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CRussel · 04-04-2018, 01:07 PM

I just finished a new book by one of my favourite authors, Nathan Lowell. Now I would never argue that his books are great literature, but they really are quite pleasant cozies. Nothing really bad ever happens (with one very notable exception) to any of the characters, but somehow our protagonist(s) always endure and excel, and the situations always resolve in a positive way. Without being particularly saccharin, IMO. Lowell is, ultimately, a storyteller, and a good one. Most of his books started out first as podcasts, and it shows. They're stories first, and books only second. But that isn't a bad thing, IME.

Lowell writes YA Space Opera (the Solar Clipper series and its derivatives) and Fantasy (Tanyth Fairport series). The first of the Solar Clipper series is Quarter Share, the story of a young (18?), recently orphaned, man who must leave the Company Planet where his mother had been a professor, and who signs on with a trading ship (a Solar Clipper) as the lowest grade of the ship, an unskilled "quarter share", working in the galley. The first few books of the series follow his progression from quarter share, to half, full, double, Captain's and finally Owner's Share. In all of these, rather more coffee is consumed than even I can believe in, but then coffee plays a recurring theme throughout.

The Tanyth Fairport series follows the herbalist and healer who has spent the last 20 years walking the planet Korlay searching for knowledge and preparing to write her learning into a book all can use. But she settles for a space in a small, new village without even a name to help and to be part of that village (that she eventually names Ravenwood) through its early trials.

These books are, as I've said, "cozies", but they're quite enjoyable tales that are easy reading, inexpensive (Kindle Unlimited, if you have that, but inexpensive regardless), and fairly short. Recommended if you want a break from sturm und drang to simply enjoy what you're reading. Most have audio versions available, either on Audible, or as podcasts read by the author, and all are available DRM-Free on Amazon, so you can easily convert to your preferred format.

04-04-2018, 01:07 PM	#161
CRussel (he/him/his) Posts: 12,300 Karma: 80074820 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Sunshine Coast, BC Device: Oasis (Gen3),Paperwhite (Gen10), Voyage, Paperwhite(orig), iPad Air M3	I just finished a new book by one of my favourite authors, Nathan Lowell. Now I would never argue that his books are great literature, but they really are quite pleasant cozies. Nothing really bad ever happens (with one very notable exception) to any of the characters, but somehow our protagonist(s) always endure and excel, and the situations always resolve in a positive way. Without being particularly saccharin, IMO. Lowell is, ultimately, a storyteller, and a good one. Most of his books started out first as podcasts, and it shows. They're stories first, and books only second. But that isn't a bad thing, IME. Lowell writes YA Space Opera (the Solar Clipper series and its derivatives) and Fantasy (Tanyth Fairport series). The first of the Solar Clipper series is Quarter Share, the story of a young (18?), recently orphaned, man who must leave the Company Planet where his mother had been a professor, and who signs on with a trading ship (a Solar Clipper) as the lowest grade of the ship, an unskilled "quarter share", working in the galley. The first few books of the series follow his progression from quarter share, to half, full, double, Captain's and finally Owner's Share. In all of these, rather more coffee is consumed than even I can believe in, but then coffee plays a recurring theme throughout. The *Tanyth Fairport* series follows the herbalist and healer who has spent the last 20 years walking the planet Korlay searching for knowledge and preparing to write her learning into a book all can use. But she settles for a space in a small, new village without even a name to help and to be part of that village (that she eventually names Ravenwood) through its early trials. These books are, as I've said, "cozies", but they're quite enjoyable tales that are easy reading, inexpensive (Kindle Unlimited, if you have that, but inexpensive regardless), and fairly short. Recommended if you want a break from sturm und drang to simply enjoy what you're reading. Most have audio versions available, either on Audible, or as podcasts read by the author, and all are available DRM-Free on Amazon, so you can easily convert to your preferred format.