Alexander Hope is the hero of THE SEA LORD CHRONICLES, published in 2012.

Starting Friday and running over the next few days, FIRST VOYAGE: THE SEA LORD CHRONICLES is going to be free to Amazon Kindle readers. If you have a Kindle, please feel free to download. Enjoy! Post a review to let everyone know what you thought of the book!

While it’s nice to sell a few books, deep down all that writers really want is for someone to read our books. That’s why it can be very frustrating when a book I love and believe in just hasn’t caught on with readers.

I’ve been having this experience with FIRST VOYAGE: THE SEA LORD CHRONICLES.   Set during the Napoleonic era, it’s a great story with good characters that ends with an emotional cliffhanger. The twist is that this isn’t “straight-up” history as with my other books, because there is an element of magic and fantasy. And did I mention that it’s a book geared toward Young Adult/Teen readers?

The “official” description goes like this:

“First Voyage: The Sea Lord Chronicles” mixes the Napoleonic Wars in the Age of Sail, historical fantasy and a coming-of-age story for an exciting new sea adventure series.

When 14-year-old Alexander Hope is sent away by his stingy uncle to become a junior officer in the Royal Navy, he has never seen the sea. There are high expectations for Alexander, whose famous ancestor was Sir Algernon Hope, a sea elemental who defeated the Spanish Armada and saved England from invasion. England is once again fighting for survival, this time against the Emperor Napoleon.

Though he gets off to a rough start by getting seasick in port and making a bitter enemy, Alexander soon finds new confidence in himself and discovers that he may have inherited his heroic ancestor’s ability to command the sea.

As England—and the H.M.S. Resolution—struggle for survival against the forces of the Napoleonists, Alexander’s newfound ability could tip the balance of power.

Part of what makes the book special for me is that I collaborated on it with my son and daughter (teens themselves) and they gave me some great advice.

It’s all a little different from what I’ve written before and that’s probably working against the book. In the past, I’ve written about Civil War and World War II snipers, a plot to kidnap Abe Lincoln, a World War II thriller, and non-fiction histories. Even I have to admit that THE SEA LORD CHRONICLES is a departure from the usual path.

So I’m going to offer it for free for 5 days on Amazon in hopes that it will reach a wider audience and get noticed. With any luck, readers will post a few more reviews at Amazon, which will be payment enough.

I can’t really take credit for this idea, because I felt compelled to give it a try after reading J.A. Konrath’s blog. The Indie publishing ninja has noted that the free Kindle download (for a limited time) is worth a shot to give a book a boost and help get it noticed.

Here’s hoping for a fair wind for FIRST VOYAGE: THE SEA LORD CHRONICLES! Oh, and be sure to get your free copy over at Amazon!