Skip to content

Southern Fried Science

Over 15 years of ocean science and conservation online

  • Home
  • About SFS
  • Authors
  • Support SFS

And now for something completely different: An experiment in Science Fiction and Kindle Direct Publishing

Posted on August 29, 2013October 27, 2013 By Andrew Thaler 3 Comments on And now for something completely different: An experiment in Science Fiction and Kindle Direct Publishing
Popular Culture

Longtime readers have occasionally humored my attempts at short science fiction stories, the like of which can be found in Eno Magazine and Nature. Writing these short pieces is fun, but there’s a longer story that’s been festering in my head for the better part of a year and it’s finally time to come out.

Welcome to the Fleet.

Fleet is set in the near future, in a world of maximum sea level rise where the human population has been reduced to a few small enclaves and disease outbreaks are rampant and devastating. Amid the hardships, a trio of fishers slowly begin to unlock a long buried mystery that will challenge their loyalty to the fleet and each other.

FleetCover1-REACH

Back in the day, I used to love reading serialized science fiction stories in the pages of my favorite magazines. Every month there would be a new addition to these ongoing stories, revealing more about the strange world’s and the people that inhabit them. In that tradition, I will be releasing Fleet as a semi-serialized story — three chapters each month for the next four months. This meshes well with my own vision for the novel, as a story in four distinct acts, as well as my writing pace.

For additional fun, I will be self-publishing directly through the Amazon Kindle eBook store. I’m doing this for several reasons, not the least of which is to learn the formatting and software ahead of the eBook promised for our OpenCTD donors. I also don’t have any grand illusions about the success of this effort, or whether it’s the kind of thing that even deserves finding a publisher. There’s just a story in my head and I need to share it with you.

Fleet Part 1: The Reach will be available on September 2. Additional parts will be released on the first Monday of every month until December. There will be an announcement about it here as soon as it goes live. I do hope you’ll check it out and join me as we sail across the Reach.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Bluesky (Opens in new window) Bluesky
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit
  • Click to share on Threads (Opens in new window) Threads
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window) WhatsApp
  • Click to share on Mastodon (Opens in new window) Mastodon

Related

Tags: fleet science fiction

Post navigation

❮ Previous Post: #Ocean2Ocean: The final entry.
Next Post: Sick of fictional mermaid documentaries? Try some dystopian maritime science fiction, instead! ❯

You may also like

Uncategorized
How I talk about science in fiction.
January 18, 2017
Popular Culture
A scientist writes science fiction – thoughts on self-publishing my first novel
December 16, 2013
Popular Culture
5 fantastic nautical science fiction novels
January 27, 2014
Popular Culture
Check out the cover for Fleet: Dereliction, part 3 of my maritime science fiction serial!
October 28, 2013

3 thoughts on “And now for something completely different: An experiment in Science Fiction and Kindle Direct Publishing”

  1. Carolyn Thaler says:
    August 29, 2013 at 9:05 pm

    Andrew,
    Looking forward to reading Fleet.
    CHT

  2. Randall Hayes says:
    August 30, 2013 at 8:59 am

    Would love to talk about this by phone for my podcast.

  3. Andrew David Thaler says:
    August 30, 2013 at 2:46 pm

    Hi Randall,

    I’d be happy to talk with you. You can e-mail me at southernfriedscientst@gmail.com

Comments are closed.

Recent Popular Posts

What Ocean Ramsey does is not shark science or conservation: some brief thoughts on "the Shark Whisperer" documentaryWhat Ocean Ramsey does is not shark science or conservation: some brief thoughts on "the Shark Whisperer" documentaryJuly 2, 2025David Shiffman
Why would a serious scientist agree to participate in a nonsense Shark Week show?Why would a serious scientist agree to participate in a nonsense Shark Week show?July 15, 2025David Shiffman
Marine Biology Career AdviceMarine Biology Career AdviceMay 30, 2025David Shiffman
What is a Sand Shark?What is a Sand Shark?November 12, 2017Chuck Bangley
Shark of Darkness: Wrath of Submarine is a fake documentaryShark of Darkness: Wrath of Submarine is a fake documentaryAugust 10, 2014Michelle Jewell
Critically Endangered sawfish are spinning in circles until they die. What the heck is going on?Critically Endangered sawfish are spinning in circles until they die. What the heck is going on?May 29, 2024David Shiffman
What can the funniest shark memes on the internetz teach us about ocean science and conservation?What can the funniest shark memes on the internetz teach us about ocean science and conservation?November 8, 2013David Shiffman
Considering writing a popular science book? Here's my adviceConsidering writing a popular science book? Here's my adviceJuly 7, 2025David Shiffman
A quick and dirty guide to making custom feeds on BlueskyA quick and dirty guide to making custom feeds on BlueskyFebruary 7, 2024Andrew Thaler
Here's what I teach my students about finding jobs in marine biology and conservationHere's what I teach my students about finding jobs in marine biology and conservationApril 10, 2024David Shiffman
Subscribe to our RSS Feed for updates whenever new articles are published.

We recommend Feedly for RSS management. It's like Google Reader, except it still exists.

Southern Fried Science

  • Home
  • About SFS
  • Authors
  • Support SFS


If you enjoy Southern Fried Science, consider contributing to our Patreon campaign.

Copyright © 2025 Southern Fried Science.

Theme: Oceanly Premium by ScriptsTown