:ACC8E$OOYέ(0"Q;I ^':x\K ePc$,Na~D)e6'" %7=1jzfeu%LT$@ס3̻뤎~,##l0^D$X`.1bA3ֲ0jڌ$%DVT"r- ]rǜYVc`^D8T7&8zK%kW-`z*,V-0Q>l . 2*.!uU, wip ^Y+ۀ1 ;f#܉GJuu>5>AF[Y%A8 Ox+M@sS|V;FA_!RkF/Qi م2&?*Z\GwoCŷTTLJdXҲ٭I;{aw XV!Vcd0`\?,IU!|Wk1Mn*A4T$gdM4DI^)dyva rLaø0hxiIȵ488/(OHgCA-j`,tDw@LXV2<;UЏU"f*DZ7AgO](JWZ9,L!l݃i:&6DC  rAZf=t1jt¶JfAVߵ=J* }T?t&J `Zl{A8yɜ<*4x{Z2Ѧ&\s<[bDӒ,L#roɽ 6-:b\S>"^E6pke'@>HrYm1WnO%XuǾ'2lh{:dq4tWFU.]vR}?%a~_g\з$]*ӎXpkvO]2f jY~>==Ƕ#Oٔ?!*z$K z_^=drl;%ebR% 7*` DqRlZ?v7cN2^Mk_ [L_Fz|봰骁x_eyUװԴtFbҶ~ҿLy9뚊6xG _RgJ"UB| 6n1`v9bV` SkNbMq \GeĂW.p2Xګ~eI ߰0u^dgX(a|EK6ׁ<}@K) jށ^n.WZ٤ "ʭ{?RX!ptάxY+xۧ(!ɜ ~"GhG[%;ζPxSeC;8\>V1-WŦyDoYVSg, {lXsaeSyم 2`Kf <ؽh>E%>{yΤ =pىNN3!C<;+Rst t+clw]y,AG[3( (17[u:a3T|Uqrfa 2󈑡roX4\ƒ)ʀ.y;-)KjLZL< ;R\䍘%>wP4}Pymn(H+$cqL;q3m`UșʼƢ~ndFY1.=936UUfu:R 1JC'}Y8k"SY3DKaM`2-fydE6m^NVl?ɹ;Bś M[ȹsiE -zGn* lDhWS䰨9Fy͐u ~GbaWLJ/dd~&&r?p1kQ5NEk&cG7" ky[LrspFN|vFLL \ṿ7ܵ$*Z|D=[$ۡΔ *NxỊ:]gd:3yI&dߩ}m Oz'̭Ia7ziYӉA.p"\LN ҝeH-Q&y៭EzpKkJǚP1GJiǐ#b4q\RbYPQ!מ+cN^kiTkO[1l { dKB] >W=^K58v?Aͨ重>؏RWUFqlWluYh"c9eom*W);eLb25\' *JGT6.vg \D-L7Wv2AzI: J:/7?ءb;$6<`ɲW4ض`:@fZ6mrzC}va8"6|Ar5mfc1Fۛ{9u{q)Jp h ˻hc*0In^s!1UwNIKp`iMO9 d;pi^eKIC32;C?\Xh-V"pӮ_=r?leʊ&c@C-cFVa/wpl|T:xs=PF=c(ه2J.6`;횏-r]{ߏ];eZ~dBoQ l5'M0˘26chb8r?:xǒLL8V"<9WlhK݊cv UbAmVe۰{PyڂT$mg\YvN4*>`Xu"؂h{U"Nwpce"t~\V]1llM0dӧ몭(TFh }!42x  [LI&;-1zh![Y֮zQ}*;y$Nl [Na' 8; *MB{͸D{{JWH9Q2!Pd$ƛW~lHxK=H>3ݏnYK:NCe™3>q<bk.~QLVUKDZ=KLy_I Y $"L\'da1))T%liiy΢ ]vܢ+R 9ϛZC%HeUͫj]GλmW[KrVZ{RY<=2=E,Cyxz|Oqb) F)]yA&_yFڮ8=]vB"S%V][,' jTpgʻj7J@=n=(;!KQ` m_d+yvݘHJBb1Q3lInPֺ"ҁzm1ҒNF:NO_iVF@dJ)M}cv9ˋQ:5Fu_/^3cnV~l~+՘ȵ陪>m*&8>s~<@n(_XyJj-7[5iؽᖃ߲& 2dՐ{_Y>H=q=m C~kwlޭ^;y"Kwz8ۄـZBʆk,d^FG2UqBK^e6i+HĸWE[=yޚtLmGa~X`0 kiGy/6Sn2E74Rd+M8Wl~pLaDk`s[cz2EỶZ͒y5gP[<p+p;G7jD&ڪ%v=$]?Ai T62!;GpVG ZVV"j^- - /_gMw]](̰3sZf%pW&tNQ9~ .k ~b'+*f< PvǡVK|x=CY>,e` ٌ(ڦ o3:}2hZ̀02,mK3#H[-qw2ͨ CZFC-og|9/Y7/_2}S,%yмns v8K{lpCH/ޠl\/#&ͤbvsa݂nMG[u}uϳy>RVm_[V]RV?1te
Enjoying the preview?
Page 1 of 1