It looks positive for another tour like the one for Black Heart for the next book. In the last blog Justin Somper wrote: "Little Brown has asked me to do my second tour of the US next September. I’m really excited about this and looking forward to hearing which cities they are lining up for me this time. Maybe, they’ll even send me to Canada – you never know!" and "California will form part of my 2010 US tour."

Fingers crossed the UK tour will include lots of public events too. I especially have my fingers crossed for central Canada.

Justin is excited as he is close to finishing the first draft of EMPIRE OF NIGHT. He says "I can honestly say that I have never enjoyed writing as much as in the last few weeks."

The book will still be released in March in the United Kingdom but sadly the US date has slipped. Justin wrote in his blog "I’m afraid that you will have to wait just a bit longer for it as it will now be published August 1st 2010. This is because it has taken me a bit longer to write than we’d hoped, but I promise you guys it will be worth the wait."

The new blog is out in the VIP section of vampirates.co.uk. A taster from the blog: "Talking of foreign territories, I’m delighted to report that we’ve just signed a deal for VAMPIRATES to be published in Hungary. This will be the 26th country in which the books are published. As you can imagine, I’m pleased as punch about that."

For those of you looking to send anything to Justin Somper here is the address he gave on his blog a little while ago.
"you can send stuff to me c/o Simon & Schuster Children's Books (Publicity), Africa House, 64-78 Kingsway, London WC2B 6AH."

Comment: This address is now out of date. Please see the blog entry dated 1st July 2011 for the correct address.

Justin Somper has finally had the chance to sit down and write a new blog for us. (It was meant to be sent out for halloween but owing to a technical difficulty it has just arrived.)
See www.vampirates.co.uk to read the new blog.

Justin Somper was at Halloween in Holloway yesterday. It sounded as if it was a good show.
See www.therowanartsproject.com

Today (Saturday 26th September) from 5.00 to 5.45pm at Bath Central Library, Justin Somper will be doing his Vampirates show (£4.50) as part of the Bath Festival of Children's Literature. Later on in the week he will be further west in Appledore for their book festival. On Thursday 1st October 2009, from 7.00pm he will be at St. Mary’s Primary School (£3). His show is well worth seeing and you usually can buy his books there and get yours signed.

Justin Somper has written on twitter again. If you are not a follower and would like to be see http://twitter.com/JustinSomper
"Looking forward to returning to my old secondary school - St Albans School - for an event tomorrow."
I wish him the best as he will be remembering everything that happened when he was at school.

Another review of Demons of the Ocean but this time with comments about how reading can be seen as a chore to some and how stories can relate to life around us.
For the article please see www.timesonline.co.uk

From Justin Somper on Twitter.
Howdy, Friday's event is for invited schools only. The public event is on Saturday 12th @ 2:30 pm. Hope that clears things up for you!

I have found Vampirates stop press has more information on the Mountains to the Sea Book Festival in Dun Laoghaire, Dublin.
Please see www.vampirates.co.uk/stop-press

Tickets are now available for the Mountains to the Sea Book Festival in Dun Laoghaire 10-13 September 2009 with
Meet Justin Somper author of The Vampirates series at 10am at Hughes & Hughes, Marine Rd, Dun Laoghaire (Free)

Acording to www.vampirates.co.uk/stop-press it is Saturday 12 September 2009 and according to Mountains to the Sea Book Festival it is Friday 11 September.

I have found an article on the festival - Book it!
Please see www.booktrade.info/index.php/showarticle/23098

Tickets are now on sale for the Times Cheltenham Literature Festival 9-18 October 2009 with
Breaking the Rules: Vampires vs Werewolves: Justin Somper & Maggie Stiefvater on Saturday 17 October 2009 at 5:15 pm (60mins)

For anyone on Twitter you can now follow the official TheNocturn twitter profile. So you can catch up on news from
twitter.com/thenocturn
twitter.com/JustinSomper
www.freewebs.com/thenocturn/index.htm
and never forget www.vampirates.co.uk

I have found an artical on Tots to Teens Day at the festival
Please see http://www.hamhigh.co.uk/content/camden/hamhigh/whatson

Also on the front page of the Festival's website it has:
"Featured Author: Tots to Teens Day: Justin Somper: Voyage of the Vampirates
Justin Somper is the best-selling author of the internationally acclaimed Vampirates sequence, which fuses pirate adventure and vampire myth. His books have sold over half a million copies in the UK and Ireland and are published worldwide. Justin is currently working on Book 5: Empire of Night, due to be published in 2010."

Tickets are now on sale for the Hampstead Literary Festival 13-15 September‚
Voyage of the Vampirates with Justin Somper on Sunday 13th September 2009, From 12.00pm to 1.00pm (£3)

For anyone who is not followng the offical Vampirate blog or the Nocturn today is the Captain's birthday.
He is escaping from everything and is off to Spain.

I From Justin Somper's blog. "yes I do have a Facebook page. As some of you may have seen, there was another Justin Somper page for a while. I’m not sure who put that up (!) though it seems to have been with the best intentions. Anyhow, the new page is the official one on which we’ll post news updates etc. In case you haven’t heard, you can also follow me on twitter. But certainly the best place to put your questions and comments to me remains this blog."

I really enjoyed seeing Justin Somper explain about the Vampirate set of books and getting the chance to get my books signed. Below are a list of six public events where Justin Somper will be attending.

Friday 22nd August 2009, From 3:00 to 4:00 pm
Edinburgh International Book Festival
The seafaring nightwalkers return! Swashbuckling author Justin Somper reveals his newest plans for the bloodsucking sailors and reads from the latest Vampirates instalment: Black Heart. A thrilling piratical party awaits you, if you dare to join in.
RBS Corner Theatre - £4

Saturday 12th September 2009
Dun Laoghaire Rathdown Libraries and County Council Literary Festival, Dublin.

Sunday 13th September 2009, From 12.00pm to 1.00pm
Hampstead Literary Festival Voyage of the Vampirates - £3


Saturday 26th September 2009, From 5.00 to 5.45pm
Bath Festival of Children's Literature
Return of the Vampirates with Justin Somper,
The bestselling and blood-curdling Vampirates sequence fuses pirate history and vampire myth into page-turning, award-winning, genre-busting fiction. In the words of Darren Shan, “an intriguing mix of piracy and vampirism... bravo!” Justin returns to Bath to talk about how he creates his unique books, including his latest bestseller, Black Heart, and answer questions from all attending FanPirates!
Bath Central Library - £4.50

Thursday 1st October 2009, From 7.00pm
Appledore Book Festival Justin Somper Meet Vampirate Man
Justin Somper is the best-selling author of the internationally acclaimed Vampirates sequence, now published in over 25 countries. The idea to fuse pirate adventure and vampire myth came to Somper in a ‘Eureka!’ moment. In the words of Darren Shan, ‘an intriguing mix of piracy and vampirism… bravo!’ The latest title in the sequence is Black Heart.
St. Mary’s Primary School (children to be accompanied by an adult) - £3

Saturday 17th October 2009, From 5:15 pm (60mins)
Cheltenham Festival of Literature
Breaking the Rules: Vampires vs Werewolves: Justin Somper & Maggie Stiefvater
Join Justin Somper, bestselling author of Vampirates, and Maggie Stiefvater, author of the exciting new wolf novel Shiver, as they discuss the good, the terrifying and the compellingly attractive sides to their characters. Which would you rather meet on a dark night — vampires or werewolves?
The Playhouse - £4

For more details please see the official vampirates website on www.vampirates.co.uk/stop-press

On thursday 3rd July hundreds of school children and authors visited Woodford Green's Sir James Hawkey Hall for the Redbridge Children's Book Awards. Justin Somper, Sally Nicholls, Jean Ure, Anthony McGowan, Celia Rees and Joe Layburn attended the day, where they also took questions from students and signed copies of their books.

Please see http://www.guardian-series.co.uk/news/4478393.REDBRIDGE__Talented_teen_wordsmiths_awarded/ for more details.