Are you a pirate fan? Can you think of good ideas? If so, Young Samurai author Chris Bradford needs your help. He is writing the seventh book in his addictive ninja series and wants a Young Times reader to name the evil pirate ship that will attack his hero, Jack Fletcher. The winner of our competition will have his or her idea in a book read worldwide — and be credited inside. So get imagining . . .
Young Samurai is a series of action adventure stories set in 17th-century Japan, following the exploits of an English boy as he strives to be the first foreign samurai.
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Man-eating sharks, ferocious storms and ninja pirates! These are some of the perils that my hero, Jack Fletcher, will face in The Ring of Wind, the seventh instalment in the Young Samurai series. But the book isn’t written yet — it exists only in my imagination.
As an author, I spend a lot of time researching and plotting before I put pen to paper. Writing a novel can take me six months to a whole year.
One of the main tasks is to think of names for my characters. But for this seventh book I face a challenge — to think of a good name for the ninja pirate ship that attacks Jack and his samurai friends as they escape across the Seto sea.
So I’m calling all Young Times readers: this is your chance to suggest a name for my Japanese ninja pirate ship. Here are some guidelines to help you:
The name should be short — one, two or three words long.
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It must strike fear into sailors’ hearts: a name that suggests the darkness, power and threat of the ninja.
It can be in English or Japanese (please provide translation in English).
So get thinking, before the ninja pirates set sail.
Chris Bradford
COMPETITION TERMS AND CONDITIONS:
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1. Competition closing date is 23.59 on Thursday 31 March 2011.
2. These terms and conditions apply to all competitions (unless and to the extent that) the competition states otherwise.
3. Unless otherwise specified, competition open to UK and Republic of Ireland residents aged 16 or under at the closing date, except children of employees of Times Newspapers Ltd (TNL), News International Ltd, and their associated, affiliated or subsidiary companies, their families, agents or any other person(s) connected with the competition, including third party promotional partners.
4. No more than one Entry per child may be submitted. A parent/guardian may enter more than one child for the Competition where the child is eligible. It is the responsibility of the parent/guardian to make sure that that there is not more than one of each individual child submitted in total.
5. Entry is free but entrants should be aware that they may be subject to local call charges depending on their own individual arrangements for Internet access.
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6. Entries must be submitted with the signed consent of the legal parent/guardian of the Entrant.
7. The Entry must be unpublished.
8. Entrants must warrant that the Entry is original; entirely the author’s own work, does not infringe any existing copyright, moral or any other rights of any third party, contains nothing obscene, libelous, unlawful or defamatory and should be suitable for publication in The Times Young Times section, online at www.timesonline.co.uk and as part of the Young Samurai book.
9. By signing the below, the Winner consents and agrees to grant a worldwide sub-licensable, perpetual, transferable, non-exclusive, royalty free licence to publicly display, publish, reproduce, broadcast, amend or modify of the Entry or any part of the Entry, transmit and distribute the Entry or any part of the Entry in the Book published by Us in paperback, talking book, podcast, audio download electronic databases, e-paper, website or any other future electronic forms.
10. To acknowledge the Winner’s moral right under Chapter 4 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, we shall include the Winner’s name in all copies of the paperback Book and provide the following copyright notice in all copies of the paperback Book:
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Name of pirate ship created by [Winner’s name].
11. By entering, all eligible entrants agree to abide by each and all these terms and conditions. Misrepresentative or fraudulent entries will invalidate an entry. TNL reserves the right, with or without cause, to exclude entrants and withhold prizes for violating any of these terms and conditions. TNL reserves the right to amend these terms and conditions. Any amendments will be published on the Website.
12. Winners will be notified within 28 days after the closing date. All reasonable endeavours will be made to contact the winner during this time. If a winner cannot be contacted or is not available, TNL reserves the right to re-draw another winner from the correct entries that were received before the closing date.
13. The winner will see their pirate ship name featured in the seventh Young Samurai book, and will be credited in the opening pages. They will also receive one signed copy of each of the first five books in the Young Samurai book series.
14. TNL reserves the right to publish entries (including parts of entries) other than the winning entry and publication does not necessarily mean the entrant has won a prize.
15. There is no cash or other alternative to the prize stated and the prize is not transferable and no part or parts of the prize may be substituted for other benefits, items or additions.