It’s fitting that on the Winter Solstice we open the door to Lammas Wood.
While I’ve spent most of this month working on the second and third drafts of Ravenwood, it became increasingly clear to me that this world needed its own place to live. After at least a half an hour of thinking and wrangling ideas around, I decided to open a sister site for the stories of the Lammas Wood so that these very different tales can have room to grow unbounded by the coldness of the Deep Dark and the metal shells of solar clippers.
I’m looking forward to discovering this world with you, but rest assured that the Golden Age of the Solar Clipper is far from over.
Watch for Owner’s Share in the Spring and keep an eye open for news of a cellulose and ink variety in the next few days.
Safe voyage.
Ink and cellulose ??!?!? Wow ! I can’t wait…
Is an early congrats in order ?
Not yet, but … we’ll see :)
I’m very excited about the upcoming Ravenwood… and I love the look of the sister site and music for the first book. The potential “news of a cellulose and ink variety” is VERY exciting… and definitely a long time coming. We are all eagerly awaiting more news in this area!
Lammas Woods? Lorenzo or Fernando? (You look mahvelous)
Flora, the beautiful older sister that nobody ever saw.
Smarty pants. :)
The other site looks great, I’m really excited for 2010, I can’t wait to enjoy more of your great fiction. You define the term full steam ahead Nate, thanks for putting out so much great stuff.
Nathan, your audio book is boring. Your writing is good but it is the most boring thing i’ve listened to. Actually I kept listening to it just to see if anything happens. So, what happens in the series?? Answer: NOTHING
The most tiresome quote of the book: Oh, YOU’RE GOOD WTF?? do you have an erectile dysfunction? Do you live in Utah? Making up for some shortcomings on business deals or never had any? I was actually enjoying the first audio book when I realized that nothing happens at all in the whole series (actually never made it to Full Share because of this, had to call it quits).
WOW, Ishmael makes coffee and then gets promoted to the top because he’s some sort of neutered and strange brainchild and looks like a model, we’ll actually more like a Ken doll because he seems to be lacking gear. Are you hoping your audience swarms you with affection telling you that gosh, YOU’RE GOOD? Give me a break, let me know when something happens in the series.
I’ll be sure to let you know.
What ever happened to intelligent literary criticism? Usually it does not involve personal and immature attacks. If he wanted to criticize the work, that’s his choice, but let’s try to be cuvilized. Sheesh…
In defense of these books, which I love…. This is a character story. I love the attitudes shown in the book, the human relationships, the work ethic, the problem solving, and most of all the attitude of working together.
As for me and my family…. and that is over 15 of us… it is wonderful to read a book that doesn’t rely on big explosions, fantastic coincidence, and impossible heroism. This is a thinking person’s book, not mindless entertainment.
And, PS, most women care more for what is between your ears, not your legs.
@Stewart, If your looking for action, murder, suspense you wont find it in Nathans books. What you will find is well written and voiced stories about human behavior and “a day in the life of” type of writings. That doesn’t make it “boring”, it makes it NOT your style of literature. Personally I prefer Nathans books over anything I’ve listened to on podiobooks. Keep up the good work Nathan, I can’t wait to be “bored”..;)..with Owners Share.
@Stewart, while I understand that these books are not your cup of tea, I must counter by saying that there IS action in these books, but it is action that happens at a real-world rate and not some outrageous, impossibly over-stressed pace as is written into some other stories. No, in the Solar Clipper series, the action is the occasional spice that livens up the sometimes mundane flow of the hero’s life… and this is, for me, is not only a recurring theme of the series, but one of the charms which make it so good (I should also mention that if events happened to us in the real world as they do in those ‘other stories’, then insurance companies wouldn’t dare issue a policy to a living soul). Personally speaking, I appreciate the quite character development and the complexity, introspection and texture of events which support that development. And this doesn’t mean that I do not appreciate stories which have a more severe, stressed and action-filled environment, since I definitely enjoy works with a more ‘kick-ass’ approach (by writers such as Hutchins, Harwood and Sigler, to mention a few). In closing I would politely say that there is room for all genres in the literary universe, but seldom cause to flame a work simply because it doesn’t match one’s personal expectations.
Well, folks, one of the egalitarian aspects of a public forum like this is that the full range criticisms can be encountered–from those of us who understand the intent of Nathan’s stories and enjoy the break from the overpowering mainstream approach of most of the common science fiction authors… to those who cannot understand entertainment that does not contain ray guns, space armadas, bigger than life heroes, and alien invasions. Most of us who chose to leave a message for Nathan and others coming here are inevitably of the former variety… but there will be the occasional one who falls into the latter category. Unfortunately, those who are willing to leave a discouraging comment with little constructive criticism are also the types that are either unwilling or unable to expand their mind to accept new and non-mainstream approaches… so Stewart will most likely not be swayed by our words of support. The good thing is that Nathan’s stories are not written to satisfy those people… otherwise, his stories would be of a much different variety. Instead, he is writing what he likes to read… and what most of us who visit his worlds are looking for as well. And what is that? Quality stories of the everyday struggles in a far-away land/time… stories that we can easily empathize with and imagine ourselves being a part of, with characters that have flaws and strengths on the same level as the rest of us. It’s a small piece of life… from a different point of view, time, and place. Keep up the great stories, Nathan!
Thanks, Scott and all, who’ve responded in support. In spite of the troll-like nature of the comment, I felt like I should release it from moderation. These kinds of comments don’t bother me. As you’ve pointed out, I’m not writing for the people who leave them. I also don’t write for romance fans, zombie aficionados, vampire people, or the hard science spec fic crowds. Most of them realize it and don’t try to read my stuff. Once in a while somebody feels the need to attack, not just the work, but me personally. I DID delete a second troll post that consisted solely of disparaging commentary on my sexual orientation. It didn’t really add anything to the discourse.
The first thing *I* thought when I saw the comment was, “YES!! I’ve made it to the big time! I’ve got my own troll!” Not everybody has a fan who hates them enough to listen through two full books, look up the web site, and post hate mail. I almost feel honored.
On with the cavalcade of sports — Ravenwood drops on Jan 4. There’s a preview over on Lammas Wood.
Enjoy.
what I think you have is a Closet fan nate cause Stewart say he keep going back to listen to your works
There will always be trolls and complainers. Fortunately, they are in the minority.
Thanks for your work, Nathan. It is truly appreciated by this fan.
That guy is an idiot. He sounds like someone who just wants more Saturday morning cartoons but with cursing. Fortunately for him, the world is overflowing with that quality of work. I hope he’ll find some of it soon to keep him occupied and tranquilized. And fortunately for me, Nathan Lowell appears to have solidly and decisively found a nuanced voice that conveys atmospheric subtlety, emotional power, and appreciation of the textures and rhythms of actual life; a voice that also, apparently, survives across genres.
These are books for people who prefer to escape into life rather than away from it.
Add one more note of heartfelt appreciation.
Thanks for the kind words. Stewart’s comment fell into moderation, but I released it because I figure you haven’t really made it until you get an angry un-fan. At least he cared enough to listen to more than one book, to track down the website, and spend an hour or so carefully crafting his response. He actually left two, but I deleted the second – homophobic – rant. House rule: one troll per customer. (Yea, I just made that up, but it’s my house. I get to make the rules.)
On with the novel already in progress…
Nathan, did you train by dealing drugs? Now you have me solidly hooked on two series. Thanks for another great book.
I will be looking for the cordless, portable, dead tree versions.
You have a gift for writing and storytelling that combined is greater than the sum of the parts. Don’t take my word for it; just check the ratings on Podiobooks.com
Thanks, Charles. I’m glad you liked it.
And yeah. I’m loving the chart action over there. :)
Nathan: I am a huge fan of all books except for the second entry. At the moment, I hesitate to recommend the series to friends, because of the weakness of that one book. I urge you to rethink that one in concept and tone before it goes into actual print—it would be a shame to diminish the caliber of an otherwise amazing series. Wonderful job on narration, by the way. Thanks for all the hard work; looking forward to “Owner’s Share”. —A. Gibb
The books are getting a thorough editing prior to print. I’m still working on Quarter Share and it’s entirely possible that we’ll iron out problems in Half Share.
I’m not sure what the outcome will be, other than it’ll be a book I’m willing to let my kids read.
Nate,
I’m glad to hear that. I’m a solar clipper junkie. Checking obsessively for new episodes uploaded and devour the episodes, repeatedly. I think I’ve listened to the whole series close to 10 times. With all that though, I do skip the more explicit episodes in Half Share. I have no problem at all with the concept of the story, actually rather enjoy it, I just prefer a PG-13 rating to an R rating.
Probably just a preference thing on my part, but I thought it wouldn’t hurt to make you aware of it.
Thanks again for sharing all your great work with us.
wow, the second time of listening to these stories are just as intense and enjoyable as the first time.
They are wonderful. Wonderfully written and wonderfully read .
Thank you Nathan. I have enjoyed myself and will do this again.
Thanks, Robin.
I’m looking forward to getting some new work out soon!!