Old Nathan

by David Drake

Fifty years after the American Revolution, Old Nathan, a wizard, must use his magic against witches, demons, and other forces of evil

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Science Fiction, Ebooks, Historical Fiction, Speculative Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy

228 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1991

About the author

David Drake is an American author of science fiction and fantasy literature. A Vietnam War veteran who has worked as a lawyer, he is now one of the major authors of the military science fiction genre.

Reviews

[Marvin · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is a big difference between copying and paying tribute. A copy steals the ideas of a better work with no interest in finding your own voice. A tribute is a work that pays homage to an artist and while using deliberate similarities, strengthens the original by adding new dimensions to the ideas.

Old Nathan is a tribute to the Silver John stories of Manley Wade Wellman. David Drake uses a similar idea and setting as Wellman's stories of a magic-savvy wanderer in the Carolina mountain. Yet Drake's themes are decidedly different. Old Nathan is a old cunning man, a mountain term for magician, living in the backwoods of Tennesee in the early 19th century. He is basically a hermit with no real fondness for mankind. Yet ever since he was wounded in a battle he has developed a talent for magic and an ability to talk to animals. Even with his mean streak, and I would have a mean streak if I was afflicted with his type of injury, he is instantly likeable and honorable. Drake uses a format similar to Simak's City, The book is ostensibly a novel but is really five short stories that makes up a continuous tale. This is very different, and much better, than Drake's usual military-minded sci-fi. The folksy dialect and references feels real and gives these stories an authenticity which only strengthens the feeling of respect Drake must have for Wellman's Silver John tales. Add on one of the most amazing endings I've ever read and you have a brilliant tribute that is outstanding on its own. I give this four and a half stars only because I would give Wellman"s Silver John tales five stars and I don't want to dis the master

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like Karl Edward Wagner, David Drake was a close friend of Manly Wade Wellman during that author's final years, and this series of linked novellas about white and black magic in the Carolinas is very much a tribute to that friendship. It is a pity that the book is not better known, because I believe that a lot of people who enjoy Wellman's stories of John the Balladeer would enjoy the distinctive and in no wise derivative flavor of this one as well.

These are quite different from anything else of Drake's I have read, and even though they are very much based on the world of folk magic Wellman uses, the tone is different. They are very good horror stories, but there is also an autumnal tint to them, as of a way of living that is slowly losing ground against changes in the prevailing culture. In this sense they also seem very reminiscent of Henry S. Whitehead's Caribbean stories and Clark Ashton Smith's world-weary Atlantean sorcerer Malygris.

[William · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining fantasy listening 🎶🔰

I have read or listened 🎶 to a number of David Drake novels but I just could not connect with this one. I would recommend that you give it a try it may work for you. 2023 😀👒👻🏡

[Howard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Old Nathan by David Drake is in the tradition of Silver John by Manly Wade Wellman, and the book is dedicated to Wellman. Nathan is a wizard who lives in the hills of Tennessee, and all of the dialogue is written in dialect. The book is a collection of 5 interrelated short stories, two of which were previously published in 1987 [the book was published in 1991. The stories take place a few years after the American Revolution.
I have not yet read the Silver John series, but as opposed to the Mad Amos Malone series by Alan Dean Foster [also influenced by Wellman] Nathan is rooted to his cabin and community in the woods of Tennessee. In comparison, Amos roams the world and has adventures across the globe. As the result of a tragic war injury during the war, Nathan has the ability to talk to and understand animals, and has defeated the devil. I rated Old Nathan 4 stars, perhaps unfairly, because I am a very big fan of Drake’s Hammer Slammers work, and I do not feel that this was as good.
This ebook was available from Baen's free catalog.

[Derek · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a complete divergence from anything I've read by Drake before. It's neither SF, nor military, nor even epic fantasy. 

This is a collection of five short stories about Old Nathan, a Tennessee pioneer in the late 1820s. Nathan fought in the American revolution, where he unfortunately lost his genitals at the battle of King's Mountain (which is a historical event). Apparently the loss of his "knackers" was offset by gaining the ability to perform magic and talk to animals. Talking to animals leads to his becoming a vegetarian (no doubt a rare thing in 1820s Tennessee); the magic leads to him being shunned but still much in demand by people who actually need a magical intervention.

While the stories stand alone, they do tie together. In the first, Nathan loses his bull Spanish King, and in the fourth he gets him back (with the bull complaining about how it took so long). Cullen "Bully" Ransden, a man who is everything Nathan is not, figures into three of the stories, and various other characters occur in multiple stories.

Nathan won't eat mammals and birds, but he doesn't mind the odd fish—presumably they don't talk to him. 

"As for Old Nathan—he wasn't going to smoke and eat a hog any more than he was going to smoke and eat a human being… though there were plenty hogs he'd met whose personalities would improve once their throats were slit. 

Same was true of the humans, often enough."

On the other hand, he keeps a cat (or is kept by a cat...) who of course insists on fresh game, and he has no problem with the cat hunting: Nathan's not responsible for anybody else's nature.

Old Nathan is a man with a highly tuned sense of "right", an accidental understanding (but not knowledge) of magic, and very little fear of anything in this world or the next.

[MeiLin Miranda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got this from the Baen Free Library and hadn't been too optimistic. Drake's military sci-fi books leave me cold but for the "Lt Leary" series, and I'm often uncertain about that series as well.

But "Old Nathan"--now here's a book. Baen's description isn't fair to the book; it's not alternate history at all. For lack of a better term, it's "rural fantasy."

It's set between the Revolution and Civil War, in the hill country of Tennesee, where Old Nathan is his area's "cunning man"--real rural American talk for "wizard."

Nathan was horribly injured in the Revolution, his consolation being he can talk with animals and do quite a bit of conjuring. He faces opponents and problems with a grave, resigned aplomb and a good deal of grumbling, and comes to an end you will not expect.

Very recommended.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not ten pages, despite what Goodreads says - more like 150 pages. The eponymous character is by turns heroic, cunning, despicable and pitiable. His folksy 1800's dialect can be irritating at times, but it's believable, as are his neighbours. Some of his interactions, particularly with animals, are really satisfying, the adventures are exciting and the end is brilliant.

[Dayl Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good story. Read it while I was stuck in the hospital recovering from an illness. I'm still undecided about David Drake, but reading this give him big brownie points with me. It's a short book, only 149 pages long, but it does a lot with those 149 pages. Don't pay any attention to the cover; though pretty, it has nothing to do with the story save for telling you the book is about magic.
Old Nathan is a wizard in Tennessee in the late 1820's to early 1830's. The book looks at a year in his life and five adventures he has. Instead of chapters, the book is divided up into five short stories that are chronological and obviously interconected through the characters of Old Nathan and the Ransden family. The characters are three dimensional and it is easy to care for them. Also, I really enjoyed how Drake described the Old Nathan's magic in the book.
Though there were many positivies, there were a few negatives. Mainly, I wasn't that crazy about the mention of the Devil (sometimes refered to as Satan and other names in the book) frequently in the book. Made me feel uneasy. Also, Old Nathan couldn't pray to or believe in God, so this too did not sit well with me. There are two words used in the book that I was shocked at and anyone who would use them in public is asking for a beating. Finally, the dialogue was written phonetically, so it is a little hard to follow at times (yet gives the story a feeling of actually being there in the story).
In conclusion, I think the book is certainly worth reading, especially if you like stories about wizards or magic users. Good characters, good premise, interesting setting for a wizard, yet it works. Fun ending too.

[Eric Tanafon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed 'Old Nathan' more than anything I've read in quite a while. These stories were such a pleasure to read, I'm buying a print edition as well as the e-book, which is currently free on Amazon. I liked the Silver John stories, but these are even better. Old Nathan is gruff and bitter, a Revolutionary War veteran and do-good curmudgeon who helps people with their supernatural troubles as long as he's paid (but doesn't ask for much). One of his powers is that he can speak to and understand animals, and this makes for some great comic passages--colorful rather than cutesy; think Uncle Remus for adults. The dialogue gets a bit crude at times...but hey, they're animals, so what do you expect?

I loved the use of southern dialect here. It seems that's off-putting for some readers, but it's really not that hard to understand, and if you're interested in language, it's a delight. I thought the magic in the stories was plausible, using the 'like to like' principle. Also, though Nathan calls himself 'the Devil's master', there's no overt Christianity as there is in Silver John. Instead, Nathan carries on the tradition of 'cunning men' or 'fairy doctors', and acts more like a shaman.

Oh, and the good characters here tend to come out all right, while the bad ones...well, let's just say they get what's coming to them. What could be better?

[Rich · Rating 4 out of 5]

David Drake, best known for his military sci-fi, in particular the Hammer's Slammers series, sets his Americana fantasy in the Tennessee backwoods, featuring an old wizard/warlock/cunning man known only as Old Nathan.

Just like Orson Scott Card's Tales of Alvin Maker, Drake uses American folk myth and folk magic as one of the central facets in this collection of five novellas--30 to 50 pages each--featuring Old Nathan. Going whole hog on the Americana theme, Drake also writes the dialogue using the vernacular and pronunciations of the time and region.

In short, each story focuses on a person who comes to Old Nathan needing some help of his particular abilities, to the final one where he knows something is wrong and goes to search out the cause of the problem.

The stories build on one another to the culminating one, which presents a bittersweet ending.

Some have complained about the vernacular and pronunciations, but for me, they only presented a minor problem that I overcame withint a few minutes. They add to the authenticity. The end is surprising and bittersweet, but full of hope as well. Too bad the end didn't allow for any follow-ups. I would have loved to see Drake explore more of this world.

[Dolf Wagenaar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Over dit boek had ik gemengde gevoelens. De schrijfstijl was misschien technisch gezien goed, maar sprak me niet aan, het deed me wat aan de sobere macho-stijl van Hemingway denken en daar houd ik niet van. Aan de andere kant had het hoofdpersonage, Old Nathan, juist ook zachte en sympathieke kanten wat ik dan weer fijn vond.
De verhalen zijn los te lezen, maar vormen samen ook één geheel, en dat werkte goed. Ik vond de verhalen zelf niet allemaal even goed. De eerste vond ik het minst, de twee daarna redelijk en de laatste twee goed. De setting sprak mij ook niet zo aan (ook een kwestie van smaak): het platteland van Tennessee in begin 19e eeuw; met name het gepraat in dialect vond ik afleiden omdat dat lastiger te lezen is. De fantastische elementen (de magie, het kunnen verstaan van dieren, enkele Lovecraftiaanse elementen) vond ik dan wel weer origineel en goed werken.
Alles bij elkaar dus een boek met verschillende kanten; het is in elk geval origineel, maar je moet ervan houden.

[YouKneeK · Rating 3 out of 5]

This here were one uv the strangest fant’sy books I’ve ever read. Sort uv a country-western tale with a bit of magic. Now I ain’t much uv a fan uv thet country-western stuff, so I had some trouble gettin’ into the book et first. This is rilly more a collection uv five related stories thin one single story. The stories started off plum silly, what with the main plot uv the first one bein’ about a bullfight an’ all. But them characters, they stuck in my head they did. Most times I put down the book, I’d hear myself thinkin’ in their blasted dialect instead uv my own fer a while after. At first I thought it like to drive me mad, but after a while I decided it didn’t signify.

The stories, they got more entertainin’ as they went along. Or maybe I jes’ went mad and thought they did. I laughed myself silly et some uv the dialogue ‘tween the cunning man and his animals. Yes, you heard me right, dialogue between a man and animals. If that don’t jes’ take the cake! I couldn’t quite decide ‘tween three stars or four. Three an’ a half would be more fittin', I’m thinkin’. This book were far better than I thought it'd be when I first started it, but I can’t say as I enjoyed it as much as other books I would give four stars so I went with three. Iffen yer lookin’ for somethin’ unique, this book might be jes’ the thing.

(If trying to read my review was really annoying, you might find this book annoying too. However, maybe not AS annoying. The author did it WAY better than I did!)

[Diarmuid O'Sullivan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating, character driven fantasy

This is the kind of book that I often hear fans of the fantasy genre claiming they want - a well written, character driven story in a unique fantasy setting with a soft magic system that doesn't follow the typical heroic journey story arc. I will certainly be recommending this book when I hear that from now on.

The setting is a poor rural community in an early post-colonial America where the supernatural is real. The main character is a curmudgenly old man that quickly grows on the reader despite his misanthropy. The story follows a series of events that feel almost episodic while maintaining a consistent narrative texture. All together, this creates a very unique fantasy that is a joy to dive into.

My favorite part of this book is the dialogue. Its presented in a phonetic vernacular that is consistent, readable and novel. It adds a great deal of depth to the setting and makes the characters feel more real and alive. It certainly drew me into the character's world.

David Drake is a well known author, but from a little before my time. I've certainly seen his books in stores and had them recommended by a variety of sources. I look forward to reading more by him in the future and encourage everyone to give this book a shot.

[Raquel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to quit this book so many times but am cursed with an affliction of being tormented by abandoned books.

I liked the ending. It had a good twist, but getting there wasn't worth it for me. The dialog is written in a "phonetic" vernacular that makes it really miserable to read. You don't find out till the middle of he book that its set in central TN which would have helped immensely with deciphering the generated spellings of words.

It's written as a series of loosely related, but independent events. Like a series of short stories. I found the style interesting as well s elements of the story, but ultimately, it didn't do anything for me besides nag my conscience hat I hadn't finished it.

[Drachenkatze · Rating 1 out of 5]

Meh. I don't mind a little bit of slang here and there. In this book though no one was able to speak a sentence that didn't look like someone kicked over a bucket of letters and left the spelling like that. That annoyed me more and more. Neither the protagonists nor the story could keep me from leaving this book.

[Randy Paty · Rating 1 out of 5]

Meh... I've had better. The weird Tennessean dialect was distracting at best.

[John Allgood · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting book that appears to be a series of short stories merged into a book. An interesting blend of magic and the early American frontier.

[John Adams · Rating 2 out of 5]

A somewhat fun, but mostly unsurprising, series of episodes about an old wizard in the backwoods of the antebellum south.

[Steven · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tales of an old cunning man...

This book was dedicated to Manly Wade Wellman. And for a good reason. The tales were strongly influenced by Wellman, what with wild mountain magic and all. Liked that book when I’ve read it the first time. Now that I’ve read it again, perhaps to refresh my memory. The Bull is the first one I remembered but not all of it, but do recall its ending. Animals are plenty talkative. The rest I didn’t recall too good. But still, there are creepy moments, the stuff dark fantasies are made from. Old Nathan is not the type to turn your back on, nor to cross. But, he’ll help whenever fate has determined so. There are moments of irony as well. Like Wellman’s John the Balladeer stories as well as Thunstone and others, Old Nathen is definitely for you.

[Lee Pfahler · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first time reading any work by this author and strangely enough and sad too, the author died during the time I was reading it (12/10/23). This collection of long stories was very different to me than the typical fantasy that I read and what's probably the more common fantasy so I was intrigued by it for that main reason. And I enjoyed it a lot. Of course Drake is most known for military SF and some other fantasies he's written and now that I've read this work I may just try some of his better known works.

[Gaylord · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unexpected pleasure

A far cry from the military fiction David Drake wrote that placed him amongst my favorite authors. You will be immersed in a time in young America very different from dry historical explanations of post revolution times. The tales seem to be a collection of short stories at first.in the end a full tale emerges with a reward the protagonist never dreamt. Enjoy this well crafted tale.

[Bernadette Hutton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Don't let the language put you off

Took a bit to get into. The language is not proper English all the time but with a little practice you can understand it. A bit strange as I could not work out where this is meant to take place of when. I liked the madness within the book which ultimately lead to goodness.

[Michael D Wardren · Rating 5 out of 5]

silver John with an attitude

This novel was absolutely wonderful. Moments throughout of amazing conflict and sacrifice, one of the most human characters I've seen in literature, and an ending that jumps straight out of the stories I heard as a kid in West Virginia. Old Nathan is the devil's master, and the subject of a fine book to boot.

[saintlouis · Rating 5 out of 5]

WOW! I have read many of David Drake’s stories over the years, this is quite a departure from his military science fiction. Old Nathan is part sage and part madmen. You are never sure which is who… He is a very believable character with wisdom and witt.
I was intrigued by this excursion into the strange. Best read of the year.

[Ralph B Tacoma · Rating 5 out of 5]

A satisfying book by a excellent writer.

David Drake has been one of my favorite authors for many years. Old Nathan proves he can write in almost any genre. I hope he will write more of this type of story, curling in and around to a satisfying conclusion.

[Robert Colthar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review

I really enjoyed this book.It has an excellent plot and storyline.Thoroughly enjoyed the characters both protagonists and the antagonists. All in all a very entertaining read!

[Ron · Rating 3 out of 5]

Drake's tribute to his friend Manley Wade Wellman. A decent tale of a magical American frontier.

[David H.]

Why I didn't finish this: I wasn't feeling it. Not sure if I'd try again.

[Julian Orozco, Jr. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great read. Old foes, good vs. evil as black and white magic go into battle again. Great story and easy to get sucked into the story.

[charles whitcomb · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good story

Original writing. The mountain dialect is a bit hard to follow but a fun read anyway. It is several stories revolved around one character.