Four books on the shelf and two on the drafting table. The finished ones are on Amazon. The two in the works have a few pages lifted straight from the drafts — still work in progress, so words and pictures may change before print.
Available now
On the shelf
Insider Threat
Volumes I–VI · philosophy series
A six-volume philosophy series on embracing the inner i — the shadow within, and what it takes to live with it.
Choosing the Mission That Matches Your Material · Nathan G. Phillips
In production · author review
The tale of PC N8, a see-through cadet who wants to be seen, even if it means flying below the hard deck and beyond the flight envelope. Fourteen spreads, fourteen turns of the story. Then Part Two, the Test Bed: the real engineering behind every bend, sag and crack in the tale, in plain words, with the numbers crunched.
Format
Picture book · 7 × 10 in · full colour · 82 pages
Editions
Paperback and hardcover, through Amazon
Now
The read-through, and bigger type for easier reading
The story, start to finish Done
Pictures for all fourteen beats Done · touch-ups under way
Every page laid out, story and Test Bed Done
Read-through and type-size pass Now
Printed proof copies Next
On Amazon After the proofs
From the manuscript
A few pages from the draft
Welcome, Cadet
Every cadet here is made of something that matters — matter itself. Seven cadets, seven materials, seven personalities — the same seven families as the free Mind My Material test.
Every cadet flies one of six missions. Every airplane takes on the material properties and behaviors of whoever flies it. A plastic pilot flies a plastic airplane. A rubber pilot flies a rubber one — and yes, it bounces.
And one question matters most. Every cadet gets it on the first day:
What are you built for?
01 · Opening Image. “Night at iSAFA — the iSight Air Flight Academy. A see-through green cadet named PC N8 presses his face to the fence and looks up.” — page 18
WeatherAll
“At times, unplanned events will require a pilot to cross the hard deck. When you do, you report it. Hide it, and you’re grounded — not because you broke her, because you hid it. Integrity is being airworthy.”
Titan
“Tough plastic! You’ve got the calm for the heavies, PC. Come haul with us.”
It’s the one thing PC has waited his whole life to hear.
02 · Set-Up. “Dawn. The Academy teaches missions the way life does — by flying them.” — page 20
Part Two · The Test Bed · The Paper Clip
Bend a paper clip once — nothing. Bend it fifty times — it snaps in your fingers.
Nothing melted. Nothing was overloaded. The metal just got tired of being bent. That is fatigue, and it is the oldest enemy an airplane has.
A soda-can tale about buckling — and about who gets to say what is safe.
In development · storyboard
The story in one breath
Born into the privileged pack of a convenience store, a young soda can does her best to live up to its rules — until her little brother gets a dent, the pack’s Ceremony of Love comes for him, and she has sixty minutes outside the store to find out what buckling really is.
Format
Comic-style picture book · 32 pages planned
Now
Drawing the cast
Fourteen story beats, linked Done
A page-by-page plan for 32 pages Done
Character concepts Now
Finished art, beat by beat Next
Layout, proofs, print Later
Father Spright · the Store
“It is better to be recycled than to buckle.”
Pops · the Street
“You’ve got to LIKE yourself.”
The science under the story
Why a can buckles
In engineering, buckling is what happens when a column is squeezed harder than it can hold. It doesn’t crumble slowly; it suddenly bows and folds. A can is a thin column. How hard it can be squeezed before it buckles comes down to four things: how stiff its material is, the shape of its cross-section, how its ends are held, and how long it is. Engineers write it like this:
Pcr = π²EI ⁄ (KL)²
Pops teaches the same four letters as a code for living: LIKE.
L
Learn. Physics. Knowledge is freedom. Go on green, stop on red, look both ways.In the formula: L, the column’s length
I
Get outside your head. New places, new cans, new tricks.In the formula: I, the shape that resists bending
K
Self-care. Only you know what you need. Shake it off. Take some decompression time.In the formula: K, how well the ends are held
E
Commit. Stiffness and resolve. No half-rolls.In the formula: E, the material’s stiffness
From the drawing board
Concept art and pen storyboards
Concept art. Ora, Oro, Father Spright, Pops, the Lead Six Pack and Funstah. Not final.Concept art. Out on the Street, where the store cans are told never to go. Not final.Nate’s pen storyboard. The street crew: Funstah, Fan Van Cola, Nilla, Poke & Pezi.Nate’s pen storyboard. Inside the store, where the story starts.
