Showing results by author "Nathan Lowell" in All Categories

For five grand a month and a million-dollar chaser, Roger Mulligan didn't care how crazy the old geezer was. All he had to do was keep Joseph Perry Shackleford alive and keep him from squandering the estate for a year. But they didn't tell him about the pixies.

In a universe run by corporations, where profit matters more than life, how can an orphan with no skills, no money, and no prospects survive? When Ishmael Wang's mother dies in a senseless accident, he's given a choice: leave the planet on his own, or the company will remove him. To avoid deportation Ishmael finds work as a mess deck attendant on an interstellar freighter.

When Diurnia Salvage and Transport undergoes a change in management, Captain Ishmael Horatio Wang finds himself adrift in a sea of red ink and intrigue. He dives in only to find that he is over his head in a universe where cutthroat competition takes on an all new meaning. What tragic price will Captain Wang pay for his Owner's Share?

After 20 winters on the road, Tanyth Fairport makes one last pilgrimage in her quest to learn all she can about the herbs and medicinal plants of Korlay before settling down to write her magnum opus. Her journey is interrupted when she decides to help a small village and learns that much of what she knows of the world may not be quite as it seems.

Otto is Richard Krugg's only son and heir to the Shaman's gift. Otto doesn't want it. He wants to be a fisherman. When company policies force unwelcome changes onto his life and threaten even the security of the village, Otto discovers that being a shaman isn't optional. Jimmy Pirano is caught between the devil and the deep green sea when new production quotas are handed down from corporate headquarters. Locked into a century of existing practice, Jimmy is forced to find new ways to fish....

When Manchester Yards donates a new training vessel to the Merchant Officer Academy at Port Newmar, Alys Giggone recalls the Chernyakova. She wants Ishmael Wang and his crew to take a crew of cadets into the Deep Dark. They have to sort out the crews of two ships, figure out what lessons they need to teach, and who will get those lessons. Once they agree, the trouble starts.

When Ishmael takes the Chernyakova back into Toe-Hold space, he finds a lot more than profit. A quick pass through the Telluride system reveals the answer to one question but leaves him docked without a cargo until the owner of Dark Knight Station makes him an offer he can't refuse.

A good captain protects his crew. Who protects the captain? A shuffling of cabins puts Ishmael Horatio Wang in command of the worst ship in the fleet. He learns that being captain doesn't make you infallible and that life in the captain's cabin is filled with new kinds of challenges as he tries to keep the ship moving, the crew out of trouble, and turn a profit to earn his Captain's Share. In a ship where the officers outnumber the crew, can he keep everybody happy? Welcome to the SC Agamemnon.

An old friend. A new course. A deadly ship with a secret cargo. Ishmael Wang returns to Port Newmar, but ghosts from his past have followed him. His old shipmate, Phillip Carstairs, offers him the opportunity to track down the man who killed his lover. The catch? He must take command of the Chernyakova, a ship that still stinks of death and haunts Ishmael's nightmares. Together Phillip and Ismael begin a journey into unknown reaches of the Deep Dark to bring back the man who killed Greta.

A dead ship returns to the Deep Dark with a live crew. Captain Ishmael Wang finally gets the Chernyakova out of the yard and embarks on a voyage into the Toe-Holds where the Confederated Planets Joint Committee on Trade has no authority. Where the law is whatever you say it is as long as you can enforce it. Where he learns that some will do anything to hide their secrets and everybody has a secret.

Tanyth Fairport makes her way through the Lammas Wood to discover the last of the Old Witch Women isn't exactly what she expected. When greedy businessmen from the mainland threaten those she loves, Tanyth must put aside her fear, and give herself over to her gifts. A journey 20 winters in the making may come to naught, when Tanyth learns the secret of The Hermit of Lammas Wood.

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 of the Lois McKendrick 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.

In this final volume of the Smuggler's Tales, Natalya and Zoya wind up on a mission of mercy back into Toe-Hold space to find out why one of Usoko Mining company's smelters has gone dark. They find an expanding cloud of debris, a crippled ship, and a fleet of mining barges that can't leave the system.

When Jimmy Pirano gets called to the home office, his sister, Angela, gets stuck with sorting out the mess he leaves behind. Otto Krugg must find a way to continue after his losses. Can he find happiness on the other end of the South Coast?

The Marva Collins runs into unexpected problems a long way from port. Faced with some hard decisions and uncertain about the choices, Ishmael has to roll the dice with inadequate information.

When Otto Krugg's daughter follows in his footsteps, he's faced with the task of changing a century-long rule that will force her to make decisions no one should have to make. When Jimmy Pirano gets tasked with enforcing that rule - no matter what - he goes down the rabbit hole to try to find out who established the rule...and why they can't let it go.

When Ishmael takes a crew of academy cadets into the Toe Holds, he's unprepared for the level of trouble green hands can get into. Meanwhile, their academy liaison discovers what can go wrong when you learn the wrong lessons and try to teach the wrong students. Will they all make it back to the academy before somebody accidentally takes a short walk out the airlock without a suit?

In his first assignment as an officer, Ishmael Horatio Wang finds himself fresh out of school, wet behind the ears, and way out of his depth. Aboard the William Tinker the senior officers are derelict and abusive, the crew demoralized and undisciplined, and change unwelcomed and dangerous. Can Ishmael use what he learned aboard the Lois McKendrick to help the crew find the ship's heart? Or will he discover that bucking the system may come at too high a price?

It's a time of change on the Lois McKendrick. Sarah Krugg joins the crew, and Ishmael Wang moves to Environmental. After getting accustomed to life aboard a solar clipper, Ishmael must learn a whole new set of skills, face his own fears and doubts, and try to balance love and loss in the depths of space. Both Ishmael and Sarah must learn to live by the mantra "trust Lois".

Academy graduate Natalya Regyri stood first in line for her pick of engineering officer jobs, until, at the graduation party, a classmate turned up dead. Now, betrayed by her friends and framed for murder, she must flee beyond the reach of the Confederation...and any semblance of civilized society. With a damaged second-hand ship and TIC interceptors dogging her step, she nets a smuggling contract that might just get her back on her feet and in control of her destiny. But only if she's willing to make an ore run back to the place she's wanted for murder.