Full Share (Solar Clipper Trader Tales) [Kindle Edition]

Nathan Lowell (Author)

Book Description

IF EVER THERE WAS A TIME TO "TRUST LOIS" THIS WOULD BE IT.
When the home office adds an unexpected crew member to the environmental section of the Lois McKendrick, Ishmael Wang faces being put ashore at the next port. Not even his multiple division ratings can save him because he refuses to bump someone else in his place. In just a few days, Ishmael will lose both his friends and the home he has made for himself while traveling through the Deep Dark.

Just when he thought matters could not get any worse, an EMP damages the ship and threatens the lives of everyone on board. Gone are the days when Ish's biggest challenge was making a good cup of coffee. Now he must use his wits and rely on the ingenuity of his shipmates just to survive. Return with the crew of the SC Lois McKendrick, in what may prove to be their final voyage. All your favorites will be aboard including: Ish, Pip, Cookie, Brill, Diane, and Big Bad Bev.

"Nathan Lowell does what few authors can...make each successive book better than the previous one. While Full Share remains true to Nathan's goal of exploring the lives of ordinary people, what we find is something truly extraordinary--the coming of age of a character that we just love spending time with. Nathan's Solar Clipper has been compared to the addictiveness of crack cocaine and a return to classic Heinlein; I think both descriptions are well deserved." -- Michael Sullivan, bestselling author of the Riyria Revelations

TRADER TALE BOOKS IN THE GOLDEN AGE OF THE SOLAR CLIPPER
Quarter Share
Half Share
Full Share
Double Share
Captain's Share
Owner's Share

SHAMAN TALE BOOKS IN THE GOLDEN AGE OF THE SOLAR CLIPPER
South Coast
Cape Grace*

*Forthcoming

AWARDS
2011 Parsec Award Winner for Best Speculative Fiction for Owner's Share

2010 Parsec Award Winner for Best Speculative Fiction for Captain's Share
2009 Podiobooks Founder's Choice Award for Captain's Share
2009 Parsec Award Finalist for Best Speculative Fiction for Double Share
2008 Podiobooks Founder's Choice Award for Double Share
2008 Parsec Award Finalist for Best Speculative Fiction for Full Share
2008 Parsec Award Finalist for Best Speculative Fiction for South Coast

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Nathan Lowell has been a writer for more than forty years, and first entered the literary world by podcasting his novels. His sci-fi series, Trader's Tales from The Golden Age of the Solar Clipper, grew from his long time fascination with space opera and his own experiences shipboard in the United States Coast Guard. Unlike most works which focus on a larger-than-life hero (prophesized savior, charismatic captain, or exiled prince), Nathan centers on the people behind the scenes--ordinary men and women trying to make a living in the depths of space. In his novels, there are no bug-eyed monsters, or galactic space battles, instead he paints a richly vivid and realistic world where the "hero" uses hard work and his own innate talents to improve his station and the lives of those of his community. Dr. Nathan Lowell holds a Ph.D. in Educational Technology with specializations in Distance Education and Instructional Design. He also holds an M.A. in Educational Technology and a BS in Business Administration. He grew up on the south coast of Maine and is strongly rooted in the maritime heritage of the sea-farer. He served in the USCG from 1970 to 1975, seeing duty aboard a cutter on hurricane patrol in the North Atlantic and at a communications station in Kodiak, Alaska. He currently lives in the plains east of the Rocky Mountains with his wife and two daughters.

Product Details

• File Size: 652 KB
• Print Length: 302 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0982918011
• Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
• Publisher: Ridan Publishing (May 17, 2011)
• Language: English
• ASIN: B0051IMTOG
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Not Enabled
• Lending: Not Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #140,312 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

66 of 80 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Not the best, not the worst I've ever read May 26, 2011

By E5

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

I was very excited to see that Full Share was now available for the Kindle -- I had flown through Quarter and Half within a day and wanted more. Unfortunately, I think it will be my last purchase in the series. It's not bad, per se, but it doesn't achieve the standard of Quarter Share.

In QS, Ish was thrown upon the mercy of others for his livelihood, and in many ways he was a true innocent. It followed him learning about how a space freight operation works and starting to feel comfortable in his new environment. I really enjoyed QS.

Half Share wasn't quite as enjoyable, for me; as other reviewers have said on that book's page, there was a bit of a disconnect centered around the "shopping" scene, and a lot of it really came off as wish fulfillment. But it wasn't bad enough to make me shy away from the series.

In FS, though, I really felt that Ish morphed completely into a GaryStu. Everyone loves him, he can do no wrong, he heals broken hearts with one conversation, solves technical puzzles that perplex a whole cast of officers with far more experience and knowledge than he has, etc etc etc. He's cute, he's successful, and the universe bends over backwards to accomodate him. I can't think of a single thing that really went wrong for Ish during the entire book.

Dr Lowell's use of the English language is largely acceptable; there's a couple typos and a couple odd word choices. He's fairly good at writing conversations, it may not be the best dialogue but I do think each character has their own voice, and to me at least it wasn't stilted, artificial, etc. If Ish were given a few faults -- a large zit on his nose? He fails at something? Drops a whole pan of Cookie's chicken and pasta dish? -- he might be a more likeable character.... But for me, right now, he's too perfect. Read more ›

17 of 21 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Heinlein Heir with Nathan Lowell - Outstanding Series Just Keeps Getting Better May 21, 2011

By Michael Gallagher HALL OF FAMETOP 10 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

If you haven't read the first two books in the series, you can read this one and it will be okay but I strongly recommend you read them so you can understand the dialogue of the characters and the dynamics of this excellent series. Start off with Quarter Share (Solar Clipper Trader Tales), then continue with Half Share (Solar Clipper Trader Tales), then you will be ready for this one.

Without having a spoiler, let me tell you what I really liked about this one. I love science fiction, and this one is really a coming of age series disguised as science fiction. If you like Robert Heinlein, you will absolutely love Nathan Lowell's work.

You continue the journey of Ish as he continues to mature from a boy into a responsible young man. I think what I like about nathan Lowell's Solar Clipper series is he does a masterful job of making you feel like you are one of the characters in the story. This next comment may sound really strange, but to me he tells you the details that most authors avoid without ruining the story of the interactions between people, what they are feeling, and even what they had for lunch and dinner. You find yourself rooting for Ish as you turn each page.

I've been waiting for this one to come out for a long time - now I can't wait for the next one in the series!

28 of 38 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars This series gets better with each new book! May 19, 2011

By Norm Hartnett

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

No massed missile launches, no slashing laser beams, no fleet actions and yet this is one of the best Science Fiction series I have read in years. C. S. Forester without war, O'Brian without the death. Realistic merchant marine life in space, a coming of age series in the space age. Each of the first two books in the series, Quarter Share and Half Share only set the stage for this story. Here we begin to see the full development of Ish and a sense of where the series might take us. I can not recommend this book and this series highly enough, I need more stars!

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars increasingly not exicting? June 6, 2011

By Addison Phillips

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

I really enjoyed the first book in this series, and, somehow, I'm still hanging around for Full Share. Actually, FS is a bit of a perk-up in the series. The previous couple of books have focused on sewing-circle things, like running the trading co-op. In this book Ish gets involved in a more realistic type of space adventure involving the actual operation of the starship.

I would recommend this book more highly as a really nice novel, except the last third is a real drag. Ish might leave to go to the academy... okay. But we get a lot of fevered teeny-bopper drama about Bev and Brill at the end (avoiding spoilers here) and it seems to give away either a good bit of deus ex machina for the next novel or really odd biases for the author... or something. In any case, this series is increasingly difficult to take seriously. If you've not read up to this point, don't bother. If you're on the fence, find something else. Otherwise, you'll probably like this book and hate this review :-)

14 of 19 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars No one is that perfect June 29, 2011

By CraiginPDX

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I normally don't leave reviews, but it bothers me that 35+ reviewers are giving this book such high marks thus I feel compelled to write.

Put simply, Ish's character is so contrived and inconceivably perfect that I have given up reading this series halfway through Full Share. NO ONE IS THAT PERFECT!

As a previous reviewer noted "In FS, though, I really felt that Ish morphed completely into a GaryStu. Everyone loves him, he can do no wrong, he heals broken hearts with one conversation, solves technical puzzles that perplex a whole cast of officers with far more experience and knowledge than he has, etc etc etc. He's cute, he's successful, and the universe bends over backwards to accomodate him. I can't think of a single thing that really went wrong for Ish during the entire book."

To further the above comment, in particular I find Ish's interactions with women painful to read - no (young or old) man is that good with all women. Unless it turns out Ish is actually a cyborg, I find his character ridiculous. To help understand where I am coming from, look at the new Star Trek. Spock, for all his intelligence and logic, has plenty of flaws; that is what makes him interesting. Ish is not interesting, he is perfect, which makes him (and his story) boring.

More About the Author

Nathan Lowell has been a writer for more than forty years, and first entered the literary world by podcasting his novels. His sci-fi series, Trader's Tales from The Golden Age of the Solar Clipper, grew from his long time fascination with space opera and his own experiences shipboard in the United States Coast Guard. Unlike most works which focus on a larger-than-life hero (prophesized savior, charismatic captain, or exiled prince), Nathan centers on the people behind the scenes--ordinary men and women trying to make a living in the depths of space. In his novels, there are no bug-eyed monsters, or galactic space battles, instead he paints a richly vivid and realistic world where the "hero" uses hard work and his own innate talents to improve his station and the lives of those of his community.

Dr. Nathan Lowell holds a Ph.D. in Educational Technology with specializations in Distance Education and Instructional Design. He also holds an M.A. in Educational Technology and a BS in Business Administration. He grew up on the south coast of Maine and is strongly rooted in the maritime heritage of the sea-farer. He served in the USCG from 1970 to 1975, seeing duty aboard a cutter on hurricane patrol in the North Atlantic and at a communications station in Kodiak, Alaska. He currently lives in the plains east of the Rocky Mountains with his wife and two daughters.

AWARDS & RECOGNITION
2008 Parsec Award Finalist for Best Speculative Fiction for Full Share
2008 Podiobooks Founder's Choice Award for Double Share
2008 Parsec Award Finalist for Best Speculative Fiction for South Coast
2009 Podiobooks Founder's Choice Award for Captain's Share
2009 Parsec Award Finalist for Best Speculative Fiction for Double Share
2010 Parsec Award Winner for Speculative Fiction (Long Form) for Captain's Share
2011 Parsec Award for Best Speculative Fiction (Short Form) Finalist for "The Astonishing Amulet of Amenartas"
2011 Parsec Award Winner for Best Speculative Fiction (Long Form) Winner for Owner's Share

NOVELS
Quarter Share (Trader's Tales from Golden Age of the Solar Clipper #1)
Half Share (Trader's Tales from Golden Age of the Solar Clipper #2)
Full Share (Trader's Tales from Golden Age of the Solar Clipper #3)
Double Share (Trader's Tales from Golden Age of the Solar Clipper #4)*
Captain's Share (Trader's Tales from Golden Age of the Solar Clipper #5)*
Owner's Share (Trader's Tales from Golden Age of the Solar Clipper #6)*
South Coast - (Shaman's Tales from Golden Age of the Solar Clipper #1)*
Ravenwood - (A Tanyth Fairport Adventure - book 1)*

NOVELLAS
Light In The Dark (Tales from the Deep Dark #1) (2011)

SHORTS
The Astonishing Amulet of Amenartas (from Tales from the Archive, 2011)

* Audio only