Nathaniel Sewell

Any self-respecting mad scientist would have a trusted pet, right? Of course, the stereotype is for the scientist to be, EVIL, black eye-patch and hiding within a subterranean lair waiting to take over the planet. But Professor Quan is not evil, and he is not mean, he is a man on a mission to eradicate Ms. Prosperina. To me, that's the connection between Professor Quan and Captain Lovins, it is about personal responsibility, they understood it was vital to their mission to hide, and remain Continue Reading

"When Professor Quan realized the government used his genetic starter to create Ms. Prosperina, he devoted his life to eradicating her by spreading the universal bond within humanity’s genetic code, pure love." Fishing for Light - from the book description. Pure love? Fishing for Light is a satire, so it should be funny, and absurd at the same time. Right? But I added a serious note, as in, what is 'pure love'? I will not tell you how Professor Quan finds, pure love, that would ruin the Continue Reading

An editor asked me an innocent question, "How does a character like Eddie have a friend like Jim Bob Calhoun? I don't see them together." As I have written previously, I carefully create every character and each has a specific purpose. If you read Fishing for Light, you might cast off Jim Bob as the cliché bumbling friend that shoves Eddie back into Professor Quan's world. But that would be incorrect, if you think about your own life, and the friends you have and have had, what is the one Continue Reading

"Raw is a good place to be as an artist … it's where the truth comes out." Keith Urban, American Idol. (last episode) The truth? I love watching American Idol, I love the new cast, and in particular the honest encouragement the young artists get from these judges. Because these judges know what it is like to stand in front of a stranger and perform. And then accept their fate. It is a 'thang' to put on someone else's socks, and walk around in their world, I think it also can be humbling, Continue Reading

I get asked on a regular basis, "where do you come up with these characters, and their names?" I'll answer that question with Chapter 4 from Fishing for Light, which I have pasted below, or you can read it off Amazon.com in the 'look inside' option. It is a short chapter, but it might be more interesting if you know the background influences. I create my character names, based on what the character represents. As in Bertrand Screwtop. In Fishing for Light, Bertrand is a commercial litigation Continue Reading

I thought I would draw a little attention to an innocent article from the USA Today. I think the article, and some additional information, and a brief excerpt from Fishing for Light are a perfect opportunity to focus on the satires themes. I know some of the reviewers have found the satire a bit 'wacky' for their tastes, which I think is fair enough. But if you take a journey with me down this blog post, I think you'll find the information useful for your everyday life, and I think you'll begin Continue Reading

Life is complicated. We are born into an uncertain world, and then as the cliché goes, life happens. I hope before I can no longer communicate via the written word, I can share a few useful thoughts and observations. I wrote Fishing for Light as a satire because to write the story as pure literary fiction would be to painful for me. I learned a lot from Bobby's Socks. I prefer to encourage the reader to laugh, rather than cry. I'll explain an underlying theme to watch for from within the Continue Reading

I had an old friend ask me, "Dude, what's up with the pen name?" I have several reasons I write using the pen name, Nathaniel Sewell. First off, after I wrote Bobby's Socks, my wife wondered if I'd want my young nephews and nieces to read the novel, and know it was my creation. Since the story is about the epi genetic link from child sexual abuse and suicide, the answer was - NO! For the most part, Nathaniel was chosen because we like the name. We are not parents by choice, not from any Continue Reading

My second novel, Fishing for Light was written several years ago, because it takes a long time to work through the editing and publishing process. At the time, I had not a clue we would end up living in Texas, and we would be watching the continuing border crisis on the evening news, and in particular watch the IRS mess continue to unfold. By the way, I did write this novel over three years ago, right? And no, I don't consider myself another second coming of Nostradamus, but keep reading ... it Continue Reading

The next time you are at the grocery store, and just before you get to the cashier, take a look around, and think about what you see? In part, the idea behind Fishing for Light was spawned from all those 'plastic, dead-eyed faces' - pasted to the colorful wall of glossy gossip magazines. I wonder at what point did 'those people'  give up their souls and become human avatars? By the way, the noun, AVATAR, comes from Hinduism. There are several definitions, I'll use this one: "a manifestation Continue Reading