User:Myosotis Scorpioides/Fledgling Jason Steed

Fledgling Jason Steed, otherwise known as Fledgling A Jason Steed Adventure, is the first novel in the Jason Steed young adult spy series by British author Mark A. Cooper. The book, about an 11-year-old martial arts expert, is notable for originally being a self-published internet hit. Fledgling and its sequel, Jason Steed: Boudica, were sold to Chicago-based publishing company Sourcebooks in May 2009. The firm repackaged and republished the first book on September 1, 2010, with the sequel published in 2011. The Turkish rights to the book were sold in August 2010.

The book
The original version of Fledgling A Jason Steed Adventure (ISBN-13: 9780741449344) was published in September 2008 by Infinity Publishing. The 214-page novel followed the life of British-born Jason Steed, from his tough babyhood to his adventures as an 11-year-old British Sea Cadet. Cooper originally wrote Jason Steed as an action/adventure story for his son but, after self-publishing the book, he was "stunned" at the positive reaction on the internet. .

The fictional father of Jason Steed, Royal Navy officer Raymond Steed, was written as a tribute to a real-life British war hero. Raymond Victor Steed was a galley boy on a Merchant Navy ship when it was blown up after hitting a German mine off the African coast on 26 April, 1943. Raymond, from Newport, was 14 years and 207 days old when he died - just five months after joining up. Raymond has been officially recognised by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission as the second youngest recorded fatality of the British service war dead.

The new version of Fledgling A Jason Steed Adventure (ISBN-13: 9781402239991) was "cut and edited" before republication by Sourcebooks. Mark A. Cooper said in a pre-launch interview: "My original version was unedited and longer. Some of the background scenes have been cut in the new version, to make the adventure run faster."

Joe Craig, award-winning author of the Jimmy Coates teen spy series, reviewed the new version in July 2010 and wrote: "The pace is unlike any thriller I’ve read before, while the period setting and the backstory built up around the characters mark it out as something different from other action adventure books for a young audience. Basically, you have to check out Fledgling: Jason Steed. He’ll win your heart, then get it pumping with adrenalin. It’s James Bond meets Karate Kid, and if either of them ever met Jason Steed, they’d be in big trouble."

The author
The author of Fledgling A Jason Steed Adventure, Mark A. Cooper, was born in Battersea, South London in 1963, where he attended Battersea Grammar School. He moved to Launceston, Cornwall, as a teenager, where he attended Torpoint High School. He went on to study at Plymouth University in Devon. Cooper worked in shops, factories and banks after leaving university, before moving to Sarasota, Florida with his wife and son in 2003. He is also the author of Moving to the United States of America and Immigration, as well as A Movement in Time with Breitling & Rolex an Unauthorized History. The second book in the Jason Steed series, Boudica, Jason Steed, is now being edited. Cooper signed to a literary agent, the New York City-based Barbara J. Zitwer Agency, in March 2009, and his first two Jason Steed books were bought by Sourcebooks in May 2009.