Every listener is a blessing

I normally delete an audio book after I listen to it, but not the Ishmael and Pip series… I intend to listen to the Books for years to come. You’ve touched a heart string in this old war horse, and I intend to show you in a way that’s tangible and that matters.

Keep up the good work, and write faster, please, I wanna hear Captain’s Share, ASAP! Kidding of course, sort of…

Jim Fleming

Very kind words and it gives me a nice feeling knowing that Ish and the gang went camping

Sorry for the interruptions

I’m excited that you’ve found the books, too!

There’s a few hours of listening ahead of you yet

Sent in my $9.99 donation. Hope you’re getting lots of those.

There’s lots more Clipper-y goodness waiting for you.

Just wanted to say I am enjoying Quarter Share immensely. I had just finished the 7th Son books by JC Hutchins, and was looking for something else to listen to. I downloaded Quarter Share, looked like a good story.

I went for a 6 mile run in the rain (training for a half marathon), and the story absorbed me so much, when I got home I found I wasn’t at all tired, and had to double check the clock to make sure I had actually run the 6 miles!

I really like your style- not too bogged down in minutiae, keeps a great pace, really likeable characters and not predictable. And I’m only a quarter way through.

So thanks for writing/ reading, and keep up the good work!

Yea, the ratings WERE more difficult in the service, but that was due, partly, to the competition. In the Trader’s Tales, the idea is that you can create a kind of “skills transcript” that lets you take various jobs in a manner that’s totally unrealistic. It’s a dollup of plotonium, for sure, but I thought it worked out. He’s not particularly bright, but he CAN take tests well. That’s a comment on educational assessment as much as anything

Thanks for the long note and I appreciate the feedback.

There are different rides in an amusement park. Some scare the h*ll out of you and are enjoyable for that reason - others are pure, unadultered fun! Auditory Happiness!

I only have a couple of gripes. Ratings aren’t that easy! Ok, it wasn’t for me. Then again, I didn’t like the Navy, so I didn’t study (much) - just waited to get out….though I confess the Navy saved my sanity and perhaps my life - much as this merchant vessel saved Ish’s life - gave him something new - a new family that challenged him in ways that he’d apparently never been challenged before.

The only other plotholeum I saw, was where the youngsters thought of so many new things that more senior and seasoned members of the crew hadn’t thought of. Then again, I suppose that young people do tend to be catalysts, where more experienced people might choose decorum rather than ingenuity. I guess this is why young people are valued in industry… but I would expect family-sized merchant vessels to be looking for every single way they could to make money (because it couldn’t possibly be cheap to run a ship that size).

This story - more than any Star Trek story - made me want to live in this universe - and it talks of personal responsibility - more than the characters in ST. In ST, the Captain does what s/he wants, with little apparent regard for the crew. Here, the Captain and XO do seem to take unusual interest in the most junior members of the crew, but they do so in a positive way - and this is slightly explained in who the Captain is: The granddaughter of someone special. Moreover, it is a really small crew, so perhaps the interest isn’t so unusual after all.

I LOVED this story. I totally enjoyed grinning continuously the entire time I was listening… I liked the sound of the page turning in the background, and the chuckle as Nate read the text - reminded me of simpler days, when my parents read to me. Of course, they didn’t have access to nearly as fun a story as this one (and, I’m 42, so this story takes me WAY back).

I enjoyed the first person POV also. It is how we experience our lives (we don’t see the hidden conversations of others in our daily experience) - so it made it easier for me to ’shadow’ or ‘hang around with’ Ishmael - because I wasn’t off hearing someone else’s conversations.

I listened to it at work whenever I took a break, and startled quite a few people with my (from their perspective) frequent, spontaneous chuckles. I’m sure they were wondering just what the heck I was listening to and grinning about! I found it impossible to not tap my foot during the melodic interludes in between chapters. Good choice!

Keep up the outstanding work. I hope that you succeed beyond your wildest dreams, when you started this thing!
I can’t recall when I’ve had this much fun - (and as I’m a rather grumpy sort, thats saying something!)

Best Regards -

The thing about all my criticisms is that none of them stopped me from reading. You’re always going to have places in a book where a reader is confused or thinks you’re being unrealistic or doesn’t like what you’re saying, but at long as they’re not _so_ annoyed that they stop reading, you’re good! None of this got anywhere near my put-down-the-book switch.

On an unrelated note, I’m listening to Alen Greenspan’s _Age of Turbulence_, which is his biography and also a sort of biography of the economy. It’s more interesting than I expected. Bet you’d like it.

As for showing the downside to the system, Ishmael himself is one such as the story *begins* with his being threatened with catastrophe. Also, keep in mind that in first person point of view, you can only see what the character sees and, in this volume at any rate, Ishmael is rather stupid regarding the world around him.

Half Share addresses some of your points re sex and religion. The “sure, no problem” is not *exactly* true, and the new crew member has some issues regarding religion. The relationship aspects are resolved in Full Share when you finally see a much more complete view of the universe.

Along those lines, this book is sort of a paean to Capitalism. That doesn’t bother me because I like Capitalism. However, a little bit of ambiguity would have made it feel more real - show us a few of the losers or abusers at ground level. No system is perfect. There was one line I found chilling. Ish says, “I don’t care what it starts life as, so long as it ends up as a cred in my account.” In context, it’s not quite as bad as it sounds freestanding, but it still made me wince. Economics are a central theme and driving force of the story. There’s a point around the latter third where all the minor conflicts have been mostly cleared up, and the only motivating factor left is money. Our heroes don’t even need the money for anything specific. No one’s life, love, or home are at stake. Honor and reputation are only marginally at stake. It’s just plain old lucre. This is very human behavior, very smart, business-like behavior, and money _does_ work as a motivating factor in fiction up to a point. However, if it remains the only thing at stake in the books that follow, then I suspect I will begin to lose interest.

The treatment of religion and sex in the story also struck me as odd. Religion is almost wholly absent from an otherwise realistic world. Since religion tends to be an inescapable feature of human civilization, that seemed strange. As for sex, the author isn’t afraid to mention it. He hasn’t sanitized it completely out of the tale, and the behavior of his young protagonist is believable. However, the adult characters seem a little artificial. Sex is limited to whatever connections they can make during a few days in port every few months. They have no long-term lovers, no true intimacy, no families, no children. All this in spite of the fact that they travel on a mixed-gender ship. The captain says, “Hey, everyone, please be celibate except for brief romps in port!” And they’re all like, “Sure! No problem!” Right….

If this sounds harsh, it’s only because the realistic aspects of the book were so well-drawn that the artificial aspects popped out. The writing is excellent, and the narrator voice goes with it perfectly. I _love_ the music. I look forward to future installments.