Mercantile SciFi » Cybermage

Ishmael takes on a troubled ship directly out of the Academy in this engaging fourth installment of the Golden Age of the Solar Clipper series. This is a change of pace from the previous books more action and suspense.

Title: Double Share
Author: Nathan Lowell
Voice: Nathan Lowell
Series: Golden Age of the Solar Clipper 4
Genre: Mercantile Science Fiction
Publisher: Podiobooks.com, July 2008
Audiobook: Free Online | iTunes
License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives 3.0 United States License

When he graduates from the Academy at Port Newmar, Ishmael Horatio Wang reports for duty in his first assignment as an officer. When he gets to his new ship, he finds things are not exactly the way he’d learned in school. The coffee tastes like used engine oil, the ship has no heart, and the nearest decent tailor is two quadrants away. What’s a new Third Mate to do? Will he be able to trust Billy?

Ishmael Wong signed up on the merchant ship Lois McKendrick when his mother died in a flier crash and found a second family there. The ‘Share’ part of the title refers to what part of the ship’s profit a crewman receives at different levels. Four years have passed since Ishmael left the Mack for the Academy.

Ishmael graduates from the Academy and gets assigned to a ship that is quite the opposite to the Mack. The Billy is a deeply dysfunctional ship run by a sadistic first mate and a paranoid captain with little or no interest in running the ship. It is also one of the ships that takes ‘bunk mates’ further than appropriate. The crew has no coercion. This is what Ishmael has to face straight out school. Ishmael approach it with the ordinary Wang charm and starts to stir things up.

Double share is even better than the books before, and they where good to start with. This is more of a traditional story with a protagonist and an obvious antagonist in the first mate.

An even stronger recommendation than the previous books.

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After Ishmael’s mother died leaving him without means he took a contract with the mercantile fleet and joined the Lois McKendrick crew first as a Quarter Share mess deck attendant and later as a Half Share environmental tech learning all the time. On a routine jump to Betrus, the Lois McKendrick runs into trouble and the lives of the crew hangs on a thread. Not a common occurrence in the Share series. The narration by Nathan Lowell is as mesmerizing as ever, it is hard to stop listening.

Title: Full Share
Author: Nathan Lowell
Voices: Nathan Lowell
Series: Golden Age of the Solar Clipper 3
Genre: Mercantile Science Fiction
Publisher: Podiobooks.com
Audiobook: Free Online | iTunes
Homepage: Trader’s Diary
License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives 3.0 United States License

The Lois McKendrick runs headlong into trouble when a routine in-system transit goes bad. Ishmael and the rest of the crew must scramble to figure out what went wrong and how to fix it in order to keep the ship alive. Learn more about the officers and crew as they struggle to keep their ship and discover how Ishmael finds out how wrong he’s been about what it means to be a spacer in this latest Trader’s Tale.

As you might remember Ishmael loves the Deep Dark and he decided to learn all four spacer specialties so that he always would be able to take a new job offer in case he got stranded. That never happened so far as the Mack crew have become more like his extended family, and you don’t fire family. In this installment he continues to learn, taking more exams.

When the ship run into a energy field on a routine jump to Betrus something unexpected happens with the ships system and most of the book is about finding out why it happened and prevent it from ever happing again. Ish saves the ship in a rather spectacular way but it is downplayed so he doesn’t notice it himself until much later in the novel. Charmingly done by Nathan.

Corporate assigns an environment tech with seniority to environmental leaving Ish without a job, but don’t worry the Mack takes care of its own. The new tech is sloppy and act as if he is entitled, this is dealt with as a workplace problem in a rather mature way. But when CC the new guy doesn’t listen to reason Ish finds another way. That is one amusing story.

From the first chapters people tell Ishmael that he should apply to the Academy to become an officer, because he obviously have a knack for it. It is all a bit bitter sweet, because Ishmael would have to leave the Mack to go and probably never come back.

As with any young man, a fair bit of the book is about his relations with girls. Full Share is PG-13 at least towards the end.

The world outside trade never felt important and are not explained much. We get to know more about the independent traders though. Life in a Free Trader Family opens Ishmael’s eyes. One thing I like about the share books is how natural the narration feels, its like the characters live in the world and they don’t think so much about everyday knowledge that doesn’t concern them, the focus lies on their everyday problems and how they deal with them.

Full Share ends the Lois McKendrick Trilogy part of the story, it is bittersweet and empowering. Young man finds a new family, grows up and leaves family, family is proud to see him grow. It is the natural order of things. All the Share books have a message about non-violent solutions that is a fresh contrast to most science fiction. Everyone interested in science fiction should listen to the Share books because it’s a different perspective, the working stiff’s SF.

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Nathan Lowell’s audio books are really addictive. I almost had to fore go sleep to finish them. As someone said this is the working stiffs science fiction and it is great SF.

Title: Half Share
Author: Nathan Lowell
Series: Golden Age of the Solar Clipper 2
Audiobook: iTunes | podiobooks.com
Order: Free Online Audio Book
Homepage: Trader’s Diary

In this podiobook: A Trader’s Tale from the Golden Age of the Solar Clipper : Book 2 After Ishmael Wang is promoted to the environmental section, he’s caught in a swirl of mystery, doubt, belief, lust and a really nice fitting pair of jeans. He has to come to grips with what it means to be a spacer while he’s still trying to figure out what it means to be a man. Join Ishmael, Brillo, Pip, and the rest of the crew of the Lois McKendrick as they help the newest member of the crew adjust to life in the Deep Dark. Half Share is the sequel to Quarter Share, also available at Podiobooks.com.Note: Some scenes in Half Share involve adult themes, nudity, sex and references to religions not based on Judeo-Christian traditions. Read at your own risk.

Ishmael Wong is orphaned when his mother, an Ancient Literature Professor is killed in an accident. Without any fortune or income he enlists in the Mercantile Marine as a quarter share mess boy. The SC McKendrick becomes his new home and the crew his new family. He is still learning the ropes but he is a very talented young man, open and he has easy to learn.

His ability to plan ahead and quickly integrate in any new group helps when he starts working in environment. Most of this book is about work place problems and how to solve them. I suspect Nathan Lowell worked with human resources at some stage. There is Ishmael’s replacement Sarah Kroog that hides a mystery, his friend Pip with his hidden talents but over all Ish ability to integrate people into his new extended family.

Ishmael is still a naive young man but the females of the crew adopt him and even bring him shopping, it helps that he gets an introduction to the top designer of the station. At times this comes very close to an adolescent boy’s dream world even if there is no sex involved.

The power of Nathan Lowell’s narration is that even if there isn’t much happening in this novel you are still mesmerized by it, it is brilliant. I enjoyed the change from my beloved space operas, count this book also as a strong recommendation and know that the next book Full Share is even better.

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Mercantile adventures in the Golden Age of the Solar Clipper is an entertaining listen and the audio book is free. Be warned that this is a really capturing story, when you begin listening to it you might not stop until you listen to all the books in the series as I am doing.

Title: Quarter Share
Author: Nathan Lowell
Genre: Mercantile Science Fiction
Audiobook: Podiobook (Free Online Audio Book) | iTunes
Paperback: 282 pages
Publisher: Ridan Publishing, 1 edition (April 10, 2010)
Order: Amazon US

The Golden Age of Sail has Returned — in the Year 2352

When his mother dies in a flitter crash, eighteen-year-old Ishmael Horatio Wang must find a job with the planet company or leave the system–and NerisCo isn’t hiring. With credits running low, and prospects limited, he has just one hope… to enlist for two years with a deep space commercial freighter. Ishmael, who only rarely visited the Neris Orbital, and has never been off-planet alone before, finds himself part of an eclectic crew sailing a deep space leviathan between the stars.

Join the crew of the SC Lois McKendrick, a Manchester built clipper as she sets solar sails in search of profit for her company and a crew each entitled to a share equal to their rating.

This is a marvelous story, I like coming of age stories and this is a mesmerizing one. It is also a nice change to have an everyday story about a young boy learning the ropes in the mercantile fleet in the 24th century during the golden age of the solar clippers. It’s a workplace tale where Ishmael plunge into a world he doesn’t know anything about and he has to learn it from the bottom as a quarter share mess boy. But he is not without talent and he finds he loves it there out in the deep dark. His way to assure he can stay there is endearing and ambitious.

The characters is at the center in story, they are detailed, warm and easy to love. I wouldn’t mind at all working on the SC McKendrick it seems a nice place to be in much like the company I work at myself.

World building is not very extensive outside the ship and the trade but it isn’t any problem, you feel that the important part is the enclosed ship society, everything outside change as the ship moves and are not really important to the story.

Quarter Share is available for download now (Podiobook). And I am happy it is a series so I can enjoy it long time (I am listening to chapter 4 of Half Share book two of the Golden Age of the Solar Clipper). As of today you can also get it as a paper back.

Quarter Share is a mesmerizing tale of a young man coming of age and finding his place as a crewman aboard a solar clipper. Call me Ishmael works real well and makes me smile every time Nathan says it. Make sure you have free time and download the book is my recommendation.

The series: