Justin has asked on facebook "OK, so what's going on with Jasmine Peacock? Should she be with Jacoby or do you think she should choose Connor? Share your thoughts on the discussion board of my other official Facebook page - Vampirates: Women of the Ocean."
To join in please see http://www.facebook.com/pages/London-United-Kingdom/Justin-Somper-Vampirates/113429940608?v=wall&__a=3

My daughter (Swabbie Calico Bess Flint) and I saw Robert Munsch for the pre-school outing. He is a great story teller and kept all the kids captivated. It seemed to be based on his published books with him retelling them with names from kids from the audiance in a pantomine fashion. My daughter loved it and so did the rest of the audience which went up as the layers of the theatre went to. I am sure grade eight (or higher) were on the third floor (yes the TCU centre was full as the local schools got a good discount, so almost all school trips).

Justin has published a new blog entry. He has "started writing the sixth VAMPIRATES book. The working title is IMMORTAL WAR. What do you reckon? If you’ve read EMPIRE OF NIGHT, I think you’ll understand why the next book has the word WAR in its title."

I think with the direction Sidorio is going, the word war would appear eventually. The human race does have a history of going to war to be in control of an important area or important commodity.

To win a t-shirt of Johnny Desperado, Let us know what image and/or message would most suit Johnny Desperado as a tattoo, and why.

Johnny Desperado said "It ain't that I can't be good. It's just that I'm so much better at being bad." As you know he already has one tattoo on his arm that reads the ride is far from over...and for him, that sentiment is very appropriate. The thing is he's thinking about getting another tattoo but could seriously use your help. This competition will run until midnight 9th May 2010 and is open to international entries.

Please see http://www.vampirates.co.uk/vip-page/competitions to see the latest competitions.

According to the twitter feed, "the US edit of EMPIRE OF NIGHT is now complete. So we're all set for publication in August and my US tour in September. Can't wait!"

If you do end up with a United Kingdom copy of the new book, please read the Author's Note at the end of the book AFTER reading the book. I did particularly like the comments about the vampirates.co.uk website, like "huge thank you to all the Nocturnals" and "an author couldn't wish for a more dedicated readership."

Thank you Captain for making us feel appreciated and that you don't mind all the comments we put on your blog.

To win a t-shirt of the Vampirate Captain, simply match the ship list with whichever list of captain’s names that you think is in the correct order. This competition will run from 26th March 2010 until midnight on 9th April 2010 and is open to international entries.

Please see http://www.vampirates.co.uk/vip-page/competitions to see the latest competitions.

If you are looking for something for Easter you may be interested in looking in the book departments. Even Amazon is advertising the Vampirates set of books from 25% to 50% off. There is even the latest Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy, book 4 Dark Days will be out over Easter in the United Kingdom.

Ice book clubs featured book this month is the first vampirates book
Take a look at http://www.rte.ie/tv/theden/ice//icebookclub.html

Sorry these titles are getting worse.

This is a really good review of the vampirates series of books, by looking at the readership instead of just the story.
Please see http://www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/daily-feature/They39re-biting-back.6120388.jp

If you still not got a copy of Empire of Night or have read it, you might like to read Justin’s exclusive VAMPIRATES story, NIGHT HARVEST which is now online just for you lot.

"NIGHT HARVEST isn’t a chapter from EON. It was published as a short story in a magazine last year and introduced some new characters who play a key role in EON. Hope you enjoy it. NIGHT HARVEST is only a short story so it won’t be published in book form."

Please see http://vampirates.co.uk/the-books/nightharvest/

For those who read this blog you may have twigged I do love the Alex Rider series by Anthony Horowitz. (I did get a copy of Crocodile Tears in the end, but it was the American version and I am really looking forward to getting my hands on the United Kingdom version when my mother in law comes out at Christmas).

Well getting to the point of this entry. The Alex Rider books started ten years ago. Here is part of an email I have recieved. "To celebrate ten explosive years of teen superspy Alex Rider, all eight missions have a cool new-look and feature bonus content from Anthony Horowitz, packed with insider secrets! Check them out at www.alexrider.com - the first seven missions are available to buy now, with Crocodile Tears coming in June 2010."
There is a competition for those of you based in the UK.

Please see http://bittenbybooks.com/?p=20427

RSVP For: 3/5 Interview, Chat and Contest With UK Author Justin Somper. Event starts at 12:00 pm Central and runs all day and into the night. Contest runs until 11:59 pm Central on 3/6/10. For those visiting from outside of the US, here’s the time conversion. We are in the Chicago time zone: http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/

Description: Join us with author Justin Sompert for an Interview, Chat and Contest  at http://bittenbybooks.com/. He will also be talking about his new release Empire of Night. CONTEST:
Prize 1: One signed set of the Vampirates series with a bundle of vamps goodies (poster, tattoos, postcards, bookmarks, badges).
Prize 2: 10 unsigned sets of the complete Vampirates series

These are UK titles so they will have the UK covers, AND book 5 is not even available in the US until August so you get to read it EARLY if you win! Open to readers worldwide!

RSVP below and get 25 entries to the contest when you show up on the day of the event. If you don’t show up and mention your RSVP AND ask a question, you won’t be entered into the contest.

Check out his website here and get your questions ready for his event. http://www.vampirates.co.uk/

Be SURE to give your friends this link: http://bittenbybooks.com/?p=20427 so they can RSVP too!

The folks in the united kingdom can now enjoy Empire of the Night.
No word from my sister if my copy has appeared, so she can send it on.

There is a chance to win a different t-shirt. This time it is about Captain Cheng Li's Ship the Tiger. "The problem is, these guys don't even have a ship's motto that celebrates who they are and what they do!Let us know the motto you think best suits the crew of The Tiger, and why."

Please see http://www.vampirates.co.uk/stop-press/chenglitshirt/

For a review of Surrey County Council's first ever book festival including a quick interviw with Justin Somper at Magna Carta school.
Please see http://www.surreyherald.co.uk/

From Twitter
Just heard that VAMPIRATES: BLACK HEART has been shortlisted for the Staffordshire Young Teen Fiction Award. Great stuff!

Young people in Staffordshire aged between 11-14 years are now being encouraged to vote for a winner, so if that includes you, please vote.

It is also in the Stoke-on-Trent paper please see http://pitsnpots.co.uk/news/2010/02/top-six-teenage-titles-revealed

Now the T-Shirt competition has ended on Vampirates.co.uk I was wondering if the crew would like to tell me their entries to add to the Dirty Dolphin.

The competition asked "what song you think best sums up Sidorio, and why." as "If anyone needs a personal soundtrack to listen to when getting psyched for the next Vampirate raid, it's Sidorio, King of the Vampirates."

My choice is After The Flesh by My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult from the soundtrack of The Crow.

Why? well the first verse just describes what Sidorio is trying to do.

"I am the new way to go"
"I am the way of the future"
"I am the new way to go"
"I am the way of the future"
"There's a lot innocent people being crucified"

The last line describes his old life as a pirate wonderfully, well he thought he Julius Caesar had overreacted. Sadly the rest of the song goes into a major decline.

By second choice was Welcome to the Jungle by Guns and Roses. It was close but Jungle needed to be changed to Ocean, but the line "And when you're high you never Ever want to come down, Yeah" really described his reaction to unlimited blood.

The other that I found that was close was Kings Of The Wild Frontier by Adam and the Ants. But it is an occasional song to listen to not regularly.

From the home page of Vampirates central:
"To celebrate UK publication of Vampirates: Empire of Night (March 4th) - for one month only, you can download a FREE e-book of Demons Of The Ocean, the first book in the Vampirates sequence! This is a limited offer, and an amazing chance to set sail with the book that began the Vampirates phenomenon completely FREE! Simply click on the book cover right here!" (www.vampirates.co.uk)

Please note the small print at the bottom of the page - "Please ensure that you have Adobe Digital Editions (ADE) installed BEFORE you click on the download link."

The first review of Empire of the night is out. The Ultimate Book Guide gave a good insight on what we are to expect next month. I also liked the fact that the Vampirate.co.uk website was described as an excellent website.

Please see theultimatebookguide.blogspot.com

According to the Nocturn's News the Vampirate books are being produced as e-books.

"Entering A Digital Age
The VAMPIRATES books are about to enter the world of the Kindle, Sony Reader and e-books. Yes, that's right, the books are all being released as e-books! The dates are as follows:

DEMONS OF THE OCEAN - 11th February.
TIDE OF TERROR - 4th March.
BLOOD CAPTAIN - 1st April.
BLACK HEART - 1st April.
EMPIRE OF NIGHT - 4th March."

For all you fans of the The Dirty Dolphin Jukebox at the Calle del Marinero there is a treat in store at the ViP section (www.vampirates.co.uk) in the way of a new competition.

They want you to tell them "what song you think best sums up Sidorio, and why"

This competition will run from 29th January 2010 until midnight (GMT) on 12th February 2010 and is open to international entries. (Yipee anyone can enter again - off to check out my CDs behind me)

Chapter three has now appeared on the Vampirate.co.uk website.

According to the Vampirate Blog on www.vampirates.co.uk the UK editor has finished work on the text and now both the UK and US artwork has been released.

Just a reminder for everyone in the Americas it has been delayed till published August 1st 2010, Sorry folks I will be waiting here too.