Books published by publisher Thunderchild Publishing

Armed with only his grandfather’s coin and a fake ID, sixteen-year-old Neil Ericson is desperate to join the Air Force like his grandfather before him. A flip of that coin instead launches Neil into an academy onboard Space City beyond the moon. His first day on board, Neil befriends Riagan Byrne and together they take on the challenge of field exams set on desolate planets and the Academy Games, which are rife with serpent hawks capable of gutting them if they miss a step. One instructor has already remarked that in a few rare instances, particularly undesirable students are launched into outer space. A joke. Right?Despite the danger, Neil thinks he’s finally found a home and friends. Plus, he attracts the attention of the beautiful Maellyn Travena, even though his ability to talk to girls consists of noting that the moon is shrinking on their way to Mars. She probably thinks he’s an idiot now.But traitors within Space City are attempting to smuggle away its newest and most prized piece of tech to the Dahaka, a blood-eyed warring alien race. After stumbling into the plot, Neil is forced to risk the friendships and home he’s gained because if the traitors succeed, Space City will end up a husk, and he’ll be dead or stranded millions of miles from Earth.Jared Austin is a young adult science fiction author who lives in the Rocket City — Huntsville, Alabama. In Space City and the books in the series to follow, he hopes to show and inspire his daughter and son, as well as all of his readers, that science and technology are not dull subjects, but gateways to a brighter, exciting future.

Being the LOG of his adventures aboard divers FRIGATES; SLOOPS OF WAR; and other FIGHTING CRAFT of the UNITED STATES NAVY; together with an account of his captivity in, and escape from, the Islands of the BERMUDAS, during the late WAR with GREAT BRITAIN, 1812-1815.Wherein may be discovered to those of a NAUTICAL mind, sundry time-honored NAVAL CUSTOMS, and the ROUTINE observed aboard UNITED STATES MEN OF WAR. To the ADVENTUROUS, a recounting of gallant deeds of IRON men in WOODEN ships.MIDSHIPMAN DAVY JONES is a gripping, dramatic story of a boy midshipman during the War of 1812. Boys of twelve and fourteen were transplanted from civil life to become officers on our men o' war.The story is historically accurate in every detail. All naval battles, all ships, equipment, customs, rigging, etc., have been painstakingly checked for accuracy.Captain Raymond J. Toner USN (1908-1986) was born in Chicago. He attended the American Academy of Art in Chicago, as well as the Art Institute of Chicago. He also attended the United States Naval Academy Preparatory School, Annapolis, Maryland. During World War II he served as commander of ships on escort duty in the Atlantic and later transferred to the Pacific, where he commanded ships at Tarawa, Okinawa, Iwo Jima, the Philippines and other areas. During a typhoon in 1944 his ship rescued survivors from three destroyers. While on peacetime duty, Toner, who passed a special examination to qualify for a Tilden Tech diploma, earned bachelor and master’s degrees from Northwestern University, where he later taught. He also served in the Korean War, retiring in 1965 after 39 years in the Navy.

Summer meant freedom. An Escape from academic responsibilities.In this collection of tales, Escape becomes personal for some of the Space City Preparatory Academy students.Nico has created a flying Venice sim to explore, but when he discovers invisible monsters on the prowl, and a classmate hacks the sim as a prank, he finds surviving to the end a precarious prospect. Trini is reluctant to assist her aunt in handling an infectious disease outbreak among the natives on the planet Letos, but a near fatal encounter with what was believed to be a mythical creature forces her to re-examine her perspective. When his father is seriously injured during a hunting trip on a remote exomoon, it is up to Jiro to locate help, a dicey prospect when two rogue aliens pick up their trail. Dirk and Arielle believe they are in for a nice weekend hike until an ambitious town official wants to frame them for a crime they didn't commit during their summer-abroad diplomat training program. Cade hopes to enter the dangerous Tefnot sub race on Araxia, only to be sold into slavery for his troubles.For these six, Escape means not just survival, but choosing the futures they want, no matter the odds.Jared Austin is a young adult science fiction author who lives in the Rocket City — Huntsville, Alabama. In Space City and the books in the series to follow, he hopes to show and inspire his daughter and son, as well as all of his readers, that science and technology are not dull subjects, but gateways to a brighter, exciting future.

Lieutenant John Marshall Gamble has the distinction of being the only Marine officer in American history to command a U.S. ship in combat. Gamble is placed in command of a captured prize ship by Captain David Porter of the USS Essex during the famous raid by the Essex on the British whaling fleet in the Pacific during the War of 1812. Lt. Gamble fights the ship to capture another British whaler. He is then left in command of several prize ships at Nooaheeva, a tropical South Pacific island in the Marquesas, when the Essex leaves to look for more British ships. That is only the beginning of Gamble’s thrilling adventures that include mutiny, battles with the island tribes and extreme hardship in escaping across the South Pacific.Captain Raymond J. Toner USN (1908-1986) was born in Chicago. He attended the American Academy of Art in Chicago, as well as the Art Institute of Chicago. He also attended the United States Naval Academy Preparatory School, Annapolis, Maryland. During World War II he served as commander of ships on escort duty in the Atlantic and later transferred to the Pacific, where he commanded ships at Tarawa, Okinawa, Iwo Jima, the Philippines and other areas. During a typhoon in 1944 his ship rescued survivors from three destroyers. While on peacetime duty, Toner, who passed a special examination to qualify for a Tilden Tech diploma, earned bachelor and master’s degrees from Northwestern University, where he later taught. He also served in the Korean War, retiring in 1965 after 39 years in the Navy.

Four teen-agers find a time-ship on a lonely stretch of shore. It has just brought two travelers-in-time from the future. When they leave the ship, Clive, Mark, Carol and Jill climb in. The ship starts off and they are carried on through the centuries at breathless speed until it comes to rest in A.D. 2260 and they step out into an unrecognizable England.First the sea was pushed back to make room for the ever-increasing population, then cultivation was carried out in layers, with fields rising in tiers like giants' skyscrapers. The people are governed by an enormous electronic brain. The inhabitants of this extraordinary world plan to keep the children for ever, as "curiosities from the past". But the four escape and find their way to the time-ship. But the time-ship is not programed properly, and they overshoot their own era and return to 1960 B.C., coming to rest in the middle of a swamp inhabited by men of the Stone Age.These primitives are almost the last of their kind, for already Bronze Age warriors with superior weapons are overrunning them, and the children watch with awe a battle between the two opposing forces.Paul Capon (1912-1969) was a British novelist of considerable reputation. He had over twenty novels to his credit and counted film editing and script writing as part of his experience. He traveled extensively in Europe and made hobbies of chess, book-collecting and swimming.

With the galaxy at war, worlds on the fringes of civilization are easy targets for fortune-hunters and outlaws. One such frontier world is the planet Asterima. Orphans on that world are sent to a remote island until the age of sixteen, when a flying machine comes to take them away. David, one of the kids on that island, has many questions. "Where did we come from? How did we get here? Why is a year 340 days?" His trusted guardians have always provided answers, and he has usually believed them. But David is fourteen now, less than two years away from his own mandatory departure, and the answers to his questions are beginning not to add up. "Where are the kids taken when they turn sixteen? Why are they never heard from again? Why do they have to go away in the first place? Why do the men in the flying machines carry guns? "David started building wings because he wanted to fly. Now he builds them for another purpose--to fly away from the island before men with guns come for him. Will two years be enough time to perfect his wings and learn to fly? Or will the flying machine come early for him, as it did for another kid who asked questions and didn't believe the answers?Nelli Burk is a retired biology teacher. She derives inspiration from real life and from the scientific literature, as well as from the SF&F literature and media and from her own imagination. Other creative interests include knitting, costume construction, and folk dancing.

BLACKADDER is a book that has fascinated many thousands of young readers, both in this country and abroad. It has twice been broadcast as a radio serial play. An adventure story, there is about it a curious atmosphere of reality (some of it in fact did happen), and one can easily believe that there were such characters as Harry de Rohan and Tom Cathro, the gallant Lieutenant Butterfield and the fabulous Habbakuk McGuffie, and the compelling figure of the arch-villain, La Vipere Noire, Blackadder himself. The background of the tale is that of the Second Napoleonic War, and the young heroes and the heroine, Mignonne de Barbaroux, are involved in a thrilling series of adventures in England and France, culminating in a flight in one of the earliest types of flying machine. The tremendous climax takes place at the Battle of Trafalgar, with Nelson himself contributing to the final denouement. Altogether it is an unforgettable book, fully justifying in its style and atmosphere the very warm reception of the critics, one of whom hailed it as "a tale in the true tradition of Robert Louis Stevenson himself".

In the first of a new teenage science fiction series you’ll meet:Mel Oliver — the seventeen year old adventurer who stows away on a spaceship bound for Mars. On Earth he had fled from city to city, working odd jobs, because somebody he didn’t know tried to kill him. From one job to another danger followed until he finally decided to stowaway on a spaceship and go to some other planet where whoever or whatever was behind the mystery would never be able to find him. On board the ship he meets —Space Rover — one of the big, specially bred, intelligent collies who is hiding in the depths of a spaceship closet. For some unknown reason Space Rover has stowed away on the ship along with Mel. On the journey Mel and the dog meet two of the strangest persons on board the ship —Bolam Turino — the Martian strongman, raised on Earth, whose massive yard-wide body more than once stands between Mel and death during the rest of the trip and in the strange blister-cities on the Red Planet.Hakin — The marvelous Venusian Rubber Man with a body that can stretch until it is eight feet tall or contract so that it is shorter than the squat form of Bolam Turino. Hakin’s unique powers also are an invaluable aid to Mel in helping to unravel the mystery centering about the boy.When someone mysteriously releases the animals of the interplanetary circus on board the ship, Mel and Space Rover’s courage in helping to round up the ferocious animals is rewarded when they are adopted by the circus to work at a tumbling act. Practicing for the performance to be given on Mars, Mel meets some of the amazing creatures in the circus —Kabror — the comical, three-legged creature from another world with a very unusual means of protecting itself.The Robot — dressed like a man and used to train a huge Bengal tiger.Engrossed in the wonders of the circus, Mel has little idea that the spaceship is speeding him not only to the circus—performance on Mars, but also to the startling climax of the many mysterious attempts on his life.Mel Oliver and Space Rover on Mars, the first in a new series of teenage science fiction novels by William Morrison, is sure to be a favorite not only with young people, but also with those who are young no matter what their age.About the author: William Morrison was a pen name used by Joseph Samachson (1906-1980). He earned a Ph.D. in chemistry from Yale at the age of 23. He was an assistant professor at the College of Medicine, University of Illinois. He also headed a laboratory in metabolic research dealing with diseases that affect the skeleton. Samachson worked as a research chemist until 1938, leaving to become a fulltime writer. He worked as a technical writer but also wrote science fiction for the pulp magazines. In the early 1940s he wrote primarily for the comics. From that period, he is best known as the co-creator of the Martian Manhunter at DC but also created other characters like Zatara, Tomahawk and Two-gun Percy. In the 1950s he produced science fiction novels and many short stories and was a frequent contributor to major magazines like GALAXY. With his wife, he wrote books about various subjects, including the theater, music and ballet. He returned to biochemistry in 1953, eventually retiring in 1973 after five years as Associate Clinical Professor of biochemistry at Loyola University, Chicago.

In 1819, Hypolite Bouchard, a corsair with a license from the newly independent country of Argentina to harass Spain's possessions in the New World, decided to make a raid on the California colony. At this time, Monterey -- having successfully survived drought, famine, and the constant demands of Spain for taxes far beyond her due -- was probably the richest of the Alta California settlements. Knowing this, Bouchard and his men decided to strike a decisive blow for Argentina by sacking and burning Monterey. Loot in the form of gold, jewels, and plentiful food stores would mean not only riches for himself and his crew, but would replenish Argentina's none too lavish coffers.Young Miguel San Lucas Obanion y Boronda, Mike to his family and friends, is returning from the Orient with his uncle, Captain Roger Obanion of the merchant ship Boston Belle. They learn of Bouchard's plans on a stop in Hawaii and rush back to California to warn of the pirates' intent. Things go badly for the Boston Belle, though, and Mike becomes a prisoner of the pirates. Somehow, he must get free and lead a resistance against the invaders.This book is the true but almost unknown story of Bouchard's raid on Monterey. Hypolite Bouchard was a real person, as are many of the characters in the story. Others are people who might have been. They are fictitious, though many of the names used were actually present in California at the time. But it doesn't matter. Whether real or fictitious, people like these did exist then, in a land that was almost a heaven for a few years, until trouble fell so heavily on it.

"I hate it. I hate the running, the crawling. I hate watching the patrols hunt for those who would try to escape the alien domination. I hate my father for leading one more group of desperate helpless humans through the forest to the sea. I hate myself for following.""I have never known a country without alien overlords. Unlike my father, I have never ridden in an automobile or watched a television show. I am nineteen and the Mylecs have been here all my life."Ariel hated her life and then it got worse. Her father was killed by scags, the savage rejects from the invading Mylecs' experiments to produce alien-human-animal hybrids. Now his small group looked to her to lead them. She didn't want the responsibility but could not abandon them. Traveling south, they encountered a group of rebels led by Kilgo, the tall, exotically handsome hybrid who stirred feelings she had never experienced before. The next thing she knew, Ariel was the mediator of an alliance between hybrid and human rebels who planned to strike at the heart of the Mylec invaders.A thrilling story of struggle against overwhelming odds in a strange and dangerous world, CHROME HEART is also the story of a young woman's blossoming to meet challenges she never expected or wanted.Nancy G. Swanner is a realtor and a part-time flight instructor. She lives in Tanner, Alabama, with a plethora of animals and a ton of books. However, it is true that her early life was marred by servitude in a thermostat factory before running off to join the rodeo. Nancy is currently working on another science fiction novel. It brings much needed stability to her life.

A deadly fungal outbreak is spreading across Ourania. The Alfar failed to contain it. People are dying. Maellyn is recruited to lead a team of her fellow students to help find a cure.Meanwhile, Neil and Riagan learn of Mainyu’s return during a mission on Siavash, the Dahaka home planet. But for reasons they cannot fathom, the Space City Council will not go after the Dahaka leader, despite the attack he orchestrated against them. To make matters worse, scientists aboard Space City are secretly supporting the Dahaka.As they struggle to save lives, can they overcome the wedges their separate missions are driving between them before the consequences change their futures forever?Jared Austin is a young adult science fiction author who lives in the Rocket City — Huntsville, Alabama. With Space City, Escape, Space City Outbreak, and the books in the series to follow, he hopes to show and inspire his daughter and son, as well as all of his readers, that science and technology are not dull subjects, but gateways to a brighter, exciting future.

This story, set in what is now East Anglia, takes place during 449-451, after the departure of the Romans from Britain. During the Roman occupation, Mangan, a Briton, captured by a band of armed Romans, is forced to help bury several heavy treasure chests and then sold as a galley slave. Thirty years later, he regains his freedom and returns to East Anglia. But he is obsessed with the memory of the treasure which he helped to bury, and so, accompanied by his grandson, Cador, he sets out to try to find the place again so that the treasure can be used in the fight against the Huns, who are threatening to overrun the whole of Europe.The dangers Mangan and Cador face, and the difficulties they have to overcome make this a fast-moving and thrilling story.Paul Capon (1912-1969) was a British novelist of considerable reputation. He had over twenty novels to his credit and counted film editing and script writing as part of his experience. He traveled extensively in Europe and made hobbies of chess, book-collecting and swimming.