Arrr! This here deal be a right steal!

Amazon is offering the Kindle version of Hunt for the Hydra for just $1.99 through mid-June. This is a great way to dive into the Jupiter Pirates books, so please tell your friends!

And as an added bonus, folks can now download the short story “The Trouble With Crimps” right here for free. And the paperback version of Curse of the Iris includes the first chapter of The Rise of Earth, out June 14.

Curse of the Iris, the second book in the Jupiter Pirates series, is now out in paperback.

As a bonus, the paperback edition includes the first chapter of The Rise of Earth, which will be released next month. It’ll be here soon!

If you missed it, we’ve also added the complete Spacer’s Lexicon here on the official site — brush up on your outer-space terminology, from “abaft” to “yaw.”

And if you’re a member of the Crew, you can read the short story “The Trouble With Crimps” and other fun stuff. The Crew is the Jupiter Pirates mailing list — if you’re not a member, join here. Within an hour, you’ll get a link to access the short story and more Crew offerings.

We’re kicking off a busy spring with a new short story — “The Trouble With Crimps” is set between Hunt for the Hydra and Curse of the Iris, and crimps play a role in The Rise of Earth as well. Read the story and you’ll see why Yana detests crimps as thoroughly as she does. Plus you’ll get a closer look at some of the spacers who live and work belowdecks on the Shadow Comet.

“The Trouble With Crimps” is a free PDF that you can read online or download. It’s free for members of the Crew, the Jupiter Pirates mailing list. If you’re not a member, you can join up here. Within the hour, you’ll get a link to access the story and other Crew exclusives.

There’s more to come this spring:

• Curse of the Iris comes out in paperback on May 17, and includes a preview of The Rise of Earth.
• The Rise of Earth comes out in hardback and electronic form on June 14.

I hope everyone enjoys “The Trouble With Crimps,” and I can’t wait to share The Rise of Earth with everybody in a couple of months.

You can see it here as part of this interview with Jason at Eleven-ThirtyEight. Tom Lintern is back with another terrific cover. Don’t miss the interview, as it offers some hints about what’s to come in The Rise of Earth next June, a discussion of the Jupiter Pirates series in general, and some talk about some space-fantasy series called … Star Wars?

The Rise of Earth hits bookstores June 14, 2016, but look for a special Jupiter Pirates short story in December.

More to come soon!

Here’s a new review of Hunt for the Hydra that made me happy, from Fantasy Book Critic. An excerpt:

What is truly amazing about Hunt for the Hydra is the relationships between all the characters. First, there are adults who are actively involved with their children’s lives. The parents know what is going on, are sought for help with problems, and truly care about the well-being of their children. There is even a ‘kooky’ grandpa who is part robot, who seems a little out there, but can be counted on at times to tell it like it is and listen to the main character when he needs to talk about issues.

Parental figures tend to be downplayed in middle grade fiction in an effort to appeal to the target audience. It was nice to see active, involved parents who aren’t hovering over the main characters, but are there to support, guide, and nurture them.

I like that because I wanted The Jupiter Pirates to be a series about families, but one without “convenient orphans.” Convenient orphans are a trope of all heroic fiction, but one that’s particularly common in kids’ books – and that I felt we could use a break from.

The Hashoones have their problems as a family – Tycho discovers that in Curse of the Iris, and things get really bad in The Rise of Earth (that’s Book 3 of the series, coming soon) – but Tycho isn’t an orphan. He’s a member of a family with strong-willed personalities, deep-rooted traditions and very definite expectations. I wanted the pressures and complications Tycho and his siblings face to reflect that, and it’s gratifying to see a reviewer respond to it.

News (well sort of): I’m working on a Jupiter Pirates short story that I hope will appear this summer. Members of The Crew will get the first crack at reading it, so if you’re not a member, sign up today! I also hope to have news about a publication date for The Rise of Earth soon, so keep watching this space!