The Amazing Adventures of Jimmy rikey

Middle Grade Fantasy, 80,000 words in a three part story

Twelve-year-old Jimmy is an Attalian alien stranded on Earth after his ambassador parents die from human viruses. Raised by kindly Aunt Ethel, he’s bullied for his pointed ears, silver-blue eyes, and huge feet. The neighbourhood kids dub him “Jimmy Crikey,” a name he despises. Convinced he’ll never belong, Jimmy runs away into the forest to find a place that will accept him.

He falls into Roombelow, a small town hidden in a subterranean world, and accidentally breaks the sleeping spell that has frozen the town for many years. Hailed as a hero, Jimmy is adopted by the mayor and befriends Gemma, a mysterious girl who lives at the bottom of the town well and cannot remember her past. For the first time, Jimmy feels wanted.

But Roombelow is in crisis. The water supply fails, earthquakes shake the caverns, and one-eyed trolls raid from the deep tunnels. When Gemma is kidnapped by traders who want to sell her as a “curiosity” because she looks different, Jimmy realizes what it costs to be an outcast. He uses newly discovered Attalian energy powers to outwit the troll chief and rescue Gemma during a violent sea storm, with help from a water witch and a pod of dolphins. Gemma is returned home — but she still doesn’t know where “home” is.

Aunt Ethel reveals Jimmy’s parents left him a starship, hidden in the forest. He can go to Attalia and find his true family. Torn, Jimmy chooses to leave Roombelow, promising Gemma he’ll return once he knows who he is.

The voyage turns deadly. Warlord Kursh of planet Ock attacks the ship, forcing Jimmy to eject in a life pod. He’s rescued by Attalians and welcomed by President Alpha, only to learn he has no surviving family. Worse, Kursh is invading Attalia through a time warp, vowing to enslave the planet.

Jimmy has a choice: stay safe on Earth as a bullied alien, or risk everything for a world he’s never known. He chooses to fight. Using his energy powers and the AI knowledge of XRU, his portable starship navigator, Jimmy devises a plan to collapse the time warp. He succeeds, stranding Kursh in nether space and freeing Attalia. The Attalians offer him his parents’ seat on the High Council — a home, a title, a people who look like him.

Jimmy turns it down.

He returns to Roombelow, to Aunt Ethel, to Gemma, to the kids who once called him “Crikey” as an insult and now cheer it as his hero name. He realizes home isn’t DNA or planets. It’s where people fight for you, and you fight for them. Jimmy Crikey finally fits in, because he finally accepts himself.