About Me

Dennis Cooper is a three-time winner of the Florida Writers Association's (FWA) Royal Palm award for best-unpublished novel. Besides the FWA, he has been an active member of SCBWI since 2010 and was part of an affiliated critique group. As a graduate of MIT, he enjoys combining his love of writing and science.

The Hero Engine is an award-winning alternate history middle grade, novel set in ancient Alexandria. In ancient Alexandria, Hero, the inventor of the steam engine has created plans for weapons so dangerous they've never been allowed outside the Great Library. When Hero's granddaughter, Petra, accidentally lets these plans be stolen, it is up to her and Hero to recover them. They are joined by a young Roman named Gaius, who is trying to rescue his father from the same men who stole Hero's plans. Together, they must defeat a mechanical gladiator, fly like Icarus, and attack a battleship with a primitive submarine to save the Republic, Hero, and Gaius' father. Set against the backdrop of the impending eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, this is a high concept adventure with a strong basis in historical and scientific fact. The Hero Engine was the first book in the history of the Florida Writer's Association to win the best unpublished novel award in two different categories: Middle Grade and Historical Fiction.