Looking backwards for a moment, a year ago today I was worried that I’d need to find a job to keep the bills paid. This year, I’ve got a job–thanks to the thousands of people like you who’ve found my work. I need to get better and I need to get faster. My production in 2011 was limited to one podcast, two short stories, and a novella. We got Full Share released in May. I’m planning on six novel length works in 2012 along with a few shorter pieces. My new desk set up, a project schedule, and some grit should help. I also need to get better and more aware of the craft of story-telling. I’ll be taking a course in March and I’ve looked into getting some more formal training. I think the ‘school’ part of that will fall away but I’m looking forward to spending a week in Oregon with Kristine Kathryn Rusch and Dean Wesley Smith. That’s gonna be a blast.

Unfortunately, I don’t have the good news that you’re all waiting for. Double Share will not be out before Christmas as promised. Ridan has not yet returned the edits to me and I can’t imagine that–even if I got them back this morning–there’s time left for me to review almost 125k words, return them to Ridan, and leave time for them to review and publish. The only way we can make the deadline now is if Robin publishes the book without my seeing her edits. That’s something I suspect she will not do.

Yes, I know you’re disappointed. So am I. From a marketing perspective, all the momentum that the promotion of Quarter Share generated in November has almost disappeared. It’s not quite back to October levels, but it’s lost a lot of oomph. That means we’ll have to rebuild the franchise anew in 2012. At least there’s a solid base, even if a lot of people have given up on me. With any luck, the eventual release will spark enough interest to rebuild things.

Before you break out the torches and pitchforks–and to preempt the outcry–Ridan will finish out the Share books. As disappointing as this year has been in terms of their ability to meet production goals, I still like what they’ve managed to do with the books when we’ve gotten them released. In the short run, looking at things through the “I’m still waiting” lens, it’s hard to keep a big picture perspective. Looking at this strategically, the books will be in print for a long, long time. Getting them right is much more important than getting them now. The plan is to get the last three Share books released in the first quarter of 2012. Will we make it? I doubt it, but that’s the plan.

Also in my plans are another trilogy featuring Ishmael Wang, two more books in the Tanyth Fairport series, a Philip Carstairs novel, and at least two novella length works–one in Scott Sigler’s Galactic Football League universe and another story about Odin’s Outpost.

Speaking of Tanyth Fairport, I hired Kip Ayers to create a set of covers for the trilogy. I got the rough first draft of Zypheria’s Call–Tanyth’s book two–done in November and I’ve been pondering it ever since. I think I’ve found most of the flaws and I’ll be working to get those corrected and the book produced by the end of January. You can see the cover and keep track of other happenings in Tanyth’s world over on Lammas Wood.

Merry Christmas, joyous Yule, and a safe and prosperous New Year to one and all. Thank you, again, for adding so much to my life and I hope I can continue to add to yours in the months to come.

In case you missed it, my reading from BaltiCon 45 is up at the Balticon Podcast. In it, you’ll hear me read the story I did for JR Blackwell’s “Birthday Book” about Dr. Mercury.

If that’s not enough of my voice you can always catch my reading of “Blood Dauber” on StarShipSofa 206. There’s more in the wings there as soon as Tony gets it scheduled. Watch for my reading of Allen M. Steele’s “Observation Post.” It should show up fairly soon.

In other news …

The promised website overhaul hasn’t happened yet. It’s still rummaging around behind my eyes somewhere. It’ll get here.

Double Share has been pushed back again. Ridan will be trying to get it out before Christmas but those of you who are looking for it any day now, um, not so much. For what it’s worth, the three (yes, three) books ahead of it in line have been waiting for a year – longer in one case – for their turn in the chute and I fully support the decision that Ridan has made on this. It is disappointing, I know, and it has a significant financial effect on me as well, but that’s the price I pay for working with a publisher.

That’s one reason that I’ll be publishing Ravenwood myself. My goal is to have it out in time for Samhain, the pagan new year. You might know it as All Hallow’s Eve, or Halloween. The cover may not be as spiffy, and the layout will be my own, but I’ll be getting work out for you to read.

More to the point, Cape Grace is about to go into binge mode. I took a trip back to Maine last week to visit my sister and to smell Atlantic salt again. I’m rather excited to get this underway and to get it podcast for your enjoyment while we wait for Double Share to make its text debut.

Honestly, this has been a difficult year for me, and not for the reasons that so many of you have speculated about in the comments. Some stories are not mine to tell, so you’ll have to forgive me for not putting out spoilers on works that aren’t my own. I still have almost three months left to 2011, and that’s enough time to get my own little ship pointed in the correct direction and start building some momentum.

Let’s see if I can actually do it.

That is all. For now.

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My apologies for the buffer speed. This file is HUGE but as an AVI, I figure most of you can see it, even if it needs a while to download.

I know the book is with the editor but I haven’t seen the response yet so I don’t know how much more work will have to happen before we can release it. They’ve had the draft for awhile now, so I’m hoping to see that edited draft come back soon and we’ll see about getting the ship back on course. I’m still hoping we’ll get Captain’s Share out in December and Owner’s Share out by April 2012.

In the meantime, Cape Grace is chugging along (slowly right now but building up some speed) and I’m giving serious consideration to releasing the Ravenwood series as a self-publish and sandwiching it between Ridan releases of the Solar Clipper Tales. By the time I could get to that, I’d expect to have Cape Grace, and the Ravenwood sequels both done and available in audio.

That’s a big step for me and we’ll have to see how things shake out over the next couple of months. I’ve got a ton of audio work to do for a variety of people so that’ll also have an effect on my written output.

In the meantime, the Parsec Awards will be announced on September 3rd and I’ll be attending Dragon*Can’t again this year. We’ll be having some kind of Parsec Party during the ceremony so that’ll be a hoot.

That’s all I got for now.

To recap:

2008: Full Share and South Coast.
2009: Double Share
2010: Captain’s Share (Won!)

This year, I’m honored to have two nominations in the finalist lists.

• Owner’s Share is on the short list for Best Speculative Fiction (Long Form)
• The Amazing Amulet of Amenartas is on the short list for Best Speculative Fiction (Short Form)

The ceremony and awards will begin at 4:30pm EDT, Sept 3, 2011. I won’t be able to attend (drat) but I’m sure there’ll be plenty of live tweeting and we’ll undoubtedly have a Parsec Panel following along at Dragon*Cant this year, as well.

For the full list of finalists, visit the Parsec Awards web site.

Thanks to everybody who nominated and supported these two works. Special thanks to Tee Morris and Philippa Ballantine for inviting me to play in their sandbox by contributing a steampunk story to the Tales From the Archives anthology, and for the superb post-production work.

We’ll know in a month …

* As Mainframe pointed out in the comments, I’m certainly not the top dog in “most finalists” overall. I was thinking *Long Form* and mis-spoke in my excitement.

UPDATE: Wow! That was fast!! A Light In The Dark seems to be available on Kindle already. I messed up the blurb, and it won’t let me fix it yet, but apparently the book is for sale.

UPDATE (Again): Barnes and Noble and Smashwords now available. (Note: The Smashwords meatgrinder put some bullets in front of the chapter headings for some of the formats. I’m working on fixing it.)

When Captain Bjorn Gunderson docks with what he thinks is routine cargo, he embarks on a very different voyage. On a milk run from Welliver to Breakall, a tiny rock punctures his ship, The Wanderer, and leaves the crew adrift twenty-thousand years from home. With food, water, and air running out, a desperate crewman takes a reckless gamble, risking his life in a daring bid to find safety. What he finds instead puts them all at risk.

Join Captain Gunderson and his crew on the final voyage of the Solar Clipper Wanderer in book one of Tales from the Deep Dark — A Light in the Dark.
An award winning producer of science fiction and fantasy podcasts, Nathan Lowell has produced eight novels totaling over 160 episodes and 70 hours of podcast fiction. Since 2008, four of his productions have been finalists in the Parsec Awards and his book–Captain’s Share–won the 2010 Parsec Award for Best Podcast Fiction (Long Form). In 2010, Ridan Publishing began producing his work in paper and ebook formats. Those books are available online from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, the iBook Store, and from Ridan Publishing.

A Light In the Dark is the first of a series of novellas set in the Golden Age of the Solar Clipper. The series focuses on the happenings in and around a renegade outpost, a place outside the jurisdiction of the Confederated Planets–a place where the normal rules don’t apply and where anything might happen.

For more information about the books and author, visit the Trader’s Diary at http://www.solarclipper.com.

Novel Nibbles are a series of shorter works offered in ebook only format for those who would like something to read on their phones and other small screen mobile devices. Coming in at around 20,000 words, they’re shorter works for smaller screens. See http://novelnibbles.com for more information and other titles in the Novel Nibbles family.

Come and get ‘em.

Yes! Hardcovers are in the works. We’re still looking for the right printer. Patience.

Personally, I’m not convinced that advertising works all that well. I may have to revise my opinion if this actually results in sales today, but just seeing it is cool — and having Ridan Publishing books appear together here? Sweet.

I’m working on getting the cover art but you can find the book on Amazon now.