The Leaky Battery Sets Sail (Adventures of the Steampunk Pirates)

As the pirate vessel, the Leaky Battery, scours the oceans in search of booty, it comes across Admiral Fussington’s ship, forcing it to surrender. The pirate crew, with Captain Clockheart in charge, are after gold – as much as they can plunder. But these are no ordinary pirates: the only human among them is Pendle, the cabin boy, who bears an uncanny resemblance to Fussington’s runaway daughter. They are robots – fashioned from scraps of metal, nuts, bolts and clockwork bits – whose body parts, now rusting, need replacing. On hearing their predicament, Fussington suggests they visit the famous alchemist on Snake Island, who can turn scrap metal into gold. Just then, the Iron Duke comes to Fussington’s rescue with his towering battleships, so triggering an adventure of attack and counterattack, complicity and treachery, as Captain Clockheart battles the joint forces of Fussington and the Iron Duke – and sets off for Snake Island.

The story – the first in a series – has many threads, weaving dialogue and flashbacks, puns and author interjections into the telling. The characters are entertaining and well developed, and much of the story focuses on their interactions and ambitions, their origins and the mechanisms by which they function. Lively and action-packed, with an original take on the pirate theme, the story also provides the inspiration for work on STEM subjects.