So, about January.
Yeah. That didn’t work out as well as it might have.
Bad news first: The paperback for By Darkness Forged languished in my “Oh, yeah. I should do that” pile all month.
Good news: My goal of writing every day failed only once. The net is just under 11,000 words for the month. While that’s normally two days worth of drafting for me, a heck of a lot of the month was spent sorting through the various drafts of Cape Grace to find the pieces I wanted to keep and to scope out the bits that are missing.
Think Frankenstein’s monster but the monster is a novel and the body parts I’m stitching together come from five different takes on the story.
Yeah. It’s as ugly as it sounds – particularly when you consider that a couple of those drafts go back to 2010.
But I have a plan, an outline for what needs to go into the story, and I’m filling in the slots. Fingers crossed.
Podium is – apparently – on track for the audio for By Darkness Forged, but in all honesty, I haven’t seen any news from them so … who knows?
I’ll be in Austin later this month at the Smarter Artists Summit, assuming I can get airline tickets.
See you in March.
While I’m aware of your current attack of Ishmael overload I really am looking forward to the continuing adventures in that series. I’m hoping you recover soon. (At the age of 75 I can’t emphasize enough just how much I am anticipating the crew’s return.).
yes..at 76 I am anticipating even more. I want to read the rest of the series while I can still hold my kindle. sigh.
To start with many thanks for all the good work you have done but like all other reader’s please publish more books, are you going to publish another book in the Shaman’s Tales From The Golden Age Of The Solar Clipper which was a great side story of The Golden Age Of The Solar Clipper and another story from Tales from the Deep Dark would be gratefully received.
Again many thanks for all the work you have done.
regards Poppy Ann
Yes. I’m working on Cape Grace now. It’s the book that links South Coast to Half Share. It’s a mess at the moment, but I’m still slogging away. 🙂
How do I become a beta reader?
due to disability I have plenty of time to read and would love to be one of your beta reader’s
Regards Poppy Ann
I don’t have a list of betas. I make a call each time on my podcast page at http://nathanlowell.com/tommw
I limit it to 30 people who answer the call.
While it would fill me with great delight to have more adventures with Ish and the crew, i almost feel as the series is done. That’s not easy for me to say. Out of the 300+ books I’ve read over the past several years these two series revolving around Ish are at my number 1 spot in favorites. I’d love to see more but also wouldn’t want the adventures to become out of the normal scope of what he has already in countered.
Thank you for writing such amazing novels. I will eventually get to the milk run series and the rest of your books. I really meant what I said, you’ve wrote my favorite books.
There will be more. I just have to write something else for a while.
I really would like to read an Ishmael book told from an outside perspective – i.e. Zoya and Natalya, Pip or even a crew member. Find out what other people are really thinking of him instead of everything filtered through his own awareness.
I’m noodling what the new books will look like going forward. Ishmael is the only character I write from “inside.” It’ll be interesting to see if the new crew change up that perspective.
Mark has an interesting idea…. I bet some of the crew have their own stories to tell. Love and loss. Accomplishment. Detours…. You write it, we’ll buy it!
My mother and I have read everything you have published (I believe) and have thoroughly enjoyed everything that we have read. I can completely understand the Ish-burnout and how difficult it must be to remain both interested and focused on these characters in this universe. Your creations are both appreciated and read with joy.
Both my mother and I enjoyed the 3 stories in the Tanyth Fairport series and were wondering if you have any intention of revisiting these characters? They were so alive and rich to us.
I’m going back to that universe after I finish Cape Grace, but on a different continent with a different perspective on the magic system. I plan on getting together with Tanyth and her friends eventually. There are still a lot more stories I want to write with her and Frank and Rebecca and Benjamin.
So many stories. So little time.
I hope to continue reading for years, Captain. I have been on board since fall 2009, and I have no plans of changing. I look forward to all books, and am slowly building my purchased audio collection of your works. My only problem is all the mistakes that Kr. kaefer makes in every single audio book of yours he narrates. I appreciate your writing, and I believe you know how to pronoince what you wrote, and it’s an absolute travesty hearing so many things changed from your work. I do believe I left this in my last review on To Fire Called also, but I have never seen a good response come of reviews on Audible.
TLDR: thank you for years of fantastic writing, please tell Jeffrey kaefer to stick to your writing and not make up names and words or change the script.
Thank you for all of your work — past and future! It will be such fun to read Cape Grace and see how the stories connect. I am so looking forward to many more stories in the years ahead. I’m also looking forward to the new monthly updates from this site. Thank you for pulling the news into one channel.
It does makes sense for Jeffrey Kafer to record By Darkness Forged to finish that series. I’m hoping other voice talent will be brought in for your other series. I simply can’t imagine the Smugglers’ Tales, Shaman’s Tales or Tanyth in his drab bass tone.
Expanding on what Mark and Casey said, I think the female junior officer that was so brilliantly perceptive in the last Ismeal book would have an excellent view point to witness the melding of the crews and characters that must come in the next novel.
Just plain and simple, Thank you.