Mid Summer

Posted on by Nathan Lowell

June seared the sidewalks here and I suspect July will be hotter.

Where are we:

1. Quarter Share and Half Share are both out in Audible. Podium contracted Jeffrey Kafer to narrate all the Ishmael Wang stories. I’m expecting to see Full Share available mid-July.

2. Paperbacks for In Ashes Born are now available on Amazon.

What’s coming:

1. I’m finishing the first book in what I’ve been calling the Smuggler’s Tales. I’m not sure that’s going to be the final series title because the stories are less about smuggling and more about life in Toe-Hold space. I’m at 65k words. I think the book will run about the same length as Ashes (about 100k words).

2. I’ll find out about the Independent Writer Of The Year award in a couple of weeks. This is the first year that the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers organization has presented an award to self-published authors. They’ll make the grand announcement on the 13th.

That’s it for now. I’m hoping to get this manuscript finished in the next few days but I’m terrible at judging these things. It’ll be done when it’s done.

For more background on Toe-Hold space, I wrote some small pieces about some of the outposts there and posted a Travelers’ Guide to Toe-Hold Space over on SolarClipper.com.

21 thoughts on “Mid Summer”

  1. I am listening to Half Share on audible now and found your site cause I was wondering when the other books would be available. It will be really hard waiting for the next four but worth it I’m sure. I think Kafer does a good job narrating.

    And thank you for writing some space opera that deals with “normal” life and not alien invasions, space marines, etc.

    Have you ever posted on your site about your journey/adventure’s in the world of self publishing?

    Best of luck and keep writing!

  2. I’m glad to hear that the new series will be more about life in Toe Hold space than smuggling. I’ve been trying to figure out what would be worth smuggling on a sustained basis. While Pip was able to transport a large number of diamonds, that is not the kind of transaction that can be hidden.

    The way I see it, the Toe Hold settlements are going to be start ups on a shoestring budget. They will need to build infrastructure to make the resources they have found profitable. Mining ore when people have a choice of asteroid belts can’t be very high margin. Building motors would be more profitable, but you need a machine tool industry to build the plants to build the motors.

    At the time of the Smugglers Tales, they can probably only ship small, high value cargos out in order to fund infrastructure. By the time Is and Pip show up they might be ready to start bulk cargo trading.

    At least that is my guess about the underlying economies.

    Thanks for the stories. Looking forward to seeing them whenever they come out.

  3. Anxious to read it. When you finish it it will go to the editor. And is it usually roughly 2 month from editor to Kindle release. Also the release in the anthology that was going to be a sort of sequel. Didn’t you say you went a different way so the characters in the anthology will not be in smugglers tales.? Excited to see what’s off the beacon in the deep dark. Odin’s station. ( Excuse spelling, that why I’m buying your books and it will never be the other way around ) . Odin’s station sounds so mysterious. Plus it’s a place off the fringes that seems flying on a shoe string. No spare parts. Extremely risky and dangerous. It will be amazing to see who live in the shadows of the solar universe. And what it looks like. Will be heading right over to travelers guide now. Thanks and be thinking of you on the thirteenth. Also hope the graduation went well and incredible family time.
    John w

    1. From the time I finish the draft, I spend a couple of weeks working with beta readers to find the worst of the problems. After that it goes to the editor who usually turns them around in a couple of weeks, which leaves me a couple of weeks to get the edits in, format the book, and set it for release.

      My writing process is basically the same, except I’m writing less for me to read and more to be put on a page for you to read. When I was writing for the podcast, I put in more dialog tags to help the listeners know who’s talking.

      The original podcasts are the same stories but the words might be in a slightly different order. In one case what I thought I said was actually the opposite of what I meant. That got fixed in text. In Captain’s Share there’s an error in gravity. I fixed that in the text but didn’t re-record it.

      Generally, the texts are cleaner, meant to be read from a page (so formatted differently with fewer dialog tags), and re-arranged slightly so the words lay on the page better.

  4. Sorry Nathan me again. Hope you don’t mind me asking another question. I’ve always wondered. Your first books were released as audio podcasts. And it took a while to transfer or adapt to written release. So is your writing process different from the podcast day now that being released directly to Kindle. Or do you write and approach the same way and there is just an added step. I’ve got your audio podcasts and all your books. Read both and your podcasts were perfect. And reading your books love but to me there the same. I have never compared. Is the original audio podcast different from the books?

  5. Loving the books. It’s going to be torture waiting for Full Share (and on) to be released on Audible. I rarely read for fun anymore, since I sit in front of a computer 10 hours a day. My eyes can’t take more reading, so I go through audible books relatively quickly. Can’t wait!

    1. Podium is releasing them at the rate of about one a month. Full Share should be out in a couple of weeks.

  6. Keep plugging away writing and we will keep plugging away reading. Eagerly anticipating Milk Run.

  7. Keep writing the award winning tales and I will keep buying your books.

    I have been an Ishmael Wang fan since they have come out and I have just ordered “In Ashes Born” today and plan to enjoy it on my vacation sitting on the beach in the DR.

    Hope you continue to add more adventures to Ishmael’s life.

    You have a gift Nathan that very few writers have.

    Thanks

  8. Nathan

    Read “In Ashes Born” in two days.

    Excellent work, cannot wait for the next two.

    You have revived Ishmael and many more. Love the fact you brought Al back….Still looking for Bril….maybe finally a partner for Ishmael……just saying.

    Can we preorder this series and all those from Milk Run?

    I also hope you do the voice over for this podcast. I have you in my car for the whole series and listen to your voice on my long drives.

    Thank you for continuing my Solar Clipper adventure.

    Regards
    Bruce

  9. I picked up all of your audio books and ebook copies from Amazon and audible please record all the books on Audible

    1. I don’t have time to record them myself, but I’m looking at some other options to get them into the Audible catalog.

  10. I’ve been having an enjoyable reread of Ishmael. I love how you capture the mental effect of watch standing. When I was on research boats, it almost felt like it produced the same effect of a monastic routine.
    Thank you for the enjoyment. I’m starting to get the audible versions so I can listen to them while sewing.

    1. I call for betas for each book on my TOMMW podcast.

      The tough part is that I need feedback in a very tight window. A couple of days, maybe four, at the most. I generally limit to the first 30 or so people to ask.

      Bribes don’t help. 😉

      ETA: I just added the short list of TOMMW posts to the bottom so you’ll be able to see the “Attention Betas” notices here.

      I also added the Latest from Peer Reviewed so you can see what books showed up there recently.

  12. I haven’t listened to the audible version but I don’t think I want anyone else to read the Traders tales besides you. I listen to the Traders tales (that your recorded) every year and I love the way you read your books.

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