
Hosted by Reed Sterling · EN
Adventure history and adventure science — fiction stories for boys.
Compass & Codex is a serialized storytelling podcast for boys ages 8–14 and the families who read with them. Every episode is a chapter of an ongoing story: fire ant scouts, Roman legions, pirates, and more — told with real biology, real history, and real stakes.
We explore the unknown, every time.
Current series:
- Colony in Danger (fire ant adventure fiction)
- Eagle's Edge (Roman historical fiction).
New chapters every week.
Subscribe and start from Chapter 1.
Hosted by Reed Sterling.
For fans of Watership Down, Redwall, the Warriors series, Empires of the Undergrowth, and anyone who wants adventure fiction that respects the reader.

In Chapter 5, Vesper leads Gunnar through a door he didn't know was there: a black train on an unmarked spur, running without registry or markings, carrying a black market for everything the Syndicate has systematically erased from legitimate supply chains. The Ember Market.Inside, the picture finally comes together. A two-year-old ordinance buried in a legislative package nobody read. A northward pattern of Veilstone ore seizures hidden under falsified cargo manifests. A map of territory that has been quietly harvested in plain sight for over a year.Then a man comes through the door at the back of the car. His name is Calloway — the most wanted outlaw in four territories. His father built the finest engine on any line. The Syndicate bought it at forced auction for pennies, stripped the Veilstone bond from the housing, and replaced it with a standardized component. She still runs. She just doesn't know him anymore.Gunnar extends his hand.Iron Rails & Ruin is a steampunk adventure set in 1882 Montana, following Gunnar Harlan — fourteen years old, the best engineer on a line being systematically erased — as he builds the case that could change the territory, one forged manifest at a time.Each chapter runs 25–35 minutes of narrated steampunk adventure — built for boys who want a story that doesn't talk down to them. Perfect for boys 10–16, homeschool curriculum, and anyone drawn to action-first adventure with real ideas at its center. For fans of Mortal Engines, Wild West classics, and stories where the smartest person in the room wins.📚 Grab your copy of Iron Rails & Ruin: Smoke & Suspicion (Book 1) on Amazon: https://us.amazon.com/stores/Reed-Sterling/author/B0H2ZM86WQNew chapters every Friday. Follow us now!00:00:00 — An unmarked train in the abandoned railyards00:00:45 — Vesper returns — three taps on the door, no explanation00:03:00 — The black train materializes from the dark00:04:30 — The knock code — the door opens00:05:15 — Inside the Ember Market00:06:15 — A veilstone mounted in brass — something that shouldn't be possible00:09:00 — The woman with the mechanical eye00:12:30 — The cargo revealed — veilstone ore moved north under false manifests00:14:00 — The ordinance — a legal trap with no exit00:17:00 — The Syndicate hadn't been expanding — they had been harvesting00:17:45 — A stranger fills the doorway00:21:00 — Callaway — the most wanted man in four territories00:22:00 — The Iron Duchess — what the Syndicate stripped from her00:25:45 — The handshake00:27:00 — CH 6 — What Comes NextSend us Fan MailI am the author of serialized fiction books for kids and young adults, including:- Brickhaven: A Bricks Fan Fiction Adventure- Colony In Danger: A Fire Ant Adventure- Eagle's Edge: A Story of Rome, Gaul and the Making of a Soldier- Treasure Island: A Classic Adaptation- Iron Rails & Ruin: A Novel of Steam, Sorcery and the Lawless Montana Territory📚 All five books -- including Brickhaven Book 1 -- are now available on Amazon: https://us.amazon.com/stores/Reed-Sterling/author/B0H2ZM86WQ📖 Wanna check out all five series for yourself? Get all five Chapter 1s free: https://compass-codex.kit.com/middle-school-reader-groupThank you for listening! This is Reed Sterling. Remember: Never stop exploring unknown worlds.

In Chapter 5, Caesar drops his hand and the Arar River turns red. The Helvetii are crossing the ford when five thousand Romans step out of the dawn mist. Marcus has trained for weeks — but nothing prepared him for what happens when the pila fly, the line surges forward, and a bearded Gallic warrior puts himself between Rome and his son. Petronius finds him on the far bank, shaking, unable to release the gladius. "The shaking stops eventually," Petronius tells him. "The dreams don't."Eagle's Edge is a Roman military adventure novel — Marcus Corvus, a sixteen-year-old recruit, marches from oath-taking to battle in Caesar's Gallic campaigns. Real history. Real tactics. Real cost.Each chapter runs 20–30 minutes of narrated military adventure — historically grounded and built for boys who want a story that doesn't talk down to them. Perfect for boys 8–14, homeschool history curriculum, students studying Ancient Rome and the Gallic Wars, and reluctant readers who connect with action-first historical fiction. For fans of Eagle of the Ninth, Percy Jackson, and classical military adventure.📚 Grab your copy of Eagle's Edge: The Making of a Soldier (Book 1): https://us.amazon.com/stores/Reed-Sterling/author/B0H2ZM86WQNew chapters every Thursday. Follow us everywhere you listen!00:00:00 — Caesar drops his hand — five thousand men advance00:00:45 — Marcus in formation at dawn on the Arar River00:04:00 — The formation enters the water00:05:30 — The Helvetii horn sounds00:07:00 — "Release pila" — the river battle begins00:11:00 — The line breaks — close combat in the current00:13:30 — "I've killed a man"00:16:00 — A Helvetii woman attacks — Marcus loses his gladius00:20:30 — The Helvetii break — reaching the western bank00:22:00 — The shaking begins on dry ground00:27:00 — Petronius: "The shaking stops eventually. The dreams don't."00:27:45 — Lucius: "You didn't run."00:29:30 — Eight men reform and march00:33:15 — CH 6 — What Comes NextSend us Fan MailI am the author of serialized fiction books for kids and young adults, including:- Brickhaven: A Bricks Fan Fiction Adventure- Colony In Danger: A Fire Ant Adventure- Eagle's Edge: A Story of Rome, Gaul and the Making of a Soldier- Treasure Island: A Classic Adaptation- Iron Rails & Ruin: A Novel of Steam, Sorcery and the Lawless Montana Territory📚 All five books -- including Brickhaven Book 1 -- are now available on Amazon: https://us.amazon.com/stores/Reed-Sterling/author/B0H2ZM86WQ📖 Wanna check out all five series for yourself? Get all five Chapter 1s free: https://compass-codex.kit.com/middle-school-reader-groupThank you for listening! This is Reed Sterling. Remember: Never stop exploring unknown worlds.

In Chapter 5, Jim boards the Hispaniola for the first time. The ship is alive with sailors, strange smells, and the barely controlled chaos of a vessel preparing to cross an ocean. Long John Silver takes him under his wing — teaching knots, sharing sea stories, calling him "matey" like they've sailed together for years. But Billy Bones warned Jim about a one-legged sailor. And Silver only has one leg.Treasure Island is the classic Robert Louis Stevenson pirate adventure — retold. Perfect for boys 8–14, homeschool read-alouds, road trips, and reluctant readers who connect with action-driven chapter books about pirates, treasure, and the open sea. For fans of the original Stevenson, Peter Pan, and classic pirate retellings.📚 Grab your copy of Reed Sterling's latest books on Amazon: https://us.amazon.com/stores/Reed-Sterling/author/B0H2ZM86WQNew chapters every Wednesday. Follow us now!00:00:00 — Jim Boards the Hispaniola00:02:30 — The Deck Is Controlled Chaos00:08:30 — Summoned to the Great Cabin00:10:45 — Captain Smollett's Three Concerns00:19:15 — Setting Sail at Dawn00:19:45 — All Hands Weigh Anchor00:21:45 — The Last Lines to England Drop00:24:15 — Silver Teaches Jim the Ropes00:28:15 — Nowhere to Run on the Open Sea00:30:00 — CH 6 — What Comes NextSend us Fan MailI am the author of serialized fiction books for kids and young adults, including:- Brickhaven: A Bricks Fan Fiction Adventure- Colony In Danger: A Fire Ant Adventure- Eagle's Edge: A Story of Rome, Gaul and the Making of a Soldier- Treasure Island: A Classic Adaptation- Iron Rails & Ruin: A Novel of Steam, Sorcery and the Lawless Montana Territory📚 All five books -- including Brickhaven Book 1 -- are now available on Amazon: https://us.amazon.com/stores/Reed-Sterling/author/B0H2ZM86WQ📖 Wanna check out all five series for yourself? Get all five Chapter 1s free: https://compass-codex.kit.com/middle-school-reader-groupThank you for listening! This is Reed Sterling. Remember: Never stop exploring unknown worlds.

In Chapter 13, the team makes their most dangerous crossing yet — an open field at night, nothing but moonlight and Thistle’s star map to guide them. Halfway across, a shrew takes Silas. Cinder goes after the predator with nothing but a seed husk. The fight is short, brutal, and only one of them walks away breathing.Colony in Danger is a fire ant survival adventure — Cinder Marlowe and his scout team fight their way through a meadow where the predators are real, the stakes are mortal, and one wrong step ends everything.Each chapter runs 20–30 minutes of serialized adventure fiction — cliffhanger-driven and built for boys who want the real thing. Perfect for boys 8–14, reluctant readers who connect with action-first stories, and homeschool families looking for substantive adventure fiction. For fans of Watership Down, the Warriors series, and Empires of the Undergrowth.Grab your copy of Colony in Danger: The Fire Ant Kingdom (Book 1) — available now on Amazon: https://us.amazon.com/stores/Reed-Sterling/author/B0H2ZM86WQNew chapters every Tuesday. Follow us now!00:00:00 — Cinder Leads the Crossing at Night00:03:30 — On Three, We Run00:04:00 — The Shrew Strikes00:05:45 — Cinder Fights Back00:08:00 — Still Alive00:11:30 — The Hard Choice00:14:15 — The Pill Bug Mounds00:18:15 — Silas Was Already Gone00:20:00 — CH 14 — What Comes NextSend us Fan MailI am the author of young adult serialized fiction books, including:- Brickhaven: A Bricks Fan Fiction Adventure- Colony In Danger: A Fire Ant Adventure- Eagle's Edge: A Story of Rome, Gaul and the Making of a Soldier- Treasure Island: A Classic Adaptation- Iron Rails & Ruin: A Novel of Steam, Sorcery and the Lawless Montana Territory📚 All five books -- including Brickhaven Book 1 -- are now available on Amazon: https://us.amazon.com/stores/Reed-Sterling/author/B0H2ZM86WQ📖 Wanna check out all five series for yourself? Get all five Chapter 1s free: https://compass-codex.kit.com/middle-school-reader-groupThank you for listening! This is Reed Sterling. Remember: Never stop exploring unknown worlds.

In Chapter 5, Pip leads Max to the exile camp — the people Krag expelled for asking the wrong questions. The teacher who corrected the history plates. The merchant who asked one question about supply deliveries. The baker who gave extra bread to hungry block-kids. Each one thrown out of Brickhaven for challenging Krag's control. But Bracket, the engineer who helped build these very walls, isn't convinced by one more Builder claimant — he's already met three, and none of them were real. Max has one chance to prove he actually built this world.Brickhaven is the LEGO fan fiction podcast where Max wakes up shrunk to minifig size inside the town he built — and discovers the villain he designed has been running it as a real tyranny.Each chapter is a 20–25 minute LEGO fan fiction adventure story with high stakes, a mystery at its center, and a protagonist who has to outsmart a villain he accidentally created.Perfect for boys 8–12, LEGO fans, readers of portal fantasy, homeschool families looking for creative fiction that sparks conversation, and kids who want adventure built around their favorite building toy.For fans of The LEGO Movie, Ready Player One (kids' edition), and classic portal fantasy adventures.📚 Grab your copy of Brickhaven: The Fall (Book 1) -- available now on Amazon: https://us.amazon.com/stores/Reed-Sterling/author/B0H2ZM86WQNew chapters every Monday. Follow us now!00:00:00 — Three Builders Before Max00:00:30 — Pip Leads Max Around the Walls00:01:45 — The Exile Camp00:05:45 — Prove It00:07:30 — Max Turns the Tables00:10:00 — Built to Keep My Monster In00:10:45 — Builder00:12:45 — CH 6 — What Comes NextSend us Fan MailI am the author of young adult serialized fiction books, including:- Brickhaven: A Bricks Fan Fiction Adventure- Colony In Danger: A Fire Ant Adventure- Eagle's Edge: A Story of Rome, Gaul and the Making of a Soldier- Treasure Island: A Classic Adaptation- Iron Rails & Ruin: A Novel of Steam, Sorcery and the Lawless Montana Territory📚 All five books -- including Brickhaven Book 1 -- are now available on Amazon: https://us.amazon.com/stores/Reed-Sterling/author/B0H2ZM86WQ📖 Wanna check out all five series for yourself? Get all five Chapter 1s free: https://compass-codex.kit.com/middle-school-reader-groupThank you for listening! This is Reed Sterling. Remember: Never stop exploring unknown worlds.

A Steampunk, Steam Train Adventure Audiobook for boys 8–14.Iron Rails & Ruin is the chapter-by-chapter steampunk frontier podcast set on the 1882 Montana Territory rails, where a young engineer runs a locomotive his father modified...and the men who want to control it will do anything to stop him.In this Boys Steampunk Adventure Story chapter, Gunnar Harlan thinks his father died in a boiler explosion six months ago. He's wrong. A Rail Marshal named Vesper Crane picks the impossible lock on his shop's back door, shows him a silver badge his father once described, and tells him Emmet Harlan is alive...in hiding...and the Syndicate has located a Veilstone matrix in the northern mountains big enough to control every locomotive in the territory.Each chapter is a 30–35 minute serialized adventure with a clear cliffhanger.Perfect for boys 8–14, reluctant readers, homeschool families looking for inventive read-alouds, and anyone who loved Mortal Engines or classic Wild West adventure and wants both at once. An Adventure Audiobook for Boys 8-14 with mechanical detail you can actually picture.For fans of Mortal Engines, steampunk classics, and Wild West adventure.New chapters every Friday. Follow now.📚 The full ebook — Smoke & Suspicion, Book 1 of Iron Rails & Ruin — will be on Amazon soon!🏆 And: Colony in Danger Book 1 -- The Fire Ant Kingdom -- is #1 in New Releases for Children's eBooks on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H2WC17R3Send us Fan MailI am the author of young adult serialized fiction books, including:- Brickhaven: A Bricks Fan Fiction Adventure- Colony In Danger: A Fire Ant Adventure- Eagle's Edge: A Story of Rome, Gaul and the Making of a Soldier- Treasure Island: A Classic Adaptation- Iron Rails & Ruin: A Novel of Steam, Sorcery and the Lawless Montana Territory📚 All five books -- including Brickhaven Book 1 -- are now available on Amazon: https://us.amazon.com/stores/Reed-Sterling/author/B0H2ZM86WQ📖 Wanna check out all five series for yourself? Get all five Chapter 1s free: https://compass-codex.kit.com/middle-school-reader-groupThank you for listening! This is Reed Sterling. Remember: Never stop exploring unknown worlds.

A Roman Army Adventure Audiobook for boys 8–14.Eagle's Edge is the chapter-by-chapter Roman military adventure story where a sixteen-year-old farm boy from Mediolanum learns what the legion actually demands...one blistered step at a time.In this Boys Historical Fiction Adventure chapter, Marcus Aemilius Corvus sees the Helvetii for the first time. Not as an army. As 368,000 people. Children, mothers, grandparents, and wagons piled with everything a civilization owns. Caesar refused them passage through the Roman province. They burned their own homes rather than turn back. And Marcus has been ordered to stand in their path.Each chapter of this story is a 30–40 minute serialized adventure with a clear cliffhanger. Historically accurate down to the marching cadence, drawn from Caesar's actual campaigns.Perfect for boys 8–14, reluctant readers, classical homeschool families studying Caesar's Gallic Wars, and anyone who loved Eagle of the Ninth or Percy Jackson and wants real Roman history with the action turned up. A Homeschool History Audiobook that doesn't pretend war is clean.For fans of Eagle of the Ninth, Percy Jackson, and classical adventure fiction.New chapters every Thursday. Follow us now.📚 The full ebook — The Making of a Soldier, Book 1 of Eagle's Edge — is available soon!🏆 And: Colony in Danger Book 1 -- The Fire Ant Kingdom -- is #1 in New Releases for Children's eBooks on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H2WC17R3Send us Fan MailI am the author of young adult serialized fiction books, including:- Brickhaven: A Bricks Fan Fiction Adventure- Colony In Danger: A Fire Ant Adventure- Eagle's Edge: A Story of Rome, Gaul and the Making of a Soldier- Treasure Island: A Classic Adaptation- Iron Rails & Ruin: A Novel of Steam, Sorcery and the Lawless Montana Territory📚 All five books -- including Brickhaven Book 1 -- are now available on Amazon: https://us.amazon.com/stores/Reed-Sterling/author/B0H2ZM86WQ📖 Wanna check out all five series for yourself? Get all five Chapter 1s free: https://compass-codex.kit.com/middle-school-reader-groupThank you for listening! This is Reed Sterling. Remember: Never stop exploring unknown worlds.

A Classic Pirate Adventure Audiobook for boys 8–14.Treasure Island is the chapter-by-chapter pirate adventure podcast that retells Robert Louis Stevenson's classic story for the generation that was born to discover it.In this Boys Adventure Audiobook chapter, twelve-year-old Jim Hawkins arrives alone in Bristol with a letter from Squire Trelawney and a warning from a dying pirate ringing in his ears: "If you see a seafaring man with one leg, you run." He's about to meet Long John Silver at the Spy-glass tavern — and he's about to learn that the dangerous men in this world don't look the way you think they do.Each chapter is a 25–35 minute serialized adventure with a clear cliffhanger.Perfect for boys 8–14, reluctant readers, homeschool classical curriculum families, and anyone who loved the original Stevenson but found the 1880s language tough to read aloud. Treasure Island Retold for Kids — faithful to the original arc, accessible for today's middle grade ear.For fans of the original Stevenson, Peter Pan, and classic pirate retellings.New chapters every Wednesday. Follow us now.📚 The full ebook — *The Map*, Book 1 of Treasure Island — coming soon!🏆 And: Colony in Danger Book 1 (*The Fire Ant Kingdom*) is #1 in New Releases for Children's eBooks on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H2WC17R3Send us Fan MailI am the author of young adult serialized fiction books, including:- Brickhaven: A Bricks Fan Fiction Adventure- Colony In Danger: A Fire Ant Adventure- Eagle's Edge: A Story of Rome, Gaul and the Making of a Soldier- Treasure Island: A Classic Adaptation- Iron Rails & Ruin: A Novel of Steam, Sorcery and the Lawless Montana Territory📚 All five books -- including Brickhaven Book 1 -- are now available on Amazon: https://us.amazon.com/stores/Reed-Sterling/author/B0H2ZM86WQ📖 Wanna check out all five series for yourself? Get all five Chapter 1s free: https://compass-codex.kit.com/middle-school-reader-groupThank you for listening! This is Reed Sterling. Remember: Never stop exploring unknown worlds.

New to Colony in Danger? Start at CH 1: Here!A Boys Adventure Audiobook for ages 8–14.Colony in Danger is the chapter-by-chapter fire ant adventure podcast where Cinder Marlowe and his scout team race through a deadly meadow mystery...and the colony has only days of food left.In this Adventure Podcast for Boys 8-14 chapter...the final chapter of Book 2...the four scouts cross out of Moss Wren's domain into burrower territory. They follow pill bug tracks through a poisonous flat. They survive a sudden storm under a dandelion leaf. And Cinder discovers what the pill bugs are really doing: not eating the colony's food, but stockpiling it, layer by layer, into mud-armored spheres. The biggest discovery is the one nobody wanted to find...the thieves' tunnel is laced with Moss Wren's silk.Each chapter is a 25–30 minute serialized nature adventure with a clear cliffhanger. The biology is researched. The stakes are real.Perfect for boys 8–14, reluctant readers, homeschool nature curriculum read-alouds, and anyone who loved Watership Down or Warriors and wants real entomology underneath the adventure. A Reluctant Reader Audiobook Series built for kids who finish the chapter and immediately ask for the next one.For fans of Watership Down, Warriors, and Empires of the Undergrowth.New chapters every Tuesday. Follow now.Narrated by Reed Sterling.Send us Fan MailI am the author of young adult serialized fiction books, including:- Brickhaven: A Bricks Fan Fiction Adventure- Colony In Danger: A Fire Ant Adventure- Eagle's Edge: A Story of Rome, Gaul and the Making of a Soldier- Treasure Island: A Classic Adaptation- Iron Rails & Ruin: A Novel of Steam, Sorcery and the Lawless Montana Territory📚 All five books -- including Brickhaven Book 1 -- are now available on Amazon: https://us.amazon.com/stores/Reed-Sterling/author/B0H2ZM86WQ📖 Wanna check out all five series for yourself? Get all five Chapter 1s free: https://compass-codex.kit.com/middle-school-reader-groupThank you for listening! This is Reed Sterling. Remember: Never stop exploring unknown worlds.

New to Brickhaven? Start at CH 1: Here!A LEGO Fan Fiction Adventure Story for boys 8–14.Brickhaven is the chapter-by-chapter LEGO fan fiction podcast where a kid wakes up inside his own brick-built world and has to take it back from the villain he didn't mean to create.This LEGO Fan Fiction Adventure for Boys finally reveals the truth: Max built the mechanical Destroyer that haunts his town. He designed it as a puzzle, not a weapon — and now Krag is feeding it every eight days to keep Brickhaven in fear. There's one shutdown code: a four-note tune his mother hums while sewing. Tonight's delivery is two days early, and the window is seven minutes long.Each chapter is a 20–25 minute serialized story with a clear cliffhanger.Perfect for boys 8–14, reluctant readers, road trips, bedtime listening, and LEGO Movie Fan Fiction Podcast fans who want story-first audio adventure built around their favorite building material.For fans of The LEGO Movie, Ready Player One (kids' edition), and classic portal-fantasy storytelling.New chapters every Monday. Follow now.Narrated by Reed Sterling.Send us Fan MailI am the author of young adult serialized fiction books, including:- Brickhaven: A Bricks Fan Fiction Adventure- Colony In Danger: A Fire Ant Adventure- Eagle's Edge: A Story of Rome, Gaul and the Making of a Soldier- Treasure Island: A Classic Adaptation- Iron Rails & Ruin: A Novel of Steam, Sorcery and the Lawless Montana Territory📚 All five books -- including Brickhaven Book 1 -- are now available on Amazon: https://us.amazon.com/stores/Reed-Sterling/author/B0H2ZM86WQ📖 Wanna check out all five series for yourself? Get all five Chapter 1s free: https://compass-codex.kit.com/middle-school-reader-groupThank you for listening! This is Reed Sterling. Remember: Never stop exploring unknown worlds.