Reddit mentions of Quarter Share: Golden Age of the Solar Clipper

Nathan Lowell's books have a different feel to them. I don't think I have read anything of his I didn't like. Try one. The audio books are available for free for the entire series. Pod Cast Link

• Solar Clipper Trader Tales by Nathan Lowell (Quarter Share, Half Share, Full Share, Double Share, A Light in the Dark, [Captain's Share](https://www.google.com/#q=Nathan Lowell AND Captain's Share), Owner's Share))

Quarter Share and its sequels by Nathan Lowell are pretty good. No battles or wars, but good stories and characters. Courtesan by D. A. Boulter is also a good read.

The Master and Commander Series by Patrick O'Brian
(good seafaring adventure)

if you're into scifi,
Quarter Share by Nathan Lowell is like the above, except in space.

Most of these are just (free) audiobooks at this point in time, but are excellent Sci Fi stories IMO.

Nathan Lowell

The Golden Age of the Solar Clipper: A Trader's Tale details the story of a young man who is orphaned and kicked off his home planet, into the arms of the trader ship Lois McKendrick. I'd say it's a wonderful start for someone who normally doesn't read Sci Fi, because it focuses so much on his life. You'll be hard-pressed to believe that there aren't people who spend months at a time hauling goods between the stars.

• Quarter Share (print)
  
• Half Share
  
• Full Share
  
• Double Share
  
• Captain's Share
  
  Christiana Ellis
  
  Space Casey is the comedy of this whole bunch. More along the lines of a radio program, it's set in space, with the wily young Casey, her stolen ship Al, and their pet, uh.. thing. A very enjoyable story, and a good laugh!
  
  
• Space Casey
  
  Jon Armstrong
  
  Grey is set in about the strangest world you can imagine, where fashion, celebrity culture, and gore are commonplace. The pull of society on Michael Rivers sends him on an impossible quest to win the hand of his beloved Nora and find out the secret of his birth.
  
  
• Grey (print)
  
  Bill DeSmedt
  
  Here we're getting into the heavier stuff, and trust me when I say you're going to learn a lot. Singularity surrounds the mystery of the Tunguska event of 1908, and the implications aren't pretty. One of the few time travel stories I find plausible.
  
  
• Singularity (print)
  
• Doctor Jack's Soapbox Seminars (not a sci fi story, but a series of lectures on the science behind Singularity)
  
  J.C. Hutchins
  
  7th Son is getting more into the horror/thriller genre, but I'd say it's no less Sci Fi. Cloning, mind copying, secret DARPA projects, conspiracies, the list goes on and on.
  
  
• 7th Son: Descent (print)
  
• 7th Son: Deceit
  
• 7th Son: Destruction
  
  
  
  Edit: found some print copies

Wow...I have just the thing for you =). Quarter Share by Nathan Lowell. This started out as a podcast or something. At first I thought the story was a little amateurish, but I ended up really liking it and it is exactly what you describe wanting.

EDIT: If want something more hard hardcorish, check out Alastair Reynolds, Revelation Space series.

Nathan Lowell's Solar Clipper series (start with Quarter Share) fits the bill perfectly. The protagonist is practically a Mary Sue, but it's actually quite refreshing to have a character who has no flaws and for whom everything goes right.