It is my pleasure to be taking part in the blog tour for Justin Somper’s incredible new pirate series, Pirate Academy.

About the Author

Justin Somper is a creative talent in children’s book publishing. Beginning his career as a writer/editor for Usborne, he joined Puffin Books as a publicist in 1992 and moved to Random House as Children’s Publicity Director in 1996. In 1998, Justin became one of the UK’s first specialist children’s book publicists. He has since worked with Anthony Horowitz, Louise Rennison, the Roald Dahl literary estate and the Narnia literary estate amongst others.

Justin made the transition from leading book publicist to bestselling author, with a roaring success with Vampirates. He has recently released the second book in his new Pirate Academy series, Missing at Sea.

My stop on the tour takes the form of an author interview about the writing of Pirate Academy: Missing at Sea.

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Ahoy Justin. Ye be welcome to me blog.

JS: Thank ye!

When I was invited on the tour I was excited, as I loved your first book in the Pirate Academy series, New Kid on Deck. I am currently reading the second book Missing at Sea and finding it just as good as the first.

 JS: Thank ye again! (Just to be clear, I never talk like this!)

Tell us about yourself and the inspiration for the Pirate Academy series.

I’m a British author (mostly middle-grade) currently living in Perth, Western Australia with my Aussie husband. I’m probably best known for my Vampirates books, which have been published in 35 countries to date and are currently being developed for TV.

Pirate Academy has its beginnings in my other MG series, Vampirates. The Pirate Academy (Coral Sea Province) first appeared in Vampirates 2: Tide of Terror, as did several key characters, including Headcaptain Commodore John Kuo, Jacoby Blunt and Jasmine Peacock.

I know there’s a lot of affection for Pirate Academy from longstanding Vampirates readers. Also, during visits to schools over the years, I’ve been asked for pirate stories for younger readers that still retain my typical edge as a writer. For these reasons, I’ve been keen to return to the idea of Pirate Academy for a while and break it out into its own series. When UCLan Publishing released their fab new editions of Vampirates in 2020 and 2021 and I started going back into schools after the pandemic, the strong response I received to my stories from new readers encouraged me to get moving with Pirate Academy. Pleasingly, it came together quite quickly.

If you were a pirate, what would your pirate name be and where would you hide your treasure?

I’d be Captain Swashbuckle Somper, I guess. Keep it simple, right? I’d hide my treasure in a complex underwater safe, protected by various mechanisms and a good deal of seawater above it.

Asking for a mate – Can ye send a map?

I’m afraid not. But maybe a coded clue?

How did you develop your characters and their voices so children can identify with them?

I do try to give the characters distinctive voices and points of view and work hard not to “duplicate” characters. Depicting the fifteen members of Barracuda Class has been a next-level challenge in this regard. I hope that I’m getting it right most of the time and that Jasmine, Neo, Jacoby, Leif, Shay and co all have distinct voices. There were points in the second book where I worried that Ocean was sounding too like Jasmine and Cosmo too much like Jacoby, so I went back and thought further about the nuances of their different mindsets. I’m writing Book 3 at the moment and I’ve done a chapter where all fifteen Barracudas have a line of speech. This was very fun and satisfying to do. I enjoy writing dialogue and I like listening to how people talk to each other in real-life, so I can carry some of that onto the page.

What was your favourite children’s book and why?

My favourite book series as a child was Helen Cresswell’s The Bagthorpe Saga, so it would be one of those books – maybe Absolute Zero. I think I really identified with the big, noisy family life it depicted. (I am one of four kids.) I was lucky enough to meet Helen Cresswell and tell her how much those books mean to me.

As a teen, I adored The Outsiders and Catcher in the Rye.

Talk us through your world building for Pirate Academy.

How much time do you have?! There are so many different aspects to world-building for these books – and again, I’m enjoying the challenge. I’m on a schools tour in the UK at the moment and one aspect of world-building I am talking to young audiences about is the lessons at Pirate Academy. I think it is central to the success of this series that the lessons need to be believable but also fun and also full of jeopardy. My starting point was borrowing my nephew Matt’s school timetable and swapping out his weekly lessons for more piratical ones. Once I’ve devised the lessons themselves, then I like to take things to the next level once we are “in” the class. So in Knots Class, we see Captain Quivers getting as excited as her students with “attack knots”. And in Swords Class, we find that the floor tilts to mirror conditions on the deck of a ship.

Another key aspect of world-building is thinking about the kids’ pirate families and their ships. I’ll build up extra back-story in my head to deploy when the time is right. For instance, from the beginning, I’ve had the thought that the Lermentov and Corsini families are deadly rivals and wouldn’t tolerate Ocean and Cosmo being friends. And, of course, Cosmo and Ocean ARE great friends, but it’s only in Book 3 that we will become aware of the pressure from their families. It’s good to have these reserves of extra story to plug into as and when.

Tell us about your Pirate Academy school tour and upcoming events planned for this summer.

Ha! I’m about halfway through the schools side of it and I’m having a wonderful time. In just over a week, I’ve visited 14 schools, several of which have invited other schools to join the sessions. I’ve been working with students across KS2 and I’m excited that Pirate Academy seems to be hitting the mark for Years 3, 4, 5 and 6 – which is broader than I anticipated. I have more visits scheduled for the next week and my final one is really special because it’s the school in East London that my two great-nephews go to!

After that, I’ve got two days of public events on The Golden Hinde (August 3^rd) and the Cutty Sark (August 9^th). Tickets are (I think) still available for both of these via their websites.

What writing advice would you give to people aspiring to be a children’s book writer?

1. Read often and widely
2. Write often but in realistic chunks – say 90 mins or two hours at a time
3. Don’t give up!
4. If you’re an adult, don’t talk down to your audience
   
   Is there anything else you would like to tell readers about your books and writing for children?

I think we’ve covered a lot, thank you! Oh you could check out my lesser-known “duology” for young teens, Allies & Assassins and its sequel A Conspiracy of Princes.

What are your social media links where can people find out more about you and your books?

I’m easily found as I’m @JustinSomper on Insta, X and Facebook. I’m most active these days on Insta. I dabble with TikTok but I suspect I’m not going to become a BookTokker.

Where is the best place for people to buy your book?

You can find multiple links in my linktree on my socials. But why not just pop into your local bookshop – be it an indie or a chain bookstore – and ask for it. Even if they don’t have it right there, they can speedily order it in for you. As I’m based in Australia for the forseeable, I am exploring a relationship with one or two indie booksellers through whom we can always offer signed and personalised copies of my books. Check my insta for more news on this as it develops!

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You can read my review of the first book in the series, Pirate Academy: New kid on Deck here: Book Review: Pirate Academy – New Kid on Deck.

You can purchase copies of both books in the Pirate Academy series by Justin Somper from your local bookshop, or online at uk.bookshop.org which supports local, independent bookshops.

I would like to thank Graeme Williams for inviting me to take part in this tour. Thank you.

To follow the rest of the tour take a look at the schedule: