Jim Mastro
Jim has a Bachelor of Science in Zoology and worked for many years as a field biologist. He also spent over six years in Antarctica, including two winters, where he was a laboratory manager and scientific diving coordinator. He has a Master of Arts in English and has published numerous articles and several books, including the memoir (with photos) Antarctica: A Year at the Bottom of the World and the natural history book Under Antarctic Ice: The Photographs of Norbert Wu (with co-author Norbert Wu). Discover magazine named the latter as one of the 20 best science books of the year in 2004. Jim has also written the Jason Hunter science fiction trilogy, and his fantasy short story “Flowers in the Field,” published by Cicada magazine, was nominated for the Pushcart Prize.
Jim has traveled extensively, particularly in the South Pacific, the Caribbean, and Latin America. In his spare time he scuba dives, surfs, teaches ballroom dance, and directs comedic plays for community theater. He is a member of the Authors Guild and SCBWI. Originally from San Diego, Jim now lives in New Hampshire with his wife, son, and a fuzzy little dog named Tobi.
Jason Hunter and the Talisman of Elam is the first book in the Jason Hunter science fiction trilogy. In this volume, Jason discovers that his parents have been abducted by aliens. With his two friends and an injured alien woman, he steals a spaceship and sets out across the galaxy to rescue them. He soon learns that the only way to do that is to locate and claim an ancient piece of technology so powerful it operates as if by magic.
Jason Hunter and the Hand of Osiris is the second book in the trilogy. Jason and his friends are abducted from school in broad daylight and told that, to avert a terrible galactic war, they must steal two other pieces of ancient technology and join them together in the fabled Hand of Osiris. It is a task far more difficult and dangerous than claiming the first one. Their lives are constantly at risk, and even worse, Jason learns that everything he has been told up to now about the ancient technology and about the many human races in the galaxy is suspect.
Jason Hunter and the Treasure of Hathor is the final book in the trilogy. Jason and his friends are fugitives. Half the races in the galaxy want to capture him, and the other half want to kill him. It’s a desperate race against time as Jason searches for the famed Treasure of Hathor and the truth about what will happen when the Hand of Osiris is joined to all the other pieces of ancient technology for the first time in over 800,000 years.
Antarctica: A Year at the Bottom of the World is a memoir, with 126 of Jim's photographs, that tells the story of what it was like to spend an entire year in Antarctica. It is told from the perspective of his very first year, though it incorporates stories from all of his years “on the Ice.”
Under Antarctic Ice: The Photographs of Norbert Wu describes the natural history of one of the most remarkable bodies of water in the world: McMurdo Sound. The Sound is as far south as any ship can go, and it is home to an amazing ecosystem and equally amazing animals, as well as some of the clearest water anywhere. The text is accompanied by Wu’s incredible photos.
With stunning and unique photographs, Journeys with Emperors is a firsthand account of a celebrated researcher’s thirty-plus years living with and studying the the world’s largest penguin, the iconic emperor. Replete with hair-raising tales of scientists crossing heavily crevasses glaciers and surviving attacks by leopard seals, the story also reveals new information about the penguins’ remarkable lives, including the four perilous journeys they must make to survive in the most inhospitable (to humans) environment on Earth.