By day, Nathan P. Butler is an educator in the metro Atlanta area. As the Social Studies Lead Teacher for his county’s online program (since Jan. 2015), he teaches full-time online and leads a team of other full-time online educators, along with a growing number of part-time and hybrid online/traditional teachers. Prior to this, he spent over 12 years (Aug. 2002 – Dec. 2014) teaching in a traditional classroom.
Butler is also a writer (when time permits). His first professional work was the story “Equals and Opposites” (featuring Kyle Katarn) in the pages of Star Wars Tales #21, an anthology comic in the Star Wars “Legends” continuity published by Dark Horse Comics in 2004. (That comic later received a Hasbro “Comic Pack,” featuring two action figures based on his story.) He also later contributed to the saga’s Legends continuity by assisting with dated battle maps for Jason Fry and Dan Wallace’s Star Wars: The Essential Atlas.
His other fiction works include two official novellas (Healers and Hunters and On Red Soil) for Decipher’s WARS trading card game universe, an original “time travel and telepaths” novel (Greater Good) that was most recently published with his murder mystery (with a sci-fi twist) novella Echoes in a single volume from Arcbeatle Press, and short stories in the universe of Jim Wylder’s 10,000 Dawns franchise (in the pages of the 10,000 Dawns: Poor Man’s Iliad anthology).
His non-fiction writing includes his extensive, unofficial collector’s guide A Saga on Home Video: A Fan’s Guide to U .S. Star Wars Home Video Releases (1st Ed. in 2017, 3-volume 2nd Ed. in 2021). He has also contributed essays to Sequart’s three Star Wars essay anthologies, along with Sequart’s Blade Runner essay anthology. He has also written for Movie Magic magazine and G.T. Carlton’s The Star Wars Super Collector’s Wish Book, 4th Ed.
Butler was an avid Star Wars podcaster for 18 years (2002 – 2020), starting before the term “podcast” actually existed. At the time of his retirement from podcasting, he was the longest-running continuous Star Wars podcaster. Among his other audio works are numerous Star Wars fan audio dramas, including the first serious (non-parody) Star Wars fan audio drama to be released online, Second Strike, which premiered on Christmas Day 2002. Beginning in Sept. 2003, Butler ran StarWarsFanworks.com as a hub for Star Wars fan audio, until eventually diminishing and finally shutting down that aspect of the website within the last years of the 2010s as the hobby became far more decentralized.
From 1997 – 2018, Butler maintained The Star Wars Timeline Gold (formerly The Star Wars Timeline Project), the single most comprehensive Star Wars chronology document available anywhere as of its final edition in 2018. At over 3,000 pages, it remains unequaled in Star Wars fandom.
Butler launched his YouTube channel in 2011, and his primary series, From the Star Wars Home Video Library launched in 2013. He also maintains a Patreon, where supporters are able to access exclusive audio commentaries and monthly Q&A videos.
He lives in the southwest Atlanta metro area with his wife, toddler son, and cat. He can usually be found working in his home office (and Star Wars collection room) in service to his students as his son plays the hours away nearby.