You should be seeing some visible results on Amazon this month. It’s been a long time since I hit the publish button. It felt pretty good. Just sayin’
Status
New Ishmael:
School Days: SC Marva Collins – Book 1 on Amazon in both ebook and paper (or will be as soon as Amazon finishes their messing about). I hit publish yesterday. Podium has the file and expects a release in late fall ’23.
Working Class: SC Marva Collins – Book 2 is back from the editor and waiting on cover art. Look for it around the end of the month. Podium has the file and will probably schedule it right after School Days.
Hard Knocks: SC Marva Collins – Book 3 is in the final editing stage now. I don’t expect the cover art until July but, fingers crossed, it should drop at the end of July.
Shackleford House:
The Wizard’s Cat: The Wizard’s Butler – Book 2 is cranking along. After a month of wrestling with it, I finally have a plot, a path, and a thrilling conclusion. What I don’t have is a finished first draft yet, but I’ve already reserved an editor slot for July. That gives me a month to get this kitty purring before I have to send it to Karen to work her magic.
What Am I Reading?
My classic last month was Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. I found that it didn’t stand up well to the memory I have of it. I haven’t picked a new one for this month yet.
My recommendation this month is a the first book in a new series from C. J. Archer – The Librarian of Crooked Lane. It’s a sequel series to the Glass and Steele series that I enjoyed greatly and features the next generation of magic users and an updated time frame to the post World War I era. Great characters – because it’s always the characters – and an interesting transition in setting. Archer does a great job with this story. I’m looking forward to the next books.
But – as always – don’t take my word for it. Grab a sample and see what you think.
Notes in the Margins:
I read a lot of books that I didn’t review this month. One because it’s not available yet and I won’t review a book you can’t get. Several because they were sequels in a lot of series that I needed to catch up on. Bob and Nikki. Henri Davenforth. Some Deanna Chase. You can see my new reviews when I post them on my BookWyrm account at The Unseen City.
Looking Ahead
The Wizard’s Cat has been a pain in the butt for too long. Thanks to some brainstorming and a lot of ponderation, I think I’m finally on the right track to getting it actually drafted out. It’s been a long time in the making and so many people have written to me asking for it.
After that, I need to check in with EJ on the sequel to Salt. I think their half is done already and I need to fill in my parts. It’s a fun, lore-filled world with so much mythology that we’ve created to support the narrative. Wazor the Scholar is one of my all-time favorite characters, but it’s probably because I identify with grumpy old men.
What happens after that? I take a break, I think.
But that’s all a problem for Future Me. I need to wrangle this cat before I can get back there.
Until next month, safe voyage.
-N
Super excited for new Ishmael, will School Days be getting an audiobook release at some point?
Yes. Podium has the file and has scheduled Jeff to start the primary narration in September. They usually take at least couple of months to get a book produced.
I checked for the new book as soon as I woke up 16 hours ago. Than I started thinking bad things cause I still had to go to work and couldn’t read it right away. I was also devastated 4 hours ago when I finished the book. In case you couldn’t tell, I really like your work. So does my mother who rereads the “the Wizard’s Butler” 3 or 4 times a year.
I wonder, will Marshall Collins be a sequel about Ish becoming an instructor/ teacher? Or is it a flash-back to his academy years? I’ll be abord either way, but I admit I was looking forward to seeing Ishmael (and Pip) ’s dynamic with Zoya and Natalia especially, given their contrasting personnalities, and I hope we’ll get a a bit of that.
Marsha Collins. You’ll see a lot of the Fearsome Foursome. 🙂
HI!
couldn’t resist, just finished the book. And I liked it, and looking forward to the next step.
I noticed a small mistake that got past the editorial process: in the scene at the academy theater, Alys Giggone says Ishmael was spec 3 environmental and spec 2 systems by the time he got to the academy. Bynthe end of full share he was spec 2 env and spec 1 sys (Lee VonHickles pushed him to get the certification for communications because it’s good training for the academy).
I have no Idea how problematic it is to update ebooks on the Kindle store, and it’s not a big issue, but I thought I’d let you know.
Thanks. Continuity is my nemesis.
Picked it up last night and loving it so far. I’m so happy to have some new Ishmael stories to read and look forward to.
Looking forward to the sequel to Salt, too. That was a great book! Interested to see the cover.
Finished School Days, and really liked it. Well done. I like where this has Ishmael, Pip, and crew going – I think it’s a good place for them. But, having finished it, now I really, really want Working Class!
Mr. Burns says, “Eggselent!”
Eggsalad? 😛
—
I am currently listening my way through the Trader’s Tale for the second time. Got a deal proposal: You keep writing, I keep listening! 😀
Just finished School Days. Had my ups and downs but by the end I liked how it finished. Saw maybe 5 places the blue pencil missed. Spoiler: Lots of eating. LOL.
How exciting to see that School Days is now available to purchase! Thank you and best wishes.
Just picked up School Days. Am practicing restraint as I want to get all 3 on my Kindle for a trip this summer, but it’s hard.
Thank you for continuing Ismael’s story. This is one of the few series that makes me set everything aside and just sit and binge it. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve read through this series. Every couple of years I’ll get an Ismael hankering and blaze through the entire series. It’s such a unique and wonderful series of books that just mostly warms your heart.
Owner’s Share was tough…but it made Ashes all the more potent. And Ashes is my absolute favorite of your entire Ismael works.
And of course I spell Ishmael’s name wrong. Hahah…that’ll teach me to be up late in the night commenting on your books.
Thank you for continuing the storyline. At least once a year I reread the entire series beginning to end. Fills something in my soul.
I’m just glad School Days was released on a Friday. I didn’t get much sleep last night. 🙂
I downloaded School Days yesterday but had to wait till I finished the Bob and Nikki I was in the middle of so started on SDs this morning. It may be a lot of reading today. Already sent a note to another one of your fan that likes them on audiobooks to keep an eye open for Fall.
Jim…
So happy to see School Days appear like “magic” on my amazon kindle offer screen. I know the process is anything BUT magic. Thank you for creating yet another window to this fascinating world! I’m looking forward to the next glimpse!
What happened to the Smuggler’s Tales books in the bibliography list at the end of School Days? They aren’t listed.
Anyways, looking forward to start reading the book tonight, which is great, since I just finished re-listening to Nathan reading the original books. Jeffrey Kafer has nothing on Nathan’s original version. Honestly, I’d have paid three times as much if he had read the follow series, but I understand, time and all of that.
Keep up the great work Nathan! Been with you since Half-Share, and will be with you to the conclusion.
Finished. Good story if a bit slow. Lots of spelling and grammar errors that kept taking me out of the book. I felt like there was way too much reiteration of basic information about the toe-holds. Some of it would have been useful for new readers to the series and the story, but otherwise I felt it was extremely repetitive. In any case, I’m really looking forward to the next installment.
Congrats. This is such a lovely update, filled with lovely news.
I picked up School Days and couldn’t put it down. Just finished, and starting over for a slower read to fill the gaps I missed. It’s been a while I since I read something that pulled me in so thoroughly. Thanks.
I’m very pleased with the new SC Marva Collins book. It was fun to read. I’m happy you found a way forward for Ishmael. It will be fun to see what mischief the cadets bring to the stories once they get on board.
Had to read the sample, loved it! So the ebook is listing as “not available” in Kindle Store, anyone seen this problem?
I show it as Live on my dashboard and sales have registered for today.
This is the first I’ve heard of a problem.
Was able to purchase it about five minutes after I posted that, must have been gremlins. Just finished it, thank you for subverting expectations! Now just waiting on Working Class…. Cheers
Just finished School Days, a fun read. The typos (is it CPJTC or CPCJT?) bothered my OCD brain. I am looking forward to the next two Ishmael books and The Wizard’s Cat. I haven’t visited your page and was unaware of your work on the sequel. I enjoyed The Wizard’s Butler immensely, and hoped for a sequel.
I hope for more healing and recovery from your cancer treatments.
Looks like it might be time for a reread from Quarter Share all the way thru this set!
CPJCT, I saw it was wrong in a couple of places. Oops!
I pushed out a corrections update to fix the reported typos and continuity errors. You can tell if you have the corrected one. It says “Second Printing” on the copyright page.
Sadly, Amazon has made it fairly impossible to tell there is an update to a book you’ve bought (much less a book on KU.) I’m only _assuming_ that if I delete it from my kindle that it will then download a new copy. But the option that used to exist to force to the new version is no longer available. 🙁 IAC, I’ll be deleting it from my kindle and re-downloading it later today (to give the update time to propagate through their system. )
There’s an option for Automatic Book Update under Manage Content and Devices > Preferences.
Thanks Nathan, that’s super quick. I loved the book, but it was such a teaser for the next one, I’ve been very impatient for the next release!
I really loved Salt and can’t wait to read the sequel!
I bought two books. I’ve been out of the loop on Ish, didn’t realize his adventures extended elsewhere. Which is a good thing. Needing to catch up means I have a lot more to read.
Thank you for such thoughtful stories.
Thank you for the new books.I have a few book recommendations if you haven’t read these.
Cast under an alien sun by Olan Thorensen
Poor man’s fight by Elliot kay
Jhereg by Steven Brust
Besides buying your books and recommending them, this is the best I can do to give you back something.
Thanks! New book suggestions always welcome.
I’ve just discovered “The Wizard’s Butler” and…what a pleasant surprise. Though it sounds like book two has been a tough one for you, I look forward to it very much. Thankful for audiobooks, as I don’t have a lot of time to sit still and read as I used to do. Thank you for your work!
Can we readers maximize your return by reading on Kindle Unlimited, *then* buying? Or does Amazon penalize you for double taps?
Loved /School Days/, happy you seem better, happy the other 3 books are progressing. To cross canons: Fly safe!
Make sure you fully finish it while you have it as KU. Then buy it. That should work.
Thanks, I was hoping so. I knew authors got paid for KU books by percentage completed, but Amazon seems to be getting a bit bloody-minded lately. I wouldn’t put a clawback past them.
Actually we get paid per page read. It’s small, less than half a cent per page, but they pile up pretty quickly.
Amazon has a thumb on the scales in terms of what constitutes a page in an ebook but I have no complaints.
Thank you for your books! They are the type that I have been longing for.
Been re-reading Half Share waiting for Working Class to drop and… is it too soon to ask about whelkies?
Just finished my third read. I really do hope the mentions of Kris Cross bode well for her taking a role in the training and/or attending the Academy. I like it when characters recur, like Stacey and Christine and Chief Stevens, and maybe one day Kurt. I’d also love to see a lot of others, and have my cake and eat it too.
I love the idea of adding to the training of Dark Knight, and wonder what the shoe that keeps not dropping in the story is? Will there be rotation of cadets for the training, between ships? Roles? Will Ishmael be back to training quarter shares at the mess deck and will they train in active management of areas, budgeting, etc.
Is it the end of the month?
Yes, yes — I like to see characters like Christine, Stacey and Chief Stevens recur as well. But as Christine and Stacey live in CPJCT space I don’t expect to see them in the Toe-Holds, though there is no reason why the SC Marva Collins can’t make a stop at Jett or Diurnia. Maggie Stevens pops up when and where she is needed. Perhaps Ms. Cross will be Ishmael’s first Academy recommendation.
And why has Ishmael not been to visit Sifu Newmar? Her name hasn’t even been mentioned. Isn’t she a Phoenix Freight stockholder?
And I just remembered what I kept thinking – all that time around Port Newmar and Ishmael didn’t stop off at Margaret Newmar’s? He really is neglecting his tai chi.
Thank you Nathan, this as a great read and it’s a pleasure to see you back in the grove.