TempestTwins Blog

Merry Christmas

mice@mindless.com — 2007-12-23T23:07:36+00:00

What do you get if you cross a vampire and a snowman?
Frost Bite.

Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year
from The Tempest Twins Fan site.

Smile and the world smiles with you.

mice@mindless.com — 2007-12-23T13:09:51+00:00

Welcome to the Vampirate fans from Mexico, France, Cocos (Keeling) Islands and Tuvalu (a Polynesian Island). Also a thank you to those from the Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand (Aotearoa), Poland, Portugal, Romania, Singapore, Slovak Republic, Spain, Sweden, Thailand, Tonga, Ukraine, United Kingdom and of course the United States (Commercial, Educational and at home) who have visited us in the past.

Repairs

mice@mindless.com — 2007-12-18T11:31:03+00:00

St Mary's Island, off Madagascar was an important place where pirates used to get their ships repaired. When a ship was beached, this was when pirates were most at risk of attack.

Black Powder or Gunpowder

mice@mindless.com — 2007-12-14T10:09:09+00:00

Black Powder, Gun Powder, Lift Powder, Grain Powder, and Meal Powder are basically the same material, an explosive mixture of sulfur, charcoal and potassium nitrate or saltpeter. Because it burns rapidly producing lots of hot solids and gases, that can be used as a propellant, it is ideal for the cannons. But it won’t burn effectively if it is wet, moist, or damp.

Welcome World

mice@mindless.com — 2007-12-06T14:20:58+00:00

Welcome to the Vampirate fans from Spain, Singapore, Italy, India, Thailand, China, Portugal, Armenia, Ukraine and New Zealand (Aotearoa) and Czech Republic. Also a thank you to those from the Argentina, Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Japan, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovak Republic, Sweden, Tonga, United Kingdom and of course the United States (Commercial, Educational and at home) who have visited us in the past.

Jolly Rogers and Blackjacks

mice@mindless.com — 2007-12-03T11:41:29+00:00

The English term for a pirate flag is the Jolly Roger. It is thought the name comes the french joli rouge meaning pretty red. This was as the early pirate flags, which were hoisted before a battle, were blood red. They signified there would be no survivors. Later pirate captains designed their own flags, they were usually white on red or black backgrounds. Around the 17th century the white on black pirate flags come to be nicknamed Blackjacks and the skull and crossbones emblem was nicknamed the Jolly Roger. The flag was then used to warn victims to surrender without a fight. This tactic was very effective, lots of booty was gained without blood being shed.

Competition Winner

mice@mindless.com — 2007-12-03T10:54:28+00:00

Our competition winner is Sailor Black Anne Read, Well done. Thank you everyone who contributed. I tried to do it as randomly as possible, all entries were on the same size paper, folded in the same way and then my almost three year old pinkie, Swabbie Calico Bess Flint, mixed them up, put them in the tankard and then picked one out.

Alex Rider

mice@mindless.com — 2007-11-28T12:39:54+00:00

Any one can win a competition. The post man has just delivered a parcel to me with the Snakehead picture on the front. I am now bouncing here, after winning an Alex Rider t-shirt and poster.

Competition

mice@mindless.com — 2007-11-27T14:30:18+00:00

Only a couple of days left. At the moment we have four different pirates entering our competition, (Cabin Girl please contact me again). The competition is for an inscribed and signed copy of Blood Captain (The ride is far from over!). If that does not tickle your fancy you can trade it for an inscribed and signed copy of Dead Deep (Beware the fishtails!) or a postcard of Lorcan Furey.

What's in a name?

mice@mindless.com — 2007-11-27T10:20:05+00:00

The term Pirate was first used about when Jesus was born by the Greeks. It means 'attacker' and is used to describe any sailor who attacks ships or raids the coast.

New Crew Member

mice@mindless.com — 2007-11-26T15:19:53+00:00

From Notorious Black Bart's Daughter
Message: Hello, I had come across you on the Nocturn website and am very impress of your work on the site. I'd love to be one of the crew!! I havent decided on a name yet but ill let you know when i have. ... Your website is fab and i'll contact soon Ta ta!!

Since then she has come up with a name and several other pieces for this site.

All Change

mice@mindless.com — 2007-11-22T10:10:42+00:00

I have now finished going through both the blogs Justin Somper wrote and books 1 and 1½. Then I looked at how many items there are on the left hand side and decided to rationalise them. So things like the Favourite Characters page have moved to under Characters.

Volcanos

mice@mindless.com — 2007-11-21T09:18:31+00:00

On The Blue Peter Blog Justin Somper wrote "I thought that it made sense to have pirates in the future because, with global warming and sea-level rise, there would be a lot more ocean for them to roam around and whoever controlled those vast oceans would be very powerful indeed!"

I was watching a programme yesterday on volcanos. Volcanos release molten rock and the tectonic plates shifting into one another cause mountains. These are the only things stopping the rain eroding the land and causing the world to be covered by oceans.

If global warming affects volcanos or the tectonic plates shifting then we may see an increase in pirate activities.

New Crew Member

mice@mindless.com — 2007-11-19T07:59:33+00:00

I would like to introduce our latest recruit, Sailor Black Anne Read who wrote:
"I cant wait to read the next book, The Tide of terror."
The rest of her email can be read under two new pages - Favourites and Film or TV.

Square Pictures

mice@mindless.com — 2007-11-18T21:03:36+00:00

I hope you like the new square pictures I have just added. You may have noticed several are also buttons with links to other pages.

Cabin Boy

mice@mindless.com — 2007-11-18T09:35:39+00:00

A Cabin boy or ship's boy is a boy (in the sense of low-ranking employee, not always a minor) who waits on the officers and passengers of a ship, especially running errands for the captain.

From "Going to sea as a cabin boy". What were your duties aboard? Well, looking after the quartermasters, getting their food, clean their cabin out and do all sorts of things, and we used to have to go up on the bridge, you know, and quartermaster was off duty he used to teach us boys knots and splices and how to steer the ship and box the compass and all that sort of business, which was all new to me. I knew everything by the time I got back.

Can you remember how much a cabin boy got paid then? Yes, £1 a month. That's all we got paid. So that wasn't much was it? (Laughs) After three months.

So Which Country Next?

mice@mindless.com — 2007-11-13T22:09:33+00:00

Welcome to the Vampirate fans from Brazil and Israel. Also a thank you to those from the Argentina, Australia, Austria, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovak Republic, Sweden, Tonga, United Kingdom and of course the United States (Commercial, Educational and at home) who have visited us in the past.

New Crew Member

mice@mindless.com — 2007-11-13T18:28:06+00:00

From our newest member of the crew - Cabin Girl
"I love the books and the the latest, Blood Captain, has left me crying out for more news about the twins and their adventures!"

Anthony Horowitz

mice@mindless.com — 2007-11-12T16:10:58+00:00

For those of you who are fans of Anthony Horowitz, I thought you might be interested in a competition I have just found. The chance to have a character named after you in his next book. See http://www.alexrider.com/tesco/ for more information.

Gunners

mice@mindless.com — 2007-11-10T05:14:43+00:00

The gunner was one of five standing officers on board ship, the others were the boatswain, purser, carpenter and cook. The gunner was responsible for the ship's guns and ammunition. Gunners were assisted by, and usually recruited from, gunners' mates, and their subordinates also included the armourer, the yeoman of the powder room, and one quarter gunner, or seaman layer, for each group of four great guns.

Snakehead

mice@mindless.com — 2007-11-02T12:56:38+00:00

Updates have been put on hold as the latest Alex Rider novel has just been handed to me by the postman. Back in under a week, I hope. But that should not stop you sending in entries to the competition or comments to the website, I still will check my emails once a day.

Visitors From Around The World

mice@mindless.com — 2007-11-02T12:50:04+00:00

Welcome to the Vampirate fans from Austria, Argentina, Poland, Slovak Republic and Netherlands. Also a thank you to those from the Australia, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Luxembourg, Romania, Sweden, Tonga, United Kingdom and of course the United States (Commercial, Educational and at home) who have visited us in the past. I am still sorry to say the frappr map is still not working and I am thinking of loosing it.

Competition Time

mice@mindless.com — 2007-10-31T09:47:39+00:00

We have very little crew here to set sail, so to give you lot an incentive to contribute to this website, I have been bidding on ebay and won a signed Blood Captain. So competition time, I will send out the copy of Blood Captain to someone (at random) who joins our crew by sending in an article, which I publish on this website, with their character name and email address.

I am willing to put up to seven entries into the tankard, per crew member, one for the different sections of the website:

News / Stories
Your Ideas
Lookalikes
Dirty Dolphin
Book Reviews
Favourite Characters (including why)
Prof reading the site and finding real errors.

Closing date is the 30th November so you should get the book by Christmas, where ever in the world you are. I will email you if you are the winner asking for your name and address.

If you are under sixteen please get a parents or guardians permission before sending anything in to any website, especially pictures.

Job Surnames

mice@mindless.com — 2007-10-30T17:21:35+00:00

I have found a wonderful site that has what surnames mean (http://www.rootsweb.com/~illogan/jobs.htm). These might help for character surnames.

Apprentice - person bound to a skilled worker to learn the trade
Archiator - physician
Barber - barber; local dentist
Bladesmith - swordmaker or knife maker
Boardwright - carpenter
Boatswain - ship's officer in charge of rigging and sails
Bummer - army deserter
Cafender - carpenter
Cartographer - map maker
Caulker - person who fills up cracks in ships to make them watertight using tar or oakum-hemp fiber from old ropes
Cooper - one who makes or repairs vessels formed of staves and hoops, such as casks, barrels, tubs, etc.
Coxwain - ship or boat helmsman
Joiner/Joyner - skilled carpenter
Kedger - fisherman
Lagger - sailor
Leech - physician
Manciple - steward
Peregrinator - itinerant wanderer
Piller - thief; robber
Pilot - person who steers ships
Prentis - apprentice
Puggard - thief
Purser - ship's officer in charge of provisions and accounts
Roper - maker of rope or nets
Runner - smuggler
Sawbones - physician
Sawyer - carpenter who saws
Ship Husband - repairer of ships while they were in harbour
Wakeman - night watchman
Waterman - boatman for hire

Maps

mice@mindless.com — 2007-10-29T18:27:01+00:00

I have just got a reply about the map.
Platial has just taken over frappr, but we don't yet have control of the frappr database or hardware. We are trying to get in there as quickly as possible so we can solve the problems being reported.

It is very unlikely that the map members have really been lost. Real lost data is a serious issue and even though we have not yet gotten access to the frappr back end, I am sure that they have the usual safeguards in place and that we will soon be able to recover your members.

Thanks for your patience.

Apologies

mice@mindless.com — 2007-10-24T20:30:00+01:00

Apologies to those who have put a pin in the frappr map. It seems to have got upset and thrown all the pins out. I don't even seem to keep mine in. I am working on it.

Mice

mice@mindless.com — 2007-10-23T18:12:00+01:00

As I am the Ships Mouse here are some mouse facts. A baby mouse is called a pinky, the female is a doe and the male is a buck.

I love emails

mice@mindless.com — 2007-10-23T10:35:11+01:00

I passed on some photos taken at the show in Windsor and got a reply.
Belated thanks for these. And also for my tankard which I shall be using at future events! Hope all's well with you. Trust the tide! Justin Somper

Screen Dimensions

mice@mindless.com — 2007-10-20T00:31:04+01:00

I asked a friend who is a tester her views, as I know she will tell me straight, what she does not like. I hope you agree that I have fixed the problems listed below. Any others you spot please email me via the squeak page.

"here's tester speaking :) Launched in IE, first page fits nicely full screen
When there is space assigned for left hand menu, title gif Vampirates looks out of centre somehow.
Just a thought but it may help if you reduce width of the menu - you only need it as wide as the longest text"

Scurvy

mice@mindless.com — 2007-10-16T05:17:00+01:00

Here is a piece of information to keep everyone going. Scurvy is a condition caused by a lack of vitamin C (ascorbic acid) in the diet. Signs of scurvy include tiredness, muscle weakness, joint and muscle aches, a rash on the legs, and bleeding gums. In the past, scurvy was common among sailors and other people deprived of fresh fruits and vegetables for long periods of time.

The quote below is from Demons of the Ocean by Justin Somper.
"What's that smell?"
"Extract of Limes," Bart said, smiling.
"Trying to ward off scurvy?" she said, with a grin.

Our Visitors Update

mice@mindless.com — 2007-10-16T02:30:34+01:00

Welcome to the Vampirate fans from , Warwick and Finleyvile. Also a thank you to those from the Australia, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Luxembourg, Romania, Sweden, Tonga, United Kingdom and of course the United States (Commercial, Educational and at home) who have visited us in the past. It is lovely to now see pins in the map and people starting to use the site, thank you folks.

Vampirate Discussion Forums

mice@mindless.com — 2007-10-10T23:30:31+01:00

I have just found on Facebook some Vampirate groups. I have just added them to the Justin Somper page under 'Vampirate Discussion Forums' with the one on the Nocturn. Does anyone know of any more?

Sorry

mice@mindless.com — 2007-10-10T21:43:53+01:00

Sorry the person from Finleyvile USA, I seem to have lost you off the map. Please add yourself again. Sorry.

Book Signing Norwich Waterstones

mice@mindless.com — 2007-10-10T17:00:14+01:00

4 to 5pm Wednesday, 10th October 2007 at Waterstone's In Norwich, Castle Street.
Children's fantasy author Justin Somper will be in Norwich Waterstones signing books and meeting his fans after school in the children's department.

Main Header Logo

mice@mindless.com — 2007-10-09T11:41:09+01:00

I have not been happy with the main header logo for a while. White on black, on a white background looked very amateur and pasted. I have now come up with a new one. I hope you guys like it.

Maps And Pins

mice@mindless.com — 2007-10-08T06:40:28+01:00

Welcome to the Vampirate fans from Ireland, Birmingham and Finleyvile. Also a thank you to those from the Australia, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Japan, Luxembourg, Romania, Sweden, Tonga, United Kingdom and of course the US who have visited us in the past. It is lovely to now see pins in the map and people starting to use the site, thank you folks.

Windsor Photos

mice@mindless.com — 2007-10-05T08:10:47+01:00

If you would like to see pictures of the Windsor Festival, the photographer Maureen McLean has very kindly emailed me a link to her website. I hope you enjoy them.

Where do we all come from?

mice@mindless.com — 2007-10-04T12:08:10+01:00

Come and stick a pin in the 'Where Are You' page. Then you will see where everyone comes from, at the same time.

Dressing Up

mice@mindless.com — 2007-10-03T09:37:26+01:00

I love dressing up, and I really did enjoy doing the lookalike pages. My husband got me to dress us as Ma Kettle again today to he could do a page for our family website, called "How Nuts Is Your Mum."

The World Grows Smaller By The Day.

mice@mindless.com — 2007-10-03T09:31:44+01:00

Welcome to the Vampirate fans from Denmark and Romania, and a thank you to those from the United Kingdom, US, Luxembourg, Germany, Australia, Canada, Tonga, Japan and Sweden who have visited us in the past. We must be starting to be visible to everyone now.

Windsor Festival

mice@mindless.com — 2007-09-29T17:47:40+01:00

What can I say, I was there and loved it. Everyone got the chance to dress up, listen to parts of Blood Captain and ask Justin Somper questions. (yes I know the sword hanging from my tiara shifted in the photos, I should have checked the mirror first!) We first had to sign up to his articles, then we discovered that he did masses of research for the series and things like the sea lanes existed in the golden era of piracy. I feel as if I will be researching chunks for this website for quite a while to come by the tit-bits he told us. Including a character that is appearing in the next book. All in all, if you get the chance, these live shows are well worth getting to. Next time when I get asked to describe Cheng Li I will not go the same shade as my wig.

Pirate School

mice@mindless.com — 2007-09-28T12:05:03+01:00

I was helping at school today and googled for this site. It came up. To begin with one of the teachers said she thought it might be blocked. But I got access to it.

Characters

mice@mindless.com — 2007-09-27T08:01:23+01:00

The updates to the characters page and timeline as slow going at the moment, as I am trying to sew pirate flags on my Ma Kettle costume. The one on the back took way longer than the time I have spent on some of these pages. I hope it looks worth it on Saturday.

THANKS

mice@mindless.com — 2007-09-24T17:08:37+01:00

I got my first message through the squeak page, and it was from the Captain. I am bouncing, and very happy here. Here it is:
Monday, September 24, 2007 at 17:08:37, The Captain, THANKS

Hi! This is Justin Somper writing to say thanks for creating a wonderful site. I've just found it and was really delighted and impressed with how much you have up so speedily. I'm just kicking off a national tour to introduce readers around the UK to BLOOD CAPTAIN. I'm also busily drafting ideas for the fourth book - as yet unnamed - which I will start writing in earnest on my return. Trust the tide!
Justin Somper

Hello World

mice@mindless.com — 2007-09-23T19:19:26+01:00

Welcome to everyone who has visited this site. So far we have United Kingdom, Network, US Commercial, Old style Arpanet (arpa), Luxembourg, Canada, Germany, Australia, Tonga, Japan and Sweden. Keep it up.

Cheng Li

mice@mindless.com — 2007-09-22T22:38:21+01:00

Hubbie's Dad dropped by today. He and Nai Nai (Nanny in mandarin) found the Tempest Twins website intriguing especially the Chinese pirates. Nai Nai found me a website to help me pronounce the Chinese names, Please note that each district has their own variation, so for Cheng you have to go down to the meaning finish / complete / accomplish / become / turn into / win / succeed / one tenth for the correct pronunciation. Although to western ears they sound very similar.

The First Ever Bath Festival of Children's Literature

mice@mindless.com — 2007-09-22T18:00:52+01:00

22nd September 2007 at The Guildhall, Bath.
Justin Somper appear at the first Bath Festival of Children's Literature. Did anyone go and see it and wants to publish their comments here?

Duties

mice@mindless.com — 2007-09-22T16:48:51+01:00

My son and his best mate have been working hard to add to this website, so here is a list of jobs they believe should be in our crew. They also found a list of famous pirates and buccaneers.

Carpenter - A carpenter can make hull repairs at sea.
Cook - A cook can prepare tasty meals at sea.
Cooper - A cooper can preserve food in sturdy barrels.
Gunner - A gunner can train the crew in rapid firing of the cannons.
Surgeon - A surgeon can heal wounded crewmen.
Navigator - A navigator can increase the ship/fleets speed.
Quartermaster (QM) - A quartermaster can enforce discipline at sea.
Sailmaker - A sailmaker can make sail repairs at sea.

Famous , bounty hunters and pirates:
Henry Morgan, Jean Lafitte, Edward Teach (Black Beard), Anne Bonny, Sir Francis Drake, Jack Rackham, Klaus Störtebeker, Captain William Kidd, Christopher Condent, Bartholomew Roberts, Henry Avery, Charles Vane, Francois Lolonois, Stede Bonnet, William Dampier, Godecke Michels, Samuel Bellamy, Woodes Rogers, George Lowther.

The Nocturn

mice@mindless.com — 2007-09-22T01:34:02+01:00

Yippee I got a message back on the nocturn's message board.

"thenocturn (OFFLINE): Ship's Mouse, thankyou for the news. I wasn't aware of that myself. And can I say that your site is amazing. Far better than mine. I just hope people still like it here and don't all jump ship to your site. lol."

Authors Review Blood Captain

mice@mindless.com — 2007-09-21T22:28:04+01:00

You have got to go to the http://www.vampirates.co.uk/ website and read under the latest news the comments from fellow authors like Anthony Horowitz.

International Talk Like A Pirate Day

mice@mindless.com — 2007-09-19T16:29:08+01:00

I have just discovered September 19th (every year) is International Talk Like A Pirate Day. So button down the hatches for some terrible one liners, as my kids deliver various pirate-esk orders while changing my bed into a pirate ship.

Vampirate Radio

mice@mindless.com — 2007-09-18T23:22:03+01:00

I have just spotted the Vampirates website news has an another two additons. One being Justin Somper is appearing on the Simon Mayo's Show. A podcast is going to be available to download via http://www.bbc.co.uk/fivelive/programmes/mayo.shtml after the show.

Google's Found Us

mice@mindless.com — 2007-09-18T21:14:35+01:00

I am very happy here. Google has found two pages from the Tempest Twins website, the Dirty Dolphin and Our Crew. I have just types in Tempest Twins and pressed uk and we are second. Yipee, I am bouncing here. Just for the record so has MSN. Ok little things please little minds but it has made my day, people can find me.

Red Books

mice@mindless.com — 2007-09-17T19:27:40+01:00

Ahh, I am using a different copy of Vampirates, Demons Of The Ocean to my usual (as a friend is borrowing mine), and my kids went by. Now it does look more authentic with Strawberry, Blackberry and Raspberry juice down the side. Well back to up-dating the character page and hoping the pages don't stick together.

The Pirate Lady

mice@mindless.com — 2007-09-17T17:41:43+01:00

There are some wonderful people on the web. Here is just one.

"You've a wonderful website and I shall add a link at the end of my review so readers will know about Tempest Twins. I've another of the Vampirate books to review, but there are several other pirate books ahead of it.
Thanks for the link! Have a wonderful day. :-)"

Her link can be found with the other pirating links and well worth a look.

Pirates and Privateers
This website includes Pirate articles, links, book reviews and more.

Blog Time

mice@mindless.com — 2007-09-16T08:10:06+01:00

A friend told me the reason why although I have told Google about this site, Google's googlebot has crawled us, they will not list us is:

"There's a ~6-month spell called the 'Google Sandbox', in which it's disproportionately unlikely that you'll appear in search results. When you have some respectable inbound links, the site will be increasingly visible to the search community.

Try finding blogs on related topics and leaving helpful comments, leaving your URL -- that will lead to both curious (and relevant) visitors, and on-topic (and therefore Google-strength-enhancing) backlinks."

So here is a blog to try and get us noticed. I hope you like it, I will try to update it monthly with anything Vampirate esk that I or you lot find.

The Somper Man Cometh

mice@mindless.com — 2007-09-11T20:56:04+01:00

I've got my ticket to see Justin Somper in Windsor the weekend after next. I can't wait!

Praise

mice@mindless.com — 2007-09-11T13:24:03+01:00

A friend read my website and sent me an email. I am so happy, I created a praise page so I could share it with everyone. No one is willing to use the Squeak page yet. I had to check again that it worked.

"Well done! What an accomplishment! I loved it all and found your explanation of how you got started reading the series very interesting. I'm sure it will be an encouragement to anyone who has struggled with reading.

I have one little titbit of info for you. I noticed in your character section that you were wondering about the origin of the name Jez. Well, it's short for Jeremy (who knows why!), which means God's appointed one."

Festival Time

mice@mindless.com — 2007-09-08T15:51:02+01:00

When I was researching to produce this website, I discovered about the Windsor Festival. I have just ordered my ticket, I guess I better go as Ma Kettle. What do you think?

Ready For The Internet

mice@mindless.com — 2007-09-07T23:22:04+01:00

Tempest Twins Website goes live. I did it I promised myself that it had to be up by Friday and with my hubbies help I managed to get it up.

Dressing Up Time

mice@mindless.com — 2007-09-05T16:30:04+01:00

After school, my kids and I got all dressed up and went round to a friends house with accessories and a camera to get some photos for the Look alikes pages. My son's best mate's family were willing to have a laugh too so loads of photos were taken. My Blood Captain square had to have the replica sword held with both hands as it is heavy. Just watching the kids playing pirates with it and a plastic sword was hilarious. That and arguing on who would have the map and tankard made a fun afternoon.

Domain Name

mice@mindless.com — 2007-09-05T07:59:05+01:00

I got it the domain name I wanted. See here it www.tempesttwins.co.uk. I hope it is catchy enough for people to remember it and be able to spell it.

Down The Amazon

mice@mindless.com — 2007-08-24T10:45:05+01:00

Amazon must have received their copies of Blood Captain early as mine arrived today. I was so excited I had to open it in-front of the postman. My son says that if he cannot have his Pokemon game on his Nintendo during the day, I should not be allowed to hide in a book. So I will have to wait until my hubby gets home to read it.