Adventure. Rebellion. Found Family.

The Pirate Queens of Dicore Island by Chris Nelson sets sail with everything a great pirate adventure demands—incredible treasure, treacherous seas, rebellion, impossible odds, and a crew nobody would bet a doubloon on.

Their destination? An island no man has ever survived to set foot upon.

But Laura Bentacour is no man. Seventeen-year-old Laura has already survived the island once, and she is all too ready to try her luck again.

Laura relies on logic to navigate her chaotic world, and is determined to return to Dicore island, a legendary paradise littered with treasure, surrounded by cutting reefs and creatures that should only exist in nightmares.

To get there, she escapes the Crown and joins a salty crew of smugglers led by the mysterious Captain Katherine, a young woman with dangerous secrets of her own.

But, Laura isn’t the only one interested in Dicore. The Crown wants the island too. As an armada closes in, what begins as an escape and a treasure hunt, becomes something far more personal. Laura must decide how much she is willing to risk to protect the island she loves—and the crew she once detested, who have now become her family.

The Pirate Queens of Dicore Island sets sail September 19, 2026—appropriately enough, on Talk Like a Pirate Day.

About the Author. Coming from a family of Merchant Mariners, harbor pilots, and a legendary port film buff whose chalkboard movie reviews became a local landmark, Chris Nelson writes with one foot on the dock and one in mythic waters. His Pirate Queens series is a celebration that honors the working-class heroes of the sea. Through his school visits and workshops, Chris shows teens how the ocean can be read like a map, investigated like a mystery, and honored like a legacy.