New Kid On Deck

by Justin Somper

Published 7 March 2024
The year is 2507. The oceans have risen.

A new dawn of piracy has begun.

Jacoby Blunt and Jasmine Peacock are students at the elite Pirate Academy.

This is no ordinary school!

Lessons range from Knots Class and Sailing to Combat Workshop… The teachers are all pirate legends… The pressure is always on.... Friendship is everything.

When a new kid, the mysterious Neo Splice, arrives, everything changes FAST. Suddenly the dangers are no longer simply out on the oceans but right here, amongst them. In the face of real peril, the students of Barracuda class must put everything they have learned to the test against a ruthless and seemingly unstoppable new enemy.

Welcome to Pirate Academy – once you step through the door you won’t ever want to leave!

Cover and interior art by Teo Skaffa

Missing at Sea

by Justin Somper

Published 1 July 2024
The whole of Pirate Academy is abuzz with anticipation for the upcoming Oceans Bound weekend. It’s the first time the young pirate apprentices of Barracuda Class will set sail as five independent crews – with no teacher oversight! Excitement reaches fever-pitch as Commodore Kuo and Captain Salt reveal which of the fifteen Barracudas will act as captains for Oceans Bound. Jacoby is devastated when he isn’t picked, which makes things difficult for Jasmine when she is chosen. But worse, much worse, is in store, when Jasmine is told that her Uncle Noah – a ringleader of the League of True Pirates – has, against all odds, broken out of the Pirate Federation’s maximum security prison. Fearing that he will try to make contact with Jasmine, the Head and Deputy give Jasmine the chance to opt out of Oceans Bound. But Jasmine is not about to let her renegade uncle ruin everything.

The five Barracuda crews set sail with hope and adventure in their hearts, beginning a complex trail of tasks, each delivered to its crew via a note in a coloured glass bottle. For one crew, the tasks quickly become much more dangerous. As they bravely navigate poisonous snakes, venomous spiders, sharks and skulls, it becomes clear that someone else is now in control of Oceans Bound. It’s going to take everything they’ve got for our plucky young pirates to complete the course and triumph against their fiendish enemy.