Hunt For The Hydra

A family of space privateers becomes embroiled in a solar system-wide conspiracy, all while the three siblings compete to determine who will become the next captain of the ship when their mother steps down.

Treasure Island meets Battlestar Galactica in book one of the swashbuckling sci-fi adventure series SLJ called "space opera in the classic style" in a starred review, from New York Times bestselling author Jason Fry. The relationship between Tycho Hashoone, his twin sister, Yana, and their older brother, Carlo, isn't your average sibling rivalry. They might be crew members together aboard the Shadow Comet, but only one of them can be the next ship captain. So when the Hashoones find themselves in the midst of a dangerous conspiracy—one that will pit them against space pirates, Earth diplomats, and even treachery from within the family—each sibling is desperate to prove his or her worth. The only trouble is, if they don't work together, none of them may make it out alive. Perfect for fans of fantasy adventures like Ranger's Apprentice and such space-age epics as Star Wars, The Jupiter Pirates: Hunt for the Hydra is a wholly original saga about a galaxy on the brink of war and one unforgettable family caught in the cross fire. Don't miss the action-packed sequel, Curse of the Iris.

Treasure Island meets Battlestar Galactica in book one of the swashbuckling sci-fi adventure series SLJ called "space opera in the classic style" in a starred review, from New York Times bestselling author Jason Fry. The relationship between Tycho Hashoone, his twin sister, Yana, and their older brother, Carlo, isn't your average sibling rivalry. They might be crew members together aboard the Shadow Comet, but only one of them can be the next ship captain. So when the Hashoones find themselves in the midst of a dangerous conspiracy—one that will pit them against space pirates, Earth diplomats, and even treachery from within the family—each sibling is desperate to prove his or her worth. The only trouble is, if they don't work together, none of them may make it out alive. Perfect for fans of fantasy adventures like Ranger's Apprentice and such space-age epics as Star Wars, The Jupiter Pirates: Hunt for the Hydra is a wholly original saga about a galaxy on the brink of war and one unforgettable family caught in the cross fire. Don't miss the action-packed sequel, Curse of the Iris.

An Alpha Legion warband goes an epic quest for salvation that will pit them against both the Word Bearers and the Inquisition in a thrilling science fiction adventure. In the hostile universe of the 41st millennium, where allegiances are ever fickle, few of the Emperor’s sons are more difficult to understand or predict than the Alpha Legion. Branded traitor since the Heresy, their motives and actions have always been shrouded in mystery. Alpha Legionnaire Occam the Untrue leads his warband out of its hunting grounds in the Maelstrom on an epic quest for salvation, not just for himself, but for his whole Legion. With the forces of the Inquisition snapping at their heels, Occam and his followers must use all their guile and considerable martial prowess as they make their way to the cold heart of the galaxy, to a confrontation that no one, least of all Occam himself, could have foreseen.

“A zingy, buoyant adventure.” —BCCB “A wildly inventive fantasy.” —Booklist Thirteen-year-old chef Lailu Loganberry must stop a war between the elves and scientists in this follow-up to A Dash of Dragon, which Kirkus Reviews calls “a recipe for success.” It’s the Week of Masks, a festival held to chase away evil spirits. But Lailu doesn’t have time to worry about demons. She has bigger fish to fry—or rather, griffons, now that she’s been asked to prepare a mystical feast for the king’s executioner, Lord Elister. Unfortunately Lailu’s meal is overshadowed by the scientists’ latest invention: automatons, human-shaped machines that will respond to their masters’ every order. Most people are excited by the possibilities, but the mechanical men leave Lailu with a bad taste in her mouth. Even worse, the elves still blame the scientists for the attacks on them weeks ago, and Lailu worries that the elves might be cooking up revenge. So when she and her sorta-rival-turned-almost-friend Greg stumble across the body of a scientist, the elves are the prime suspects. With help from Greg, her best friend Hannah, and the sneaky, winking spy Ryon, Lailu has to discover the truth behind the murder, and soon—because hostilities between the elves and the scientists are about to boil over faster than hydra stew. And just ask any chef: war is bad for business.

Cat thought the Hydra epidemic was over, but when new cases pop up, she must team up with an enemy to fix the vaccine before the virus spirals out of control in this thrilling sequel to This Mortal Coil, which New York Times bestselling author Amie Kaufman says “redefines ‘unputdownable.’” The nightmare of the outbreak is finally over, but Cat’s fight has only just begun. Exhausted, wounded, and reeling from revelations that have shaken her to her core, Cat is at a breaking point. Camped in the woods with Cole and Leoben, she’s working day and night, desperate to find a way to stop Lachlan’s plan to reprogram humanity. But she’s failing—Cat can’t even control her newly regrown panel, and try as she might to ignore them, she keeps seeing glitching visions from her past everywhere she turns. When news arrives that the Hydra virus might not be as dead as they’d thought, the group is pushed into an uneasy alliance with Cartaxus to hunt down Lachlan and fix the vaccine. Their search takes them to Entropia, a city of gene-hackers hidden deep in the desert that could also hold the answers about Cat’s past that she’s been searching for. But when confronted with lies and betrayals, Cat is forced to question everything she knows and everyone she trusts. And while Lachlan is always two steps ahead, the biggest threat to Cat may be the secrets buried in her own mind.

From the creator of the popular blog The Monsters Know What They’re Doing comes a compilation of villainous battle plans for Dungeon Masters. In the course of a Dungeons & Dragons game, a Dungeon Master has to make one decision after another in response to player behavior—and the better the players, the more unpredictable their behavior! It’s easy for even an experienced DM to get bogged down in on-the-spot decision-making or to let combat devolve into a boring slugfest, with enemies running directly at the player characters and biting, bashing, and slashing away. In The Monsters Know What They’re Doing, Keith Ammann lightens the DM’s burden by helping you understand your monsters’ abilities and develop battle plans before your fifth edition D&D game session begins. Just as soldiers don’t whip out their field manuals for the first time when they’re already under fire, a DM shouldn’t wait until the PCs have just encountered a dozen bullywugs to figure out how they advance, fight, and retreat. Easy to read and apply, The Monsters Know What They're Doing is essential reading for every DM.

What brought the ape out of the trees, and so the man out of the ape, was a taste for blood. This is how the story went, when a few fossils found in Africa in the 1920s seemed to point to hunting as the first human activity among our simian forebears—the force behind our upright posture, skill with tools, domestic arrangements, and warlike ways. Why, on such slim evidence, did the theory take hold? In this engrossing book Matt Cartmill searches out the origins, and the strange allure, of the myth of Man the Hunter. An exhilarating foray into cultural history, A View to a Death in the Morning shows us how hunting has figured in the western imagination from the myth of Artemis to the tale of Bambi—and how its evolving image has reflected our own view of ourselves. A leading biological anthropologist, Cartmill brings remarkable wit and wisdom to his story. Beginning with the killer-ape theory in its post–World War II version, he takes us back through literature and history to other versions of the hunting hypothesis. Earlier accounts of Man the Hunter, drafted in the Renaissance, reveal a growing uneasiness with humanity’s supposed dominion over nature. By delving further into the history of hunting, from its promotion as a maker of men and builder of character to its image as an aristocratic pastime, charged with ritual and eroticism, Cartmill shows us how the hunter has always stood between the human domain and the wild, his status changing with cultural conceptions of that boundary. Cartmill’s inquiry leads us through classical antiquity and Christian tradition, medieval history, Renaissance thought, and the Romantic movement to the most recent controversies over wilderness management and animal rights. Modern ideas about human dominion find their expression in everything from scientific theories and philosophical assertions to Disney movies and sporting magazines. Cartmill’s survey of these sources offers fascinating insight into the significance of hunting as a mythic metaphor in recent times, particularly after the savagery of the world wars reawakened grievous doubts about man’s place in nature. A masterpiece of humanistic science, A View to a Death in the Morning is also a thoughtful meditation on what it means to be human, to stand uncertainly between the wilderness of beast and prey and the peaceable kingdom. This richly illustrated book will captivate readers on every side of the dilemma, from the most avid hunters to their most vehement opponents to those who simply wonder about the import of hunting in human nature.

Star Wars meets Treasure Island in Book 3 of the swashbuckling sci-fi adventure series School Library Journal called “space opera in the classic style” in a starred review, from New York Times bestselling author Jason Fry. For Tycho Hashoone and his family, space privateering is more than a business—it’s a way of life. Now that the Jovian Union needs their help more than ever, their way of life is about to get a lot more complicated. Earth is preparing to mount an arms race, and it seems they’ve started recruiting privateers of their own. Meanwhile, the Ice Wolves of Saturn are still on the offensive, and their ruthless tactics make them look like the pirates of old. Trapped between two formidable foes, the Jovian Union has asked for all hands on deck—and that includes the Hashoones and their ship, the Shadow Comet. The stage has been set for a showdown on the Cybele asteroids, a place where neutrality is for sale and friends always go to the highest bidder. With so many players vying for power, Tycho will have to decide once and for all where his allegiances lie. Because the day when his mother will step down as ship captain is approaching fast—and the fate of much more than the Shadow Comet hangs in the balance.

Archie Morningstar learns a big family secret and helps save the universe. All before breakfast! It's not every day a regular kid like Archie gets to wake up at midnight. But today is Take Your Kid to Work Day, and Archie is finally allowed to ride along in his dad's taxi cab. He has been waiting eight years, eight months, and eight days for this moment to arrive. But he's about to discover his dad is no ordinary cab driver...In fact, he drives an intergalactic space taxi! All night long, he shuttles aliens from one corner of the universe to another. And being a space taxi copilot is no easy task: Archie must steer them into wormholes, keep them from crashing into planets, deal with a very unusual cat...and save the universe from an evil mastermind! Space Taxi marks the debut of a brand new chapter book series from New York Times bestselling author Wendy Mass and teacher Michael Brawer, filled with humor, adventure, and plenty of science to impress your friends and teachers!