THIS WAS AN INTERVIEW FOR A HUNGARIAN PUBLICATION: EKULTURA. THESE ARE MY ORIGINAL ANSWERS IN ENGLISH. YOU CAN READ THE HUNGARIAN TRANSLATION HERE.

1. When you finished the Saga of Darren Shan, you said that you have already written some parts for the sequel, but you don’t want to carry on with the series just yet. How long do we have to wait for The Cannibal King?

Indefinitely, I’m afraid. I had originally planned to write more than twenty books in that series, but as I was writing the, I realised it was primarily a coming of age story, and by the time of book 12, the character Darren had come to the natural end of his story arc. I tried taking it forward, but it just didn’t work, so I finished where the story demanded to finish. There’s a chance that I might one day create a sequel series, utilising some of the ideas I had in mind, but featuring a different main character. But if that does ever happen, it won’t be any time soon, as I am already at work on a new project, which I imagine will take several years to complete.

2. In 2006, a manga series, called Cirque du Freak was published. How did you like it?

I loved the manga! It appeared in Japan initially, in serial format, before it was collected and translated. I think the artist, Takahiro Arai, did an amazing job of staying faithful to the books but at the same time finding a way to make it work on its own terms as a manga. I highly recommend the manga, even to those who have already read the books.

3. The feature film adaptation of the first three Darren Shan books was not an immediate box-office hit. Are there any other films planned that are based either on the Darren Shan saga or other series?

Sadly, there are no sequels to the Cirque Du Freak movie in the pipeline. It didn’t do as well at the box office as the producers hoped, and they spent a lot of money to make it, so they ended up taking quite a heavy loss. I’m hopeful that we will one day be able to re-boot it with a different film or TV company. Regarding other works by me, I have recently agreed to option the film rights to Lady Of The Shades – one of my books for adult readers – to a movie producer in the UK, so if we’re lucky that will be turned into a film within the next few years.

4. Out of the three ‘paths’ or solutions from the saga, which is the one you like best? Kurda’s middle-of-the-road solution or the vampire/vampaneze domination?

I’m a big advocate of dialogue. I relish the diversity of our world, the different cultures and religions that various countries produce. I think it’s important that we stay in touch with one another, that we talk through our differences and problems, that we try to be understanding and respectful of those whose beliefs are not the same as our own. There’s room for all of us on this planet, as long we we behave humanely and with dignity. So, in short, I would have been a supporter of Kurda!

5. The second book from the Larten Crepsley series is just being published in Hungary. Why did you choose him as the main character for this series when there are several other fantastic minor characters that would all deserve their own standalone books?

I had not planned to write any books about any of the other characters in the Darren Shan Saga – I’m always wary of tie-in projects like prequels and sequels, as more often than not they are simply an excuse to make more money. But the character of Larten fascinated me. I didn’t know much about his past when I was writing my original Saga. After I’d finished it, I kept thinking about Larten, wondering what his life had been like before he met Darren, and how he had wound up separated from the vampire clan, having risen so highly in their ranks just a few decades earlier. In the end I felt compelled to sit down and tell his tale. That’s the way I always work. I never take anything into consideration except the story. When a book demands to be written by voices deep within my head, I listen to those voices and write it.

6. The Saga of Larten Crepsley seems much darker than the story of Darren Shan, as if the world it presents would be much harsher. Was it deliberate, or the story just weaved itself in this peculiar way?

I don’t think it’s actually any darker. But Larten is an adult for most of the storyline – it’s spread across the course of two hundred years – and adults have a different experience of the world than children. It was one of the challenges of writing this series – I knew it would have a more adult feel to it than Darren’s story, but I had to write it in a way that it would be acceptable to younger readers too. In the end I think I found the correct balance, although there’s no escaping the fact that this does have a different feel to it. But then again, for me that’s a positive thing – I don’t think there would be much point in writing a series that worked in exactly the same way as another series.

7. The Darren Shan saga is clearly a ‘coming of age’ story, but what is the main theme of the Crepsley-saga?

Well, it’s not as straightforward as Darren’s story arc, because it covers a much longer period of time. But the driving force behind it is Larten’s rise and fall. We know from the original books that something very bad happened to him, that forced him to sever all connections with the vampire clan, even though he was about to become a Vampire Prince. That forms the backbone of this series – I wanted to explain how he had beccome a vampire of high standing, and why he had walked away from the promise of ultimate power. I see these books like a Shakespearean tragedy – we know, with a play like Macbeth or Hamlet, that it will end in tears, but the interesting thing is why and how?

8. The Darren Shan books offer serious food for thought for young readers about friendship, honour and making stand for others. What is the message of the new saga? What do you feel is the most important aspect of the story?

It’s very similar in many ways. Again, the new books stress the importance of friendship, the need to be loyal to your allies, the importance of living an honourable life and showing respect for other people. But it also highlights the dangers of living a life of vengeance, of the pitfalls that lie in wait if we set out to seek revenge for wrongs that are committed against us. We saw that to an extent in The Saga Of Darren Shan, through the actions of Steve Leopard, but in this series I focus on it quite a lot more.

9. Do you plan to write more about the subtleties of the vampire world? Will there be a book about the early scheming of Des Tiny, or the origin of the vampires and the vampaneze?

No. There’s a chance, as I said earlier, that I might write a sequel series, set in the future, that focuses on the War Of The Scars and its outcome, but otherwise I don’t plan to return to that universe. I think a story always needs a very good dramatic reason to exist. It shouldn’t just be telling you more about characters you like.

10. After two long series, it was interesting to read your one-off novels like The Thin Executioner and Koyasan. Why did you feel that you have to write these two books?

They were just stories that presented themselves to me. I never write any more than I need. If I can tell a story in a single book, I will do that. If it needs ten or twelve books, then so be it. I’m always a slave to the story. I don’t do anything from a marketing or publishing point of view. I just tell stories that I feel that I have to tell.

11. You are currently working on the Zom-B series that has not been published in Hungary yet. Would you tell us a few words about its storyline?

It’s set in a world that has been over-run with zombies. But it doesn’t focus on the living survivors battling the living dead – I’ve tried to write about zombies in a very different way. The main character is a teenager called B Smith, whose father is a racist, and the series tackles all sorts of real-life issues, such as racism, the abuse of power, the rise of the far-right (especially relevant, unfortunately, after the recent European election), and religious zealotry, while at the same time documenting the downfall of mankind. It’s a very fast-paced, twist-packed, thought-provoking work. It’s stirred up more debate than any of my other books in the countries where it has been released, so hopefully it will be translated and released in Hungary in the near future, as I’d be intrigued to see what my fans there think of it…

12. Vampires, zombies, demons… you have already dealt with a lot of monsters from the horror inventory. Are there any other creatures on your mind that you would like to present in your books?

I’m not actually working my way through the monster lexicon, although I can see how it might seem that way! For me, the story always comes first. With Zom-B, I wanted to write about racism and the rise of right-wing parties, and zombies just seemed like the best way that I could do that without it becoming stiff and boring. My next series won’t be about any established monsters, but I can’t say antyhing else about it at the moment, since it is still in the very early stages of development.

13. I was very surprised when I found out that the publishers used the Hungarian front covers for the Kindle edition of the second and third book of The City Trilogy. Is it often the case that you feel that other, non-English covers are better than the ‘original’?

We’ve actually used all three of the Hungarian City covers for the Kindle editions, all across the world. I love when countries come up with their own covers, and it’s fascinating to compare them against one another. With the City books, I did think that the Hungarian covers worked better than the British covers, which is why I suggested we use them for the Kindle versions.

14. What do you think, in the long run, will you write more books under the name of Darren Shan or Darren Dash?

Oh, I’ll definitely write more books under the name of Darren Shan than Darren Dash – I’ve been so prolific over the last fifteen years, that even if I stopped writing as Darren Shan, I don’t think I’d be able to release as many books under the Darren Dash name! But I plan to write under both names going forward, books for younger readers as Darren Shan, books for older readers as Darren Dash. I actually started out that way in the beginning, with the intention of keeping the worlds of my adult and children’s books completely separate. My publishers across the world convinced me to try merging them, which is why I released The City books and Lady Of The Shades under the Darren Shan banner, but I never felt comfortable doing that, which is why I have now divided them. All future adult books that I write will be released as Darren Dash books.

15. The Hungarian fans are very excited about your arrival. How do you feel about returning to Hungary?

I’m very excited too! I’ve had an incredibly warm welcome on both of my previous visits to Hungary, and was lucky enough to be able to sign books for loads and loads of fans. It’s been six years since my last visit, so I’m very happy to be coming back. I’m hoping to meet some of those old fans again, as well as lots of new fans too. It’s going to be fun!

Interview With The Vampire: Darren Shan

Originally published in UCC Express

Arts and Literature Editor Eoghan Lyng catches up with “The Master of Horror”!

To say that Darren Shan is a popular writer is as much an understatement as stating that Queen Elizabeth II owns a certain amount of property. Darren Shan`s books have been published in every continent of the world, selling over twenty million copies in the process. What makes this feat even more impressive is that Shan`s first book was only published in 1999.

Since that year, Shan has hardly refrained himself from writing, having churned out nearly forty books in the last fifteen years. Shan himself has noted that such a prolific output can be difficult at times. “It ain`t easy” Shan tells Verge. “You just have to keep your head down and don’t come up for air!”

Breathlessness is right. Darren O`Shaughnessy (or Darren Shan to his fans) has had, on average; two books published a year since 2000. Equate that to fantasy writers J.R.R Tolkien (who only published two major works in his lifetime) and Philip Pullman (who has not written anything of note since 2000) and Shan comes out on top as a consistently prolific artist. Arguably, only Stephen King has been as consistently efficient in the world of fantasy! Shan must be the Irish equivalent to Stephen King!

On the topic of Irishness, it is interesting to note that Shan himself does not think his Irish surroundings have influenced him in the same way they inspired other great Irish writers like Seamus Heaney or James Joyce. “I’ve lived here most of my life” he says “and what I have experienced here has certainly fed into my work, but I think I would have been a writer no matter where I lived, and would have taken inspiration from whatever I found in my surroundings.”

Though Shan has maintained an expansive backlog of work, it is “The Saga of Darren Shan” that he is best known for. Based around an eponymous character forced to leave his existence and move into a vampiric world, the twelve book series dealt with themes and ideas untouched by other authors. The books started off as a gothic reflection of the lives led by social outcasts such as vampires, werewolves and other freaks, before developing into a fantasy of legendary proportions. By the end of the series, the main character in question underwent many great personality transformations, both psychologically and sexually, written in a way that J. K. Rowling and Terry Pratchett never quite managed to pull off. Shan attests that the books were always meant to be read as a paean to adolescence. “I realised it was a coming of age tale. The books followed Darren through his teenage years, as he made his way through the world and learnt about growing up. By the time of book 12, he had come of age, and it just didn’t feel right to carry the story on any further.” This coming of age essence must have been universal, as the first book, “Cirque de Freak”, was made into a Universal Pictures film in 2009 starring John C. Reilly and Willem Dafoe. Although the film featured an A-List cast, the film met with critical and commercial derision.

What`s most interesting about the books is their allusively literate style. “The Saga of Darren Shan” should be more readily compared to Charles Dickens for its imaginative scope than other Vampire based sagas such as “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” or “Twilight”. The books certainly have a Dickensian feel to them not readily found in books for adolescents. Shan himself has openly acknowledged Dickens`s influence on his work. “He [Dickens] was a great story-teller” he admits to Verge. “Even if you haven’t read his books, you’re most likely being influenced by writers who have. He knew how to put a hell of a good story together, and the methods he developed still work today”. Shan has frequently admitted that “A Tale of Two Cities” is one of his favourite works. With many other influences, it`s not always easy to see the shadow of that book within Shan`s work, although the polarising worlds between humans and vampires in the twelve book cycle may be a nod of the head to the works of the great nineteenth century writer.

If “The Saga of Darren Shan” was a titillating look at vampires in a Dickensian context, then his next collection, “The Demonata” series, was an opera of Faustian standards. Connecting three differing characters in a series of demonic events spanning over many centuries, worlds and portals, the series is arguably his best work to date, one in which Shan readily admits himself.“ “The Demonata” is the series I’m proudest of, because it’s the one I had to stretch myself the furthest to make work. It began as a collection of demon-focused stories that didn’t really connect up smoothly, but I somehow managed to pull all the disparate strands together and weave them into a fluid, carefully interconnected whole”.

“Lord Loss”, the first “Demonata” book, was nominated for Children`s Book of The Year in 2005, becoming a UK #1 hit in the process, a success he sustained with the rest of the series. Since then, Shan has often been described by his honorific title “The Master of Horror”. Unlike many authors who come to dislike the genre they helped propagate, Shan seems readily content with the macabric universe of horror novels. “I think horror is a fascinating genre. It allows you to go off in all sorts of interesting directions. My books are a real mix of genres – I cover all sorts of strange ground – but I find the dark element acts as a catalyst for everything else.”

Shan`s writing style has certainly changed over the years. His current series for teenagers, Zom-B, is his most expansive in thematic style yet. “As well as being a grisly zombie apocalypse tale, it’s also my most political series” he explains. “[The books] look at racism, religious extremism, the abuse of power, and so on. There’s plenty of thought-provoking material in amongst all the brain-munching”.

Vampires. Demons. And now zombies. There does not seem to be any Hammer Monster that Shan has not written about in length. Shan may not have veered too far away from the realm of fantasy and horror, but his writing style certainly has. He readily accepts new forms and styles, refusing to allow complacency step in his way. As Shan himself says, “I’m always looking to take on new challenges and do new things. I think a writer should look to develop all the time. It’s dangerous to hit a plateau!”

Darren Shan lives in Limerick, Ireland. His current release “Zom-B Baby” is available in all bookshops.
 

Limerick million selling author Darren Shan spoke to Limerick Post about his new series Zom-B, a rip roaring zombie tale with a focus on racism and bullying.

“IT was the darkest, most wretched hour of the night when the dead came back to life and spread like a plague of monstrous locusts through the village of Pallaskenry. The luckier victims were slaughtered in their sleep, their skulls ripped open, their brains devoured. The others suffered a far more terrible fate......”

And thus begins Zom-B, the horrific tale of a zombie apocalypse as experienced by B Smith, one of its unlucky victims. The 12 book series is the work of multi-million selling author Darren Shan (O’Shaughnessy to his relatives) who these days splits his time between homes in London and Pallaskenry, Limerick. Limerick Post talked to Darren Shan about the Zom-B series.

The third book in the series Zom-B City, just released, sits at No.1 in Amazon’s Children’s Horror Book chart. The book has also broken into the Top 100 on Amazon’s overall sales chart. Zom-B tells the story of B Smith, caught up in a zombie invasion at school. But much more than just a romp about kids running from flesh eating monsters, B Smith is a complex character that has to deal with a racist father and nightmares of killer babies.

While there is plenty gore and horror in Zom-B, issues of racism and bullying are ever present for central character who falls under the influence of a father that is a wife-beating racist thug.

Darren says, “Racism is very much to the forefront at the moment, people are being told to be afraid of anyone who is different and be afraid of Muslims. I spent a lot of time in London and racism was very apparent there. There was a lot of tension in the air especially after the London bombings, that is when the book started to come into place. Zom-B was my way of doing that in an exciting way. I wanted the readers to think about racism while at the same time having a good rip roaring story.”

Darren writes mainly for a teenage audience and even though the clothes, the gadgets and the music has changed for today’s teenagers, the issues that mattered to teenagers when he himself was in school haven’t changed that much.

“Teenage years can be hard, we are much more callous when we are teenagers, we haven’t yet learnt to be diplomatic, it’s all part of everyday life. We should be saying to kids and teenagers, You need to think about what you are doing. You need to think about other people’s feelings. You need to think about where that may lead.”

Darren adds that he is not trying to ram a message down anyone’s throat but through his storytelling he wants to say, “Look at what you are doing, look at what other people are doing, think about it, Don’t accept truths, don’t accept the state of play of things just because it is deemed to be natural. It can turn you into one of these people on the news, who are waving flags and burning other flags, marching and trying to get people thrown out of the country.”

In everyday life people come across some form of bullying. Darren adds it can be, “something that might seem perfectly acceptable to you, perfectly safe and self contained but it can have a snowball effect. A bit of harmless bullying in the schoolyards, that is all part of teenage life, but if that is happening every day, if it becomes more concentrated, that is how very negative thoughts that can lead you to do something terrible.”

“I’m always saying to readers of my books, don’t go down the road of hate. The main message that comes through in Zom-B, is to just pay attention to what you are doing.”

With the Internet and the possibility of being abusive online while preserving anonymity, cyberbullying has taken these issues to a whole new level. “When it is face to face, it can be horrible, but there is, at least, that personal element to it. It is something you can react to and you can square up to the person or you can try and deal with it. Whereas if it done through the Internet it is more clinical, it is more thought through.”

In Zom-B the main character comes from a hard background, with a father who is a bully, a wife beater, a child beater and a racist. “If you come from that sort of background it can be hard not to replicate what you see going on. If you put teens into a group together, you are acting this way because of what is going on around you and it’s hard to change, but to go onto a computer by yourself to target someone, there is no excuse for it in my eyes.”

Darren’s new series is a zombie story about finding redemption. It tells the reader that there is always a good fight to be fought: “I always like to think that whatever background we come from, whatever we might do, there is always this hope for change. B Smith does a monstrous act, so I wanted to explore how that character can make amends and put right the wrong that has been done.”

Zom-B was shortlisted for the Children’s Book Of The Year in the Irish Book Awards. The first three books in the Zom-B series are now available in bookshops worldwide.

When I was a child, my parents would sometimes take me to a funfair (amusement park) in a small town called Tramore, in southeast Ireland. It featured a very old, rickety roller coaster, with one tall, alarmingly steep drop. The cars held four people, two in front, two in back. There was no actual harness for your body, just a small metal bar to hold you in place. I went on the roller coaster many times, but one ride in particular stands out. My father and younger brother were sitting together, while I was sitting by myself. The car took off, and as it turned around the bend to begin its first climb, the metal bar holding me in snapped open! And no matter how hard I pushed down on it, it wouldn't stay down! Luckily, at another funfair a few years before, I had heard a carnie telling a customer that gravity holds you in place on a roller coaster, that it was almost impossible to fall out. At the time I thought it would be really cool to test that out -- but I never thought that chance would actually fall my way! Since there was nothing else I could do, I just held on and screamed for dear life as we climbed up... up... up... then shot to earth like a downed rocket! Obviously, since I'm here writing this, the carnie had told the truth -- gravity did hold me in. But it was still the scariest ride of my life. And probably the best because of that!

After Darren Shan’s tales of vampires and demons, was it inevitable that zombies would be next on his list? Graham Marks interviews Darren Shan for Books for Keeps.

For someone whose latest cover declares that he’s ‘The Master of Horror’, Darren Shan is not giving off any Vincent Price vibes today. On the contrary, he’s got a twinkle in his eye and couldn’t really look much happier with the copy of ZOM-B, the first instalment of his new 12-part series, that’s sitting in front of him on the table.

Having brought us tales of vampires and then demons, was it, I wondered, an inevitability that zombies would be next on his list to write about? “No!” comes the firm response. “No, because I’ve never thought about it that way… I get lots of letters and e-mails from kids asking me what I’m going to do next, but for me the story always comes first.” A good case in point, he says, is The Demonata series, which originally started with him trying to write about werewolves, except the story he had in the back of his mind kept on coming out very clichéd, just an ordinary werewolf story that didn’t excite him at all.

Darren is a natural enthusiast and the thought of doing something that doesn’t excite him is anathema. In the course of trying different approaches to the story he remembered a poem he’d written, back when he was writing poetry, about an eight-armed demon master called Lord Loss. He realised he could bring the character into the story, a story that looked like it was going to be about werewolves, but was, in fact, about demons. “It’s similar to what I did in Cirque du Freak, where it’s not until you’re half way through that you realise it’s about vampires. Stories that work for me are the ones I have come at from a different angle.”

When he started work on Zom-B he was looking to write a book about racism and the world post-9/11. “I used to have a flat out in the East End,” he says, “and I can remember there was quite a lot of graffiti, an atmosphere of fear and arguments with immigrants, and I wanted to write a book about that and zombies seemed the best way to do it – normally zombies are the biggest threat, and in most zombie stories it’s how do you get away from them, how do you drive them back?

“But there’s a scene in the first book where [the lead character] B’s dad has this poster with two pictures on it, one of a zombie, one of a Muslim, and it says ‘Which Do You Fear Most?’ And that’s a theme which runs through the whole series – you’ve got the end of the world as we know it, undead hordes all over the place, and zombies still aren’t the biggest threat… there’s humans being petty and mean, with power struggles going on and that’s what was interesting to me, taking standard zombie fare and turning it on it’s head and having this interesting background to it.”

Stephanie Meyer got taken to task by the ‘vampire community’ for playing fast and loose with the blood-sucker rules in her Twilight series, so, having decided to use zombies as the vehicle for his project, was he going to have to stick to the regulations with his zombies, or would they have a strong element of Shan about them? “They have to, it’s like when I did vampires…” Darren sits back. “I haven’t read the Twilight books, but I get letters from fans who don’t like them because it’s so popular; I love it when a horror work, even if it’s not strictly speaking horror, is popular as it’s good for the genre. It can be hard to write genres because they fade in and out of popularity and it’s been hard at times in my career – Cirque du Freak was turned down by twenty UK publishers as being too dark for kids…” Darren stops for a moment, reacquaints himself with my question, then goes on. “I think you’ve got to ignore the rules…I pay homage to them, then use them to suit my purposes as I didn’t want to write about ordinary zombies; I don’t think there’s much mileage in that.”

Darren started working on this series over four years ago, way before Walking Dead hit the TV screens and zombies became something of a genre du jour; had he had to make a big effort not to be influenced by what else was out there? No, he says, he simply ignored it. The only time he really had a problem was when, about two books into the project, it was announced that Charlie Higson was doing a zombie series set in London and he knew there would be a certain amount of overlap.

“I didn’t want to not do something just because Charlie had done it. When the books have all come out I shall look forward to going back and reading his ones to see how we approach the city from very different points of view – I think readers will have fun doing that, too. But when I was writing them I didn’t want to put myself off by thinking I couldn’t doing something because Charlie’s done it.”

How interesting a zombie panel discussion with these two would be, I thought, to find they have shared stages in the past, but that the last time they were both asked Darren felt he had to cry off. “It was around the time of the announcement of my new series, which had been under high-security wraps. I couldn’t say why I didn’t want to do it,” Darren smiles, “so when Charlie heard the news he sent me an e-mail saying he now knew why!”

Throughout his whole writing career guts, viscera and gore have been something of a trademark and he obviously has never had any qualms or difficulties with writing about them. But what about taking us, as he does, into the head and heart of a true dyed-in-the-wool racist, was that difficult to do? He replies by quoting the title of a song, ‘Everyone’s a Little Bit Racist’, from the hit musical Avenue Q. Racist tendencies, he says, are a part of life, a part of being different; assuming you believe in evolution, he goes on, we came from ape-like creatures, then small tribes, and sticking to your own was a survival strategy, a natural thing in us and he feels it’s important to address the trait.

“So tapping into it wasn’t actually that difficult. It's very easy to be scared of whoever the villain of the day is – I’m Irish and in the 60s and 70s we were the villains in England and my dad got stopped a few times and asked to explain his movements, his whereabouts. The difficult thing for me was not going too deeply into the mind of a racist; it was fascinating for me, but very off-putting when you read it.

“I wanted to capture the feeling of what it was like to grow up with a racist for a parent and to mirror that racism. In the first drafts of the book I used full-on racist language, all words I’d heard on the street in the East End and at football; I wanted the shock, and then realised that if it’s too shocking you lose the point. I wanted to get readers thinking about these things, but if you hit them on the head with a sledgehammer you’re just going to give them concussion.”

He says he had to pull back and rein himself in, at the same time as trying not to dilute the message, a really hard balancing act. “If I took out all the racist terms it’d be too soft, it needed to be hard and hit you in the face but still allow you to feel a connection with the main character. Because I knew the journey B was going to go on over the series, I could identify with B, but readers of the first book wouldn’t know that; when my agent read Zom-B he was horrified and said ‘You’ve got to change the main character - no one’s going to want read about this horrendous character, no one’s going to care!’ and so I went through a lot of re-writes of the first book; although I didn’t take out any of the anger or the fear, I put in the humanity, which needed to be there from the start, so the reader would care.”

Even after all the re-writes, no punches have been pulled in Zom-B. There are still plenty of shocks, of the non-blood’n’guts variety, and powerful moments when you can’t quite believe what you’ve just read; it is a fine line that Darren walks, but he walks it with aplomb and has used the credo of ‘less can be more’ to great effect. As he says, it’s when racism seems normal that it’s at its scariest, it’s when it comes from someone like you that it’s at its most twisted, disturbing and insidious. “I wanted the reader to look at themselves - not look at B’s dad and say ‘He’s horrible, he’s nasty, he’s a monster’, but look at themselves and say ‘Could I go down that route?’.”

B’s parental relationships are very much to the fore in the book, and Darren knew, right from the start and even before he’d thought of the zombie angle, that the core of the story was always going to be about a teenager and a teenager’s dad. He wanted to explore how, to a large extent, our parents mould who we are, and that at some point in our lives we all have to make a stand and decide for ourselves if we want to be the person our parents had decided we should be. The alternative - making a stand and becoming our own person - can be difficult he says, especially if you grow up with someone like B’s dad.

It is at this point in our conversation that Darren casually drops the fact that we may well have met to talk about the start of a brand new multi-part series, but not only does he know how it ends, he’s already finished all twelve books. “I started writing about four years ago, and finished the first draft of Book 12 last year,” he says. “I knew from very early on I wanted to do this like a serial, like Dickens, but I knew I couldn’t do it as fast as he did and wanted to publish once every three months. I also knew that to hit those targets I’d have to have everything stacked up and pretty much ready to go – we’re still editing, obviously, but with four books completely finished.”

He’d never sat down to write, knowing in advance it was going to be a big, long story; with The Saga of Darren Shan, when he was writing Cirque du Freak, he’d thought he might do another four or five of them, but with each book as a self-contained unit, and he didn’t plan out the story arc until Book 3. Lord Loss, on the other hand, was meant to be a one–off book which just grew.

“So this was the first time I sat down to start a several-year-long project and it was terrifying, and I didn’t enjoy writing this series because I could see the mountain at the beginning; with the other ones I was already a third of the way up before I realised what I was climbing, and that made it easier. With this I could see it in the distance, I knew exactly what I had to do and the knowledge took the fun out of it, took away a lot of the spontaneity. It wasn’t the most enjoyable working experience…it was a challenge, but I’ve loved the editing.”

As Darren is obviously someone for whom writing is like oxygen I imagine he must have something on the go, apart from editing the Zom-B series. I am right. “I’m working on a second adult book, a standalone, hopefully coming out next year, which is probably the darkest thing I’ve ever written and we’re having some interesting debates about how we might make it acceptable!” On a recent holiday he had an idea for a one-off children’s book, which is still bubbling around but hasn’t demanded to be written he says, and there’s a new series he has in mind, which will be quite different to what he’s done so far, and he might start on that soon.

“There’s a few things on the horizon,” Darren continues, “but I haven’t sat down and committed myself to the next work just yet. I’m trying to get my breath back after zombies, which has been a big, big challenge for me, and at the end of the three years we’ll all sit back and have a long drink and say ‘Never again!’”

Darren Shan’s Zom-B (978-0857077523) is published by Simon & Schuster at £12.99 hardback.

Graham Marks is a writer and journalist.
 

IT MAY be a few weeks to Halloween – but the zombies are already out in force.

Blackpool’s undead scared the town’s schoolchildren senseless as the master of horror came to the resort.

Children’s author Darren Shan – famous for his ghoulish tales of spooky events – took to the stage at The Grand Theatre on Wednesday surrounded by his zombie cast, leaving a theatre full of pupils spellbound.

Mr Shan was reading extracts from his new book, Zom-B, and came face to face with some of his biggest fans at the special event.

Year eight pupil James Bedell, from Poulton’s Baines High School, said: “I was not really into reading but when I read Darren Shan’s books I really got into it.

“The zombies are brilliant.”

And classmate Ewan Frederick, 12, added: “I’m a big fan of Darren’s, I’ve read all his books and it was really great to see him.”

The pupils were entertained by the zombie dancers from Blackpool-based Phil Winston’s Theatre Works, before hearing extracts from Zom-B and getting the chance to quiz Mr Shan about his popular books.

Lucy Franklin, from Fleetwood’s Cardinal Allen High School, said: “I was very excited to meet Darren Shan and the zombies were really good.

“My favourite book is The Vampire’s Assistant.”

And year eight pupil Owen Salthouse said: “I was excited to be there and see Darren and get my book signed.”

The event was organised by Kirkham bookshop Silverdell – the first time the Poulton Street shop has worked with the theatre.

And Silverdell co-owner Elaine Silverwood said: “I was thrilled to be working with Darren at the beginning of his tour promoting his new series Zom-B.

“I loved working with the Grand Theatre and bringing multiple schools to share this event, it’s a great opportunity to get youngsters excited about reading.”

The theatre’s programme manager, Phil Harrison, added: “An event like this creates excitement and a buzz around the book.”

Zombies invade Broad Street bookshop
 

Bloodthirsty zombies invaded a Broad Street bookshop on Monday to track down their favourite author.

Preparing for Hallowe’en in style, Waterstones held a fan event with Darren Shan, featuring the first book in his new series for teenagers – ‘Zom-B’, about a zombie apocalypse.

Zombie master Darren Shan is coming to Reading

Scores of the shambling undead filled the store to hear Darren talk about the book and ask him to sign their copies of the grisly tale.

A competition was held to find the most outstanding zombie, with the winner of this apocalyptic accolade scooping a framed Darren Shan poster. Runners-up received T-shirts.

Waterstones’ Cheryl Dibden said: “It was an amazing event with over 100 people turning up, many in full zombie attire, including the staff.

“Darren was on fantastic form, spending so long with each of his fans that the book signing took an hour and a half.

“He had a very interactive audience asking some quality questions, including ‘which character from your books would you go on holiday with and where would you go?’.

“And for the record, the answer was Truska the bearded lady from [his book] Cirque du Freak and he’d go anywhere with her.”

Shan’s fantasy and horror books are available in 39 countries in 31 languages, selling more than 25 million copies worldwide.

His most famous series include the ‘Saga of Darren Shan’, ‘Demonata’ and the ‘Saga of Larten Crepsley’.

Speaking about ‘Zom-B’, published last Thursday, Shan said: “It’s a big, sprawling, vicious tale... a grisly piece of escapism, and a barbed look at the world in which we live. Each book in the series is short, fast-paced and bloody.

“A high body-count is guaranteed.”
 

Swindon pupils enjoy a scarily good time with top author Darren Shan

SCARY stories were the lesson of the day for hundreds of pupils when a teen horror writer paid them a visit.

Darren Shan spoke to 300 Year 8 students from 11 secondary schools around Swindon at Nova Hreod on Monday.

The author was launching his newest set of stories based on zombies, which will be a series of 12 stories published every three months to keep the reader in suspense.

Alison Slaven, learning resource centre manager at Nova Hreod, said the school was excited to be hosting the multi-school event as it was one of only a few taking place in Darren’s tour.

“Our students gained a great deal from the chance to hear a fabulous author in the guise of Darren, who has a charismatic presence on the stage but connects directly with the students,” she said.

“He was a big hit, especially with the large crowd of students who waited patiently to have a book individually signed and addressed to them.”

Zom-B, which is part of the series, is available now and Zom-B Underground is due out soon.

The audience asked Darren about his motivation for writing about the macabre and scary, what prompted him to write, who had inspired him and how he felt about his books being made into films.
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Year 8 pupil, Keiran, said: ” I really enjoyed his earlier book Cirque du Freak and am looking forward to reading my signed copy of Zom-B.

“I was lucky to be part of the audience today.”

ACHUKA interviews DARREN SHAN... to coincide with publication of the first title in his new teen series, Zom-B

Darren, I don't know if you remember, but ACHUKA first met up with you in the Random House offices on the eve of publication of the first Cirque du Freak (January 2000). How many books have you published since then?
I remember it well - it was one of the first interviews that I ever gave, and I checked out your site afterwards and have been following ACHUKA ever since. Including books for adults and a short book I published for World Book Day several years ago (Koyasan), I will have published 33 books when Zom-B hits the shelves.

That's an impressive workrate. I remember back then at our first meeting you were already several books into the Freak series. Is it the same for the new series, and if so how do you account for the confidence that you have to write so well in advance of publication schedule.

Yes, I like to work well ahead of my publication schedule. With Zom-B I've actually completed first drafts of all 12 books! Because they're coming out so quickly (one every three months) I knew I needed to have all the books lined up and ready to go before the first book came out, otherwise there would be no way that I could keep on top of things. There's still lots of editing and re-writing to be done, but the first drafts are the killers - if a deadline is looming and you have yet to produce a first draft, you're in trouble! Zom-B was actually the first time that I knew at the start of a long series that it would BE a long series. The Saga Of Darren Shan and The Demonata both evolved organically - with The Saga, I had a vague plan at the beginning to write a handful of books, while Lord Loss (the first book in The Demonata) was initially intended as a one-off. I must admit, that made this the most challenging of the three. It's a bit like climbing a mountain - if you can't see the peak, you just trudge merrily along, taking each little rise at a time. But if you cann see all the way to the top, you tad there, jaw open, thinking to yourself, "I have to climb THAT?!?" I don't think I could have plotted something like Zom-B ten or twelve years ago, but having completed two other long series, I had the courage (or craziness!) to face that mountain, take a deep breath, and start up. I'm having a blast editing all 12 books now, but it wasn't much fun at the first draft stage, simply because of the scale of the thing.

Zombies are into brains-gobbling the way vampires are into blood-sucking and the first pages of Zom-B are fairly stomach-churning. Did you enjoy writing that opening?

Absolutely! Although I only added the prologue on the fourth or fifth draft. Originally it wasn't there. But because Zom-B is as interested in dealing with racism and the abuse of power, I felt the start needed a nice, old-fashioned bit of brain-munching, to ensure my more bloodthirsty readers that I wasn't going to mire them in a dry, issues-based story without any action or gore. While I like exploring moral grey areas in my books, and inviting readers to think about various issues, first and foremost I'm all about the story - if you don't create something exciting, that readers can engage with, they're not going to care about any message you might have in mind. For me books should always be about entertainment first, education second.

At the heart of this book is the relationship between your main character B and B's racist father, Todd. B displays many of Todd's prejudices in the first half of the novel but gradually bucks against them. Was there any level of publisher disquiet at presenting such a rabid racist to a teenage audience?

Not really, as by the time I presented the book to the publisher, it had gone through several drafts and I'd worked heavily on the racist angle, to make it disturbing (as a book about racism should be) but not off-putting. The first draft was far more in-your-face, featuring many more racial slurs. I tried to throw myself completely into the world of a racist and write as I believed someone in that position would write. But while that was a fascinating experience for me, I don't think it would have endears anyone to the character of B, and where sympathy is lost, readers won't engage. It was a very tricky challenge - to write about a racist but in such a way that readers can associate and identify and sympathise with them. I got to that point in the end (I hope!), so my publishers didn't have to suffer too many sleepless nights. My agent, on the other hand, who read the book at a much earlier stage, still turns pale and shivers uncontrollably at the thought of those nascent drafts!

The proof copy I am reading has blank pages where the interior art will go. The artist is Warren Pleace. How was he chosen?

My publishers presented me with a choice of a few different artists who had been recommended to them by an agency. Being a comics fan, I was familiar with Warren's art from way back - I'd read one of his early pieces, True Faith, as well as a graphic novel he release a few years ago called Incognegro. I knew he could deliver a very distinctice style, and I was excited by the thought of being able to work with him. So he was my first choice (by a long way) and thankfully we were abe to persuade him to come on board. He's already produced some fabulous images, and I can't wait to see what he comes up with over the rest of the series.

The proof copy also has a foreword by you, pleading early readers of the novel NOT to give away any plot twists in spoilers. Are there any spoilers out there yet that you should warn your fans to avoid?

There are two major twists near the end of the first book. Readers will know what they are when they come to them. One is easy not to talk about and give away. The other presents a far trickier dilemma, for me as well as the readers - I haven't given it away so far when I'm talking about the book, but it's going to be a struggle not to when I go on tour! All I can ask of fans is what I'm asking of myself - just try your best not to spoil the huge twist for others, so that they can enjoy it the same way you did. Every reviewer so far has respected the twists. One or two have inadvertently alluded to one of them (it's the harder of the twists to avoid giving away), but nobody has actively sought to spoil the books for others.

In a promotional video interview for this book you talk about going 'on tour' and meeting your 'fans' in the same way a rock group might speak. Is this an indication that you conceive of your relationship with your audience a little differently from most writers.

Well, I don't know how other writers view their audience! In my view, if they don't see them as rock groupies, then they should, as it makes touring a hell of a lot more fun than it would otherwise be! I love books, the same way that I love movies and music. But I don't like the dry atmosphere that many people in the publishing industry (from writers to publishers to critics to readers) promote. For me, a book isn't a sacred, serious object that must be venerated and discussed in hushed tones. I want a good book to rock my world and fire up my imagination and set me buzzing. That's what I look for when I read, and that's what I look for when I write. As dark and thought-provoking as my books are, I try to get readers worked up into an excitable lather about them too. When I go on the road, I do my best to give fans a fun night out - some scares, some laughs, lots of interaction. For me, it's the way the world of books should be.

From early on you have been adept at using the internet (notably through Shanville) to build your fanbase. Are you surprised that so few authors follow your example?

Not really. It's becoming more common, and I assume it will become ever more so, but you need to understand the technology in order to fully engage with it. I started writing full-time at a very young age and am still, even nearly 13 years after the release of Cirque Du Freak, one of the youngest published writers at work. I grew up on computers, but I was among the first generation to do so. As younger writers who are web-savvy come through, they will make even more use of the net than I ever did. But I think most older writers don't spend much time online, which is why they don't pay as much attention to the web side of things as I do.

Can you say a little bit about Lady of the Shades - your first stand-alone 'adult' novel - for people like me who have not read it and don't know much about it. Is it like your younger fiction in any way, or completely different?

It's a noir-style thriller, but with a (possibly) supernatural angle that allows me to take the story off in some very unexpected directions and really mess with people's heads! It's a different type of read to my children's books, but I'm sure there are many similarities too, in the pacing, the way I put sentences together, the twists that litter the plot and catch readers by surprise. It's been getting a very positive reaction, so I'm hoping it builds up a nice head of steam - I love writing for kids, and if I had to choose, I'd plump for the career of a children's writer, but in an ideal world I'd straddle both posts and continue to write for all ages.

What is your attitude to ebooks and what do you think the next 10 years hold in store for Darren Shan?

I love ebooks. I might have mentioned during our first interview (as I did in quite a few of my early interviews) that I thought paper books would be largely defunct within 20 years (i.e. 2020). I still stick by that prediction. I'm not saying paper books will disappear completely - like many readers, I love the physical qualities of an old-style book. But that's a sentimental attachment - in terms of which is actually better, it's ebooks by a mile. They make books far more accessible, and anything that does that is always an advancement, the way that papyrus improved upon chiselling in stone. I'm sure there were cavemen who thought the new format would never take off, that stones were so much nicer to touch and look at and smell, but hey... this isn't and should never be a world for cavemen!

For someone so good at scaring readers with his stories, it's surprising to learn that Darren Shan doesn't like silence when he is writing back at his base in Ireland. "I have music on when I write," he says. "I don't like the isolation otherwise and find the silence deadening." It's an amusing thought that The Smiths are warbling in the background (Shan remains a fan of the 1980s Indie music he loved as a teenager) as Shan conjours up flesh-eating zombies. Meat is indeed murder.

Shan, whose previous books have included demons and vampires, has just released Zom-B, a cracking new 12-novel horror series. Born in London 40 years ago before moving to Ireland when he was three, Shan says: "I grew up on all sorts of horror - Hammer Horror and Vincent Price's Theatre Of Blood. I loved the hidden, scary layers, but there wasn't that much around for youngsters in terms of horror books. I can remember reading Stephen King's Salem's Lot and Cujo but I thought there should be more for teenaged horror fans.

"Of course, scary movies are more graphic now so it's good to provide the appropriate level of horror, otherwise kids will seek out harder stuff. There is more choice now with writers such as Derek Landy and Charles Higson and horror has become more acceptable. When I wrote Cirque du Freak [published in 2000], there was feeling that some publishers wouldn't touch this genre with a barge pole. WH Smith at first refused to carry it - although it ended up being nominated for one of their book awards."

Zom-B is more than just a gory horror book. It's also a remarkably taut tale of modern Britain and racism. The main character is called B Smith who has a bullying racist thug for a dad. Was intolerance the starting point for the book?

Shan says: "I started out with the racism angle. I have generally been getting more political since 9/11 and then into the mix came the 7/7bombngs. I had been living in a flat near London's Brick Lane around that time and there was lots of graffiti and an atmosphere of different people and races squaring off. It was worrying. And there were people playing on fear, cashing in on a scary world. They were milking the situation.

"The message of Zom-B is that you have to listen to your own heart and head and question everything. Question stereotypes and the way the world seems or is being presented. Some of the people we should be most concerned about, dangerous right-wing bigots, sound convincing and reasonable. I don't expect Neo-Nazis to like the book. I grew up in 1970s Ireland and there weren't many immigrants. Things have improved in terms of racism being easier to challenge. Racist terms are not seen as acceptable. But it's not a simple thing to eradicate. Things do move in slow steps."

Shan sees a lot of children in his prolific schedule of school and festival appearances and he is adamant that the future for books is not as bleak as it's sometimes painted.

He says: "I was lucky because my mum was a teacher and showed me how to read and write. But most importantly she encouraged me to use my imagination. Nowadays, you have to get kids to relate to the entertainment aspect of books. Writers are part of the entertainment industry. You are competing against things like video games. Yet there are positives. Books are more accessible now than when I was growing up. There are many different ways of finding out about new books and publishers are embracing new ideas about promoting books. It's also worth noting that the idea that there was some golden age of reading in the 1970s is rubbish. There were always children who did not read and always children who loved books."

Shan seems quite clearly an author who can happily relate to his readers. He's amusing company and can relate to people who want to take a break from "words, words, words all day". One of his switch-off mechanisms is watching Tottenham (he gets to about 10-15 games a season) and muses interestingly on how Spurs missed a trick by seeling Van der Vart, whom he believes could have been turned into a "Dennis Bergkamp-style figure".

Fitting in football is the problem. He has written all 12 of his new series - and has a new adult book out called Lady Of The Shades - but they need editing for a pace schedule of a book being released every three months until 2015. Shan adds: "It's a book in a series like Flash Gordon, Dickens, the Sandman comic, where there are cliffhangers and you are waiting to find out what happens next."

What will certainly happen is that a lot of human brains will be munched. Did it ever get too much to write? Shan laughs: "I have got more squeamish as an adult and I am more aware of the Grim Reaper but it's horror and you have to have gross-out moments."

Zombie master Darren Shan is coming to Reading

Reading is turning into something of a focal point for people who are interested in (or possibly worried about) zombies.

The town has its very own corpse infested shopping mall in Friar Street and Reading Borough Council is putting on a special day of undead-themed events at the library later this year.

The next arrival to our miniature zombie-nation will be self-proclaimed master of horror Darren Shan who will be signing copies of his new book and speaking to fans at Waterstones in Broad Street on Monday, October 1.

Darren says his new book Zom-B - the first in a series of books - is more than just an undead caper and that he sees no reason why horror fiction can’t explore big issues.

“It’s about a zombie attack but it’s a bit more than that,” he says. “The main character, B, is a teenager with a racist father. There’s a zombie attack and the two stories intertwine.

“It’s about saying that zombies and monsters aren’t what we have to fear most in this world – things like racism and people using it to their own ends are the real things to fear.

“It’s quite political even though it’s got brain munching in it.”

When writing Zom-B Underground it was the issue of racism which was the starting point for Darren.

“The zombie element came afterwards,” he says. “It’s something I’ve been thinking about for a while. Post-9/11 and 7/7 I noticed this increase of fear.

“People were afraid and others were trying to cash in on that. I wanted to write a story for teenagers telling them to be wary of people like that and to say that if you’re afraid you can’t just lash out negatively.

“Zombies just felt like a fun way of expressing it. I didn’t want to preach because I attract a lot of reluctant readers and I think a book preaching about racism wouldn’t engage with them.”

Darren comes from Ireland and has been writing horror books – and winning awards for them – since 2001.

He thinks the genre has changed and grown in popularity since then.

He said: “I wrote my first book in 2001 and we tried to sell it but we hit problems. One of the main reasons is that people thought it was too dark.

“At that time we had Goosebumps and Point Horror but they didn’t go very dark. Nowadays I’m able to put in some dark characters, really tricky moral questions – the genre has moved on.

“Someone took a chance and published my first book, Cirque Du Freak, and people looked at that and thought ‘If Darren Shan can get away with it...’

“Now it’s all changed and children and teenagers love horror. It’s getting the chance it deserves and people are embracing it.”

With Reading being home to Zed Events’ Zombie Shopping Mall experience – where teams take on a horde of the undead in the disused Friar’s Walk shopping centre – it would be remiss not to ask Darren, a zombie expert, for his advice on how to tackle brain hungry walking corpses.

“Hole up somewhere,” he said. “Get somewhere safe and barricade yourself in.

“Like in the film Dawn of the Dead, a shopping mall is a good place to be in terms of supplies.

“Make sure you’ve got weapons you can use to mash their brains – that’s always been the way to deal with a zombie.”

Darren will be at Waterstones in Broad Street, Reading, from 6.30pm on Monday, October 1.
 

A well known Irish children’s horror book author was on hand at a Norfolk school to sign copies of his books and take questions from children.

Darren Shan, who comes from Limerick, visited Old Buckenham High School as part of a promotional tour to promote his latest series Zom-B, a 12 book saga about teenager B Smith who must find a place in a world of racism, zombies and darkness.

The 40-year-old author spoke about his work at an assembly for over 200 students, many of whom were visiting Old Buckenham from nearby towns including Wymondham and Archbishop Sancroft school in Harleston.

He read some extracts from his Zom-B series and talked about his work and some of the topical issues that can come through in his books before fielding questions from the audience.

He then visited a workshop where the students were having their faces painted in grissly horror make-up to reflect some of the characters in the novels before spending an hour-and-a-half signing and leaving messages in the books for the many pupils who attended the event.

The London-born writer, who moved to Ireland aged six, said he had a family connection to the south Norfolk area because his girlfriend’s aunt lived in Quidenham.

He said: “I have always loved writing and horror is my first love. Writing horror novels is the one I love the most.”

As well as Zom-B, his other novels include The Saga of Darren Shan, a 12 part series about the struggles of a boy who has become immersed in the world of vampires, The Demonata series, which deals with the world of demons, the Thin Executioner and the City Trilogy for adult readers, which features a city ruled by gangsters.

Following his visit to Norfolk, Mr Shan was set to visit Bournemouth, Barnet and Yeovil among other places during his UK promotional tour.

To celebrate the publication of Zom-B, we have an interview with author Darren Shan…

Please tell us a little about yourself.
I was born in London but have spent most of my life in Ireland. I wanted to be a writer since I was 5 or 6 years old. And though I read widely, horror was always my first love, so even though I weave in all different types of genres into my books, there’s always a dark undercurrent to my stories.

Please tell us about Zom-B.
On the one hand it’s about the brain-munching undead, but on the other it’s a barbed look at racism and the abuse of power. It poses the question — how would having a racist father impact on you? It explores what happens when you don’t make a stand, when you allow injustices to pass without challenge. It’s a call to arms, and a warning that the biggest monsters we have to deal with in life are far scaier and far more of a problem than the walking dead.

A few of the characters in Zom-B have some pretty strong views. Did you find it difficult or uncomfortable to get into their mindset to write their scenes?
Not really. I actually enjoy inhabiting the minds of my more foul creations. I think it’s important that we understand the way racists think, otherwise we can’t effectively combat them. I liked getting into that mindset, because it helped me think about the issues in more depth than I normally would. That’s what I love about horror — if it’s done well, the excitement of the story will draw you in, but you can then use it as a springboard to go off in all sorts of other directions.

There has been a lot of talk recently about slow zombies VS fast zombies. What are your views?
I prefer them when they can move at a normal speed. Although, to be honest, I had no interest in writing an ordinary zombie story. I wanted to put my own spin on them, and do things with the genre which hadn’t been done before. There are far more fascinating elements to my zombies than the speed at which they move…

Just how many zombie movies did you watch to prep yourself for writing this book, in the name of research, of course!
I didn’t look at any specifically for the book, but obviously I’ve seen lots of zombie flicks over the years. My favourite was the original Dawn of the Dead, and that was one of the films which most influenced me too. Yes, it features some nice, gory chunks of brain-munching, but there’s a lot more to it than the action scenes, and I wanted my books to have that same mix of brain-chewing and brain-stimulating material.

What are you working on now?
There will be 12 Zom-B books in total, so I’ll be working on the editing process of the series for the next couple of years. I’m also working on a couple of new books for adults — I recently published a one-off novel for older readers called Lady of the Shades.

Thanks Darren!

Darren Shan is on the phone from his apartment in London, ready to start his tour of both the UK and Ireland to promote his new book, Zom-B. We briefly joke about how he has avoided a bad spell of heavy rains across his native Ireland by flying to the UK, and he sounds rested and upbeat before starting the tour, which begins in a young offender's institution in the east London.
 

Shan - real name Darren O'Shaughnessy - became a full-time writer at the age of 23, and has since sold over 20 million copies of his books worldwide, becoming bestsellers in the US, UK, Ireland and elsewhere. His literature became so popular in Japan that a manga series was made out of them, designed by Japanese artist, Takahiro Arai. Today, his books are available in almost forty countries in over thirty languages.

With such success already under his belt, you would be forgiven to assume that writing gets easier for Shan with every book, but you'd only be half right. "It gets easier and harder," he states confidently, as if that could never sound conflicting. "It gets harder because you're in constant competition with yourself and asking yourself what comes next. But it gets easier because you know what you have to get through."

Zom-B is the first of a twelve part series of books aimed at young adults, therefore being much lighter in style than his books for adults. The story begins with a zombie attack in a small village in Ireland, which sounds like a joke at first to B Smith, a hard-nosed kid from London. When he hears about it on the news, he's more worried about his racist and violent father, but the events in the nearby country are bound to affect B's world soon enough.

Despite their entertainment value, Shan reveals a slightly political inspiration to the new series as the books explore issues of abuse of power and prejudices. He was living in London when the July 7 attacks happened, and noticed a "nasty atmosphere" develop as tensions rose shortly afterwards, often with racist undertones. "I remember being on a bus [in London] one day," Darren recalls, "and people were practically growling at each other." Shan acknowledges himself, however, that racism wasn't a big issue for him while growing up in Ireland in the 1980s, as few people from other countries moved to what was a economically fragile country at that time. It wasn't until he returned to London for college that he observed racism between the British capital's different groups.

"I wanted to explore racism in the 21st century," Shan explains, "and to get readers thinking about it. I'm not trying to ram a particular message down readers' throats... [but] I wanted to get them thinking and to look at themselves and the world they live in." Amongst dealing with a massive zombie outbreak, Shan subtly weaves an undercurrent of prejudice into the series to make the reader do just that.

With so many young fans and readers, Shan is undoubtedly inspiring young people to become writers themselves. When asked if he would have any tips for future authors, the Irishman advised to "write what you'd like to read yourself. Don't be afraid to try out different things or to tell the kind of story you want to tell."

Details of Darren Shan's UK & Irish Tour can be found on his website. Zom-B has already been released in the UK and Ireland (and as an e-book) and will be seen in book stores across the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand over the coming weeks.

Darren has also recently released a new novel for his adult readers, Lady of the Shades, which is also available in print and online.

Horror writer Darren Shan launched his new young adult series of zombie books at the Edinburgh International Book Festival yesterday, on a stage cluttered with models of bloody, limbless bodies donated by the Edinburgh Dungeon.

The first book in the series, Zom-B, will be released at the end of September. There will be 12 instalments altogether, with a new book released every three months. The second book will be titled Zom-B Underground.

In the past, Shan has written about demons and vampires but never before about zombies. And unlike his previous books, such as the hugely successful Demonata series and The Saga of Darren Shan, Zom-B will be one long story that carries on from book to book rather than separate storylines.

It will focus on B Smith, a teenager whose father is racist and abusive, in a world threatened by a zombie attack. Shan says it was inspired by the fear and paranoia prevalent in society after 9/11 and 7/7. "We all have to take responsibility for our own lives or we'll turn into zombies and monsters worse than any in a book," he told the crowd.

He also revealed that his favourite villain in Zom-B is a human rather than a monster: "I think humans are the scariest of monsters. There's a character in this series who will hopefully make your flesh crawl."

Shan read several passages from the first and second books at the event, and promised plenty of twists and turns as the story carries on. When asked about the high death rate of characters in his books, he responded in typically realistic fashion: "In real life, there are no protected heroes."

He was also asked why the film adaptation of his Vampire Blood trilogy was so different from the books. He replied: "I take the Stephen King approach: sell the rights and hope for the best."

Shan is also releasing a new book for adults at the end of August, Lady of the Shades, which he said "is not a tie-in with Fifty Shades of Grey."
 

HE is renowned for his big plot surprises but according to multi-million selling author, Darren Shan, his latest offering packs in more twists and turns than anything he has released before.

Lady of the Shades – a one-off thriller written for adults - which was influenced by movies such as American psychological horror film The Sixth Sense – features up to six “seismic changes” with readers really only getting to grips with what’s been going on, in the final chapters.

The book which goes on release at the end of this month has been a work in progress for the Pallaskenry resident who has been writing, re-writing, editing and tweaking the publication over the past decade.

And already the author - whose real names is Darren O’Shaughnessy - has an inkling that the book has to potential to develop into something big, perhaps even a movie deal.

“It’s one I’m really excited about it,” said Darren whose books are now on sale in every continent.

“It’s like when I wrote Cirque Du Freak. I had done a lot of books at that stage and I was pleased to various extents with each book that I had worked on but with Cirque Du Freak I had this feeling that it had potential to much, much more.”

Cirque Du Freak - a children’s book which was based on a vampire - was made into a blockbuster Hollywood movie in 2009 - the Irish premiere of which took place in Limerick.

“With Lady of the Shades it’s sort of the first book I have written that I really feel has a chance to maybe do something really big and maybe get a film deal like Cirque did and maybe lead to something exciting on the adult front the way that Cirque did on the children’s front,” Darren continued.

“I could be completely wrong about that but I have this good feeling about it so hopefully, touch wood,” he added.

Lady of the Shades - which is aimed people of 14 years and upwards - Darren describes as “a crime novel with supernatural undertones.”

A big film buff – he has a collection of more than 4,000 movies at home, Darren drew inspiration for the novel from old noir type movies and books, including films like Double Indemnity and other works by Raymond Chandler.

“I just wanted to something that started out where this guy falls in love with a femme fatale and he is not sure what her motives are. Is she trying to use him to kill off her husband? Is it true love? Is she trying to play him? And then I started to bring in elements from other genres. It was a little bit after the movie The Sixth Sense was released so I tapped into that as well – some of the shocks and surprises that it had,” he explained.

Although Darren always wanted to be a writer, it was only in his teenage years that he began writing in his spare time for fun. He bought his first typewriter when he was 14, and never looked back. In the early years much of his writing was done in his bedroom at home in his parents’ house in Pallaskenry but since he bought his own place - in Pallaskenry - in recent years, an office overlooking the River Shannon is where the literary magic happens. The 40-year-old has already had in the region of 30 books published but he has written a lot more and has books in various stages of development.

“I work quite strangely actually,” he admits.

“I like to give myself at least two years working on any one book. I write very quickly, I would finish the first draft of a children’s book in maybe a few weeks or a month but then I like to leave it for a few months.”

Darren goes away and works on other material before returning to the draft to re-write it. Then he will leave it for a few more months again and so on.

“I find that with those gaps it allows me to be a bit more objective each time I go back to it. I can see what isn’t working. That’s important because when you do the first draft, everything seems wonderful. If you leave it for several months you come back and see this isn’t working, that needs to be fixed and this needs to be tightened up.”

Meanwhile, the first book in his new series for teenagers, Zom-B , goes on sale in Ireland in late September. There will be 12 books in total and each book will be coming out at a period of roughly three months. The series follows B Smith, a teenager who must struggle to find a place in a world of racism, zombies and darkness.

Lady of the Shades will be available in book stores from August 30.

This is an article which I was asked to write for the Irish Times, when they were celebrating the 100th year of Bram Stoker's death.

I’m the bastard grandson of Bram Stoker, and proud of it!

Of course I don’t mean that I’m genealogically related to the theatrical manager and sometime author, at least not to the best of my knowledge. But as a writer who works predominently in the horror field, and as one who has also worked to a large extent on vampires, I feel as close to Bram Stoker as anyone who is not a blood relative could possibly feel. After all, without his ground-breaking novel about a Transylvanian count, my field might very possibly not even exist.

Dracula is not just a career-defining work, which is rare, but a genre-defining work, which is far rarer. While it might seem impossible now to think of a world without dark, brooding, fanged bloodsuckers who turn to ash if exposed to the rays of the sun, without Stoker’s seminal work they would still probably be nothing more than a literary curio, by all means a much-explored monster, as they were before he laid hands on them, but one that was little known or cared about by anyone bar those with a true interest in the grotesque.

Vampires had been around long before Bram Stoker hit the scene, undead creatures of myth who had cropped up in various forms in many different cultures. But Stoker was the one who brought the myths together and combined them to create a single entity far greater than the sum of its parts. In a way he was like the Bismarck or Garribaldi of horror, uniting individual horrific elements into one majestically monstrous beast, an empire builder who worked with mental states as opposed to those of the topographical kind.

As one who has followed in Stoker’s footsteps I am often asked to explain why vampires are so popular. The short answer, which I usually avoid in an effort not to look like a bumbling fan with more enthusiasm than literary kudos, is that they’re cool, baby, cool! It is really, when you strip all of our critical mumbo-jumbo away, that simple. Vampires have style. They get the best-looking ladies. They don’t age. They dwell in the finest mansions that money can buy. Dracula is like Keith Richards minus the wrinkles.

Although in the orginal, of course, Dracula was wrinkled. The book differs vastly from the films and books which have followed. Stoker’s Dracula is more human than most other vampires. For instance he can come out during the day. The novel is not the final word in the vampire canon, merely a springboard for the imagination of others.

I think this is the reason why the work has stood the test of time and spawned so many intriguing imitations. While there have been many anemic rip-offs of Dracula, more explorative and accomplished authors have taken the bones of the book and built their own, unique creatures out of them. Vampires have been evolving over the decades, reworked by one generation after another. They have almost become a mirror image of ourselves, a way for humanity to explore its darkest fears and dreams. We keep getting so much out of vampires because we are able to pour so much into them.

Was Stoker thinking of that when he set out to write his masterpiece? I doubt it. I imagine he just wanted to tell a cracking good story, which is what he did. If you ignore everything that has happened with vampires since, and go back to that book, you will find a story every bit as thrilling as it was when first published. While Dracula was cutting-edge fiction, a product of its time, it is also a book that works just as well in its future, a page-turner of the highest order.

My first exposure to Dracula was through the medium of film, as I’m sure it is for the majority of people. I was about six years old when I caught one of the Hammer vampire flicks on television. As I watched Dracula crawling across the wall of his castle like a bat, I fell in love. I had always been a bloodthirsty child, and I instantly knew that I had made a friend for life. And beyond.

A few years later I saw the second half of the TV adaptation of Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot. That blew me away and confirmed in my mind that vampires were the coolest monsters on the face of the planet. A short while after that I stumbled across the book (I think it was in Killarney, of all places) and asked my mother to buy it for me. She was dubious, but she always believed in letting me follow my own literary path, so she obliged, and I settled down at the grand old age of ten or eleven to read my first Stephen King tome.

Salem’s Lot is a faithful reimagining of Stoker’s novel, with a Dracula-type vampire relocated to 1970s America. It was my introduction to the world of the real Dracula. As gruesome and garish as the Hammer films were, they never truly captured the darkness and coolness that lay at the heart of Stoker’s book. Stephen King, on the other hand, nailed it dead-on. When I came to read Dracula years later, it felt like a familiar work, not just because I knew most of the story, but because I had experienced the same air of fascinating dread, mixed in with fast-paced thrills, in Salem’s Lot.

Having wanted to be a writer for almost all of my life, I had long dreamt of contributing my own vampiric entry to the ever-growing tower of work that has built on the foundations which Stoker laid down. I tried a few short stories in my teens, but couldn’t find a way of offering anything new, so shied away from the challenge for a long time. It was only in my mid-twenties that I found my own way in, through the unlikely medium of children’s books. Much had been written about adult vampires, but very few writers had tried to capture what it would feel like to be a child in a world of blood.

I knew from the beginning that I wanted to deviate wildly from Stoker’s undead touchstone, but at the same time I was conscious of his work at every turn. Rather than try to generate a completely new type of vampire, it was a case of thinking back to Dracula and deciding which elements I wanted to keep and which I wanted to tinker with. Like mixing a piece of music, my intention was always to honour the original while trying to create something out of it which could work in its own right.

I recently returned to my vampire work and wrote a four book series, The Saga of Larten Crepsley. These books covered two hundred years in the life of a vampire, starting in the early nineteenth century and working their way through to the present. I knew going into the project that the opportunity would arise to include a mention of Bram Stoker. Indeed, it would have been amiss not to make reference to the book, seeing as how it was released halfway through my story’s chronology and served to drive vampires to the forefront of popular culture.

The upshot was that I got to write a scene featuring Bram Stoker while he was researching his vampire novel. On the one hand I felt rather foolish for suggesting, albeit in a dryly humourous way, that my vampires might have had an influence upon the author of the greatest single vampire book ever published. At the same time it was a pleasure to be able to publicly tip my hat to the master and openly acknowledge his influnce on the world which I had created.
I think Stoker would be delighted that his book is still in print and as popular as ever. I’m also sure that he’d be pleased by all of the bastard grandchildren he has sired, the lousy rip-off merchants as well as the Stephen Kings. I see myself as being part of a community of writers, and there’s no greater compliment than for another author to claim your work as an influence. Bram Stoker lives on through thousands of his literary offspring, each one as indebted to him as I am, and on the centenary of his passing I think that knowledge would bring a smile to the old maestro’s face. Almost as wide a smile as the one I’m sure would dance across his bloodstained lips if he could see how many readers he is still, directly or indirectly, managing to terrify all these decades on.

Bram Stoker is a century dead but as active as ever. Long live Bram Stoker!
 

What routines do you find helpful for you to stay actively writing?
The most important thing is to write regularly. I set myself a target of 10 pages per writing day, and I try to make myself meet that target every day when I am writing. I don’t think the target actually matters – it can be half a page a day, or a paragraph day. The vital thing is to set a realistic goal and meet that goal every time you sit down to write.

As a published writer, do you feel pressure to balance your creative writing license with what the audience wants? If so, how do you balance the two?
I try never to think about my audience. I always write stories that I think would appeal to me if I was reading them. Having said that, I certainly have become more aware of my audience as my books have grown in popularity, and I do sometimes find myself worrying if a new book will live up to expectations. The only way to combat such thoughts is to drive them from your mind as swiftly as possible!! You’ve always got to focus on writing the best stories you can, not on meeting the requirements of your fans.

What advice would you offer writers to build their platform before they become published?
The key thing is to do lots and lots of writing. Publishing eats into your writing time, as does success. You will never be as free to experiment and push yourself as you are before you start getting published. Make the most of that time by trying different types of stories and building up your skills. When no one is reading what you write, it doesn’t matter if you make mistakes, so don’t be worried of failing. Writers learn from their failures, and that’s how they build up to their successes. Make yourself busy!!!

How much do trends influence your writing?
Not in the slightest. I always spend at least 2 or 3 years working on a book – sometimes it can be even longer. A hot trend when I start a book will usually have fizzled out long before I finish work on it! So I never pay any attention to what’s happening with other books, and never worry about whether I might be seen as jumping on a badwagon. I make it my goal to try to write great stories, and a great story will always stand out regardless of whether or not it comes along during, before or after a trend.

The crowds for horror supremo Darren Shan’s signing are already forming outside East Kilbride’s Waterstones, clutching their books like talismans. Irish author Shan has sold 18 million books worldwide, had a Hollywood movie made of his work and is credited with getting the most recalcitrant of boys to read. Yet unless you’re a teenager or have kids of the right age, the chances are you’ve never even heard of him.

Sitting in a nearby Starbucks in a black hoodie emblazoned with the title of the second of his sagas ‘The Demonata’, the 38-year-old says that’s just how he likes it. “Children’s books are always in the shadows and horror books are in the shadows. So as a horror writer of children’s books, I’ve passed under the radar. I love that.”

Meanwhile, among Shan’s rabid fans, known as the Shansters, the thirst is high for his latest bloody tale. Birth of a Killer returns to Larten Crepsley – one of the vampire stars of Shan’s breakthrough hit Cirque du Freak, which began The Saga of Darren Shan and was afterwards made into a movie starring John C. Reilly and Salma Hayek. The epic new Saga of Larten Crepsley promises to lift the coffin lid on one of the most mysterious figures in that hit series.

“I had no plans to come back to Mr Crepsley,” says Shan, adding that his Japanese publishers had tried to make him do just that years ago. “For a long time I ignored him, but I got to a point that I had so many ideas that it was like voices clamouring in my head, I had to do it.”

Shan promises that he has not let up on the gore for Crepsley’s story, which follows the vampire from his poverty-stricken human childhood all the way through his 200 years as one of the walking dead. Though parents and teachers often ask whether he worries about scaring children, he regards their concerns as ridiculous.

“I hope they will be terrified, because that’s the whole point!” he exclaims. “If you read a comedy book, you want to laugh. If you read a horror book you want to be scared. Children will find their own reading level. If they’re nervous they’re not going to read one of my books. It’s obvious from the cover what it’s about, you’re not going to stumble into one of my books thinking it’s a romance.”

Listen to some now and you’d be forgiven for thinking that vampires are all about the romance. However, this fan of Nosferatu, Dracula and Salem’s Lot has no time for Twilight. In fact, his greatest-ever standing ovation happened at a recent signing in Perth when he announced that the movie was rubbish. “I think every show I do now I’m going to end with ‘I hate Twilight’,” he laughs, “then I’ll ride out on a wave of applause.”

I’ve got a hell of a treat for you guys today - an exclusive interview with bestselling author Darren Shan! As a huge Cirque Du Freak fan, you can only imagine how excited I was when he agreed to do an interview with me (there was some happy dancing involved). Shan’s unique vampire mythos continues to be one of my favorites, and I love that he brought those badass vamps back in The Saga of Larten Crepsley. Shan and I chatted about the new series, his upcoming vampire books and more, check it out:

Can you tell us about your book Birth of a Killer: The Saga of Larten Crepsley?
It’s the first of a four-book series, charting 200 years in the life of a vampire. Book 1 begins when Larten is a young boy, working in a factory. When a bullying foreman kills the person he most cares about, Larten reacts savagely and starts down a ragged, bloodstained path into the darkness, which ultimately leads him into the world of the night and offers him the hope of redemption.

Other than Mr. Crepsley, are there any other Cirque Du Freak characters in the new series?
Oh yes, lots! We get to meet Seba Nile, Larten’s mentor, along with Vancha March, one of the most memorable Princes from the first series, and many others. Some have a crucial role to play in this story, others a lesser part. Fans will have to keep reading to find out if their favourites from Cirque Du Freak are major players or not this time round!

What got you interested in writing about vampires?
I always loved them, ever since I saw my first Dracula film when I was 5 or 6 years old. They captured my imagination as no other horror creatures did, and all these years later, I’m still fascinated by them.

You write both young adult books and adult books (loved Procession of the Dead) and while your current vampire books can be enjoyed by all ages, do you think you will ever write an adult vampire novel?
Strange you should mention that! I’ve been toying around with an idea for an adult novel for several years, but up until this year I couldn’t figure out a way to make it work. Then one day I idly wondered what would happen if I brought vampiric element into the mix, and I think that might be the key to unlocking it! I haven’t yet started to write it, but hopefully I’ll be able to get a first draft in the bag in the not too distant future. If it works out the way I hope, we might be seeing it on shelves in a few years’ time...

Your vampires are very unique and completely your own - what advice do you have for writers that want to write about vampires, but are worried about being like everyone else?
Look for your own way into the story. Don’t just try to replicate what has come before. When I was a child, I used to wonder what it would be like if I got turned into a vampire and had to drink blood. That intrigued me, and that was the idea I returned to years later, because it felt personal.

Ok, here’s a question I ask all folks I interview: I’ve noticed that most of the authors I follow on Twitter talk about the music they’re currently writing to. What kind of setting/atmosphere do you find most conducive to your writing?
I always have music playing the background when I write. Writing is a very solitary business, and silence reminds me of just how isolated and alone I am when I write. To combat that, I have my jukebox playing non-top behind me. But the songs don’t really matter or influence me – I usually tune them out and am only barely aware of what’s playing. As long as there’s some sort of noise, with a good beat, I’m happy.

Given the current vampire craze, people feel specially attracted to vampires, why do you think that is?
The same reason people are so interested in religion – the possibility of them gives us the notion that we might be more than we are. Mankind has been kicking against its nature since the dawn of the first Neanderthals. We don’t want to be meaningless evolutionary quirks. We want to matter, to be central to the universe, to have the potential to be awesome. One way in which we try to reassure ourselves that we’re not insignificant flecks is by embracing the light of religion. Another way is by embracing the darkness of vampires and other mythical monsters. Great evil can be just as alluring as great good, if it gives us the promise of greatness within our reach. Vampires are probably the most believable and credible of monsters, which is why I think they’ve enjoyed such growing success over the last century or so.

Who’s your favorite fictitious vampire (other than your own)?
Obviously Dracula is the daddy!! But my own personal favourite is the Glick boy from Salem’s Lot. When he turns into a vampire and comes after his brother, it’s one of the creepiest moments ever recorded either in a book or on film!

What is your favorite vampire book/movie/show?
Again, Salem’s Lot. I saw the movie when I was 8 or 9 years old, and it freaked the life out of me – which I loved!! I read the book not long after, marking my introduction to the writings of Stephen King, who still stands as my favourite author all these years later.

If vampires were discovered to exist today, do you think our society would accept them or try to destroy them?
I think a lot of people would want to join them. No matter how unattractive you make them – whether they’re evil killers as they are in many stories, or fascistic, unhygenic fighting machines as they are in my books – fans love their vampish souls and yearn to join their ranks! There’d be no more recession if vampires were proved to be real – people worldwide would down tools and run off to sign up for the cause!

And finally, what other projects are you currently working on? Any goodies we should watch out for?
I’m working on some new adult books, including the one that might have a vampiric edge to it that I mentioned already. And I’m also well advanced on a new, multi-book series for my teen fans. But I can’t say any more about any of them right now. Let’s focus on the next three Larten Crepsley books for the time being – they’ll keep us going until May 2012!!!

I recently answered several questions submitted by students of Staples Road Junior School in the UK. I normally don't have time to be this resposive to individual school requests, but in this case I know one of the teachers (Mr Johnson) so I agreed as a favour to him. The questions, when they came through, were of a very high standard, and I enjoyed answering them so mcuh that I've decided to share my answers here with the rest of you!!

1. Out of your collection of 4000 movies, which one has provided the greatest inspiration to your writing?

Blimey – that’s a hard one to start with!! I take inspiration from all over the place, books and comics that I read, things I see in movies, things that happen to me in real life. Because I watch a lot of films, many of my ideas originate there, but usually it’s an indirect process. One film that definitely influenced my work was 2001: A Space Odyssey – you can see its influence very clearly, I think, in Dark Calling in particular.

2. You spend most of your time terrifying schoolchildren, but what really scares you?

Snakes!! I used to be scared of spiders, but I held a tarantula and got over that fear. But snakes still make me shiver, even though I held a boa to try to adapt!

3. How impressed were you with Universal’s interpretation of Cirque Du Freak?

I liked it. A movie adaptation of a book is a complex affair, where so many things can go wrong. Whereas a book is the work of one person, a movie relies on the creative input of dozens, sometimes even hundreds of people. It’s rare for those sorts of numbers to click, which is why there are so many bad movies made from good books. But I think they did a pretty good job of Cirque. I would have liked it to be a bit darker, and a bit more faithful to certain aspects of the books, but all things considered it was a lot better than I thought it would be!

4. What is your most special memory from childhood?

One of them is finding a dead cat on a rubbish tip in the middle of a very cold winter when I was 5 or 6 years old!

5. Which of your books has given you the most pleasure / most pain and why?

The one that was most of a challenge was Bec, because I’d never written a historical book before or did a lot of research. Even though there are loads of demons in that book, I treated it as if I was trying to record the past, and I made it as accurate as I could -- if you read Bec, I think you get a fairly good snapshot of what life was like in Celtic Ireland 1600 years ago. The ones I enjoyed writing most were the fast-paced, action-packed books, like Tunnels of Blood, Killers of the Dawn or Wolf Island.

6. What are you ongoing goals as a writer?

To push myself as far as I can. It’s always a learning curve. I hope to continue finding new ways to tell stories, to carry on developing, and to try things that I haven’t done before.

7. Where did you get the original idea for Cirque Du Freak from?

It came to me one day when I was sitting in a car! But the orginal idea probably goes back to when I was a young child – I would lie in bed at night, imagining vampires attacking, and what life would be like if I got turned into a vampire!

8. What would you have done if you hadn’t become a successful writer?

I’d have been an unsuccessful writer! I write for fun. If I wasn’t getting paid to do it, I’d do it anyway in my spare time. To support myself, I’d probably have got some IT job, as I’ve always been fairly handy with computers.

9. Why are all of your books so gory?

It’s a gory world!!! Actually, for me the gore isn’t that important a factor. I think it adds a bit of spice to the books, and allows me to take the stories in more interesting directions. But I’m always more focused on developing my characters and coming up with solid plot-lines than I am in grossing out my readers. Gore is only really effective if it happens in a really good book or film, where it has a natural place in the overall storyline. By itself it can be fairly lame!

PLEASE NOTE -- much of the following article is as fictional as any of my books! While I did discuss serial killers briefly during my interview with Mr Bendoris, I never mentioned Peter Tobin -- I had not even heard of his name until I read this article! I suspect the editor or interviewer wanted to make the interview easier for regular readers of The Sun to connect with, hence the twistings of the truth...

HORROR author Darren Shan has spent years terrifying readers with his gory vampire books. But the writer - who has sold 18MILLION tomes worldwide - insists it's real-life serial killers like Peter Tobin that leave him chilled to the bone. And the bloodthirsty author of the hugely popular Cirque Du Freak saga - made into a Hollywood movie last year - believes nothing he pens will ever come close to the appalling crimes committed by the Scots triple-killer. The 64-year-old handyman is serving life for three brutal murders. He killed Polish student Angelika Kluk, 23, in Glasgow in 2006 and the remains of tragic Vicky Hamilton, 15, and Essex student Dinah McNicol, 18, were found buried in the garden of Tobin's former home in Margate, Kent.

Darren, 38, says: "There is nothing scarier than real people doing really horrible things. Watching Tobin's crimes on the news leaves you chilled. It makes you very disheartened about society. I guess, as you get older, horror gets less fun. You start to think about what really happens when a child is snatched off the streets by one of these beasts. That's why I think horror is actually escapism from the real world. Sure, vampire and horror movies get a lot of bad press, saying they cause violence. But I don't think they do. They are about getting away from the true horrors of what people are prepared to do to one another."

Born Darren O'Shaughnessy, he spent his early years in London before moving to his family's native Ireland when he was six. At the age of 14 he bought his first typewriter and he wrote his debut novel three years later. His big breakthrough came ten years ago with his first children's novel, Cirque Du Freak - in a series titled The Saga of Darren Shan. He still churns out three books a year and his young fans can't get enough of his blood and guts.

Darren said: "The kids always ask me to put more gore in my books - they're a bloodthirsty lot. But they don't fully realise the consequences of the horror. I try to address that. I have all these over-the-top bloodthirsty themes, but I'm not interested in just grossing readers out. I want them to think about what happens next."

The man who has spent his career writing about the supernatural is yet to have a real-life spooky experience of his own. He said: "I keep an open mind. I like to believe the world is a more interesting place if vampires do exist. But I'd rather meet a vampire than someone like Tobin."

How long did you work on this book?
I worked on Birth of a Killer for more than three years! But I was actually toying around with ideas for it at least two or three years earlier than that! That sort of time frame isn't unusual for me. Although I release at least two books every year, I spend an average of two to three years working on every one of them. I'm able to juggle several books around at the same time. To give you an idea of how I work, I wrote the first draft of Birth in January 2007. I then left it alone for several months and went and wrote the first drafts of the next three books in The Saga Of Larten Crepsley. Then I returned to the first book and edited it. I then edited the next three. I then left the books alone for a few more months and worked on something else. Then I returned, did another edit of the books, and so on and so on for the next couple of years. It might sound chaotic, but it works for me!

How was your journey to publication? Long, short, how many rejections?
Loads of rejections! I don't think you can really enjoy your success as a writer if you haven't been widely rejected to begin with! My first published book for children, Cirque Du Freak, was actually turned down by twenty different publishers before it was accepted! You have to take rejection on the chin, believe in yourself, and just keep going. If every writer gave up at their first few rejection slips, I don't think there would be any books on the shelves in bookstores across the world!

What advice would you most like to pass along to other writers?
The most important thing is to write. It's like training yourself to play a sport -- let's take soccer as an example. You can watch lots of soccer games, analyse tactics, spend months or years formulating a game plan inside your head. But it's all meaningless unless you go out on a pitch and train and develop your muscles and skills. A soccer player has to put in a lot of hard work behind the scenes before they can earn the right to go out and play a 90 minute match. Writing's the same. Understanding the theory of writing -- i.e. reading lots of books, studying literature, playing around with ideas for stories -- is certainly helpful, but worthless unless you're prepared to sit and actually write. You need to experiment, try different types of stories, test out different approaches. Don't be afraid to write bad stories. It's a learning process. You need to make mistakes in order to learn from them and advance.

What has surprised you most about becoming a published author?
One of the most surprising things has been the success of my stories in different countries. When I started out, I had no idea that people in Japan and Indonesia and Hungary and the Netherlands and Taiwan and so many other countries might be interested in the imagination of a young guy from rural Ireland. As my books have grown in popularity across the globe, and as I've travelled widely and met lots of my fans, I've come to realise that despite the trappings of our culture, we're all very much the same under the surface. We react to stories in the same way. We have the same dreams and aspirations and fears and hopes. I think books are a great way for people to come together, regardless of their backgrounds or circumstances. They can over-ride all sorts of other obstacles and sometimes bridge massive gaps. For instance, while I've no love for the current Iranian political regime, my books are published in Iran (albeit illegally!) and have been hugely popular there. Those sorts of connections -- the meetings of minds through a shared love of books -- are priceless in my opinion.

Q: For people who don’t know, tell us about the main character of Larten Crepsley from Birth of a Killer and how he came about?
We first met Larten Crepsley in Cirque Du Freak. He was a 200 year old vampire with a troubled past. When we first found him, he had cut himself off from the vampire clan and turned his back on the bloodsuckers who had been his only family for more than two centuries. He was a lonely, isolated figure. After I'd finished writing The Saga Of Darren Shan, I found myself thinking a lot about Larten and what his life must have been like, and what had happened to drive him so deeply into the shadows of the night. Over the course of a few years his story began to fall into place, and it was even darker and more tragic than I had guessed!

Q: How many books are to come and what can we expect from subsequent instalments?
There will be four books in total, so three more are on their way. The books cover most of the two hundred years of his life. The second, Oceans Of Blood , takes us through the latter half of the nineteenth century, as Larten struggles to adapt to his life as a creature of the night. The third covers the early years of the twentieth century, and sees him come of age and cement his place in the vampire clan. The fourth brings us up to the present, and in that one we get to travel with Larten through the darkest, most wretched years of his life, as everything falls apart around him and destiny leads him into a terrible, lonely place...

Q: The series takes place over more than a century, how did you go about writing over such a long time span?
It was difficult! There had to be a main storyline, a narrative thread that would run through all four books and link them tightly together. I didn't want it to read like a series of short stories, so I focused on his family and those who were closest to him. The Saga of Darren Shan worked so well, I think, because of the focus it had on relationships, e.g. between Darren and Mr Crepsley, and between Darren and his best friend, Steve Leopard. Once I had sorted out the relationships, the rest of the series fell into place around them.

Q: Tell us what makes your vampires different from some of the other fictional vampires out there!
Well, my vampires are REAL vampires!!! Seriously, I've tried to come at vampires from a completely different angle. I didn't want to go down the whole Dracula route (although we do get to meet a certain Bram Stoker in this series!). I  wanted to do something new and original with vampires. So I took as my starting point that vampires were people who had to drink blood to survive, could only come out at night, and lived for hundreds of years -- but, crucially, they did not become monsters when they changed. I figured that such a secret society of centuries-old vampires would be organised in a similar fashion to human warrior tribes like the Samurai, the Celts or the Masai Mara. So I created a tribe of hard-living warriors who place a lot of emphasis on pride and courage and fighting prowess.

Q: You’ve written many books in the past, do you have a favourite one?
My absolute favourite single book of mine is The Thin Executioner . It's the book I feel closest to, the one I poured more of myself into than normal.

Q: What other horror/scary book do you wish you’d written?
Salem's Lot by Stephen King was a brilliant reworking of the original Dracula story, and the book that more than any other set me on my way to becoming a horror author.

Q: Are you working on anything else at the moment?
I'm working hard on the second half of The Saga of Larten Crepsley, but even though that's not finished, I'm also working on a new series, but I can't say anything about it just yet, because I'd have to feed you to a demon if you found out!!

Can you tell us a bit about your new adult trilogy, The City?

The first two books can be read independently of each other, as they are stand-alone stories which are set at the same time. Events do overlap, but it isn’t until the third book that the plot threads are pulled firmly together. The first, Procession of the Dead, is about a young man who comes to a mysterious city to become a gangster. He soon falls in with The Cardinal, the city’s criminal kingpin, and begins a meteoric rise to the top. It should be a smooth ride, except he soon becomes aware that all is not well in the city – people vanish without trace, a legendary serial killer operates freely, blind Incan priests seem to pop up everywhere he looks, and most worryingly of all he can’t recall anything before coming to the city…

How different was it for you, switching from a focus on young readers to adults? Any difference to your writing style or technique?

They’re actually not as different as you might think. My children’s books have always been dark, vicious affairs, so the leap to adult fiction wasn’t as great as it probably would have been for many authors in my position. Having said that, the language is certainly a lot rougher in my adult books, and I don’t have to shy away from sexual references!! The main difference is that these are more amoral – in my children’s books there is a fairly clear divide between good and evil, right and wrong, whereas in my books for older readers I like to be more ambiguous.

I read that it took over 14 years for the final version of the story to come about! How much of it changed throughout the years and editing?

Well… yes and no!! I did spend over 14 years in total working on the book, but the book was in limbo for quite a lot of that time, while I was working on my children’s books. It didn’t actually change much after the first few drafts – it was simply a matter of developing my editing skills, so that I could tighten it up and have it roll along more smoothly.

What’s next for you, after this series? Any other stories on the horizon?

Yes, I have a couple of books lined up and ready to go. At the moment I’m fine-tuning them and discussing with my agent which one to lead off with. One has a fantasy element; one is a straight-up thriller. I hope to release both, it’s just a matter of deciding which one I would like to unleash first.

Where you happy with the film version of Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant?

Yes. It’s very different to the books, but on its own terms I think it’s a quirky little curio that works very nicely – I think I would have enjoyed it a lot if I’d seen it when I was younger. I don’t think there are any movies out there quite like it, in the way that it mixes up styles and genres. Some critics lazily rounded on it and dismissed it as a Twilight rip-off, despite the fact that it had been greenlighted long before the first Twilight film was ever released! In a way, the current vampire craze worked against it – I think it might have fared better if it had been released a couple of years earlier or later. Oh well, the great thing about movies is that time is the ultimate deciding factor. Many films do well at the box office, then pass from memory. I’ve a sneaky suspicion that this one might be a grower…

How much say did you have in the process?

None at all. I deliberately stayed out of the film-making process, since I prefer to spend my time working on projects which I can control. Screenwriters have no ultimate control – that goes to the director. I stayed focused on books and keeping up with my rather grueling publishing and touring schedule.

Are there plans to continue the series?

It’s not looking too positive at the moment. The film did pretty well globally, but didn’t do brilliantly in the States. And I think they probably spent more on the sets and effects than they should have. If it had been a low-budget film (which it could have been) I think it would have by now made enough to merit a sequel. But it was a big-budget film, so I can’t see Universal going ahead with a sequel in the immediate future. But hopefully one day, if its reputation continues to grow, a sequel or reboot might come from somewhere…

Tell us a bit about yourself and your experience in writing.

I wanted to be a writer since I was a very young child, and I never gave up on that dream. I started pushing myself when I was a teenager – I finished my first novel when I was 16. I wrote quickly and broadly, writing lots of books which weren’t publishable, experimenting, learning my trade, developing. I got my first breakthrough with a book for adults, but then my children’s book went stellar and I focused on those for most of the past decade. Now I’ve come back with the adult books and would love to balance the two going forward.

What inspires you?

Books, movies, things that happen in real life. Inspiration is never a problem – it’s deciding how to whittle down the ideas, to choose a direction in which to move. I’m always looking to try different things, mix up genres, do new tricks with old stories and styles. Ultimately I’m just inspired by a need to tell stories.

Who are some of your favorite authors? What books do you love?

Stephen King, Roald Dahl, Tolkien, Ray Bradbury, James Ellroy, Kurt Vonnegut. The Secret Garden, Huck Finn, The Chocolate War. I could go on and on and on!

What do you do when you’re not writing? In your spare time?

I like to read. I’m a huge movie buff – I’ve a collection of more than 4,000 movies at home, and growing! I like to travel. I enjoy going to museums and collecting art. I go to a lot of soccer matches and theatre and concerts.

Thanks for your time! Is there anything else you’d like to add?

Although it’s being published for children, I think that my next book, The Thin Executioner, could just as easily have been released under an adult imprint, so my more mature fans might like to watch out for that one too! Although it’s a fantasy quest story, it’s also a very thinly veiled criticism of the war in Iraq – I see no reason why a fantasy novel can’t be political at the same time.

What's your story? How long did it take to establish yourself as an author? Was the journey on a straight or twisted path? Are you surprised by your success?

I always wanted to be a writer. As a teenager I began working towards making that dream come true -- I began writing for myself, in my spare time. I finished my first novel when I was 17, realized I had a lot still to learn, and kept on going, experimenting, learning from my mistakes, improving. All of my novels were aimed at adult readers. I managed to interest an agent with one of them. He provided me with lots of essential feedback, I worked some more on the book, and we managed to sell it, as well as its sequel -- they were Procession of the Dead and Hell's Horizon, which are coming out in the States for the first time this year (June 2010, January 2011). The advances were small enough, and they didn't do brilliantly sales-wise at the time (they've done much better more recently), so I think my career would have floundered if I hadn't had another card or two up my sleeve.

But luckily I had!! Purely for fun, I wrote a children's book in the middle of 1997, about a boy who meets a vampire at a freak show -- I called it Cirque Du Freak. I had no idea if publishers would be interested, or if it would make any money even if published, and I didn't care. I had a blast writing the book, and went ahead and wrote a sequel to it even before I had heard from any publishers -- I needed to know what was going to happen next with the story! In the end, after it was turned down by 20 publishers, HarperCollins in the UK took a chance on it. It was published in January 2000 and started selling like hot cakes all around the world. By accident I found myself in the position of a globally successful children's author, and I haven't looked back since!

With regard to your current creative focus, was there an "ah-ha" moment you can tell us about?

In retrospect, Cirque Du Freak changed everything. When I wrote it, I was drawing unemployment benefits, living at home with my parents, struggling to make any headway. I'd tried all sorts of different styles and stories, the one constant being that they were all aimed at adult readers. Cirque turned my world upside down and led me in a whole new creative direction -- I'd found something that I was really good at. I still enjoy writing for adults, and hope to continue publishing for both children and adults in the future, but my children's books helped me find my true voice and that has fed over into my work for adults too.

For you, is writing more about creation or expression? It could be both, but does one dominate with regard to your need/urge/desire to be a writer and why?

For me it's all about creation. It's great when you can express something too, and I usually do (The Thin Executioner, which comes out in the USA in August, is a fantasy novel, but it also summarizes my response to the war in Iraq, with particular focus given to a certain Master Bush and Master Blair). But the story always comes first for me. I want to create an exciting, action-packed, twist-filled tale, with characters that readers can identify with and care about. That's always the most important thing. Without that, people aren't going to be interested in your work, so they aren't going to read it, so who are you going to be able to make your point to?!?

I don't believe in writer's block. I view the situation like priming a pump. If you just keep pumping, the water will eventually start to run. Do you ever run out of things to say, or do you experience an endless river? What are your thoughts on this?

I don't believe it in either -- but I think it certainly exists!! I think it happens when writers think too much. Writing is a bit like riding a bike -- you need to jump on and keep pedaling. If you don't do that, if you pause and study the bike and start thinking about the laws of gravity and momentum, and all the complex things that must happen with your nerves and brain in order to keep your balance and keep your legs moving and... well, it starts to seem like a very difficult, arduous process, and you might lose faith in yourself, you might start worrying about falling and hurting yourself. That's when writer's block happens, when a writer thinks about the process too much and starts to be terrified by the enormity of what they are facing. If you don't do that, if you keep going, if you force yourself to pump out stories, then yes, you can avoid the dreaded block. But I think some writers struggle to do that. With some, they can't not stare into the abyss and shiver. And I don't think those of us who don't struggle with writer's block should be too cocky about it, because we never know the day that we might come to the edge of the writing cliff, pause, glance casually and smugly over the edge at the drop below... and then start to freeze!!!

Do you believe some of the various attributes related to being highly creative have caused you aberrations in life, helped you deal with life's aberrations, or both?

My creativity both messed me up and led me back to normality. I've always been interested in the darkness of the human soul, in exploring tortured minds and the genesis and ways of evil. In my teen years, and into my early twenties, I sometimes wondered if my interest would lead me further into the darkness than I cared. If I kept going the way I was, would writing one day cease to be enough for me? Would I need to go further, experience the darkness firsthand? Could writing about evil stain my soul, lead me to act out on my dark fantasies,and damn me? Would I become an aberrant, twisted, wretched excuse for a human? In time I realized that I wasn't inclined towards experiencing evil in real life, that by writing these dark stories, I was able to get to know myself better and deal more evenly with the world around me. My writing was a way of working through my problems and dark bents, and by doing this I've been able to lead a reasonably normal and productive life ever since.

During difficult or challenging times in your life, does writing sooth or inspire you? Is it therapeutic in any way?

Yes.

Have you ever had to deal with people in your life failing to understand your creative personality, interests, or drive? If so, can you tell us about it and how you've dealt with it?

Of course. I don't think any young writer hasn't heard the immortal line, "But what are you going to do for a real job?" Writing's a hell of a hard job. Very few of us get to taste success as most of society judges it. For me, it's always been about the stories, about telling the best stories I can, pushing myself as far as I can, producing the very best work that I can in the time that I have available to me. And that's how every writer should judge themselves. But that doesn't always translate into commercial success. I think my first adult book was every bit as good as my first children's book, and I stand by that view, but the adult book didn't sell and the children's book did. Since the kid's book did so well, I made a lot of money, and society looks upon me now as a "success". But if I hadn't written Cirque, I would have been branded a failure in the eyes of everyone who knew me. Most people don't care about intangible, personal success -- they judge you by money made. You have to be brave and ignore the norms of society, the pleas of your parents to not be foolish and pledge your life to a career which might make sparse financial returns, the sneers of friends and associates who think you have ideas above your station.

Writing ultimately is about sticking up two fingers to the world and saying, "Sod the lot of you, I'm living life on my terms." As long as you're happy to do that, as long as you set the terms of your success, as long as you don't feel that failure to be a bestseller equates to personal failure, then you can shrug off the criticisms and skepticism of those who know you and tut astonishingly. I'm not saying it's easy, or that the verbal slings and blows don't hurt -- they bloody well do -- but anything truly worth having in this life is worth fighting for, and most writers have to fight for the right to write.

Successful writers often focus on the same genre. Have you ever grown tired of working on similar types of projects, and if so, how have you dealt with that?

I've never grown tried of working in the same genre, because I never have. My books are a mix of all types of genres -- when working on a book I might weave in elements from Clive Barker, Mark Twain and Enid Blyton, and they're all the same to me. Because my books usually deal with dark themes, I've been branded a horror writer and I'm fine with that -- I've always loved horror. It makes life easier if you fit into a specific genre, if booksellers know where to stock your books and how to market you. But it's not something I've ever focused on or worried about. I go my own way, do my own thing, and let my publishers worry about how to brand and market me.

Have you developed a specific creative process that enables you to meet your writing goals? If so, can you tell us about it, and also share any thoughts you may have on the role discipline and organization play in reaching creative goals?

First comes the thinking, bouncing ideas around, trying to link up images, looking for a story to go with the scene or scenes that have popped into my mind. Then I plot it out, sometimes vaguely, usually in quite a lot of detail. Then I force myself to write 10 pages a day, 5 days a week -- I prefer to work to a page count rather than set aside a certain number of hours a day, as I find I do more productive work that way. The I'll spend an average of 2 to 3 years on the editing process -- I like to give myself plenty of time to work on a book, so that I don't have any regrets later -- I've never had to rush a book to make a deadline. Luckily, I can juggle several books at the same time, which is why I've been able to be so prolific.

What is your primary motto or mantra in life? Why is this important to you?

Noli illegitimi carborundum -- don't let the bastards grind you down!

If you go against the grain with your work, as I've always done, you're going to have to fight all the way. Sometimes you can get weary from the fight, you start to think that you're deluded, that the others must be right. Don't believe it!! When 20 publishers turned down Cirque Du Freak at the same time, it was one of the most miserable days of my life. But the misery was short-lived. I went for a walk ad put the question to myself -- are the experts right, or do you truly believe that you know better than every publisher in the UK? I stuck out my chin and crazily decided that yes, I did know better. Upon my return home, I continued working as I was. I didn't let the project die. I pushed ahead regardless of the overwhelming rejections. Fifteen million book sales later, I've been justified in that decision. But if the book had never been published, or if it had and hadn't sold, I would still believe that I was right! You've got to be more than a little crazy and self-believing to get ahead or even just persevere in this game.

Noli illegitimi carborundum!!!!

On 15th November 2007, Universal announced that filming of the Cirque Du Freak movie would begin in February 2008. They also announced the names of the first three actors cast in the movie. Here is one of the many media reports of that announcement.

MSN MOVIES - 15/nov/2007

Does Hollywood consider John C. Reilly a real movie star? The acclaimed supporting actor has made a name for himself with roles in prestige pictures such as "Magnolia," "Chicago," "The Good Girl" and "Gangs of New York." Although several of these dramatic films became big hits, it wasn't because of Reilly in particular. However, with his second billing to Will Ferrell in the hit comedy "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby" (and perhaps a good agent), Reilly is staring down a much friendlier commercial road. He hilariously carries the mock biopic "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story," which arrives in theaters next month, and is currently shooting "Step Brothers," opposite Ferrell again. Now, according to The Hollywood Reporter, he's set to play the main villain in Paul Weitz's adaptation of Darren Shan's fantasy adventure, "Cirque du Freak."The Universal Picture film will find youngsters Josh Hutcherson ("Bridge to Terabithia") and Chris Kelly (TBS' "Wanted") as two best friends who visit an illegal freak show where they encounter a vampire, Larten Crepsley (Reilly), and a giant spider. Drama ensues and the two boys' lives are forever changed. The original novel is part of Shan's "Vampire Blood" series, which consists of 11 other books. If "Freak" is successful, it could result in something Reilly never thought he'd be part of: a franchise.

Weitz is best known for collaborating with his brother Chris on a variety of film projects. Paul helmed "About a Boy" and "In Good Company" and is producing "The Golden Compass," which marks Chris' solo directorial debut. "Freak" will mark Paul's first directing gig since the god-awful misfire "American Dreamz" and is expected to begin production in February.

When news of my movie deal with Universal broke in January 2005, it received lots of media attention. Here's one of my favourite pieces, from Ain't It Cool News.

Who The Heck Is Darren Shan, And What`s The CIRQUE DU FREAK?!

Hi, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab... I`ve never heard of these books, but I`m not surprised. There`s so much literature for young readers being published these days in the wake of the massive success of J.K. Rowlings that it`s hard to keep up with if you don`t have a young reader in the house. And, no, I`m not slamming these books or calling them rip-offs, any more than I would say that about the delightful LEMONY SNICKET series. I just think the publishing landscape has changed, and now, more than ever, this type of book has become big business, especially when someone`s able to create a series that really hooks a readership.

Evidently, the CIRQUE DU FREAK series was optioned by Warner Bros. before the first two books were even published. Now, as book 12 is out in the UK, it looks like the rights have shifted over to Universal where Lauren Shuler Donner`s going to be working to bring them to life with Brian Helgeland handling the screenplay. I was just talking to Harry the other night about his deep abiding love for all things relating to freakshows after he finished watching CHAINED FOR LIFE, so I expect that these films will quickly become his most favoritest things ever!

I was contacted by a university student recently, called Simon Harris, asking if he could interview me for a paper he was writing about vampires. I don’t normally have time to respond to personal requests like this, but his questions interested me, so I figured I’d do what I could to answer them and help him out some. You can read the questions and answers below — and hopefully Simon will get back in touch once his paper has been completed and submitted, to let us all know how he got on!!!

1. It is widely assumed that Bram Stoker’s Dracula is the foundation building block for the contemporary image of the vampire. I believe that this is largely down to the popularity of Stoker’s work in contemporary academia. Le Fanu’s Carmilla and Polidori’s The Vampyre, etc, came earlier but are not as academically renowned. Throughout your own work, which traditional literary vampire/s were your principal influence for your own creational vampires, and why was this the case?
I think every modern vampire book (i.e. every book written from the early 20th century onwards) stems from Stoker’s Dracula. While vampires were by no means a new creation when he wrote his book, his version of them captured the imagination of readers and became the vampire “bible”. Many writers have deviated away from the rules laid out in Stoker’s book (especially the sunlight rule), but the basic rules have permeated the modern consciousness to such a degree that I think they’re just about impossible to ignore. Even if a writer chooses to take vampires in a different direction, as I have done, or to try to return them to their pre-Stoker status, as Marcus Sedgewick did in My Swordhand Is Singing, I think we’re all aware of Stoker’s book and deliberately veer away from it, i.e. we still take it into account when fashioning our own vampires.

2. People of all ages find vampires fascinating. What is it about vampires that you believe encourages this reaction?
Vampires are cool!!! You can express it in far more complex ways than that, but ultimately that’s what it boils down to. Whether we fear or envy them, the world of the imagination is a far more interesting place with night-dwelling, blood-sucking, human-looking vampires in it.

3. Do you believe that it is important for new, twenty-first century readers of vampires to have an understanding of the roots of vampire literature, such as Dracula and its predecessors, or do you think that the image and representation of the vampire has changed too much and we should begin again with the knowledge we achieve through the reading of contemporary vampire literature (such as your own work)?
I dont think the roots matter at all, really. Vampires have become like the creatures in fairy tales or myths. So many stories have been told about them, in so many different ways, that they’ve become a fluid, shapeless, all-permeating beast. Everyone has experienced various vampire stories in one way or another, and has their own idea of what a vampire “is”. I don’t think there can ever again be a simple, straightforward, all-defining type of vampire. They serve the needs of new writers and new readers, and continue to be redefined and stretched. It’s reached such a point that I don’t think it matters any more when the ideas originally came from. It’s a bit like with computers — you don’t need to know anything about the ZX81 to be able to fully appreciate and interact with a 21st century home PC!!

4. The concept of the vampire has transformed through time, in terms of its visual image and also in some cases its malevolent motivations, but one instinct remains in one way, shape or form; the requirement for blood. This is subverted in Stephanie Meyer’s ‘Twilight’, introducing vegetarian vampires who are able to harmonise and have physical relationships with humans, the series moving away from the traditional Gothic and becoming more teenage romance. Do you think that Meyer’s version is pulling us, as literary thinkers, readers, writers or critics, away from the vampire that we have grown to love? And do you think this could be detrimental to the future of the legendary Gothic vampire?
Vampires are bigger than the Twilight series. They’re bigger than my books. I even think they’re bigger than Dracula. I don’t think any writer can redefine vampires to the point where the public will put all of their preconceptions aside and accept the “new” rules as gospel. As a writer, you look for a way to do something new and alive with vampires, and if you’re lucky a lot of other people will find your version interesting. But at the end of the day vampires are bigger than us all, and the Twilight books will be absorbed and become “just” a few more vampire books, the same way Salem’s Lot was, the same way Buffy was, the same way my vampires will be.

5. Your Vampire Blood series was recently converted, however loosely, to the big screen. Do you believe that making film adaptations of literature is a useful way of promoting your novels to a larger scale audience, and maybe even a new demographic? Was there a particular reason you authorised a cinematic adaptation of your work?
Films help spread the word. They can reach audiences which you just can’t reach as a writer — even a commercially unsuccessful film is normally seen by far more people than a commercially successful book is read by. Films have been crucial to keeping vampires alive and establishing them in the public mass consciousness. You could argue that writers have done far more interesting things with vampires than movie makers have, but if not for that fascination with vampires which movies have helped foster, maybe publishers wouldn’t be so keen to give us money to experiment with vampires so much. I think a movie adaptation is a great way of advertising your work, and that’s why I allowed my books to be filmed, to hopefully get more people interested in my stories and attract more readers to my books.
 

VAMPIRES : With 15 million books sold, and a first film adaptation on release on Friday, Darren Shan's success story is bloody marvellous

“The door feels red hot, as though a fire is burning behind it. I press an ear to the wood – but there’s no crackle. No smoke. Just deep, heavy breathing – and a curious dripping sound. My hand’s on the door knob. Inside the room, somebody giggles – low, throaty, sadistic. There’s a ripping sound, followed by snaps and crunches. My hand turns. The door opens. Hell is revealed.”

THE QUESTIONS IS , which Irish author wrote the above paragraph?

I’ll narrow it down for you. He lives in Limerick, is still in his thirties, and has sold 15 million copies of his books globally. He’s huge in Japan, some of his work is about to get the Hollywood treatment with a film out next week, and he is currently on a global reading tour, attracting hordes of fans wherever he goes. He’s a soccer fan, wrote his first novel in his mid-teens, and had early success when finishing as a runner-up in an RTÉ scriptwriting competition aged just 15. Still not getting it? Welcome then to the world of Darren O’Shaughnessy, otherwise known as Darren Shan.

Born in London, Darren moved to Limerick, where his parents and grandparents come from, aged six, and attended local primary and secondary schools. He admits he had a quicker ride than most to the world of literary stardom, although his passion for writing was evident from a young age. “I always loved making up stories and was writing books for friends when I was 15 or 16. I finished my first novel at 17 and was 26 when I got my first book published. It was easier getting adult books published than my children’s ones, no-one wanted them at first,” he says.

Cirque Du Freak was Shan’s first children’s book, and would eventually form part of a 12-book series, the first three of which are about to hit the cinemas as The Vampire’s Assistant , staring William Defoe and Salma Hayek. Yet, when Shan began offering Cirque Du Freak to children’s publishers – with its themes of death, blood drinking and insecurity – many were reluctant to take on the Limerick author.

“I think it was because there was nothing out there like Cirque Du Freak at the time,” Shan says, “publishers were nervous about it and thought perhaps the book might be banned. There was an expectation that a book about a boy who fakes his own death and drinks blood to survive would not be deemed acceptable 10 years ago. I mean, if you read the blurb on the back of my books, like the one from Lord Loss , these are gory scenes and you could form an opinion that they are horrible books. But if you take a wider view, they are books about characters struggling to do the right things. I think they are like the old fairytales, bringing positive messages, albeit using a gruesome backdrop. The horror is a great way of serving up that message. I can get across the message that it’s wrong to steal and that you should respect your friends much better if I slip it in under a veil of blood!”

While Shan may be an idol to his core audience of millions of teenagers and young children worldwide, there is a sense that the adult world, particularly here in Ireland, has yet to fully appreciate his success. Why is that?

“My latest book, Hell’s Heroes , has been my strongest in the UK and Ireland for 10 years, so I am still picking up steam here. It’s a word of mouth process,” he says, “Certain things break the mould suddenly, like Harry Potter, but for the rest of us it is a longer process. I mean it took Roald Dahl 10 or 15 years to get established. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was released in the US almost 10 years before it was published in the UK.

“If books are read by children and teenagers, it takes a lot of time for those books to sink through. I had a breakthrough in Japan in 2001, when I literally sold hundreds of thousands of copies and entered the adult bestseller charts, but in other markets it has been a slower burn among adults. JK Rowling is the exception not the norm.”

For now though, there’s the film adaptation to look forward to, as well as a new adults’ book, City of the Snakes , due in March 2010. Hell’s Heroes , the final instalment in his 10-part Demonata series, released earlier this month, has already topped the bestseller charts. Shan says that despite reports to the contrary, he believes that children’s publishing is vibrant and that books in their physical form, continue to appeal.

“I think we read in the papers, on slow news days, that children are not buying as many books because of the digital revolution. I actually think they are reading more than ever before. The Internet has, ironically enough, made access to titles and authors easier for children. When I was younger we didn’t know when an author had a book coming out. Now I communicate directly with my audience through my website, and you can build a level of anticipation among readers. Kids now look forward to a new book the same way as they might have looked forward to a new album in the past. Kids are a lot more tuned in nowadays.”

Hells Heroes is published by HarperCollins. The Vampire’s Assistant is released in cinemas nationwide next Friday.

In the spirit of Halloween, we're bringing you the scary scoop on Darren Shan's sinister series Cirque Du Freak, and the upcoming movie The Vampire's Assistant (PG-13) opening October 23rd. It's based on the first three books of the series, and stars John C. Reiley, Ken Watanabe, Salma Hayek, and Chris Massoglia as Darren.

Vampire's Assistant

In the book series Darren is an ordinary kid who stumbles on a freak show with his best friend. When Darren steals a spider from a vampire, things quickly go wrong and Darren has to bargain for his friend's life. The price? His becoming a half-vampire himself (i.e.vampire's assistant!), and traveling with the nightmarish Cirque Du Freak.

This series is SO good. I'm talking stay-up-late-reading-under-the-covers good. It's super freaky and scary, in ways you wouldn't think a children’s book series could be. And believe it or not, we were able to get the author himself, Darren Shan, to give us an exclusive interview!! It must have been destiny. Read below. . . if you dare.

Q: Is Darren an "autobiographical" character?

Darren: No. He shares certain characteristics with me, as do most of my lead characters, but we're not one and the same person, despite us sharing a name.

Q: Is there anything that creeps you out in real life?

Darren: Embarrassingly enough — spiders!!! Although the things that creep me out more than anything else are snakes — I can't stand them!!
RATHA: Wow that must have given him nightmares writing these books! You Cirque Du Freak fans know what I mean — there are spiders and snakes aplenty. Madame Octa or Evra the Snake Boy, anyone?

Q: What was your involvement, if any, in making the movie (The Vampire's Assistant)?

Darren: None. I opted to keep out of the process, so that I could stay focused on the books. I think the film-making process is best left to those who know what they're doing.

Q: What are your favorite parts of the movie?

Darren: The opening credits. That might sound strange, but it's not meant to be a criticism of the rest of the film. I honestly do like the movie overall — I just thought that the opening credits were truly amazing!

RATHA: Ok I will DEFINITELY have to make sure I’m not late for this movie, so I don’t miss those credits!

Q: Will diehard fans of the books like the movie?

Darren: Hard to tell. I think if they go in accepting that it's going to be only a loose adaptation of the books, then they might enjoy it for what it is — as I did.

RATHA: Aah yes. It's always tricky for us literary folks who love our books.

Q: What are you doing for Halloween this year?

Darren: I'm going to be celebrating it in Universal Studios Orlando!!! I'm not there for work, just a holiday, which turned out to be a happy twist of fate. . . or DESTINY!!!!!

RATHA: NICE! Be sure not to freak out Mickey or Minnie — hee hee! Seriously, thanks so much for the exclusive interview, Darren. I personally can’t wait to read the rest of the series! Right now I’m on Book #2: The Vampire's Assistant.

Anyone who has sold 15 million books might be entitled to rest on their laurels, but Darren Shan is looking further ahead than anyone might imagine, writes Gerard Fitzgibbon
DARREN Shan is in a pleasant and reflective mood for a man driving to Wetherby, near Leeds, with thoughts of rabid demons and zombie galleons in his head.

He's currently half way through a tour of the UK promoting his new book, the tenth and last of his 'Demonata' series, a circuit that will criss-cross Her Majesty's plot from Brighton to Dundee before it brings him back to Limerick and home. The 37-year-old is the first person to admit that now, with 14 million books sold, he doesn't need to press the flesh anymore. But he's still going to.

"It's very different to sitting in my office writing, but I still see it as part of the job. It's a fun part. You get to meet the fans after they've queued up for hours. It's a really nice feeling. The books have reached such a level where the touring probably isn't essential. But it's something I like giving back. I started out as a fanboy myself, I loved going to comic conventions and meeting my heroes. I like to give the chance to come along and get the book signed and have a chat."

Shan, real name Darren O'Shaughnessy, has developed into the leading children's horror author in the world by remaining distinctly childish.
Growing up in Pallaskenry after spending his early years in Elephant and Castle in East London, Shan inhaled book after book trying to pick apart the structures and ideas that made them work. Enid Blyton, Stephen King, Tolkien - he drew upon these generational writers like research.

But when he wrote his first novel when he was just 17, he did so because he could not find the sort of gripping and comically violent books he wanted to read. So, much like CS Lewis, he wrote it himself. But it was a gruelling process from there.

"I think most really good books are originals that don't follow a normal formula. But it's difficult to get that sort of book published. Cirque du Freak (Shan's first children's book, published in 2000] was turned down by every publisher in the UK when we tried to sell it - I remember I got 20 rejections on the same day.

"Now, other publishers are marketing their writers as 'the new Darren Shan'. But in the beginning, it was seen as a taboo book. Lord of the Rings was another example - 15 publishers turned it down because there was nothing else like it, and they just thought that nobody was going to want to read it. But I can understand where (the publishers] come from. It costs money to publish a book."

Shan admits that he saw himself, then and now, as foremost a writer of adult books. But it is as a children's author, particularly through his 'Demonata' and earlier 'The Saga of Darren Shan' series', that he has found his fame and success. Does he mind that role reversal?

"They weren't my first love, but they are my main love. At the moment I do one adult book and two children's books a year. That's the perfect mix for me. There are things I can't do in children's books that I can in adult ones and vice versa.

"But it's not the case that the children's books are something I knock out. It's just the way my mind works. I like juggling several books around, having a break from one for a few months and coming back to it slightly more objective."

That process normally sees him write a full first draft of a novel two or three years ahead of when it first gets published, a time in which he will begin other books, circle back to edit drafts and keep driving a creative momentum. The result has been 25 books in ten years, an "extraordinary" return in his own words, and also the comfort in knowing that he isn't going to find himself slowing down. He doesn't admit it in as many words, but Shan's fear is being idle.

"I don't have any big celebrations when I get to the end (of a book], because it doesn't feel like anything's ended. Because of the way I work, I'm in a slightly different time zone to everyone else. I've already finished my next five books for the next three years, and I'm working on another series after that. I never get a sense of start and finish. I think bobbing about from one project to the next is good in some ways, because it means there's no delays. It keeps it nice and fluid."

Is it difficult to for him to experiment with structure, pacing and other writer's skills when your primary audience judge a book by the prolificacy of its severed heads? Does he look for certain templates and formulas in his work?

"I used to love formulaic books growing up - The Famous Five; The Secret Seven. I'm not knocking those in the slightest, but as a writer, they don't interest me. I'm always looking to try something a bit different. I don't write for formula. I don't say 'I'm going to do this again because this works'. I'm always trying to move forward and experiment a bit. It's always a bit of a risk. I'm always thinking 'is this going to work?'.

"But it's more what I would have wanted to read when I was their age. I don't try and write something that I think is going to be popular. I never write with the fans in mind, I think that's dangerous. You start trying to please people and can lose what's special about your work."

In that vein, there is surprisingly little paranoia about Shan on the eve of the first Hollywood adaptation of one of his books. 'The Vampire's Assistant: Cirque du Freak' has cost Universal Studios in the region of $80 million to produce, but Shan has had no input at all in it. He admits that he didn't and never will want any. "It's best to leave Hollywood off!".

But he is excited by the prospect of people, perhaps, being drawn back into the books after it is released.

"The hard thing about publishing is making people aware that your books exist. You don't have the sort of funds Hollywood has. Cirque du Freak cost $80 million to make, and they might spend another $20 million publicising it. They can reach people we can't directly, and we can just hope that people who see the film like it and decide to check out the books, and come over to my world."

Best-selling horror author (think about the “Saga of Darren Shan” or “Demonata” series) Darren Shan answers my questions about vampires, horror and writing and tells us more about his upcoming movie & his favourites…

Hi Darren, thank you for visiting me on “Veronika Asks” for the “Books & Shivers” October special! Would you please introduce yourself to our readers? How would you describe yourself (then your works) in three words?
I’m the author of horror books for teenagers (primarily) and adults (previously as D B Shan, although they are to be rebranded as Darren Shan books from this point forward). My books are on sale in close to 40 countries around the world, and have sold somewhere in the region of 13 million copies, give or take.

Me — light, happy, genial.
My books — dark, twisted, demented.

“Hell’s Heroes”, the tenth book in the “Demonata” series, is out this month (October 2009). Can you share a few spoilers (what is the “Demonata” series about, by the way?)?
The Demonata is a ten book series about demons. The backdrop to the overall story is that there is a parallel universe to ours, populated entirely by demons. They have been biting away at humanity for thousands of years, but are now posied to break through and wipe us out. Three teenagers have the power to stop them. Sounds cliched and straightforward, doesn’t it? But trust me, it isn’t! Hell’s Heroes is the final book in the series, when everything hits the fan!

“The Vampire’s Assistant”, (a movie where the first three books of “The Saga of Darren Shan” combined together), is due to be released on October 23, 2009. Have you already seen it and were you fully involved in the project?
I wasn’t involved in the film in any real way. I did read through the script just before they started shooting, and made some suggestions, a few of which they heeded, but for the most part this is writer-director Paul Weitz’s baby, a re-imagining and re-invention of the story told in the books. It makes all sorts of major changes, so it isn’t a fiathful adaptation, but I have seen it and I do like it. As much as they changed, it keeps the dark, twisted, freakish elements of the books, which for me was the most important thing.

You said you started writing when you were fourteen years old. Were you already writing horror, fantasy and dark comedies then? Why did you pick the horror genre?
Yes, my work has almost always been focused on matters dark and grisly, although I have written some lighter books in my time. I didn’t pick the horror genre — it’s just what I was naturally drawn to. I always think it’s a matter of simple tastes. Some people like steak, some prefer pork. Some people like romance, some prefer horror.

Why do you think people are so fond of horror stories? How do you explain your success?
I think for the same reason they like roller coasters — it’s scary, but safe. We get a buzz from being scared, an adrenalin rush. As long as that happens in a safe, controlled environment, that can be hugely enjoyable.

Do you plan on writing something non-horror related? Or, to say it another way, if you had to choose between writing in another genre or not at all, what would you pick?
I’ve written all sorts of books, many of which have yet to see print. Fantasy and sci-fi themes crop up in most of them, but I’ve written some straight-up thrillers too, a direction I might be exploring a bit further in my adult books over the next few years.

I understood, from online articles (and your Wikipedia page, for that matter), that your first books weren’t really successful. What made you start over, write a new book, send it again, in one word: fight?
I didn’t actually start over. I spend an average of 2 to 3 years working on any one book, but I juggle several books around at the same time. So, I might work on a first draft of a book this month, the third draft of a different book next month, and the final draft of yet another book the month after that. My first book to be published was for adults. It picked up some decent reviews, but didn’t sell very well. But I’d already written and sold the first few of my vampire books for children while waiting for it to be published, so it wasn’t a case of failing with one type of book and then trying another — both were created during the same time period. My children’s book took off — my adult books didn’t. Although they’ve sold significantly better since they were republished recently!

You said you own thousands of films. Which movies can we find in Darren Shan’s collection?
Just about everything. I have over 4000 films in my collection, from short silent films made around the turn of the 20th century, to classic Hollywood productions of the 30s and 40s, to modern blockbusters, to foreign-language films, to… I’m not too fond of true-life made-for-TV dramas, but I’ll give just about anything else a go.

How do you work? Do you have special rituals or habits that help you? Is the writer’s block a problem?
I’ve never had writer’s block, though some books certainly do come easier than others. An idea can come from anywhere. I’ll play around with it until I’m ready to start writing (that can be anything from a couple of days to several years), then jot down a brief synopsis of the book. Then I’ll usually break it down into chapters, to give myself a firm starting point. Then I sit down at my PC and write an average of 10 pages a day until the first draft is finished. After that, I’ll usually leave it alone for several months, go and work on other books. Then I’ll do an edit, leave it for a while, work on other books, return and do another edit, etc. I’ll usually do at least 6 or 7 edits of a book before I’m happy with it.

If you could be a hero or a creature from one of your books, who would you be? For that matter, if you had to choose, would you be an Evil Fighter or a Dark Creature?
Well, my first series for kids, The Saga of Darren Shan, was based on a character who shared my name, and who might indeed (if you read the series all the way to the end) actually BE me, so in a way I already AM a hero from my books! :-)

If you had a special power, what would it be and why?
The power to eat as much as I liked and never put on any weight!

What about your projects?
Next up is a one-off fantasy book called The Thin Executioner. Then a four-book series about Mr Crepsley, the main adult vampire from my vampire series, telling his back-story.

Do you want to add something (or perhaps wish a happy Halloween to our readers? And while we’re at it, do you celebrate it and how?)?
I’ll be celebrating Halloween in Orlando this year, and checking out their Cirque Du Freak scare zone in the Uuniversal Halloween Horror Nights theme park — I’m intrigued to see what it will be like!

And of course, I can’t do without the “Nothing-to-do-with-books-question”: you’ve found $100, how will you use your newly acquired money?
Buy some more films, probably!

“Favourite…”

Author & Book: Stephen King. The Secret Garden.
Movie & TV show: The Good, The Bad & The Ugly. Boys From The Blackstuff.
Food: Sweet & Sour chicken.
City: London.
Music: Pixies.
Hobby: Collecting art.
Place to write in: My office.
Quote or Motto: Don’t let the bastards grind you down!!

“Tea or Coffee?” Neither — I’m a hot chocolate man!
Saturday night . Disco & Restaurant or Home, Books & DVDs? Usually home, watching a movie.
Going on holidays. Beach or Mountains? Mountains.
Sleepy Little Town or Crazy Megapolis? Both — I live in the countryside in Ireland, but have a flat at the heart of London, and I love bouncing about between the two.
Pick a DVD: Comedy or Weepy Drama? Either, depending on my mood.
Like To Travel or Hate to Move? Love travelling, except when I’m in the middle of a first draft of a book, when I barely even stick my nose outside my front door.
Sport Lover or Couch Potato? I like watching soccer, but I don’t play any sports.
Leader or Follower? Leader.
Shy or Easy-going? Shy.
Serious or Funny? Seriously funny!!

Thank you, Darren!
You can learn more about Darren Shan and his books at http://www.darrenshan.com

Darren’s Reading List for Halloween
“Salem’s Lot” by Stephen King.
“The Books Of Blood” by Clive Barker.
“Let The Right One In” by John Ajvide Lindqvist.

Author Interview - Darren Shan discusses Hell's Heroes and The Vampire's Assistant

Darren Shan is so popular that his fans have collectively named themselves "Shansters". Darren has written three series of books; The Saga of Darren Shan, The Demonta and The City Trilogy, a series of adult books written under the name D. B. Shan.
The tenth book in The Demonta series is just about to be published, and a Saga of Darren Shan film adaptation, called Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant, is released on the big screen this month. We were delighted to chat to Darren about Hell's Heroes, Vampires and working with Hollywood.

Bookarmy: Firstly, tell us about The Vampire’s Assistant. How did it all come about?
Darren Shan: The producer of the X-Men movies, Lauren Shuler Donner, grew interested in the books, as did the writer of the original screenplay, Brian Helgeland. We sold the rights to them and Brian worked on the script for about a year. Then director Paul Weitz got involved, re-wrote the script, and it all moved forward like a juggernaut from there!

BA: It’s directed by Paul Weitz who helped turn Nick Hornby’s bestselling novel About a Boy into a successful film, but even with a talented director like Weitz in the driving seat, it must be difficult to allow another person to develop and interpret something that was born in your imagination?
DS: Nope! I never had a problem with turning my stories over to Hollywood. I work very hard on the world I create within my books, and in those worlds I am absolute master. But a film is the work of many hands, from the producer, writer and director, all the way down through the stars, the set designers, musicians, effects crews and so on. Literally hundreds of people worked on this movie. I think it’s best for writers, in situations like this, just to sit back and let the professionals do what they do best. The movie is its own beast, with its own set of masters. I’m happy just to sit back with the rest of the fans of the books and go along for the ride.

BA: There are many vivid and cinematic episodes in your books. As you are a big film buff, do you write with the silver screen in mind?
DS: I think it definitely influences my style of writing. I often think of scenes as if they were movie scenes, which might explain why my books normally move so pacily. But at the same time I’m always conscious that I’m writing for readers, not viewers. Books work in a very different way to movies, and I always put the needs of my readers first, making use of all the rules and possibilities that books offer, rather than just try to churn out an elaborate screenplay in disguise.

BA: It is very common for aspects of books to be altered, left out or completely changed when adapted for the big screen. Has this happened to Cirque Du Freak and how do you think the many die-hard Shansters (Darren Shan fans) will react to any differences?
DS: Yes. Because they’ve taken the story from the first three books, it was always going to be radically different. They have captured the dark, freaky spirit of the books, but structurally this is a completely new entity. I think that will actually make things easier for a lot of fans. If they had stuck fairly closely to the books, fans would be more conscious of what was changed or let out. But after five or ten minutes of the movie, you know you’re in new, uncharted territory, so you have no option other than to accept the film for what it is. I think fans who approach it as a separate entity to the books will enjoy it – it’s a darkly funny, exciting, fast-paced movie, unlike anything else that Hollywood has produced. Those who refuse to let go of the books might want to give it a wide berth!!!

BA: Recently there has been a huge increase in the popularity of vampire novels and films. What do you think it is about vampires in particular which grabs the imagination, especially of young readers and teenagers? Do you have a favourite vampire book or film?
DS: Salem’s Lot by Stephen King is probably my favourite vampire book, along with the original Dracula by Bram Stoker. As for the popularity of vampires – hell, they’re just cool!!! You can phrase it a million different ways, and academics often do, but at the end of the day (or night!) coolness is what it all boils down to!!!

BA: Hell’s Heroes is about to be published, can you give us a taster of what we can expect?
DS: Wall-to-wall carnage, deception and destruction!! It’s a been a vicious, action-packed series right from the start, and in the last book I crank things all the way up to 11 and beyond!!! Take a deep, steadying breath before you start – you’re going to need it!!

BA: Your books are pretty gruesome and some may say a little scary for children, but this is clearly not what your readers think. How do you gauge the correct mix of blood, guts and supernatural beasts in order to satisfy your readers without giving them weeks of sleepless nights?
DS: It’s an instinct thing for the most part. When I write an especially gory scene, I always imagine myself reading it out in a classroom. If I think that I would feel uncomfortable doing that, I go back and look at it again.

BA: In your Bookarmy review of Childhood’s End by Arthur C. Clarke, you say it is one of the most influential sci-fi books ever. Which horror book has had the most influence on your writing?
DS: Salem’s Lot changed the way I thought about horror, and what a horror book should be. It was the first time I read a horror novel with characters I cared about, that wasn’t just about scares, but about the whole reading experience and creating a world that drew you in before unleashing its scares on you. It was also the first time I’d seen a vampire child, and that definitely had a huge influence on my dreams and stories!!

Many thanks for your time Darren. We look forward to reading Hell’s Heroes and watching The Vampire’s Assistant.

There are shocks and thrills aplenty in store for Darren Shan fans this month as the best-selling author chills Chichester, writes Sue Gilson
It's set to be a hell of a month for Darren Shan.

The best-selling master of teenage horror has a much-anticipated new book coming out - the tenth and final one in his chilling Demonata series.

Fans will be flocking to the cinema too as an atmospheric film adaptation of three of his books hits the big screen in Cirque de Freak: The Vampire's Assistant.

And amid all this fantasy frenzy, the best-selling author, whose books have sold more than ten million copies and translated into thirty languages, will be paying us a special visit.

Chichester has been selected, thanks to Waterstone's book shop, as a stop-off on a talks tour. And at Chichester College, on Friday, October 2, at 7pm, Darren will be talking about his books, reading extracts, signing copies of the new book, Hell's Heroes, and interacting with the audience.

Dubbed 'Shocktober', October will well and truly turn the spotlight on Darren's unique brand of fast-paced and bloody horror adventure fantasy.

But the writer is taking it all in his stride, living a double life of 'surreal' book tours where he signs tens of thousands of books and meets hoards of fans who queue for hours and hours for a signature and a chat with their literary hero, and the quiet country life in his home town of Limerick.

Here, in a peaceful office overlooking the River Shannon, listening to the likes of rock bands The Killers, the Kaiser Chiefs and the Rolling Stones, he penned his 12-book Saga of Darren Shan (or Cirque de Freak) vampire series, and the ten Demonata books, of which Hell's Heroes is the dramatic climax.

"It can be quite a shock to the system when you finish a series like that, but I am always working on other books at the same time, so I don't get depressed because I am always looking forward," he says.

Darren (37), grew up loving horror, and knows how intoxicating, and disturbing, it can be to a young mind.

"It is good to disturb, otherwise it is just a world of mediocricy, but I am always conscious I have ten and 11-year-olds reading my books as well as 15 and 16-year-olds. If I am worried about something I think about whether I would be able to read it out loud in a school.

"It is really difficult to pin down what my typical reader is. I like my books to be simple and accessible, so they are read by ten and 11-year-olds, but there are some very complex story lines coming together, to keep 16 and 17-year-olds reading.

"As for the gender divide, Cirque de Freak was going to be a series aimed at boys, and the books were given gory covers to market it for them. But on tour most audiences are 50 per cent girls. It is a myth really that girls don't read horror adventure."

Darren is very loyal to his fans, and loves nothing better than hearing that a reluctant young reader has been turned onto reading by his books.

And it is this loyalty that has kept his feet on the ground as far as the film is concerned.

He is obviously excited, especially as he is a huge film buff himself, that the first three books in the Cirque de Freak series are being made into a £80m Hollywood blockbuster, but he feels one step removed from it.

"I have seen the finished cut and really liked it, but it is very, very different to the books. It captures the spirit of the books, the darkness of them and their quirky humour, but the structure is very different.

"Because I wasn't involved in it, it is not something that directly impacts on me, but I will be very interested to see what the fans think of it."

Meanwhile, Darren is completing more books, including a series about Mr Crepsley, a familar character to fans, seeing his beloved Tottenham Hotspur when he can, and looking forward to being quizzed by his young West Sussex readers.

Believe it or not, Ladies and Gentlemen, but Darren Shan is here! International Bestseller of two series of books, Shan has sold over 10 million copies of his books all around the world! With the last book, Hell's Heroes in the Demonata series coming out in October, a manga series for The Saga of Darren Shan and the first of a new four-book series due out in October 2010, Shan has kept himself very busy. That still doesn't stop him from blogging though, and today, that's what he's here to talk about.

STN: Hello Mr Shan. Thank you so much for taking the time out of your busy schedule to answer a few questions. So tell us, what do you blog about?

DS: Writing -- I try to provide as much insight into the working life of a writer as I possibly can, along with lots of hints and tips -- and also my day-to-day life.

STN: Do you think the blogging helps you with your career?

DS: Not particularly, no. It's fun for me, and hopefully for my fans, but it doesn't have much impact on sales, as far as I'm aware.

STN: How much feedback do you get from fans on your blog? Is it a good way to keep in touch, in your opinion?

DS: I get a nice few comments about most blogs. It's a nice way to keep in touch -- I think it makes me more real for fans, they can hear me moaning about power cuts at home, raving about films that I like, etc.

STN: What advice can you give to other bloggers to get noticed more?

DS: Don't worry about getting noticed -- I think, the harder you try, the less you'll succeed. Write for yourself, then just hope others are interested too.

STN: How do you decide what to talk about? It's not always as account of something in your day, is it?

DS:Sometimes it will be about what I'm working on, or something that happened to me, or I'll respond to a question that a fan asked in a letter or email.

STN: What can you tell newbies to blogging about how to do it? Does a personal blog like yours get a lot of traffic?

DS: It doesn't get huge amounts of traffic. Do it because you want to, for fun.

STN: What makes you want to blog?

DS: I used to keep a diary when I was younger. I stopped several years ago and have regretted it ever since. The blog is a way for me to keep a kind of diary which I can look back on in later years.

STN: I'll let you get back to your work now; anything you'd like to say to your adoring fans before you go?

DS: Keep on adoring!!!!!

:-)

Cheers,

Darren.

A million thank-yous to Mr Shan (sorry, I'm star-struck and can't call him "Darren"!) As you an imagine, with everything I've listed above, he's rather busy, so his answers are short and sweet. Better than no answers at all as far as I'm concerned!

Darren Shan is the International best selling author of The Saga of Darren Shan/Cirque Du Freak and The Demonata. He has two upcoming releases: Dark Calling book 9 of The Demonata for the USA and Hell's Heroes book 10 of The Demonata for the UK and Ireland. Both are expected to be released October 1st, 2009. Also, The manga based off his hit series Cirque Du Freak is on shelves... NOW!

Find him on his Website: Darrenshan.com.

The Interview:

Tainted Poet: How does writing The Demonata differ from when you were writing The Saga of Darren Shan?
Darren Shan: It was much more complicated, because there are three narrators and the storyline jumped backwards and forwards in time during the first half of the series. I think The Saga was a "warmer" series, in that you got closer to the characters. The Demonata works on a different level, and makes more demands of readers -- you have to be prepared to go with the flow of the story and accept the fact that things are going to tie together as it progresses. The Saga was more fun to write, but The Demonata was more challenging.

TP: How does it feel having Hell's Heroes coming out this year in the UK and Ireland?
DS: Nice!! When you start a big project like this (it took over eight years from start to finish!!), there are so many things that can go wrong -- injuries, writer's block, cancellation of series by publishers, DEATH!!!! There's no guarantee you're going to make it to the end -- in fact, the odds are very much against it!! So to have overcome all those obstacles and made it intact (well... almost!!) to the finishing line is sweet!!!

TP: If you had to choose a favorite character from The Demonata, who would it be?
DS: Grubbs. He's the most intriguing of the characters for me, and goes on the longest, strangest story arc of any of my characters ever -- just wait until you see where he ends up in book 10!!!!

TP: Dark Calling hits American bookshelves around the same time as Hell's Heroes hits UK bookstores (in October). Would you have preferred the books coming out simultaneously in the UK and USA rather then separated the way they are?
DS: Yes -- it would make my life a lot simpler!! But that's just the way these things go. Because I live in Ireland, the country where I first sold my books was the UK, which is why they're ahead of everywhere else. My American publishers have done all they can to catch up (they started to release The Demonata before The Saga finished), but to get totally level, they would have to release a glut of titles over a very short time period, and no publisher enjoys doing that! I'm happy with the way things stand -- and it also allows me to tour both territories with the same book at different times, which is good!!

TP: Music or no music when you write?
DS: Music, definitely -- I feel very isolated and lonely if I write in silence!!

TP: Do you have any foods or drinks that you like to eat or drink while writing?
DS: No. I try not to nibble when I'm working.

TP: What is your favorite Horror movie?
DS: One of them is Salem's Lot. It had a HUGE impact on me when I was it as a young child!!

TP: Did any particular authors inspire you to write?
DS: Stephen King has been my biggerst role model. I love his books, obviously, but also the fact that he's pushed himself so hard throughout his career. I think writers should challenge themselves to be as productive as they can be, and King is one who had.

TP: Do you want to say anything to American readers that are still waiting for Dark Calling to be released?
DS: Enjoy the wait!! Once the series is finished, you'll have no more demon books by me to look forward to!!!!

TP: Any last words?
DS: The Demonata is by no means the end for Darren Shan! I will be sticking to my two books per year schedule until 2012 at least (hopefully even longer than that). I have a one-off fantasy book coming up next, and then a four book series about... well, that will be revealed in the middle of August!!!

END.

Darren Shan has been my favorite author (and my brothers!) for years. He had me on Chapter one of Cirque Du Freak and now I'll forever be a Shanster. It was an amazing experience to be able to interview him. Thanks Darren for the interview!
2009/2010 is an exciting time frame for us Shansters! The manga of Cirque Du Freak released this month, Dark Calling in October (as well as Hell's Heroes for UK Shansters) and the Cirque Du Freak movie early next year!

To fans of the popular "Cirque Du Freak" series, Darren Shan is a half-vampire who must serve the mysterious Mr. Crepsley after sacrificing his humanity to save a friend. But to those who've met him in person, Darren Shan is also the very human and very talented author of the "Cirque Du Freak" books, which have sold over 10 million copies in 30 different countries.

Born Darren O'Shaughnessy, Shan intended to write for adults. But when his agent (who happened to be representing a then-unknown J.K. Rowling) helped him sell his first "Cirque Du Freak" book, Shan's writing career took off. Today, he divides his time between writing his new "Demonata" series and touring the world thrilling kids with news about his upcoming projects.

I spoke with Darren Shan after one of his author visits and got him to disclose some thoughts about his writing process, children's literacy, and his relationship with the other Darren Shan.

Michael Jung: You began as an adult fiction writer but found success as a children's author. How do you find the process of writing for children different from writing for adults?

Darren Shan: For me there's not a huge difference—my children's books are often as dark and bloody as my adult books!!! But there are certain themes I don't explore when writing for kids, and certain places I don't take my stories. In my adult books, my characters are sometimes nastier, even the heroes—they explore a moral grey area which I'm wary of exploring in too much depth when I write for younger readers.

MJ: Your books have been applauded for appealing to reluctant readers, especially boys. How do you feel books should be presented to entice kids to read?

DS: I think the important thing is not to pigeon-hole books. A cover should reflect the contents of a book, but I don't think covers should be driven at any particular group., i.e. I don't think it should say "Recommended for boys" or "For 13 years or older". I have an equal mix of male and female readers, of 10 year olds and 16 year olds. A good book will find and determine its audience.

MJ: During your book signing, one young fan mentioned he'd been reading your adult novels, Procession of the Dead and Hell's Horizon. Have you found your adult novels appeal to many children as well?

DS: Lots of my teenage fans in the UK have read my adult books (Procession of the Dead will be published in the USA in 2009, under the name of D B Shan), and the response has been great. I don't openly recommend my adult books for younger readers, but as I said, books will find their own audience. I read my first Stephen King book (Salem's Lot) when I was 8 or 9, so I'd be a huge hypocrite if I actively said my adult books are unsuitable for kids!!! Each reader is different.

MJ: With that in mind, do you feel there should be a split between "children's" books and "adult" books since a lot of adult and children's books have crossover appeal?

DS: It depends on the book. Some, like [Philip Pullman's] His Dark Materials or Cirque Du Freak, DO appeal equally to kids and adults, while others appeal more to one than the other. I think a split is normally useful, especially if the novel in question is intended for adults and features adult content, but it's not essential in many cases.

MJ: How much of Darren Shan, Vampire Prince is based on Darren Shan, writer?

DS: I share certain things in common with Darren, as I do with all my main characters, but we're not one-and-the-same. He's his own person, and I always let him go his own way and do his own thing.

MJ: What do you need to do to write from a young boy's perspective—particularly one with Darren Shan's abilities and problems?

DS: I just thought about what I was like when I was 10, 12, 13 years old!

MJ: One popular part of your author visits is when you invite kids to come up on stage and help you act out your stories from the perspective of a different character. Did you create these stories while writing the Darren Shan novels?

DS: It was something I did for touring. I get tired of doing the same scenes too many times, so I try to come up with fresh things to do at events. It was fun seeing the story-line from a different character's point of view, but I wrote it after I'd written the book, so it didn't have any real influence on the book.

MJ: Your first novel Mute Pursuit was never published, but did any characters and/or events from the story make their way into your published work?

DS: I haven't used anything from Mute Pursuit in later books, but I have cannibalized some of my other early work—some of the scenes in City of the Snakes (the third book in my adult trilogy) were adapted from an unfinished book I created when I was 16 or 17. Everything in writing is connected. Readers only see what gets published, but there's usually a lot more that has gone on behind the scenes, which is all as important as what actually sees print.

MJ: Some people are surprised when you mention Frances Hodgson Burnett's Secret Garden is one of your favorite books. Did this book influence your own writing?

DS: Yes, that book has definitely influenced me. So have lots of other non-horror books. It's important to read widely—that way you can draw from all sorts of different influences.

MJ: Speaking of reading widely—I know you enjoy collecting and reading comic books. What are some of your favorites?

DS: The Watchmen, From Hell, The Dark Knight Returns, Cerebus, Sandman...

MJ: Have you ever thought about branching out into writing graphic novels?

DS: I'd like to try writing a comic one day—it's something I used to do when I was younger— but I don't know if I ever will. Time will tell.

MJ: What upcoming books or events would you like readers to know about?

DS: The next two "Demonata" books (Wolf Island and Dark Calling) come out in the States in spring and fall 2009. Watch out for the Cirque Du Freak movie and manga as well in 2009!!!

MJ: What is the best compliment a young reader has given you?

DS: I get lots of cool compliments, but the one that always gives me the biggest buzz is when someone says "Your books are what made me want to read." There's nothing more rewarding for a writer than creating a new reader—you feel like Dr Frankenstein when he's breathed life into his monster—"It's ALIVE!!!!" Er... not that I'm comparing my fans to monsters, of course!!!!!!!

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY - 06/November/2008

ON THE SCENE WITH DARREN SHAN

It’s the right time of year for books about demons, vampires and other creatures of the night, making the recent U.S. tour for Cirque du Freak and Demonata series author Darren Shan particularly well-timed. Last month, Shan traveled to the States from Ireland for the tour, in support of The Demonata: Death’s Shadow, the seventh book in the Little, Brown series, which pubbed with a 60,000-copy first printing. The eight-city tour began on October 20 in Minneapolis, and continued on to Kansas City, Dallas, Austin, Miami, New Orleans and Phoenix before ending in Denver on Halloween.

Here, Shan poses in front of a welcome banner at Hill Country Middle School in Austin along with Matt, a student, and librarian Heather Schubert. Austin's BookPeople sponsored the event, at which all 200 students at the school were given fake vampire teeth.

Shan also attended the opening night of the “Scare for a Cure” haunted house in Austin, run by a nonprofit organization that raised more than $10,000 for breast cancer research during its 2007 haunted house. Here, Shan shows off a Scare for a Cure T-shirt with the organization’s founder, Jarrett Crippen, of the SCI FI Channel reality show, Who Wants to Be a Superhero?

Staffers and fans at Books & Books in Coral Gables, Fla., really got in the spirit for Shan’s appearance. Here, events coordinator Emily Pardo (r.) and local students show off some creepy costumes.

Shan also visited New Orleans, where the Cirque du Freak film, based on the first three books in his series, was recently filmed (the Universal movie, which is scheduled for a 2009 release, stars John C. Reilly, Willem Dafoe, Salma Hayek and Jane Krakowski). The series has sold more than 2.5 million copies in the U.S. Here, at John Q. Adams Middle School in Metairie, La., Shan signs a book for a fan, also named Darren (now a high schooler), who had convinced the school’s librarian to purchase Shan’s Cirque du Freak series.

The tour ended in Denver, Colo., where Shan visited Tattered Cover Book Store and a number of the fans in attendance wore costumes. His final event, on Halloween, was a school visit to Newton Middle School in Centennial, Colo., sponsored by Barnes & Noble.

My real name is Darren O'Shaughnessy and I published my first couple of books for adults under that name name. When I wrote a book for younger readers I decided to use something different. One of my nicknames growing up was 'Shan', and it sounded nice and catchy so I decided to go for that!

I was a 'fanboy' myself when I was younger. I loved going to comic conventions, queuing up for hours and meeting my heroes and that sort of thing. I know exactly where the fans are coming from and it's a very important thing for me.

Writing always has to be about the characters. I don't care what genre you work in - whether it's fantasy, horror, or romance. I like horror because it lets you explore extreme reactions.

I'm not interested in packing my books with wall to wall gore - although there are very bloody scenes with people getting killed and ripped apart. It's always there for a reason; exploring how these things impact on the characters.

I will write 10 pages a day five - even six or seven - days a week if I'm working on a book and I'm particularly involved in it but I work quite strangely and juggle several books around at the same time; one might be ready to be published in a few months but the other might not be ready for three of four years.

It sounds very forbidding for younger writers and it can be off-putting but when you do it [writing] you gradually become capable of doing more and more. There are no real tricks of short-cuts, but you do learn it intuitively.

Very few people would recognise me walking down the street. I live in a very small village in Limerick and everyone knows me there. I'm the local writer but if I wasn't that, I'd be the local something else.

I've stayed out of the movie [the first 'Darren Shan' film is due early next year]. I'm a big movie fan and I've read lots of books about movie-making - most writers who get involved in the movie-making process come away feeling fairly very bitter about it.

As a writer you have complete control over what you do. If you enter the Hollywood system, you're a very small cog in a very big machine. Although they did invite me to go over to the set, I just decided against it.

You have a choice: unless you actively chase the fame as a writer, it won't chase you.

DEATH'S SHADOW SIGNING

report by Lorena (with comments by Erika in brackets)

This event was pretty hectic if you ask me. Brigitte and I were at the store sometime around 5. Erika and Julie hadn’t arrived yet so we continued the task they had started the night before of spamming the entire Young Adult book section with our bookmarks. We worked the Children’s room and when Erika and Julie arrived they went to the 2nd division of YA in the other room. I think I had to go into the back room at least 3 times for stacks of bookmarks. (The bookmarks are for this blog...)

After a good ten minutes of this, the back door opened and Emily came out loaded with Party City bags. We all met in the antiquarian room to inspect what we would be working with. Originally we had planned to wear cloaks but we ended up wearing long black hooded robes, in which we looked, to say the least, like some suicidal cult. Em then showed us the rest of the things she brought. Candles that dripped blood, bloody gauze, votive candles, and the best way to top it off, red & black M & M’s. Oh, and the most amazing CD that contained classic slasher themes (Psycho, Friday the 13th...you name it, it was on there)

We then went to decorate the event room in what we believe would help set the mood for Shan’s horror stories. I believe we did a decent job. A few candles to surround the audience chairs, 2 on the podium, bloody ones on the signing table conveniently next to the M & M’s... (And I tried to wrap the bloody gauge around the podium, but apparently everything I do turns out too neat or nice...) After we felt it was eerie enough we proceeded to our usual crowd the bathroom stage of event preparation. Since I had originally planned to have a cloak, I had brought this weird skirt I had made a while ago. It had this dramatic flair to it, with it’s freakishly long train that managed to get stuck in every door, and stepped on by anyone who wasn’t paying attention (which was me multiple times... Sorry!). I just HAD to wear it. We paled down our faces and tried to get our best “dead” look. Though we ended up looking too much like the Volturri from Twilight.

As we left to cross to the other room, Emily got a call that the dry ice she wanted for our “fog” effect had arrived. It looked cooler outside while we played with the fog than it did as a big bucket under a podium; let me tell ya. Sometime during this, Darren arrived. Emily introduced us to him and his representative. We walked with them to the café, but there was a shortage of space so we retreated to the children’s room for emergency pinning of overly large cloaks. (Namely Erika's overly large cloak that she tripped way too much on prior to said pinning.)After a failed attempt (it actually somewhat worked for me) at that we went back to the event room. Which was actually filled with people. We stayed near the entrance until Emily walked in. We turned off all the lights, and I was in charge to turn them on as soon as Darren was at the podium. And from there it started.

Emily introduced us to the audience, as well as our site, and then let Darren take over. Erika then pointed out that I had forgotten my camera. I ran to the back room, took the tripod and camera and ran back, slowing down only so I wouldn't make too much noise in the room with my heels when I came in.

Darren begun by reading from his new book Death’s Shadow. I’ll give him props. It was a good reading, longer than most, but it was good. He then gave an announcement about upcoming things of interest in the world of Cirque du Freak.

For one, it was being turned into a manga. Second being the release of a Cirque du Freak movie. He expects it released sometime next summer, but the official trailer will be released with the Twilight movie November 21st. He then went into a Q& A about his books , and his life in general. After that he did another reading of a new fantasy book he was working on. This didn’t last as long, and we soon went on post-it duty. (I was on passing out bookmark duty.)

We got through the line pretty fast and didn’t have much to do other than play around, so we whipped out the camera and started taking pictures. After all, why miss the opportunity to take pictures in our attire.

The last one in line was a guy who had come all the way from Georgia. I don’t quite remember how many books he had on him, though I’m guessing it must have been about 12, all hardcover. While he signed Emily introduced us to Darren’s rep who apparently had studied in college with her. We talked nonsense about the signings we had worked, who we had met and whatnot.

Eventually Darren got through the stack and agreed to take a picture with us. We waved our goodbyes and went to the back room to rip off the robes. I was in the bathroom desperately trying to wipe off the black lipstick I had on… I think I still have some left. We dined on gourmet Books & Books café sandwiches and went home after that.

It was a pretty good event. After all, how often do you get to act like a cult in a bookstore?

http://yathenaeum.blogspot.com/2008/10/deaths-shadow-signing-recap.html

Darren Shan began writing as a teenager, bought his first typewriter when he was 14 and has since written several short stories, comic scripts and books for both adults and children. His first series of books for children The Saga of Darren Shan comprised 12 stories about vampires while his most recent series The Demonata will run to 10 books. In his spare time, Darren enjoys watching films, collecting original artwork, travel and watching football as well as thinking up new ways to fascinate and terrify his readers.

Did you always know that you were going to be an author?
Yes, ever since I was 5 or 6 years old. I've always loved telling stories.

How did you celebrate when your first book was published?
I had sweet and sour chicken from my nearest Chinese takeaway!!!

From where do you get your ideas?
All over the place.

Do you ever suffer from writer's block and if so, how do you overcome it?
Not yet. I think you need to abandon yourself to the story, and not worry too much about it. Get your head down, plough through, and don't stop until you're done!!!

How long did it take you to write your last book?
I spread each book out over at least two years, but I juggle several books around at the same time.

What are you working on at the moment?
Doing my final edits of the last two Demonata books, moving close to the final edit stage of the book which will follow them, and in the early editing stages of the next four books after that!!

Do you get to choose the front covers for your books?
I get consulted about what will go on them, and discuss with my editor what we'd like to see.  If I'm not happy with what the artist comes up with, my publishers will normally ask him to re-think his design. Not all authors have that much of a say though.  Publishers always have final say on the cover image. If you have a good working relationship with them, they'll usually take your comments into consideration. So it pays to keep on their good side!!

Who is your favourite author and what is your favourite book?
Stephen King for adults, Philip Pullman for younger readers. Salem's Lot and His Dark Materials respectively.

Tell us a secret...
When I look back at books that I've published, I often can't remember actually writing them!!!!! 

Wolf Island - Darren Shan

DARREN Shan is living his dream by writing the stuff of nightmares. But his staggering global fan base just can't get enough of it.The fresh-faced author has all but cornered the teenage fiction market with his extraordinary horror series', The Saga of Darren Shan, and The Demonata.

His tales of vampires and demons have been inspired by the horror fiction read voraciously by the young Shan but are setting a new standard that has earned more than 10 million sales worldwide.

In this OutLoud interview, Shan discusses his obsessions, the movie of his novel Cirque Du Freak, tackling real-life issues in fiction, and gives a reading from Wolf Island.

Darren Shan, real name Darren O'Shaughnessy, lived in London until the age of six when he moved to Ireland with his family. Encouraged by his mother, a teacher, the young O'Shaughnessy became a voracious reader of all books and began making up stories from a young age.

After university he spent two years working for a TV cable company back in Ireland. But, having continued to write throughout, he then set about becoming a full-time writer.

His first book, Ayuamarca, was published by Orion in February 1999 under the name Darren O'Shaughnessy, and was followed by the sequel Hell's Horizon a year later. But the two adult novels were overshadowed by the success of a children's book published in between, under the name Darren Shan.

Cirque Du Freak, the first of the Saga of Darren Shan series, was optioned by Warner Brothers and topped bestseller lists around the world. The series ended in 2004 with Sons of Destiny, and was followed by Lord Loss, the opener to The Demonata, in 2006. Wolf Island is the eighth book in the series which ends next year.

Under the pen-name D. B. Shan, he is currently revisiting his adult trilogy, the first of which, re-titled Procession of the Dead, was published in March. Hell's Horizon and City of the Snakes are to follow in 2009 and 2010. Shan is also working on a one-off fantasy novel, due for publication in 2010, and a four book series based on the Saga character of Mr Crepsley.

Shan still lives in Ireland and admits to being an obsessive book, music, art and movie fan.

Wolf Island, £10.99, is published by HarperCollins, ISBN 978-000-726041-6

With a new book by horror author Darren Shan out almost every season (good man) we asked him about his writing practice, and found out a little more about his up and coming book, Wolf Island.

Have you ever thought of going back to the vampire series or writing some more books as a sister series?

Yes. There will a short series about Mr Crepsley in the near future, telling the story of his life up until the time he met Darren at the Cirque Du Freak.

Any clues as to what we'll see in your new book?

My next few books will be tying up all the loose ends of the story-lines that I've been exploring in my Demonata series. I don't want to talk too much about them, as I don't want to spoil any of the many surprises which are lying in wait for readers who've been there since the start!!

Demonata versus vampires - what's your favourite series?

The Saga of Darren Shan was probably more fun to write, since it came together much more smoothly and easily. But I love the ambition and scale of The Demonata, the way the story moves backwards and forwards in time, how it all starts to come together in the middle of the series, then powers ahead at full-storm after that. So I guess you could say I like them both equally, for different reasons.

Do you have plans to move onto something else?

Yes. There will be a one-off fantasy book when The Demonata finishes, then a new series.

Can you give us any clues about the film?

It's an adaptation of the first three books of The Saga. It will be VERY different to the books -- it's more a film that was inspired by them, than it is an actual adaptation of them. And it's due to hit cinemas here in early 2009 -- February has been talked about a lot, although that hasn't been given the definite go-ahead yet.

How long does it take you write a book?

Each books takes on average 2 to 3 years, but I juggle several books around at the same time, which is how I can bring them out so quickly!

Any advice for someone wanting to write something as gruesome as yours!

Don't focus too much on the gruesome aspects of the story. Readers of horror don't simply want to be grossed out -- they want to read interesting stories, about interesting characters. The grotesque bits should provide extra delights -- they shouldn't be the core of your story. 

WHEN author Darren Shan had his first taste of literary success as a runner-up in a TV scriptwriting competition for RTÉ aged just 15, little did he know that it would be the beginning of a hugely successful writing career.

And now, with his latest book Wolf Island being published, the writer looks set for more good fortune. Shan has sold over 10million books worldwide in over 35 countries, seen his work translated into nearly 30 different languages and now the first three books in his popular series The Saga Of Darren Shan (or Cirque Du Freak as it’s known in America) have been turned into a Hollywood film starring Salma Hayek and Irish American actor John C Reilly.

Born as Darren O’Shaughnessy to Irish parents in London, the whole family moved back to Limerick when Darren was six years old and he has lived there ever since, although surprisingly he still speaks with a strong London accent.

After studying for a degree in Sociology and English at Roehampton College he then worked for a cable TV company in Limerick for a couple of years, before concentrating on writing full time.

During his writing career Shan has become something of an international literary phenomenon thanks to his tales of vampires and demons for a playground audience.

Whilst being influenced by Enid Blyton’s Famous Five series and the Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett, Shan cities horror writer Stephen King as his biggest inspiration.

“I have always had an interest in horror stories and I think that as a writer you should be writing the sort of stories that you would love to read,” he says.

The stories that I write, I think I would enjoy reading — if I had not written them of course!”

And obviously many others share this sentiment as he is now considered to be one of Ireland’s most popular and exciting children’s authors — thanks to his horror stories for a younger audience.

But surprisingly Shan did not start out writing for children.

I have always wanted to be a writer and since I got my first typewriter when I was 14 I have been writing various stories,” he explains.

I finished my first novel when I was 17, which was for adults and then when my subsequent novels had some success it was just natural that my writing was more orientated towards adults.

I thought writing children’s books would be a nice idea for the future but adult books were my main focus.

Although he achieved varying degrees of success with his adult novels, Darren Shan really came to the forefront of children’s literature in 2000 with the publication of his first children’s book Cirque Du Freak — the first book in The Saga Of Darren Shan series.

And now enjoying his immense popularity he continues to write for both ends of the market, which he says suits him. “I really enjoy writing for adults and children because the storytelling style and plots of both are so different which makes it very interesting!”

Although he is one of the biggest names amongst children and teenage readers he is adamant that he cannot take all the credit for his success. “Selling stories is in the lap of the Gods” he says.

“You need to find a popular market where other people want to read what you have written. “I was just lucky to sell enough books where I didn’t need to do another job and I could just concentrate on writing.”

And that concentration certainly paid off as with his biggest children’s book being brought to life on the big screen those few people who haven’t heard the name Darren Shan certainly will now.

Excited by the impending release of the film, Darren said: “I am so intrigued to see what the movie looks like as I have not been directly involved with the production of it.

“I have learnt from the experiences of other authors who were involved and stayed away.

“It is such an exciting cast and I can’t wait to see how it looks.” Although invited to go over earlier this year to watch some of the filming, Shan had to decline due to prior commitments touring Britain to promote his latest release Death’s Shadow from his other popular series The Demonata.

“Every time a book is released I tour,” he explains. “I am a huge collector of books and comics so I know the mindset of the fans and appreciate it.

“They want your autograph and so as they have bought your book and helped get you where you are it is the least you can do.”

And with record numbers of people turning up for his events, surely his loved ones must be pleased for his success? “My friends and family are really happy for me as they always saw I wanted to write,” he says.

“So for me to be able to that, they are just so pleased. And of course it gives my mother something to brag about which is always good!”

And now with the latest title in The Demonata series about to be released and a number of exciting new writing projects being worked on, it seems Shan is about to cement his place as Ireland’s biggest children’s writer.

Looks like Mrs O’Shaughnessy may have an awful lot to brag about yet! 

How does Darren Shan, master of teenage horror writing, deal with nightmares? David Christie finds out.

DARREN Shan likes to haunt you in your sleep. And make no bones about it (excuse the pun!), the teen horror guru isn't playing games.

"If a story can chase you into your dreams then it is a good story," laughs Darren. "I hope my books do give people nightmares. That's part of what you read horror for - you want to creep yourself out. I didn't really have nightmares as a teenager, but as a younger child I had quite a lot and I loved them. If I woke up from having a really big nightmare I would go back to sleep straight away and try to have it again."

Darren is chatting to fresh over the phone, now that he's back home in Limerick in Ireland following the publication of the seventh book in his celebrated Demonata series. Death's Shadow is the darkest, most menacing of the books so far, with the threat that demons pose to our universe becoming increasingly apparent. Is he concerned he might have overstepped the mark this time with all the blood and gore?

"I am not interested in grossing people out, I am interested in exploring the consequences of violence. Yes, bad things do happen in my books, there are very violent, vicious scenes, but they are always there for a reason. If I come to a scene and feel I've gone too far (which I sometimes do) then I'll tone it back."

With more twists and turns than Portugese winger Cristiano Ronaldo, Death's Shadow is complex yet utterly, terrifyingly gripping. Darren admits he takes great pleasure from keeping his readers on their toes, or as he puts it: "My mind is quite chaotic and I need to go off in different directions. Sometimes those things will work, sometimes they won't, but I've got to have that freedom to try. There are certain things I put into books which readers will see coming because I want them to see them coming, then there are others which come as complete surprises. But if everything is a surprise it just becomes silly. It does become a challenge how you play with readers and take them off in directions where they think they know what's happening then you twist the tables."

The 10-book Demonata series is scheduled to conclude in October next year, and follows on from his previous epic 12-book Saga series. But while this latest marathon writing mission is progressing without hiccup, Darren didn't intend for it to go beyond a single book. He explains: "It's all on schedule, I've done first drafts of 9 and 10 and they are even at an advanced stage now. But when I wrote Lord Loss I never planned to write any more, then I had an idea about another book about demons, then another one, and they sort of began to weave together.

"I didn't know if I could pull it off, as it was going further than I ever intended. It could have all gone terribly wrong, it could have been a short series, but I stuck with it and it turned out well so I am really pleased." But he admits: "I won't be too sad when I finish, it will be more of a relief!"

Darren (full name Darren O'Shaughnessy) also reveals that he's a talented juggler - well, when it comes to books anyway - and enjoys working on a multitude of novels at the same time. He has also written several books for adults as well as his teenage fiction. How does his mind keep track on which character goes into which book?

"It actually goes very smoothly for me. I find I can do a draft of a book then leave it for a few months while I move onto another," explains Darren. "When I come back to one, I might not have thought about it at all when I was away, but as soon as I sit down I instantly click back into that world and fire away."

Darren has no problems escaping from the horror genre, though. He says: "I might be writing the most disturbing, grotesque scene ever written, but as soon as I finish at 3pm I can head off and watch a Disney movie."

On the subject of movies, the freaky vampire tale Cirque Du Freak, the first in his Saga of Darren Shan series, is currently being filmed in New Orleans and should hit our cinemas next February (it's likely to be a 12A certificate). More "a movie inspired by the first three books" than an adaptation, Cirque Du Freak stars Salma Hayek, newbie Chris Massoglia and has X-Men producer Lauren Shuler Donner among its ranks, too. Although Darren has sold the rights and has nothing to do with the film, which has been talked about since 1999 (before the first book was even published), he has nonetheless been keeping tabs on its progress.

"They might even be finished by now," he says. "It will be nice to finally see it up on the screen. I don't know how it is going to turn out but they certainly have a good cast. The word from the set has been really positive about the look of it and the effects and so on. The good thing about it being made now, as opposed to eight years ago, is that technology has moved on vastly so hopefully they will be able to do it in a realistic way."

Films aside, Darren's books are now published in 36 countries worldwide - leading to humorous name translations like Cirque Du Freak character Mr Crepsley becoming Mr Crapula in the French version. So is Darren ready to put his feet up on a big pile of notes and retire? Forget that idea.

"Money can't be the driving issue, your goal has to be to write the very best books you can. At the moment there is a four-book series but I don't want to say what it is about yet, there is a one-off fantasy book and I've just started the first book of what might be a long series," he says, tantalisingly. "I'm not hanging around getting worried about what I'm going to be doing next, that's for sure."

JAMES BOOKS A PLACE

A STUDENT will star as a character in a book thanks to an unusual birthday present his mother won in a charity auction. Horsell mum Caroline Wood read about the charity auction in a newsletter written by adventure author Darren Shan, who writes books for children and teenagers.

Miss Wood said: “My son James Farrier is a huge fan of Darren Shan’s books and he gets a newsletter sent to him called Shanville Monthly. It said in the newsletter that Darren was going to be part of a charity auction and that you could bid to have your name used in one of his books. All the money raised from the auction went to a charity called Autism Speaks.”

Seventeen top-selling authors around the world took part in the auction on eBay, including Lee Child and Jodi Picoult. Book lovers got caught up in a bidding war for the chance to see their name feature in an upcoming book by their favourite author.

Miss Wood, a teaching assistant at Horsell Church of England Junior School, added: “I kept bidding for it and was thrilled to win the auction. But I didn’t say anything to James as I wanted to give it to him for his birthday. As soon as I won the auction I got in touch with Autism Speaks and then sent Darren Shan an email giving him James’ full name. Darren said that with James’s surname he can make quite an impression on the character.The book he will appear in is due out in October this year and is called Wolf Island. James’s character is promised a grisly death.

“I think the auction was a fantastic idea. I had never heard of anything like it before. The money goes straight to charity and it is just a wonderful thing for James to remember his birthday.”

So on James’s 16th birthday this month, May 12, his mother presented him with a copy of Darren’s latest work, Death’s Shadow. And inside the book was a letter from the author himself, stating that James would feature as a character in the next book.

Speaking about his unusual gift, James, who is a pupil at Gordon’s School in West End, said: “Just the fact that I am going to be in a book is really amazing. Darren’s books have great storylines. My friends think it is pretty cool.”

Autism Speaks raises funds for research into the causes of autism. The charity has set itself the task of achieving major research breakthroughs within the next 10 years. For more details about Autism Speaks go to www.autismspeaks.org.uk

You can watch a lengthy recorded interview with me on the Sci-Fi London website, in which I talk (in quite a lot of depth!) about Procession of the Dead and how I came to write it. Although I usually come across quite concisely in most printed interviews, I actually do love to go off on a long, fast-talking spiel when giving free reign, and this captures me in full, sometimes frenetic flow!!! Click here for the link to the video:

FANS IN AWE OF THE MASTER OF GORE

KING of the gory story Darren Shan delighted hundreds of young fans in Swindon when he arrived to sign copies of his latest book. The best-selling author was at Borders at the Orbital Shopping Centre in North Swindon on Monday to promote Death Shadow, the seventh in his hugely successful Demonata series.

More than 300 youngsters turned up to meet their hero, famed for his terrifying and often gruesome style. At the front of the queue were Hannah Thomasson, 15, of Brinkworth, and Hazel Ballantyne, 14, from Malmesbury, clutching a poem they had written.

"We got here really early because we wanted to be at the front," said Hannah. "Darren Shan writes about things that really open your eyes. And he's the only writer who has ever made me cry. He's brilliant."

Darren made his name with The Saga of Darren Shan, a series of 12 horror adventure stories with himself as the protagonist. The first in his Demonata series - Lord Loss - shot straight to the top of the children's bestseller list and subsequent titles have done the same, with sales topping 10m worldwide. Death Shadow, released this month, is the seventh of 10 books about demons. The books are translated into 27 languages and sold in 34 countries. In the UK, Darren is outsold in the horror genre only by Stephen King and Dean Koontz.

Among the fans eager to ask questions was Bradley Clarke, 11, of Abbey Meads, who won a Swindon Advertiser competition to meet the author. He also won all seven books in the Demonata series to date. He said: "I love horror stories and the books are really cool and modern in the way they are written. I've never won anything before and I really couldn't believe that I was going to meet my idol."

Darren chatted to the fans and signed hundreds of autographs, each with a personal message.He said: "This is the fun part of what I do. The actual writing part can be very isolated and quite lonely, but getting to meet the fans is the best part of it all. Some of them wait for hours and travel a long way to come - signing a book for them is something I do gladly."

And his young fans were not disappointed. Matthew Kent, 10, of Old Walcot, waited for two hours to meet the writer. "I was really excited to find out he was coming to Swindon, so we got here early," he said. "His books are brilliant."

Harriet Mitchell, 12, of Liden, added: "I don't usually like scary things, but these books are really interesting and I have loved all of them."

Millionaire writer Darren Shan has sold more than 11 million horror books for children. Not surprisingly, his home is full of books and he recently started collecting art. Walking through his house is like visiting a gallery. Production has just started on Cirque du Freak, the film of his first book that stars Salma Hayek and John C Reilly. So far, so glitzy.

But he lives a strange double life, as he explains from his unassuming dormer bungalow in rural Limerick: it's parties, theatre and art auctions when he's in London, then cows and inquisitive agricultural students at home.

Darren, 35, lives in Pallaskenry village, about 20km from Limerick city, with his effervescent girlfriend, 'Bas', aka Helen Basini, 31. The couple met in London when she was working for the War Child charity. A stunning brunette, a few inches taller than boyish-looking Darren, they make a striking couple.

They first got talking when Bas was putting a children's book together for the charity and wanted to ask Darren for a story. "Darren was doing an event in Kingston, so I went along," she says. "He said he'd give me something for the book and we stayed in touched by email. One message happened to be on Valentine's Day, and I put 'PS -- I hope your Valentine's Day is more successful than mine'. A week later we ended up going on a date." She grins at him fondly. "That was six years ago this February."

Bas has just finished a Masters at the University of Limerick and also works with a charity called No Strings, who use puppets to assist teaching in the Third World.

Darren lived in London until he was six and still has the accent to prove it. His mother is a primary school teacher and his dad works in the same school as a janitor. Now, he's lucky enough to own an apartment overlooking the Thames, just beside the London Eye.

As well as writing, Darren is also mad about art and has recently started collecting some pretty impressive pieces. Six tiny Willard Wigan glass sculptures -- Peter Pan, The Last Supper and other scenes -- all set into the eye of a needle, viewed through special microscopes; original Sandman, Krazy Kat and Simpsons comic book art; a rather nice Impressionist painting once owned by Alfred Hitchcock, plus quirky items such as a stuffed and rather frightening-looking fruit bat and an original 1930s film projector.

The bookshelves are heaving with first and limited editions; Roald Dahl and Stephen King. I stare goggle-eyed at their incredible collection of movies, three deep in the custom-built, glass-fronted shelving units -- more than four thousand of them, all shelved by director, labelled with little handwritten stickers.

But Bas isn't impressed. She shows me 'her' room. It's a small space opposite the movie library, with some framed photos of Bas and her friends propped up against the wall, waiting to be hung in a planned extension. No space on the walls you see.

But having a millionaire boyfriend does have its benefits. Darren is taking her to Las Vegas in a few weeks and he recently bought her a brand new Skoda. "I don't drive," Darren says. "So it's not an entirely selfless present." But why not a Jaguar or a Porsche, I ask him? Bas says: "Darren likes the irony of someone so successful driving around in a Skoda and I don't care about cars. I'll take what I'm given."

"I'm not interested in flashing it about," Darren adds. "And with the roads around here..." He gives a deep, fruity laugh.

In the back 'garden' (a huge grassy field) there's a 10-foot high black and gold sculpture of a masked Venetian gondolier. There's also an abstract stone sculpture further down the field.Students from the adjacent agricultural college climb into the garden to look at the sculptures from time from time, but Darren doesn't mind. "Bit of culture," he grins.

So why horror? "I've always loved it," he admits. "It started with horror movies. When I was back in London, I remember watching Dracula on TV. I've wanted to be a writer since I was six. As I got older, that just became more and more of a goal."

Books like Slawter examine the worries facing a teenage boy called Grubbs Grady, who comes from a cursed family of werewolves. So what was Darren like as a teenager? "I got a bit subdued at 14. Normal teenage stuff; self-conscious, quiet, starting to worry about what the world thinks of you. Didn't want to say anything that might be seen as foolish by friends. So that's why a lot of my characters are outsiders. That's how I felt as a teenager -- out of place, awkward."

Darren is adamant that children are not scarred for life by horror books. "They know what they're getting," he says. "Look at the covers: horrible stuff. More gruesome than the books." And he's right. Subtle they ain't -- worms oozing out of eyeballs; werewolves with blood spurting from their mouths; disembodied heads.

As a genre writer, Darren isn't concerned with winning awards, and doesn't have as many gongs as other Irish children's writers, such as Kate Thompson and Eoin Colfer. However, he was shortlisted for the Irish book Awards in 2007 and has won many teen or kids' choice awards. "If you're a horror writer, that's going to happen," he says. "I've been shocked when I do get nominated. Anyway, I hate black-tie events." Darren's fans are certainly devoted; they call themselves 'Shansters', and his website gets more than 2,000 hits a day. His daily blog is also a huge draw.

He's highly disciplined about his work, sitting down at his desk at 9.30am and writing 10 pages a day -- about 3,000 words. On top of this, he may also write up to 1,000 words a day on his blog.

He's refreshingly candid about his writing. "I don't write books that I think will be popular; I don't write for a market -- I write books that I'm going to enjoy writing," he laughs. "Which is probably why some of them haven't been published. If I'm going to spend two years working on a book, it has to appeal to me.

"I've written about 20 books that haven't been published," he admits. "Probably never will be. Sometimes I go back and cannibalise them. I wrote my first book at 17; that's how I learnt." He's written everything from dark fantasies and science fiction to adult horror novels. One of his horror novels for adults, Procession of the Dead, has just been published under the pen name, DB Shan. "It even has romance in it," Bas reminds him with a grin.

Sometimes, he gets letters and emails from worried parents. "'We've got a son who wants to be a writer and some of his stuff is horrendous. Should I take him to a psychiatrist or something?' I always say, 'Don't worry, it's just a phase they're going through'. As a teen, you are more emotionally disturbed; it's a heightened state of being. It's easy as an adult to look back at that and laugh." But it's clear Darren has great empathy for teenagers, and that's one of the reasons his books have become so successful.

I must admit, driving to Darren's house, I wasn't at all sure what to expect. In general I'm not a horror fan, but after reading several of Darren's books I've realised they are more drama and suspense than horror, and his teenage characters are incredibly well drawn. And after hearing him talk so passionately about his craft and his fans, I have to declare myself a bona fide Shanster.Does Darren's amazing art and movie collection have something to do with it? Maybe. But it's all part of Darren Shan, the enigma.

What made you decide to go from writing books for children to adult novels?

I actually started out writing for adults. I wrote lots of adult books which were never published, and my first book to see print was Procession of the Dead (known at that time as Ayuamarca). So it’s not a case of turning from children’s books to adult book, but rather returning to them.

Which would you say was more of a challenge - writing for a child audience or an older one?

To be honest, I’ve never made much of a distinction between the two. They’re both equally challenging in their own way, and I approach a book in exactly the same way, whether it’s intended for adults or teens. Some people think writing for children must be easier, since the books are shorter and the audience is supposedly less demanding. But that isn’t so. Good children’s books have just as much going on as a good adult’s book.

Did you get any advice or guidance on how to write for a certain type of audience?

I never write for an audience. I write to please the fan within myself, and then hope that other people enjoy the story as much as I do. I think writers should always put the story first, not the demands of their audience.

You say that it’s about a parent judging their child on whether or not Procession of the Dead would be suitable enough for them to read. It’s good advice, do you have children and if so, would you let them read this book?

I don’t have children. If I did, I would certainly let them read the book if I thought they were ready for it - and I think a child is ready when they think they are. A lot of parents conveniently forget their own childhoods, the forbidden movies and books that they watched or read on the sly. I read my first Stephen King book when I was about 9 or 10 years old, so I’d be a hypocrite if I started preaching about the need to shield children from books!!! I certainly believe in individual responsibility, in individual parents discussing these matters with the children, helping to guide them to suitable material. But I’m against third-party censorship. Books are personal, and should be dealt with on a personal, one-on-one case by the individuals involved.

What was your favourite book as a child?

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett.

ACCLAIMED author DB Shan talks about his career and offers some useful advice to prospective novelists on the best way to go about completing that all-important first work…

Q. What would your advice be to aspiring writers who are about to begin the process of writing their first novel?

DB Shan: Write the sort of story you would like to read. Don’t worry about the market and what’s hot and what’s not. Write for fun, for yourself, and worry about the selling later. The reality is, most writers don’t make a lot of money, so you’re better off not worrying about the angles. Just go for it and aim to write the best damn stories you can. If you manage to sell them and make the bestseller charts, that’s a bonus — but it shouldn’t be your goal.

Q. The actual process of writing a novel seems to differ drastically from writer-to-writer. Can you talk us through your method. Has it remained the same for every book you’ve written?

DB Shan: I write a first draft very swiftly – I do about 10 pages a day. I’ll then stagger the editing process over a number of years. I like to leave a first draft for a few months, sometimes even longer, so that when I return to it, I can view it more objectively. I’ll do an edit, leave it for a while, edit it again, and so on. So it usually takes me two years or longer to complete any single book, but I’ll juggle several around over that period – I don’t just work on one book at a time.

Q. Where do you draw your ideas and inspiration from?

DB Shan: Life. It’s the same for every writer – we get ideas from things we see on the street, books we read, movies we watch, songs we listen to, gossip we overhear. The difficult part of writing isn’t getting ideas – it’s converting ideas into stories.

Q. Do you have any particular way in which you get into character to write the prose?

DB Shan: No. I just sit down and write.

Q. Is there a particular way in which you create fictional characters for your books?

DB Shan: The characters always develop by themselves. I work hard on the story, the plot twists and structure, and I usually break down a book pretty thoroughly before I begin. But I never know much about what the characters are going to be like until I start writing. They grow out of the process.

Q. Do you have an author or book that you’d say has inspired you the most since you began life as an author?

DB Shan: I’ve taken inspiration from all sorts of books. But one that had a huge effect on me was Salem’s Lot by Stephen King. I came across it when I was a kid, and it was the first book I read that showed you could do horror in a modern way.

Q. Do you know what your next project is yet?

DB Shan: Because of the way I work, I’m always a few years ahead of my publication schedule, so yes, I know what’s coming over the next couple of years. But I don’t like to talk too much about projects in the pipeline — just in case they don’t work out!!

interviewer: Jack Foley.

Board the raft with Huck and Jim and drift downriver . . .

Next up is Darren Shan, author of the bestselling Demonata series, discussing The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

About this podcast

For information about any of the authors and books featured in these podcasts, plus features, interviews and news on the best in UK fiction and non-fiction, visit Puffin Books.

Huckleberry Finn had a tough life with his drunken father, until an adventure with Tom Sawyer changed everything. But when Huck's dad returns and kidnaps him, he must escape down the Mississippi River with a runaway slave named Jim. They encounter trouble at every turn, from floods and gunfights to armed bandits and the long arm of the law. Through it all the friends stick together - but can Huck and Tom free Jim from slavery once and for all?

"I was six when I decided I wanted to be a writer. I wrote a story in school and got to go to another year and read it out. My Mum taught in the school, but I decided to go to a different room where a girl I fancied was. I can remember her beaming up at me while I read it out - and that was that," claims Irish author Darren Shan, best known for writing children's books about Demons and Vampires.

Born Darren O'Shaughnessy, the author decided to write under the pen-name Darren Shan when he began writing for children. "The first book I ever published was for adults and I released it under my real name. When I came to write a book for younger readers, I decided to change my name, so as not to cause any confusion. Given the number of books I've signed since then, I'm delighted I did. My hand would have dropped off years ago if I'd had to sign O'Shaughnessy every time."

Shan who started out writing for adults, found his literary feet with his children's series', The Saga of Darren Shan which began in 2000, and more recently The Demonata, although he never realised his children's novels would be as successful as they became, "I wrote the first book for fun, as a side-project. I hoped it would get published and do well, but I never thought I'd make a career out of it. Children's books don't normally sell in huge quantities in the short run, despite anything you might read to the contrary; you need to be very, very lucky to succeed in this branch of the writing business."

Shan's genre of writing can be truly terrifying at times, especially if you're a twelve-year-old child, but Shan confirms that he doesn't make it his goal to scare his younger readers, "I often temper scenes in my books; as hard as that might be to believe when you read about a boy seeing his father hanging upside down with his head cut off , or another boy visiting a world made entirely out of guts; but I'm not interested in grossing readers out. I want to take readers to the edge and give them an experience they've never had before, but it would be too easy just to throw a load of gore their way. When I'm editing a particularly juicy scene, I always think, 'Would I be comfortable reading this out in a live environment, in front of a group of kids and their teachers or parents?' If the answer is 'No', I look at ways to fine-tune it."

There has been much speculation made as to why Shan chose to name the main character of his first children's series, The Saga of Darren Shan, after himself, but according to Shan, that character is based no more on himself than any of his other characters, "All of my main characters are based on myself to a certain extent, but I've never tried to represent myself entirely with a single character, not even Darren in The Saga." With a film adaptation of The Saga in the making, Shan reveals that he has nothing to do with the film and is more than happy to stay out of it, "When you sign a deal with a Hollywood giant like Universal, you give them the right to do whatever they want with your stories. As a writer, you can't exercise control over what happens next with the film, and most writers who try end up bitter and disillusioned, having wasted a lot of time and energy trying to fight the system and control that which is uncontrollable. My philosophy is a simple one; take the money, thank them nicely, and use it to fi nance your writing career, to ensure you can go on writing the sort of stories that matter to you most."

Although Shan is currently focusing on writing novels for an adult audience, he is adamant that he will continue to write books for children, "I'll definitely be writing more children's books. Whether I ever do another long series again, I don't know. I've never planned a multi-book series - The Saga of Darren Shan and The Demonata both grew organically. I hope that happens again, as I love working on such an ambitious scale. But it's not something I'll ever try to force. We'll just have to wait and see what comes out. "Stephen King, Ray Bradbury, Jonathan Carroll and James Ellroy have all had a huge infl uence on me, but so have many other writers, along with filmmakers and artists. No matter what genre you work in, you should seek inspiration from a variety of sources and fields. Good writers should try to subvert and change the rules of the genres they work in, not just work to an established formula."

As an Irish writer, one may presume that Shan would only be a recognised name in Ireland, but Shan's books have been successful worldwide and many readers are not even aware that Shan is Irish, as his stories are never set in any specific location, "I like the vagueness of location. It means readers in any location can imagine the story happening wherever they live. I think that's part of the reason the books have worked so well for different audiences, all around the world. The only advice I can offer to aspiring authors is to write. There are no shortcuts; the more you write, the more you learn, the better you get. When you've put a lot of hours and graft in, and think you might be getting to the stage where you could get your work published, read The Writers And Artists Yearbook - that gives you all the practical advice about publishing you'll ever need."

Shan is currently working on his first trilogy aimed at adult readers, in his home in Limerick. The first book of the trilogy, Procession of the Dead, will be released in March this year under the name D.B. Shan, with the second part, Hell's Horizon, being released in March 2009, and the conclusion, City of the Snakes, in March 2010. "So I've a busy few years ahead," he concludes.

Interviewed by Cian Taaffe.

What crime novel would you most like to have written?

I love James Ellroy, so probably one of his. Maybe LA CONFIDENTIAL or THE BLACK DAHLIA. Though it would have been special to write THE MALTESE FALCON too …

Who do you read for guilty pleasures?

I don’t believe in guilt when it comes to reading. Read what you like and have no shame about it!!! Having said that, if you’re talking about books that other people might look down their noses at, I guess Mickey Spillane would probably rank high on my list. He might be down ‘n’ dirty, and his so-called heroines all turn out to be nasty, stab-ya-in-the-back vixens, but he’s lots of fun!!

Most satisfying writing moment?

Finishing my first novel at the tender age of 17 was probably my most satisfying personal moment. It was no bloody good (nor were the next 6 or 7!), but I’d proven to myself that I could take a story all the way to the end. All that was left after that was working hard enough to be able to tell a good story!

The best Irish crime novel is?

One of John Connolly’s. I have all of his books, but I only came to him recently, and I’ve only read a few so far, so I’m not in a position to pick a favourite at the moment – but I’m getting through them quite quickly, so I will be soon!

What Irish crime novel would make a great movie?

Again, I’d have to go with Connolly. I think there’s great movie potential in his books – they’re crying out to get the A-grade treatment.

Worst / best thing about being a writer?

The worst thing is the isolation. You have to spend large chunks of your time by yourself, no company, no one to gossip with or discuss last night’s TV with. I miss being able to go to an office every day! The best thing is bringing stories to life which would otherwise never be told. The harder you work at writing, the more you develop, and you find yourself capable of writing stories that you never even dreamt you could tackle when you were younger.

The pitch for your next novel is?

HELL’S HORIZON (out in March 2009) is more of a straightforward crime tale than PROCESSION OF THE DEAD. A woman is murdered in a hotel. Her boyfriend is ordered by his boss (a crime kingpin) to investigate. He’s soon in over his head, and finds suspects everywhere he looks. He also comes to realise that the case ties in with his past and the death of his father. Someone’s playing with him, moving him around like a pawn piece, and it becomes much more than a case of just finding out who murdered his girlfriend. His entire life is under threat, as are the lives of those close to him …

Who are you reading right now?

I’m currently reading THE KITE RUNNER. But I’m also working my way through the works of John Connolly and I recently began reading Meg Gardiner.

The three best words to describe your own writing are?

Twisted, twisting fun!!! 

On 15th November 2007, Universal announced that filming of the Cirque Du Freak movie would begin in February 2008. They also announced the names of the first three actors cast in the movie. Here is one of the many media reports of that announcement.

CHUD - 15/nov/2007

At some point, every fantastical tome littering "Young Adult" shelves in bookstores all over the world will be in development at one studio or another, and I'll no longer have to spend twenty minutes browsing through reviews in order to ascertain whether each series is halfway original or, as is typically the case, hopelessly derivative.

Judging from my brief research, Darren Shan's Cirque du Freak is either wondrously compelling or too poorly written to enjoy (the latter being par for the YA course). Regardless of quality, Universal snatched up the rights and handed the property off to Paul Weitz (the one who did In Good Company and American Dreamz). And he must've completed his adaptation of the first novel prior to the strike, 'cuz he'll commence shooting in February with John C. Reilly starring as Larten Crepsley, the vampire who runs the titular freak show.

Crepsley mentors a young man named Darren who eventually gets turned into a half-vampire himself, which, according to the Variety synopsis, transforms him into "the catalyst in a battle between vampires and the rival Vampanese". Not mentioned in the Variety synopsis: the climactic battle in which the vampires put down the Vampanese resistance with holy water-infused napalm. It's strong, brutal stuff, but, like Apocalypse Now, the kids love it.

Lauren Shuler Donner will produce the - if all goes according to plan - series of films with Weitz. Here's hoping Paul has an easier go of it on Cirque than Chris did on The Golden Compass.

On 15th November 2007, Universal announced that filming of the Cirque Du Freak movie would begin in February 2008. They also announced the names of the first three actors cast in the movie. Here is one of the many media reports of that announcement.

CINEMATICAL - 15/nov/2007

by Monika Bartyzel

For a while, "Freak Show" meant a gathering that showcased anyone who was a bit different. Perhaps they had much excess hair, or were particularly tiny or tall. Maybe they were twins who were bonded by more than sibling love, or dudes missing appendages. But times have changed, and that's not really acceptable anymore. So, if you want to delight in all things freak, you've got to be able to stomach seeing dudes nail things into their body, or, in the case of cinema, see a Freak Show that's more fantastical than "freakish."

The Hollywood Reporter has posted that Cal Naughton Jr., aka John C. Reilly, Josh Hutcherson (Bridge to Terabithia), and Chris Kelly (Boys Life) are in final negotiations to star in Cirque du Freak -- a kidlit adaptation that's being put together by Universal. Based on a series written by Darren Shan, the story focuses on best friends (Hutcherson and Kelly) "who visit an illegal freak show, where an encounter with a vampire and a giant deadly spider forces them to make life-changing choices that result in vampire servitude and vampirism itself." (The show also has a really bitey werewolf.) Believe it or not, Reilly will play "Larten Crepsley, the centuries-old vampire and owner of Madame Octa, the spider." This crazy, yet weirdly appealing, story is the brainchild of About a Boy writer/director Paul Weitz, who wrote the script and will direct it when production starts in February. So, what do you think? Are you ready to see Reilly get his bite on?

On 15th November 2007, Universal announced that filming of the Cirque Du Freak movie would begin in February 2008. They also announced the names of the first three actors cast in the movie. Here is one of the many media reports of that announcement.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY - 15//nov/2007

Universal Studios has given the greenlight to an adaptation of Cirque du Freak, British author Darren Shan's hair-raising children's novel that is the first of 12 installments (can you say franchise?), to be directed by Paul Weitz (American Pie) and possibly star John C. Reilly. The Walk Hard actor is in negotiations to play vampire Larten Crepsley, a member of the circus who becomes intertwined in the lives of two young boys. Josh Hutcherson (Bridge to Terabithia) and newcomer Chris J. Kelly are in negotiations to play the two boys. Production is scheduled to begin in Feb. 2008.
Three of Shan's 12 books have already been optioned by Universal, and J.K. Rowling has endorsed the fantastical series. Cirque du Freak marks the second venture into the big-budget children's movie biz for the Weitz Brothers: Paul's sibling Chris will show his mettle next month when New Line bows his $150 million budgeted Golden Compass — another movie with franchise potential.

On 15th November 2007, Universal announced that filming of the Cirque Du Freak movie would begin in February 2008. They also announced the names of the first three actors cast in the movie. Here is one of the many media reports of that announcement.

HOLLYWOOD REPORTER - 15/nov/2007

by Borys Kit

John C. Reilly, Josh Hutcherson and Chris Kelly are in negotiations to star in "Cirque du Freak," Universal's adaptation of Darren Shan's kidlit book series. Paul Weitz is directing.

The story follows two best friends (Hutcherson, Kelly) who visit an illegal freak show, where an encounter with a vampire and a giant deadly spider forces them to make life-changing choices that result in vampire servitude and vampirism itself.

Reilly would play Larten Crepsley, the centuries-old vampire and owner of Madame Octa, the spider.

Weitz wrote the latest draft and is producing with Lauren Shuler Donner.

Peter Cramer and Eric Baiers are overseeing for Universal.

Production is scheduled to start in February.

Reilly, repped by UTA and Framework, has lately been in a comedy phase, appearing in such movies as "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby," "Year of the Dog" and Judd Apatow's upcoming "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story." Before that, he appeared in "Chicago," "Gangs of New York" and "The Hours."

Hutcherson starred in "Bridge to Terabithia" and next appears opposite Brendan Fraser in "Journey 3-D." He is repped by ICM.

Kelly appeared on TBS' "Wanted" and "Boys Life."

On 15th November 2007, Universal announced that filming of the Cirque Du Freak movie would begin in February 2008. They also announced the names of the first three actors cast in the movie. Here is one of the many media reports of that announcement.

OBSESSED WITH FILM - 15/nov/2007

by Matt Holmes

Character actor John C. Reilly’s biggest movie of his career opens in December, the Judd Apatow written WALK HARD: THE DEWEY COX STORY which is so far splitting it’s potential audience right down the middle.Half of the web thinks it looks genius and will be a continuation of hilariously funny flicks from the guy who brought us SUPERBAD and THE 40 YEAR OLD VIRGIN.

The other half thinks it looks like an absolute dud, with a trailer that missed nearly every comedic beat it went for. A terrible WALK THE LINE parody that looks like it should be starring Will Ferrell in the lead role and not the highly respectable John C. Reilly.

Still, if it’s a hit film with Reilly heavily promoted as it’s lead star, it could see him become a more frequent ‘top billing’ player.

Variety say that Reilly will star in CIRQUE DU FREAK, a vampire movie adapted from the best selling children’s series from Darren Shaun. The film which is being setup at the home of Horror (Universal) will see Reilly star as a vampire who hires a 14 year old girl as his assistant and sucks her into a undead state... to fight on his side in the war between Vampires and Vampanese.

Sounds a little confusing.

The successful series has more than 12 books, all of which have been picked up by the studio.

Paul Weitz, one half of the directing brothers responsible for AMERICAN PIE, ABOUT A BOY and AMERICAN DREAMZ (but not THE GOLDEN COMPASS, which his brother Chris has sole directing credit for) has wrote and will helm the film by himself as his next feature, with production beginning in February.

Chance for Paul Weitz to break away from his brother who could suddenly be propelled to the Hollywood A-List if THE GOLDEN COMPASS is a success. Only problem I have is children’s series turned films like THE DARK IS RISING, ERAGON and STORMBREAKER… no matter how critically acclaimed the source material is, have turned out like a load of crap.

On 15th November 2007, Universal announced that filming of the Cirque Du Freak movie would begin in February 2008. They also announced the names of the first three actors cast in the movie. Here is one of the many media reports of that announcement.

STALE POPCORN - 15/nov/2007

If you have never read The Saga of Darren Shan then you won’t know what I’m talking about here, so let me fill you in before we get to the meat of this story. The Saga of Darren Shan is a series of twelve childrens books that tells the story of the titular Darren and his adventures when he meets a mysterious man called Larten Crepsley. It turns out that Crepsley is a vampire and he turns Darren into a half-vampire and makes him his assistant. Together they travel the World with in the company of the Cirque du Freak, which is a freak show run by the equally mysterious Mr Tall. As the story goes on Darren learns to accept his new life and ends up helping the vampires in their battle with the Vampaneze, who are a race of vampires who split off from the others due to their beliefs about drinking blood. The vampires believe that you shouldn’t drain people totally while the vampaneze always kill when they feed. And they are a very good read and are pretty popular and we are now going to get a movie version of the Saga from director Paul Weitz (director of About A Boy and American Dreamz) and writer Brian Helgeland (writer of Payback and Man On Fire, among others), which according to the “official announcement” from Universal will adapt “some of the storylines of the novels for the screen”. And the 3 main players, of Darren Shan, Mr Crepsley and Steve Leonard, in the story have been cast!John C. Reilly as Larten Crepsley. Crepsley is described as a gaunt man with a shock of orange hair and when the casting of Reilly was first announced I wasn’t convinced. But then I saw the below picture of him over at the IMDB and I am now thinking that he might well be a good fit after all. Reilly has starred in movies like Talladega Nights, Dark Water and Gangs of New York and I think he will be pretty interesting in the part.

Josh Hutcherson has been cast in the role of Steve Leonard (I’m not going to fill you in on all the details here but Leopard is as important to the story as Darren Shan). He’s starred in Bridge To Terabithia and Zathura: A Space Adventure amongst other movies.

And newcomer Chris Kelly has been cast in the pivotal central role as Darren Shan. Well, according to Darren Shan’s (the author of the books) MySpace page anyway. If you check out the IMDB information for the movie they have a Chris Kelly listed as starring in the movie but I’m thinking it’s not the right one as his IMDB listing has him starring in things like a TV show from 2000 called So Weird (never heard of it) credited as “Father”. I think this might make him a little too old to play the teenage Darren Shan!

The books, even though they were written for children, are actually a very good read. There are twelve books in the entire series but, as they are pretty short, I am going to hazard a guess that the first movie will actually be an adaption of the first three books, The Cirque du Freak, The Vampires Assistant and Tunnels of Blood. Of course, I could be wrong about this! The movie is (supposedly) going to be released in 2008 but if this is the case, with the writers strike etc, remains to be seen. But I am looking forward to this anyway.

On 15th November 2007, Universal announced that filming of the Cirque Du Freak movie would begin in February 2008. They also announced the names of the first three actors cast in the movie. Here is one of the many media reports of that announcement.

VARIETY - 15//nov/2007

this was the very first report of the news

John C. Reilly is ready to sink his teeth into the lead vampire role in "Cirque du Freak," for Universal.Paul Weitz wrote and will direct the adaptation of the bestselling children's series by Darren Shan.

Weitz will also produce with Lauren Shuler Donner. Production begins in February.

Reilly, who next opens in "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story," will play a vampire who drafts a 14-year old to serve as his assistant. The youth is turned into a half-vampire and becomes the catalyst in a battle between vampires and the rival Vampanese.

Studio bought rights in 2005 to a series of 12 books.

Reilly stars in "Walk Hard," which will be released Dec. 21 by Columbia Pictures.

On 15th November 2007, Universal announced that filming of the Cirque Du Freak movie would begin in February 2008. They also announced the names of the first three actors cast in the movie. Here is one of the many media reports of that announcement.

AMC - 15//nov/2007

by Jason Morgan

Maybe it's the writer's strike or just the lack of creativity in today's horror climate, but a new wave of vampire movie announcements are taking longer to roll in than I previously thought. These days, you hear of a sequel to an over-hyped film even before it's released, and it will be a good year or two before we can point to 30 Days of Night as the catalyst for a Vampire revolution.But you can chalk another one up for the vampire, as John C. Reilly (Magnolia, The Aviator) has signed on to be the lead vampire in Cirque du Freak. Paul Weitz (About a Boy) penned the awesomely-titled about a vampire (Reilly) who employs a 14-year old to serve as his assistant, reports Variety. Of course, the boy turns into a half-vampire and becomes the catalyst of a war between vampires and the rival Vampanese. The film is based on the bestselling children's series by Darren Shan. We'll see if Reilly can lead the film to be a best box office selling film series.

On 15th November 2007, Universal announced that filming of the Cirque Du Freak movie would begin in February 2008. They also announced the names of the first three actors cast in the movie. Here is one of the many media reports of that announcement.

CINEMA BLEND - 15/nov/2007

I love John C. Reilly. Drama, comedy, music, dancing, clown makeup, frog rain, porn star, the guy can literally handle anything. Now he’s adding “freak show” to his repertoire.

Variety says Reilly is set to star in a movie called Cirque du Freak, along with Josh Hutcherson and Chris Kelly. The movie is about two best friends (Hutcherson and Kelly) who encounter a vampire and a deadly spider while visiting an illegal freak show. They’re forced to make tough choices, and end up as vampire servants themselves. 

Reilly, much as I’d love to see him in the costume, will not play the deadly spider. He will however the vampire. He plays Larten Crepsley, a centuries-old vampire and head of the freak show.

The plot sounds like a genius kind of weirdo lunacy, and with Reilly on board it has instant credibility. It doesn’t hurt to have it written and directed by Paul Weitz either. Weitz directed the excellent films About a Boy and In Good Company, and since I’m in a forgiving mood we won’t mention American Dreamz. Whoops, I just did. Hey, John C. Reilly’s next movie looks good. Keep an eye out for Walk Hard this fall, where he’ll rock out as a Johnny Cash stand-in.

On 15th November 2007, Universal announced that filming of the Cirque Du Freak movie would begin in February 2008. They also announced the names of the first three actors cast in the movie. Here is one of the many media reports of that announcement.

EMPIRE - 15/nov/2007

by Olly Richards

What could we possibly tell you about a movie called Cirque Du Freak that would make you not want to see it? That's one of the best titles we've heard this year. And it's got vampires in it. And now John C. Reilly.

Reilly will play the lead in this adaptation of a children's book series by Darren Shan. Paul Weitz (the one who's not directing The Golden Compass) will call the shots on this story of a vampire who recruits a 14-year-old to be his half-vampire assistant. The boy then becomes a key part in the war between vampires and the Vampanese. We can't actually find an explanation on the interweb of exactly what the vampanese are, but we're pretty sure they must be something good for vampires to be fighting with them. Vampires only fight with good things, like werewolves and priests.

On 15th November 2007, Universal announced that filming of the Cirque Du Freak movie would begin in February 2008. They also announced the names of the first three actors cast in the movie. Here is one of the many media reports of that announcement.

FILM SCHOOL REJECTS - 15/nov/2007

Yahoo is reporting that John C. Reilly is in negotiations, along with Josh Hutcherson and Chris Kelly, to star in the film adaptation of the youth horror series Vampire Blood in the first installment, entitled Cirque du Freak. The book, which I was admittedly unfamiliar with, follows the tale of two best friends (and a few other kids for good measure) who venture to an “illegal circus” with extreme oddities and dangers. Reilly would reportedly play the role of a vampire named Larten Crepsley, owner of Madame Octa, a giant freaking spider, and presumably friends with the Wolfman. No, no, no I’m not joking Wolfman is in this! Sweet.After doing some research into this particular book and the series, it seems to hold a lot of potential. While written for the youth, the darker thematic elements may serve as a draw to older movie-goers as well. Count me in line to see a Wolfman bite a persons hand off and a giant spider harassing children! No word on when, where, or how this will get rolling, but don’t hold your breath - unless you can hold your breath for the better part of a year, or more.

On 15th November 2007, Universal announced that filming of the Cirque Du Freak movie would begin in February 2008. They also announced the names of the first three actors cast in the movie. Here is one of the many media reports of that announcement.

SNARKERATI - 15/nov/2007

by Kirsten Anderson

John C. Reilly is joining the Cirque. The Cirque Du Freak, that is.(I know. You were all hoping to see Reilly in a Cirque Du Soleil thing, maybe wearing a colorful spandex and sequined outfit , with mime type make-up, juggling balloons while dancing on a giant wheel. To the accompaniment of Pink Floyd as covered by Norah Jones.)

Freak is the first in a well-liked series of children’s books by Darren Shan. In this one, two kids sneak out to visit a freak show and become tangled up with vampires and giant spiders. Reilly will be playing Larten Crepsley, the lead vampire.

(Cheers to Reilly! This is why it rocks to be a character actor–he gets to play a vampire, a hard-living country star, a member of a NASCAR pit crew, sing in a musical, and do about 8,000 other things.)

Variety tells us that Universal holds the rights to all twelve Cirque books. Paul Weitz is doing the adaptation and directing. This is presumably his bid for the children/fantasy slot on his resume; brother Chris is busy crossing his fingers and hoping for the best with the upcoming Golden Compass.

Paul Weitz did a good job with About a Boy and In Good Company (the latter is a particularly thoughtful movie that slipped by a lot of people), but bombed with the ill-conceived American Dreamz. I’m hoping for the best with this one (I’m always hoping for the best!! While it’s fun to pick on bad movies, I do want them to be good! Really!).

Here’s why I’m always pro-Weitz brothers. Have you ever seen Douglas Sirk’s Imitation of Life (1959)? If not, do! The very Sirk-ian (Cirque-ian?) ’50s melodrama features a star-making, furious performance by a young actress named Susan Kohner (a Natalie Wood type). Alas, Ms. Kohner dropped out of movie-making soon to marry and have children. However, those children are Paul and Chris Weitz, who’ve managed to carry on the family business in a rather accomplished fashion.

On 15th November 2007, Universal announced that filming of the Cirque Du Freak movie would begin in February 2008. They also announced the names of the first three actors cast in the movie. Here is one of the many media reports of that announcement.

TOTAL FILM - 15/nov/2007

We’re all about to get a load of John C Reilly showing off the musical talents he hinted at with Chicago when Walk Hard opens. But did you know he can also drink the blood of mortals?It’s true*, and he’ll prove it when he starts work on Paul Weitz’ next directing job, Cirque du Freak.

Following in the footsteps of his brother Chris (who has been labouring away on some arty, low-budget tosh about a golden compass or something), Weitz has adapted Darren Shan’s kiddie novel about vampires battling the rival Vampanese. Reilly will play a fang club member who recruits a 14-year-old as an assistant and sees him turn into a half- vampire, a move that helps to ignite the worst conflict between the two groups yet.

Weitz starts drawing blood in February. If he’s successful, there are 12 books waiting in the wings for Universal to build a franchise around.

*It’s not true. For any lawyers reading, it’s really, really not true.

As a master of horror, Darren Shan regularly serves up a diet of gore and entrails, corpses on slabs and more werewolves, demons and vampires than you can toss a lump of garlic at. His books have been out sold in the UK only by Stephen King and Dean Koontz. Yet what sets this man apart is that his grisly stories are being lapped up by a playground audience.Darren will be in Bournemouth on Sunday to launch the sixth title in his hugely successful The Demonata series.

Fame came soon after he wrote his first children's book, Cirque Du Freak. The horror tale about a boy who meets a vampire at a circus was the first of a 12-book series, The Saga of Darren Shan, which attracted a cult following around the world.

To date, Darren Shan (short for Darren O'Shaughnessey) has sold 10 million books translated into more than 27 languages and read in more than 34 countries. The rights to the first three books have been bought by Universal with a film currently in pre-production stage.

Little wonder he sounds chirpy. Speaking from his home in Ireland, he is also remarkably relaxed considering his forthcoming touring schedule. "Now that's REALLY scary", he laughs.

He speaks of fame as if it was something he just stumbled upon. "I never thought I'd make a career out of children's books," he admits. "I was an adult author and I wrote my first book for children as a bit of fun - something for myself on the side. I remembered what I was like when I was younger and the sort of books I wanted to read back then."

Understandable, then, that he assumed his only audience would be male, but on tour he often notices the girls outnumbering the boys. Clamouring for a slice of his macabre imagination are fans from a wide age range, but the majority are youngsters between 10 and 16.

Darren puts his success down to his "complex, involved characters", plus an easy-to-read, almost economical, script. "An adult audience provokes freer writing. You can be more morally ambiguous and can explore grey areas further. For younger readers, things have to be made a little clearer, without resorting to lecturing. Take right and wrong for example. Your good guys always have to be good."

He is constantly ready to fend off a barrage of complaints which never really have materialised. Surprising considering some of his scenes cut very close to the bone for so young an audience. "But my books aren't all about blood and gore," he argues. "At their heart they explore relationships and feelings. Like any genre of writing, you have to develop characters and make people care about them. I get very few letters saying my readers have nightmares but lots saying my books made them cry."

But there's no escaping his affinity with the dark side. "I do like horror," he adds, giving a long, low chuckle when I remind him of his monikers - King of the Gory Story, Stephen King for Kids and Number One Master of Horror. "I'm very happy to wear the horror cap, yes. Some of the best stories ever written have been horror stories. Take Macbeth, for example. To this day people will not class it as horror."

His new book, What The Hell's Coming Next?, is the sixth in The Demonata series. Despite details being kept very much under wraps, he will divulge that it follows on from book five, which ended on a huge cliffhanger. "I hope it will be a real fan pleaser as it ties up a lot of storylines woven throughout the previous novels in the series."

Even the deliciously ghoulish image on the cover is still a secret just days before the launch. The big reveal will take place at Bath on Saturday, and straight after in Bournemouth on Sunday. "The details probably won't be on my website by then, so Bournemouth fans will be among the first in the whole world to see what's on the cover."

And no doubt be champing at the bit to find out, indeed, what the hell's coming next...

Author Darren Shan is no stranger to a bit of mystery and intrigue - he has after all sold more than 10 million books to young readers across the world, who have been caught up in the worlds he has created.

But his latest adventure is not played out within the pages of a book - but rather on the cover.For the title and plot of his latest book, the sixth in the popular Demonata series, has remained a closely guarded secret for the past few months - and will only be revealed at this month's Bath Festival of Children's Literature.

Speaking to BBC Radio Bristol's Richard Lewis, Darren explained why the book was being kept under wraps and how difficult it has been.

"Book five of the series ended on a cliffhanger, so part of the fun for the fans we decided would be not to reveal anything about the new book, even the title, " he explained.

"In these days of the internet it's quite hard to keep something like that a secret."

Darren, who admits to being able to, "work quite fast and push myself," currently manages to produce two books a year, published in June and September, and with his next book being one for adults, hopes to increase production to three.

Cirque Du Freak

He actually started out as a writer of books for adults, but the idea for a children's book produced Cirque Du Freak, which received rave reviews, and his career as a children's writer took off from there.

"Writing for kids is a very different discipline. I think lots of people think it's simpler than writing for adults, that because books are shorter it's simpler to write, " said Darren.

"But, it's not. It's a totally different audience and you have to tap into their reading level, find out what's going to entertain them, what's going to excite them.

"Children generally aren't as patient as adults, they want to get going straight away. They want lots of action, lots of twists, lots of turns and that's what I like writing anyway, so for me it's the perfect mix."

Darren - whose real surname is actually O'Shaughnessy - is one of the biggest writers of horror books in the country, and was even labelled by the Evening Standard as "Stephen King for kids," a big compliment for a big Stephen King fan.

"Stephen King has been my idol since I was ten or 11 years old, so, I am delighted if people call me that " he told Richard.

"He's had a huge impact on me. I still read his books today, I think he's brilliant."

Horror writer Darren O'Shaughnessy is the grisly king of the playground. He talks to Sinclair McKay

Just occasionally, when one has wandered into a certain section of Waterstone's, one wonders what it must be like to be the sort of author who writes about hellish demons, throat-gouging werewolves, maggots emerging from corpses' nostrils and vampire bloodbaths. Darren O'Shaughnessy could tell you all about it.

Darren O'Shaughnessy writes for 'the unreachable reader'Better known to countless wide-eyed readers by the authorial abbreviation Darren Shan, he is described by his publisher, HarperCollins, as a "master of horror". A 12-volume sequence of vampire novels - starting with Cirque Du Freak and taking in Vampire Mountain and Tunnels of Blood - established his position, selling millions of copies, and his new 10-volume Demonata series is proving equally compulsive.

What makes O'Shaughnessy's stories truly distinctive, however, is that the gruesome and the macabre are being served up to a playground audience. If you have children, there is a very strong possibility that, at some point, their noses will be jammed in one of Shan's brain-squishing, maggot-swarming narratives.

"When the books were first published, I expected a backlash," says O'Shaughnessy disarmingly.

"I ran all the arguments for the defence through my head in case of hostile interviewers - ready to explain why the books aren't a disgrace, that they had a strong moral underpinning. But in fact, there wasn't any outrage. No one, save the occasional parent or teacher, was up in arms at all. In fact, teachers and librarians have very often championed my books."

But then O'Shaughnessy is aware that his young protaganists - the teenage "Grubbs" Grady and "Darren Shan" - are actually following in a grand literary tradition. As long as there has been gruesome sensationalist fiction, there have been young readers lapping it up.

For Jane Austen's generation, it was Ann Radcliffe's The Mysteries of Udolpho and Matthew Lewis's The Monk. Austen satirised the trappings of Gothic romance in Northanger Abbey. In the age of the Victorian periodical, teenage boys loved lurid Gothic serials such as Varney the Vampyre and The String of Pearls.

In America in the 1950s, there was a strident campaign against EC horror comics such as Tales from the Crypt and Vault of Horror, which some felt to be corrupting. And for those of us of a certain age, horror meant the early 1970s works of James Herbert (The Rats and The Fog) and Stephen King.

Those who have only ever seen the recent pallid remake of Salem's Lot don't know what they are missing.

O'Shaughnessy was brought up on a diet of Hammer horror, Shaun Hutson, and the film Theatre of Blood, in which Vincent Price murders Robert Morley by force-feeding him his two beloved poodles.

But O'Shaughnessy was also a fan of Roald Dahl and the Just William stories, and he studied children's fiction as part of his English degree. He has written adult novels, and has plans for more. But when an idea for a children's book - involving a youngster at a circus who is forced into becoming a vampire's assistant - occurred to him, he decided to give it a whirl.

By serendipity, he sent his manuscript to the agent Christopher Little, who at the time was also attending to the burgeoning career of an unheard-of author called J K Rowling. As with Rowling, it was the quality of the storytelling that quickly ensured that O'Shaughnessy's young audience grew.

His success has also been international. "Japan went mad from day one," says O'Shaughnessy, laughing. "The Shan novels sold unbelievably, topped the adult bestseller charts. I think they targeted 16-year-old girls. I travelled over there for publicity purposes. The reception was all a bit like Beatlemania."

These days, thanks to his fantastical tales of vampires and, most recently, the chess-playing demon Lord Loss and the different generations of mortals that have to fight him across the ages, O'Shaughnessy's domestic following is equally enthusiastic. For those who imagine that horror is strictly the province of bloodthirsty adolescent boys, think on and look sharp.

"Girls form about 50 per cent of the readership of my books," he says. "At signings, you sometimes see more girls than boys. From the start, it was very noticeable that girls were reading the novels. I went to HarperCollins, told them this, even suggested that perhaps the covers shouldn't be so horrific."

This suggestion proved over-sensitive. Indeed, these days, the horrific covers now glow in the dark (think how much more attractive the works of Margaret Drabble would be with such a device!) They clearly have not been off-putting.

Neither have the welters-of-gore set-pieces that characterise each book. Even for the grown-up reader, these tales are best approached some time after breakfast has been digested.

But as O'Shaughnessy points out, if they were merely blood and guts, then the books would not have held so many readers, girls or boys. They have to have heart as well, and running through the Demonata series is a strong sense of family, of the ties of love, although drawn with a marked lack of soppiness.

As has always been the case with a genre with special appeal to teenagers, the main subtext of the Demonata is puberty and growing up. Young "Grubbs" Grady may come from a family afflicted with lycanthropy, but it is also quite clear that outbreaks of fur and fangs have a metaphorical neatness.

"Yes, it's a coming-of-age story," says O'Shaughnessy. "But the point should be that good fantasy is more than just fantasy. Your body's changing, you're uncertain about the future, uncertain about your ability to face the challenges you have to face - and really, it transmutes into this fantasy about this kid who turns into a werewolf."

The writer, who is now 35, was born in London and retains the capital's distinctive vowels, despite having lived in Limerick for the last 29 years. When he writes - and his output, at two novels a year, is prodigious - he works in Ireland. When he is not writing, increasing amounts of his time are spent travelling around promoting his latest works.

Next month, he will be appearing at the Bath Festival of Children's Literature, alongside many other luminaries. His fans generally turn out in force for such occasions.

But while he is obviously tickled pink by his dual bestselling/cult status, he is also conscious that he bears an unusual responsibility to their readership. If young readers get pulled into his books - and getting boys in particular to read is no mean feat - then the hope is that their enjoyment of books will be cemented from that point.

"I write very short sentences, intentionally easy to read," O'Shaughnessy says. "I have no interest in writing something that only academics can read and understand. I always want to try to reach the unreachable reader, to put a book into a kid's hands, without using the phrase that I hate: 'Hey kids, reading is good for you.' I think that is the worst thing you can say to reluctant readers.

"The myth that kids don't want to read is put around by well-intentioned people, but the best teachers understand that you have to give children books that they have an interest in reading, and then the habit is picked up."

There is no doubt that the odd parent will feel a flutter of disquiet about their offspring reading about voracious demon dogs and supernatural beings with hollowed-out hearts filled with snakes. But O'Shaughnessy is blithe about kids' ability to cope with his brand of ghoulish excess.

"I have had hardly any feedback from fans saying they have had nightmares," he says, "I have had emails, however, saying that the books had made them cry. The emotion is there. So that is why I am fine with the horror-writer label."

 Darren O'Shaughnessy will be appearing at The Daily Telegraph Bath Festival of Children's Literature on Saturday, Sept 29

Darren Shan, the popular Irish author of the best-sellng Demonata series, has just launched his latest novel, Blood Beast, the fifth book in the series. Demonata, a series of 10 books about demons, is Shan's second series of children's books. His first series, Saga of Darren Shan, which is about vampires, was also a hit and topped bestseller charts in the UK, America, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Japan and Taiwan. His books have been translated into more than 20 languages, and more than 10 million copies have been sold around the world.Shan, whose real name is Darren O'Shaughnessy, enjoyed his first taste of literary success at the age of 15, when he was a runner-up in a TV script-writing competition in Ireland. Although Shan started out writing books for adults, he always wanted to try his hand at a children's book. In 2000, CliqueDu Freak, his first children's book, was published.

"I always liked children's books, even when I was a grown up," said the 35-year-old author. "One day I had an idea for a hoy who meets a vampire at a circus and reluctantly becomes his assistant. I wanted to tell the story from the boy's point of view. It just made sense to me to write it for children of the boy's age," he said.

Influenced by Stephen King, Ray Bradbury and Frances Hodgson Burnett, Shan finished his first novel Mute Pursuit at the age of 17. Although it was never published, the author realised that he enjoyed writing novels more than the short stories and comics he had been working on up until then.

With the books' popularity soaring, it was only a matter of time before film studios expressed an interest in making The Saga series into a movie. In 2005, the author sold the film rights to the firstthree books in the serie to Universal Studios.

The movie script is to be written by Oscar-winning screenwriter Brian Helgelund, produced by Lauren Shuler Donner and directed by Paul Weitz.

"Although I won't be directly involved with the film, I'm excited about the prospect of it," Shan said. "I'll have no real input In the movie. I don't know much about movies, so I think it's best if I leave these things to the experts."

The author added that, while he is not ready to take on a speaking role in the movie, he would love to appear as an extra in crowded scene.

Shan, who gets his fantasy inspiration from books, movies and people and things he sees in real life, has some advice for young people who want to be writers. "Write! The more you write, the more you learn and the better you get. There are no short cuts for this," he said. "Also, don't try to impress others. Just write stories the way you would love to read them."

DRAMATIC, eccentric and mystical are just some of the words used to describe the writings of Limerick author Darren Shan, who appeared in Waterstones book store in Scotch Hall last Thursday.However, these words could just as easily be used to characterise the persona of Shan himself.

Darren was in Drogheda to promote the fifth book of his Demonata children’s series, entitled Blood Beast.

He laughed and cajoled with fans as he signed copies of the new book and pulled ghoulish faces as he posed for photographs, perhaps trying to recreate some of the characters from his wonderfully creative novels.

Darren Shan is the pen name of 35-year-old Darren O’Shaughnessy. He began writing at an early age and penned his first novel as the tender age of 17.

He has written adult novels in the past, but has become famous for his children’s books.

‘I enjoy the children’s books more,’ he said as he signed a copy of Blood Beast for 12-year-old Keith Farrell from Brookville.

‘It’s a different challenge to writing adult books, but I enjoy it very much’.

Darren has sold over 10 million copies of his books in 35 different countries and is in the enviable position of being able to make a living doing what he loves.

‘It’s what I’ve always wanted to do,’ he said. ‘It’s wonderful doing it for a living, but I would be doing it anyway even if I wasn’t being paid for it.’

Darren has built up a huge supporter base across the world and hundreds of his Drogheda fans turned up at Waterstones to see the author for themselves.

12-year-old Mark Carrigy certainly didn’t mind queuing to see his hero.

‘I’m a big fan and I’ve read all his books,’ he said excitedly as he inched closer to Shan. ‘They’re a sort of a mystery and you never know what’s going to happen next,’ he explained.

Doireann Gordon from Monasterboice couldn’t wait to meet Shan. ‘His books are so exciting and make you want to read on and I’ve read them all,’ the 10-year-old said.

Among the other fans at Waterstones on Thursday were sisters Alison and Lyndsay Ritchie, as well as Philip Smith and his dad Dermot.

Shan was due to leave Waterstones at 5pm, but due to the size of the crowd he decided to stay on. An hour later he was still signing books and joking with as much vigour as ever.

He had earlier appeared at a number of Drogheda primary schools and was due back in Dublin on Thursday evening before flying to London the next day. From there he will travel to Asia on the next leg of his world tour.

‘It’s fairly whirlwind,’ he remarked. ‘But this is the fun part of it for me. This is what I love doing.’

What a wonderful way to spend a sunny Saturday afternoon – squashed in a small theatre in St. Albans with around 100 other Darren Shan fans. We were hot, sticky and dare I say there were a few odours drifting on the air once the air-conditioning was started up.Fans from eight to eighty were visible in the auditorium all enthralled when Darren took to the stage. We were treated to a reading from 'Bec' book four of the Demonata series. Darren gave such emphasis to his characters making the stomach tighten and the skin to crawl as we listened captivated by the scene unfolding before us. We then were treated to a snippet from the current book 'Blood Beast' which had us all eager for more. But it wasn't to be – well not yet the best was yet to come.

Opening up the questioning, Darren was a wash with eager hands waving like a sea of snakes in the air. One by one the children quizzed and delved trying to get more information about characters, Darren and what will happen next. Darren neatly sidestepped some questions he wasn't prepared to give answers too, and happily offered snippets to keep everyone happy. The session could have gone on for so much longer but as is want with these things it was coming to an end - but what an ending. Darren surprised everyone by reading a choice section - from book SEVEN. Again it left you wanting more. But what of book SIX – well that is being kept under wraps. Darren is keeping that close to his chest. So everyone is now waiting for October when Book SIX (title unknown) will be placed on the shelves. I wonder how many seconds it will take for most of them to disappear?

Thankfully Darren was prepared to sign books (as many as you had with you) have his photo taken and chat briefly. I think he would have been lynched had he not. The queue was immense. My group were towards the middle of the line. You may have noticed a couple of photo's if you are keen eyed.

I'm hoping some of that talent has rubbed off on me.

Darren thank you for a great afternoon. 

This is a report from a fan who attended one of my events on the massive BLOOD BEAST 2007 tour. This was from early in the tour, at a theatre in St Albans.

Reporter: Susan K Franklin

Fasinating talk by Darren ShanWhat a wonderful way to spend a sunny Saturday afternoon – squashed in a small theatre in St. Albans with around 100 other Darren Shan fans. We were hot, sticky and dare I say there were a few odours drifting on the air once the air-conditioning was started up.

Fans from eight to eighty were visible in the auditorium, all enthralled when Darren took to the stage. We were treated to a reading from 'Bec', book four of the Demonata series. Darren gave such emphasis to his characters, making the stomach tighten and the skin to crawl as we listened captivated by the scene unfolding before us. We then were treated to a snippet from the current book 'Blood Beast' which had us all eager for more. But it wasn't to be – well, not yet, the best was yet to come.

Opening up the questioning, Darren was awash with eager hands waving like a sea of snakes in the air. One by one the children quizzed and delved trying to get more information about characters, Darren and what will happen next. Darren neatly sidestepped some questions he wasn't prepared to give answers too, and happily offered snippets to keep everyone happy. The session could have gone on for so much longer but as is want with these things it was coming to an end - but what an ending. Darren surprised everyone by reading a choice section - from book SEVEN. Again it left you wanting more. But what of book SIX – well that is being kept under wraps. Darren is keeping that close to his chest. So everyone is now waiting for October when Book SIX (title unknown) will be placed on the shelves. I wonder how many seconds it will take for most of them to disappear?

Thankfully Darren was prepared to sign books (as many as you had with you), have his photo taken and chat briefly. I think he would have been lynched had he not. The queue was immense. My group were towards the middle of the line. You may have noticed a couple of photo's if you are keen eyed.

I'm hoping some of that talent has rubbed off on me.

Darren thank you for a great afternoon.

Pallaskenry's Darren O'Shaughnessy has acheived phenomenal international success as the best-selling children's author, Darren Shan, and has been called Ireland's answer to J K Rowling of Harry Potter fame. Here, he talks about writing, about his success and about his life to Norma Prendiville.

Darren O'Shaughnessy talks as he writes. Fast. Very Fast. And he brings an unbridled enthusiasm to his words. It's one of the reasons children like him so much. He is very much one of their own. And they love the books he writes as author Darren Shan and have shown their appreciation by making him an international best-selling author with sales of 10 million books. Yes, you read that right. Ten million in 35 different countries.

From a child's point of view, Darren is good value. He writes these deliciously scary and fantastic books and there is always a new one on the way. Then when he gives a reading, he pulls out his showman skills and puts enormous energy into entertaining them and above all, into answering their questions.

"I like it," he says of what he calls public events. "I just enjoyed it from the very start. When I am on stage I get geed up. It is great fun. I think going to a writer's event can be very boring if it's only just reading so I always look at it as a show, as an event"

But yes, he says, it can be a real juggling act. "Everyone in the room will have read a different amount of books, so I have to be careful not to give anything away" You have to do each reading like a self-contained extract and there may even be some who have not read any of the books."

"The difficult bit is when it comes to questions and answers." Sometimes a plot line will be spoiled, for example, if someone asks why he killed off such-and-such a character.

And is it possible to remember every character, turn and twist in 15 books? "I never pretend. I am always honest. I never try to bluff my way. Sometimes, it will take me a little bit to click... But it is all tucked away somewhere in there in my head."

But if he doesn't know or can't remember, he says so. And that sometimes gives his young readers a kick. "They love thinking, hey I know more than him."

"Kids will read books very quickly They will re-read over and over. And because of that they will still have the first four books in their mind. An adult wouldn't pick up as much as children," he says.

Now in his 30s and a full-time writer for the past nine years, Darren, has 17 published books to his name. His first two, Ayuamerca and Hell's Horizon were for adults. But his big breakthrough came in 2000 with Cirque du Freak, the first of ten in the Saga series for children. This has since been followed up by a new series, Demonata, the fifth book of which, Blood Beast, was published this week and launched in Limerick.

Explaining how he writes, he says: "It always starts with a specific idea or image, normality for a scene. I picture it like a movie. I see this scene playing out. For Cirque du Freak, I had two images, one of a boy who meets a vampire at a circus and the second, of the boy walking into the night with the vampire and becoming his assistant. They were very strong images. It is like trying to do a jigsaw. You have this idea that gives you your first piece.""I started writing Cirque du Freak two or three days after I had those images. But then, for example, with Beck it took maybe a year or even two before I started writing. It varies from book to book. I tend not to write ideas down. If it is a very strong idea, it will stick. If I get an idea and it doesn't stay with me, it probably wasn't a very strong idea in the first place."

"I will let it all happen inside. Once I have it clear, I write a very brief plot outline of about one or two pages. That gives me more and more ideas, I can break the plot line down loosely into chapters. I like to build up over the course of a series with really complex plot lines."

Darren agrees he writes fast. "I like it when my fingers are flying away" But he is very disciplined in his approach and sets a target of 3,000 words a day or ten pages which he sticks to. "I might go a little bit over or under but that is what I feel comfortable with."

"Page count encourages you to work quickly. Even if it is on a day I feel sluggish, I have this carrot at the end of the stick. At least you have a target. You have good days and bad days.The writ ing tends to be the same no matter how I'm feeling. You learn to write even when you are not in the mood. The difference between a professional writer and an amateur is that a professional writes even when he doesn't feel like it. I treat it like a job. You have to get the job done. While the quality of the writing is the same, on good days, it comes more easily. On bad days, I don't feel inspired but you have to force yourself to do it."

He always works a couple of years ahead. Demonata is planned as a series of 10 books with Blood Beast at number five but Darren already has a first draft of book 10 written.

"I will do a first draft very, very quickly but then I will spend up to two years revising and editing it while writing other books.

It is just the way I work. It allows me to make sure that all the books are con nected and linked. I can make sure they all tie up." The books are very tightly knit.

In many ways, he explains, his life "is like having two careers". One part of it is about sitting in his rural home, tapping away at a computer, writing his daily blog, updating his website, answering his fans. The other part is when he hits the road and meets thousands of people in the course of three or four weeks.

With his books topping bestseller lists in places as far apart as Hungary and Japan, Darren has done a lot of travelling to promote his books. "Each country is different. I have done events with an interpreter.The events are difficult to set up. I have to speak much more slowly and in shorter sentences which is not natural for me. Other times I just do signings." The only time he found himself "struggling" on a book tour was in Hungary when hundreds upon hundreds of people turned up and he was signing books for over 10 hours. After such a marathon, everything ached.

But mostly this thirtysomething, who reckons he's just a big kid at heart, cannot believe his own good fortune. "I am very very lucky I am doing thejob I love doing." But, he continues: "I say to kids who are interested in writing, it is hard work. It is still a job. It would be lovely to think you just get inspired but I have to work hard to make the stories work, to give them that flow."

For all that, he says, his life sometimes feels bizarre even to him. "This isn't really an ordinary life, " he has found himself thinking at times.

What he is absolutely certain about is that he always wanted to be a writer. "Even when I was five or six, I always wanted to be a writer. Of course I wanted to be other things too, an astronaut, a football player, the Six Million Dollar Man, but being a writer was what I wanted to be more than anything else."

He got his first typewriter at 14 and through his teens was busy writing stories, comic strips, books, writing after school, at weekends, during holiday.

"I was not quite 17 when I did the Leaving Cert so I took a year off before I went to college. I felt I was a bit too young to head off on my own and in that year, I did a lot of writing."After college, in London, he worked for a time with Chorus in Limerick. He liked the job well enough while there. "It didn't drain me...and I was writing at weekends.You don't make money when you are starting out. I didn't want to pour my efforts into anything else. But I thought if I don't make it the most important thing in my life, I wouldn't be happy"

So he decided to give himself a year to see if he could make it as a full-time writer, working from his parents' home in Pallaskenry.

Getting an agent quite quickly at the tune was a huge help. "That was very exciting. It was a vindication. Most writers don't show their work to friends and family and they don't really know if you are really doing it or are you faking it. Nobody believes it until they see it."

Seeing his first book, Ayuamerca, an adult book, in print was a great feeling but while it, and the second, Hell's Horizon, were well received, they did not sell in big numbers. Meantime, however, Harper and Collins decided to go with Cirque du Freak, which had been turned down by 20 other publishers.

"It happens all the time. Harry Potter was turned down at first top. Publishers always say to young writers we are looking for something new or something different, but then they worry it won't sell.There are lots of great writers out there whose books don't sell. Your aim has to be to write the best book you can. You can't write for money"

"As a start-out writer, you don't get very much money. When Harper Collins went with Cirque du Freak, I realised I am going to make minimum wage this year and that meant I could afford to write full-time.lt was amazing, brilliant, being able to make enough so I didn't have to get another job."

What happened next was the stuff of dreams. Cirque du Freak took off in a big way, the others followed and Universal Studios are still planning to make a film out of the first three Saga books. "It is still looking positive but I have no control over it. I know the writer is just a little cog. If it happens, it will be a bonus. I hope they do a good job and that it brings more readers."

Darren's success has allowed him to travel more for his own enjoyment, to get a full-size screen and projector for the films he loves to watch, to get to his beloved Tottenham Hotspur matches and to move into his own home outside Pallaskenry. "I have done very, very comfortably out of the books but people imagine crazy figures and things tend to get exaggerated."

"There is a lot of luck involved in being successful," he continues. "Sometimes, it's about being in the right place at the right time. My agent is the same agent as JK Rowling and he was interested in getting other children's books at the time." In the end, though, he says, the only measure of success has to be that you write a really good book.

He reads less these days, explaining that it is hard to concentrate on more words when your day is already taken up with words. But he catches up when travelling. He also spends time these days with his girlfriend of five years, Bas, who works with the charity "No Strings" and who is currently finishing a Masters in Development at UL. "We met through work," he explains. "She was putting together a book of stories for the charity and she came to one of my events looking for a story from me."

Darren is also sure of one other thing. Pallaskenry is home. "This is where I am from." His grandparents and parents, Liam and Breda, are from the area and he grew up there from the age of six when the family moved back from London. "I loved the freedom of it," he recalls and he has very happy memories of his schooldays at Copsewood College. "I got to enjoy my education," he says.

"The good thing about living in Pallaskenry is that I am just Darren O'Shaughnessy When I am here I am part of the community. I have no real sense of me being changed."

Darren O’Shaughnessy was born on 2 July 1972 in London. After starting school at the age of three, he moved to Limerick with his parents and younger brother. He went back to London to study Sociology/English at college. Darren worked for a cable television company for 2 years before setting up as a full time writer. He had his first taste of literary success aged 15 when he was runner-up in a television script-writing competition with a comedy script titled, ‘Day in the Morgue’. Darren completed his first book aged 17. A big film buff, he also reads lots of adult-orientated indy comics. Other interests include long walks, outdoor swimming, watching and discussing football, scuba-diving…and dreaming up new ways to terrify his readers!Were there any antecedents to your chess-playing demon Lord Loss in you first Demonata story?

Lord Loss started as a poem, the one that you can find at the beginning of the book. I used to write lots of poetry and I wrote that one years and years ago. Most of the poems I forgot about but Lord Loss was different. I found myself thinking about it, even years later. I wondered whether there was a story to go with this creepy, eight-armed character, let loose in a world of webs. Then about five years ago I was playing around with ideas for a werewolf story and I realised I could amalgamate that story with the character of Lord Loss and make it more than just a simple werewolf book. I used chess because I like chess and I thought it would be more interesting than having a simple battle to the death at the end. It’s a bit more cerebral.

Bec is set in quite a different time to the other Demonata books. Did you find that challenging?

Yeah, Bec was the hardest book I’ve had to write. I had to do lots of research, because it was set in a very specific time and place, Western Ireland, 1,600 years ago. I had to make sure it was historically accurate. With most of the books I can just wing it; I don’t have to do lots of research, because they’re not set anywhere specific or even in a specific timeframe. But with Bec, I had to make sure that things were accurate. My research involved travelling around Ireland and reading lots of books about Irish history. So, yes, that was quite a challenging one.

Is the story based Celtic Mythology? I thought when Bec and Drust go under the cliff, under the sea it had the feel of the Celtic Otherworld?

It’s not really based on Celtic Mythology, although I did bring in the Fomorii, which were a breed of monsters from Celtic Mythology. Obviously the Celts had their own Gods and they used certain phrases, which referred to those Gods, which are included in the book. It was all historically accurate. Everything that’s described in the book is as real as I could make it: the clothes they wear, the way they speak, burial customs, the huts they live in. All I did was add demons to the mix. The demons are a composite of different things and a product of my own imagination.

Do you ever feel that you’ve overstepped the mark with your horror?

I don’t think so. When I write a first draft, I do sometimes go further than I should, but then I always hone it in later drafts. I’m always very conscious that I am writing for children. I have 15, 16, 17 year olds and older reading my books, but I also have 10 and 11 year old readers, so I try not to put in anything too extreme. You can actually go quite far with violence in children’s books, as I’ve proven over the last seven and a half years. As long as the story is about, demons and vampires and magic, then it’s not real, and I think you’ve got more licence. So, in Lord Loss there’s an upsetting scene where Grubbs’ family are killed by demons. However, because demons are doing the killing, it’s not ‘real’. Kids aren’t going to be traumatised…..

……Well, I was traumatised.

Yeah, not seriously though. If it was about a serial killer, I think that would be different. Because demons are mythical creatures, it’s fun horror. Yes, it’s scary but there’s also an element of the ridiculous about it. Everybody knows that an eight-armed monster is not going to turn up in real life. It is fun to believe it might, but really we know it’s not. I think that fantasy element gives you freedom to go quite far with violence.

Do you enjoy scaring yourself then?

I never really scare myself because I think horror’s only scary if you don’t know what’s coming next. And, of course, when I’m writing the books, I always know what’s coming up, so, no, I never scare myself with my own books.

So what do you think makes good horror fiction? Is it the build up of suspense and tension?

Well, first of all, you have to create characters that people care about. That’s the same no matter what genre you’re writing. Now, what you do with those characters afterwards, that’s entirely up to you. You might write a horror book, fantasy, Sci-fi or a love story, but you’ve got to be interested in the characters. Then you need a solid, well-structured story. With horror you do need tension; you need to have something unexpected. You need twists, a bit of deceit and a splash of bloodshed, although the most horrific scenes aren’t usually that bloody. One of the most upsetting scenes I think in the whole of The Saga of Darren Shan was in the first book when Darren was buried alive. There’s no bloodshed just a boy in a coffin and his parents crying overhead thinking he’s dead. That’s quite an upsetting scene, but it’s not bloody and it’s not gratuitous. The fun stuff is the blood and gore and demons ripping people apart, but the real menace comes in the quieter moments.

I have some issues creating character names that suit my stories. Obviously some of yours like Grubitsch seem quite unrealistic, but they work…

Well, that’s because it’s a fantasy book. Now if I was writing a book about modern teen issues it would be ridiculous to have names like Grubitsch Grady and Dervish and Vancha March. In fantasy it’s fun to have these strange names. You’ve always got to go with what suits the story. In my vampire books, the vampires start off as humans, so they would have had normal names, but because they’ve got magical powers no-one ever questions the fact that they’ve got these weird names because they just seems to go with the type of life the characters lead. . I’ll start out with an idea for a character and I’ll play around with names. I always know a name is right when I come up with it. It’s all about finding the name to fit.

Is there anyone whose work has influenced your writing?

Loads. You know, as a writer you take things in from all over the place: from movies you see, from books you read, and things you experience in real life. One of the biggest influences for me is The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett, which was one of my favourite books as a child. Whenever I say that people frown and say, “Well, how can that be an influence, you write horrible, scary books?” Well, The Secret Garden is about a young girl who loses her family in India to a disease and she comes to live in England. She lives in a big old mysterious house on the Yorkshire moors with her uncle. Basically that is the story of Lord Loss, but without the demons.

 Mark Twain's, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was a big influence on me. Later on, Stephen King and Clive Barker influenced my writing. Other writers like James Elroy and Tolkien were influential too. I read lots of different types of books when I was younger, and I try to mix up those genres; I take different ideas from all over the place and try and create something new out of them.

So are any of the places, like Gurubbs’ house in the Demonata based on real places?

His house isn’t anywhere specific. I mean, all the scenes in Bec, all the places in Bec are based on real places in Ireland. The village where it starts is actually the village where I live, and the view that Bec describes of looking across the river and seeing hills in the distance, is the view from my bedroom window. It takes place in Limerick City; it crosses over to the Cliffs of Moher, and that’s where the old creatures live. The caves are based on Mitchelstown Caves. The theatre in Cirque Du Freak, was based on old cinemas I used to go to in London and in Limerick years ago.

Do you plot in detail? And do you do any drawings to help you plot a story?

 I can’t draw. I was always terrible at art, so I don’t do any drawing. I begin to plot a book by playing around with ideas. When I have a fairly clear idea of what I want to do, I’ll write a very brief plot outline, maybe just one sheet of paper. After that I’ll break it into chapters and describe roughly what would happen in each chapter. The finished book won’t be exactly like t but it will be fairly close. And then I start writing….

Okay, so does the story unravel itself as you write?

Yes, the hardest bit is when you’re trying to get everything clear in your head, at the beginning. Sometimes I’ll have an idea and everything will just snap into place instantly, and I can begin writing a few days later. Other times I’ll have an idea, and I might spend a year, maybe even two years playing around with it. Trying to turn an idea into a story, that’s the difficult part and there’s no way of controlling that. You have to hope that eventually a story will emerge out. Once I have a general idea of where I want to go, then it’s a case of writing down. As I’m writing down my notes, other ideas will fall into place, and I will see it start to come together.

I was looking at the covers from different countries on your website. Are there any that you particularly like?

Yeah, I love The Demonata covers from the UK. I think they’re some of the best ones around. With the vampire books, my favourites were probably the Japanese. I think they were beautifully designed. I always like it when a country produces its own cover. The Norwegian covers, of The Demonata are completely different. I like to see what works in other countries.

Yeah, the Japanese ones seem to have Victorian dress…

On The Demonata they do, yeah, that’s the, sort of, style they’ve for with Demonata. I don’t like them as much as I like the vampire ones. I thought the vampire covers of Japan were really, really brilliant. The Demonata ones, from Japan, I think are very, very good, but I don’t like them as much as the English ones.

Thank you Darren Shan for talking to Write Away.

This interesting article about orphans in children's literature includes a brief interview with Darren Shan. READY TO 'DIE' FOR YOUR CHILDREN?

I'm working in the kitchen when my daughter comes in. Around her neck is a brown cardboard tag that reads: "AgnesTait, age7, orfan." She informs me that she and her brother Albert are being evacuated because their parents have been killed in a bombing raid. I nod solemnly and try not to take offence that, yet again, I appear to have been killed off.

My death varies in my children's games. I've been lost at sea, hit by bombs and killed by a knight. It's essential that I'm out of the way so that they can begin playing their favourite game of "orphans".

My children are not alone in this' fantasy. Mary, a mother of two from Gloucestershire, found that her daughter, Hannah had told everyone in her Brownie pack that her parents were both dead and that the lady who picked her up was her aunt. Mary only discovered about her own untimely death when the Pixie leader squeezed her arm at the end of the session and told her, with tears in her eyes, what a good job she was doing.

"Everyone laughed, but I worried about it endlessly afterwards and talked to my husband about whether I should take Hannah to see someone or try and be a 'better' mother," says Mary. "It was difficult to realise that being an orphan to her was a very romantic ideal."

This doesn't surprise bestslling children's author Cressida Cowell at all. "The idea of being an orphan is hugely attractive to children as it gives them a sense of empowerment, especially now, in an age when children are so much mqre protected than they once were, when the thought of limitless freedom is intoxicating," she says. "No one is there to tell them what to do and they can take control."

For this reason, many children's authors quickly lose their heroes' parents so that they can have the sort of adventures that just couldn't happen if a responsible adult were around. Certainly a quick look at my daughter's book and DVD shelves reveals the root of her desire. It starts with The Story of Babar, whose hero tragically loses his mother but then ends up as King of the Elephants. This sits next to A Little Princess in which Sara Crewe has a far more adventurous time as a parentless servant than as a pampered rich girl.

'Then there's Peter Pan, and who wouldn't rather be a lost boy than the rather prim Wendy?

The list goes on, with films such as The Jungle Book, Annie and Oliver Twist. And, of course, there's Harry Potter, probably the most famous orphan of all, who would never have been let loose to fight Lord Voldemort if James and Lilly had been tucking him into bed. In all these works, the dreadful reality of losing a parent is quickly glossed over to get to the adventure part. The same is true of Superman, Spider-Man and Batman, whose parents would never have allowed such death-defying deeds.

Dr Lisa Sainsbury, a senior lecturer in children's literature, says it's not surprising that orphans are alluring: "The classic convention is that they end up in a better place than where they started. Their 'new" parents are often improved." So James Henry Trotter's parents may have been killed by an escaped rhinoceros (in Roald Dahl's James and the Giant Peach) but he finishes up famous in New York with a surrogate family of giant insects. Similarly it's made quite clear that the Fossil girls in Ballet Shoes have a far better upbringing than they would have had if their parents had lived.

Cressida Cowell thinks that playing orphans is another way for children to face their worst nightmare: "As parents, we try to wrap things up in a positive light for children, but in fact many children like that certain edge of darkness."

This enjoyment of the macabre by the young has brought success to children's author Darren Shan, who writes dark adventures for the over-10s. In one of his books, the parents are eaten by demons. "My readers love those bits," he says. "Children read in a very different way from grown-ups. They don't connect it to themselves in the same way adults do. They just think: 'Hey, that sounds cool.' "

Where Shan says the rules change is when you deal with the death of a child: "Children tend to see adults almost like aliens and their death doesn't upset them, they just see it as a way to freedom. But they connect far more with the death of a child and you have to be extremely careful if you write about that"

So take heart from the authors who know. If your child informs you that you've drunk poison or been squashed by a bus, it doesn't mean that you've been failing in your parental duttes, but rather that he or she is ready for an adventure without you.

Oh the horror: author visits students at Coppell Middle School West

Darren Shan visited students at Coppell Middle School West on Tuesday.

Shan, a young adult horror fiction writer, has sold 10 million books in more than 20 languages in 30 countries, said Rose Brock, librarian at Coppell Middle School West.

Shan has lived in Limerick, Ireland, since he was 6 years old after his family moved from his London birthplace.

Students had to win tickets to listen to Shan speak in the library, Brock said. There were two sessions in which Shan spoke and parents and students from other schools were calling West to see if they could go to one of his sessions, Brock said.

To earn a ticket, students had to complete a scavenger hunt with questions about Shan. The first 250 students to complete the hunt won tickets, Brock said.

Brock said Shan appeals to a wide range of kids from elementary school students to high school students. Boys show the most interest in his writing as he writes bloody and gory scenes, she said. In Shan’s first series, “Cirque du Freak,” Darren Shan, a fictional character, meets vampires at a circus. Shan said he used his pseudonym as the main character’s name to blur the lines between reality and fiction. Shan’s real name is Darren O’Shaughnessy. He published two adult novels under his real name, he said.

The fourth book, “Bec,” in Shan’s second series, “The Demonata,” was recently released. The series will span 10 books. His first series spanned 12 books.

At the middle school, Shan read a scene from the first book in “The Demonata” series, “Lord Loss.” The scene follows the main character, a young boy named Grubbs Grady, back into his parents’ home after they left him at his aunt’s house for the evening. Grubbs walks into his parents’ room to find his mom, dad and sister brutally murdered.

Shan said he chose to read the scene because it was a particularly, “gruesome, gory, bloody scene.”

Shan then read an excerpt from the fifth book in “The Demonata” series, “Blood Beast.” Although the book is not set to sell until October, Shan said he thought it was particularly frightening as the scene takes place on an airplane.

As he read the descriptions of acid vomit, chopped off heads and popping eyeballs, students in the audience groaned and laughed. He said the scene should really put them in the “mood for food.”

The last book in “The Demonata” series is set to release in spring 2010.

After Shan read his excerpts, one student from the audience interviewed him. Sabalan Mirazaei, an eighth-grade student, asked Shan why he likes to write horror books, what his favorite books were and where he got his ideas.

Shan said his favorite book when he was growing up was “The Secret Garden.” Although, it might seem surprising for his audience that he would like a book about a little girl and a garden, he said, the idea of the main character feeling alone and out of place is mirrored in his own writing.

“I like to take readers through a real roller coaster emotional journey,” Shan said.

He said his mom was worried about him when he was a kid, because he had a poster of Dracula, “the lord of the undead,” on his wall. His all-time favorite book is “Salem’s Lot” by Stephen King.

Shan said his greatest thrill in his writing is getting to “meet people who have read the books.” He said that most of his time is spent alone writing.

“If no one was interested, it would be a real big waste of time,” Shan said.

Shan said he originally wrote adult fiction but had always wanted to write about vampires.

“I always wanted to do a vampire story but not the ordinary Dracula story,” Shan said.

Mirazaei asked Shan if he’d always wanted to be a writer. Shan said he’s always loved writing. He said he doesn’t get “writer’s block” because he dives in to his writing without thinking about the overall task of writing a book.

Although he said it’s “very nice” to have sold more than 10 million books, he said the satisfaction of writing continues to be his drive.

Writing to make quick money should not be the reason anyone writes, Shan said, because it’s not a great way to make money. He said the love of writing should be the only reason people write.

When asked his biggest fear, Shan said he’s slightly afraid of losing the success now that he’s had it.

“What if [the books] are no good,” Shan said.

Shan said writing his first draft is quick. He said all the books in “The Demonata” series have been written, but he said he takes two years to edit and revise them.

Although he said demons and vampires have been written about before, his goal as a writer is to approach the story in a new way.

“What you do as a writer is to try to put a fresh spin on old ideas,” Shan said.

When one student asked if parents ever got mad at him for writing scary books, he said he hadn’t experienced much frustration from parents because people read horror to be scared. Although he thought there would be more objections to his books, he said he thinks there isn’t because his stories are about the struggle to move on from violence and not simply about the violence.

“Through all the bloodshed and goriness, the stories are very moral,” Shan said.

The rights for his first three books from the Cirque du Freak series were bought by Universal Pictures. The script for the film will be written by Oscar-winning screenwriter Brian Helgeland, who wrote “Mystic River” and “LA Confidential.” The producer for the film will be Lauren Shuler Donner, who produced the “X-Men” series. Paul Weitz, who directed the “American Pie” series, will direct the movie version of “Cirque du Freak.”

Jennifer Abbots, former publicist and long-time friend of Shan, said his characters are actually really human and kids can relate to his writing.

Despite his gory writing, Abbots said, Shan’s “really funny.”

In an urban fantasy novel by one Darren O’Shaughnessy, Orion’s Simon Spanton—the book’s first editor—appears as a corpse and has his extracted guts used as a divining tool to predict the future stock market performance of his company.

Gruesome? Gory? Unsurprising when you realise this is the work of Darren Shan, who in his million-selling, 19-strong range of books for children variously dismembers families, dives into a world of guts and splatters characters with vomit. Procession of the Dead (Harper Voyager, March) is his first novel for adults, originally published by Orion in 1999 as Ayuamarca and now reworked and repackaged under the name D B Shan.

Shan makes a naughty schoolboy chuckle when Spanton’s name arises. “In my children’s books I often kill off people I know—loads of my friends get torn to pieces,” he says, reclining on a smart leather couch in his London crash pad (home is Limerick in Ireland).

“It’s a mark of respect—I never kill off anyone I don’t like, so I thought it would be nice to go back, put Simon in there and kill him off.” His publicist Helen Johnstone, he adds, will probably be killed off at some stage.

The addition of Spanton is not the only change Shan has made to the original novel. Written when he was 21, it was the first book he ever had published, and it sold only “a couple of thousand” copies despite positive reviews. Apart from changing the name of the book (“no one could actually pronounce it”), he has cut it back by around 100 pages and filtered in elements of the modern world to bring it up to date.

“I never felt that it was finished before,” he says. “I didn’t change the structure very much, as I didn’t want to go back and rewrite it completely. I just cut out things that didn’t need to be there. Back then, in my mid to late 20s, I was learning to express myself, I was saying more than I needed to say. These days I write more than I need and edit down, edit down, edit down.”

The cuts really show. Procession of the Dead rattles along at a breakneck pace, following the story of wannabe gangster Capac Raimi as he learns about life in the City, crosses paths with the all-powerful Cardinal, delves into the mysteries of the Incan priests who control more than meets the eye—and slowly comes to realise that he has entirely forgotten his own past. Shan describes it as a cross between “The Godfather” and the Coen Brothers.

Procession of the Dead is published under the name D B Shan to avoid alienating Shan’s large fanbase, but also to prevent his younger readers from picking it up. “One of the interesting things about this book will be how many readers follow across,” he says. “I don’t want 11–12-year-olds but I do want 14–15-year-olds to . . .”—he thinks for a second—“to follow me down the road of utter darkness.”

Gore and moralityShan always knew he wanted to be a writer, and after finishing an English and sociology degree at Roehampton University, he wrote while working for a television cable company in Limerick for two years, before quitting to see if he could make his dreams come true.

“I knew there was a good chance I might not get published, and I was drawing the dole for two years, but it was what I wanted to do.” First written was Ayuamarca, then the idea for his first children’s book, Cirque du Freak, arrived fully formed in Shan’s head. His agent Christopher Little loved it but initially struggled to sell it, as publishers thought it was too dark. HarperCollins took a chance—and eight years later sales through BookScan of Darren Shan’s books total 1.8 million.

Shan is still surprised there has not been more outcry about the gore, but says that despite the blood and guts, the books are actually very moral. “In Lord Loss, in chapter two a kid walks in and his family has been torn apart by demons: his dad is hanging upside down with his head chopped off, his mum is cut in two with a demon behind her moving her around like a puppet. It’s a really gory scene that I thought would get the book banned everywhere. But what it’s about is a kid dealing with loss, losing his parents. Good fantasy, especially for children, is about real life. It gets children to reflect on these things. Kids don’t want lessons, they don’t want to be told what to do if their mother dies in a car accident—snore—but reading an adventure book, they get close to the character, and if the character loses someone, they think about it.”

Shan works a few years in advance, so is currently up to 2012 in terms of his children’s books and 2010 for his adult titles; sequels Hell’s Horizon and City of Snakes will follow Procession of the Dead in 2009 and 2010. He’s keen to write more adult books, and the ideas are lining up thick and fast. “The trouble I’ve always had is getting the publisher to release the books quickly enough. I’d written up to book nine [in The Saga of Darren Shan] by the time they published Cirque du Freak.”

He spends around two years writing each book and has four titles on the go at once, doing eight drafts of each book. Working with long series means he can go back and sow the seeds for a future event if he desires: “If I come up with an idea in book seven, I can go back and put a hint about what’s to come in book two,” he says. “It’s quite a chaotic way of writing—like juggling—but it’s just the way my mind works.

“When I do my first draft in my head, I’m thinking everything’s brilliant—this is going to be Ulysses for the 21st century. Then I leave it for a year, and because I’ve put it aside for so long I can say ‘rubbish, rubbish, rubbish’. When you’re writing a book, you’ve got to get beyond that precious stage, and see it as the reader’s seeing it.”

Darren Shan spends his time thinking of ways to frighten youngsters. A bestselling author of horror stories for children, he has written 12 books about vampires and five about demons in seven years. He will read from Blood Beast, the next book in his The Demonata series, out in June, as part of the Imagine festival at the Southbank Centre."It's great fun meeting my fans," he says. "For me, it's the best part of the job. Mostly, they tend to be fairly subdued around me. Children tend to get as nervous meeting book stars as they do pop stars!"

Shan first ventured into writing horror fiction at the age of 14, when he entered "A Day in the Morgue" in a scriptwriting competition and won the runner-up prize. He completed upwards of 15 novels before Ayuamarca finally found a publisher in 1999. A sequel, Hell's Horizon, followed in 2000. The same year he had greater success with his first children's book, Cirque Du Freak, about a boy who reluctantly becomes a vampire's assistant, which became the first book in The Saga of Darren Shan series. "I have always liked exploring the dark side, but when I started, you didn't write children's books to get rich quick," says Shan about the pre- Harry Potter days. "You did it because you loved writing them. Cirque Du Freak took off and the next few books did really well. I wound up in this field by accident."

Shan takes about two years to write a book - his latest, Bec, is about a trainee priestess - but he always has two books on the go at once. "My books are dark horror, yet they also have a light side to them because I don't want them to be miserable. As long as there is a moral to the tale, this genre of book is accepted."

VAMPIRE novelist Darren O’Shaughnessy has sold millions of books all over the world and literally made a killing out of scaring kids.

So, with Halloween fast approaching, Mary Earls decided to investigate what makes the Pallaskenry horror writer’s books so ghoulishly irresistible to children.

WRITING under his alias name, Darren Shan, the 34-year-old County Limerick man’s secret is that he writes books that would have appealed to him as a child.

"Kids enjoy being repulsed and I used to love feeding my own love of horror when I was young. I saw my first Dracula film when I was five or six and I loved the excitement of making myself scared - the thrill of it. I used to try and give myself nightmares and vampires were my favourite monster at the time,” he said.

Born in London, Darren’s parents moved back home to County Limerick when he was six years old. And moving from a block of council owned flats in London, to dark spooky nights in his great-grandfather’s cottage in Pallaskenry, certainly fuelled his appetite for horror.

"The countryside’s far eerier than the city. And there were lots of winter nights with the wind howling and no streetlights. As there were only two TV stations when I was growing up, I used to read horror books a lot. And I remember keeping myself awake at night, imagining horrible scenarios in which vampires and other assorted creatures would surround my little cottage and lay siege,” he explained.

Decades on, the successful novelist still hasn’t managed to shake off his fascination with vampires, ghouls, demons and freaks.

Darren started off writing adult books but after experiencing little acclaim, he turned his hand at the children’s market. Now considered one of the most successful Irish writers of all time, he hasn’t regretted the decision.

As he needed a new name to distance himself from his earlier adult work as Darren O’Shaughnessy, the Limerick native came up with the pen name, Darren Shan. And to make his stories seem more real and harrowing, he decided that the main character should also be called Darren Shan.

The Saga of Darren Shan is a 12 book series about a young boy’s reluctant journey into a dark world of vampires. With book names like Cirque du Freak - A Living Nightmare, Tunnels of Blood and Vampire Mountain, kids just couldn’t get enough of the grisly tales.

He has followed this up with a book series about demons called Demonata, and has currently just released his third book, Bec, which featured a girl as the main character, and is set in Ireland

Universal Studios have bought the film rights to the first three books of The Saga of Darren Shan and plan to combine them to make a single movie. A screenplay has already been written by Brian Helgeland, who did the honours on LA Confidential and a director is currently being sought.

His first book in the series, Cirque du Freak, sees Darren and his school mates sneaking out of their homes in the dead of night to go and see a travelling freak show, which features a savage wolf-man, a snake boy, a giant performing spider and unbeknownst to them is run by a vampire, Mr Crepsley.

Fascinated by spiders, Darren decides to try and steal the grotesque and amazing performing tarantula, Madame Octa - with some deadly consequences. The next few books in the series follow Darren’s adventures as he learns the ropes of being undead, under the tutelage of the older blood-sucker - Mr Crepsley.

This writer began reading the book to a friend’s son, Seán, last summer and found myself going into cold turkey when he returned home to Dublin - with the book. I was too embarrassed to buy the book for myself, but found myself more than interested to hear how it ended. When you’re looking forward to your child’s bedtime story, it has to be a good read.

I just found the characters in the book very humourous and engaging. For anyone who has the ambivalent feelings of being both repulsed and intrigued by large spiders - they will love Madam Octa.

Darren controls the tarantula by playing a flute and she will perform tricks and crawl all over you - but if she senses fear or intimidation, she will attack you. It’s like "I’ll play ball but I really want to eat you,” kind of attitude and is very funny.

The book also explores themes such as friendship, the importance of family, and the need to make personal sacrifices for the good of others. But not without its share of gore.

Darren said that lots of adult readers do read my books but "they are all a bit sheepish about it.

"I like to work as much humour into my books. And there is strong humour and sarcasm in the book as well as the scream or dark parts. I don’t want the books to be totally depressing so that’s why I try and put humour into it. And this appeals to adults as well as children,” he said.

Although Madame Octa is one of the stars of Cirque du Freak, Darren is actually petrified of spiders in real life.

"When I was writing the book I pictured myself sitting in the audience of a freak show and imagined what animal would scare me the most. And a huge giant tarantula just did it for me. I had to overcome a lot of my fears of spiders, though as I was pictured with a huge giant tarantula at the launch of one of my books in London,” he recalled.

The Limerick writer said that it would be fun to see Darren Shan on the big screen and he imagines an unknown actor will be picked for the starring role. But he added that he won’t have any control over the movie.

Darren’s biggest delight, however, is that his vampire books are appealing to children who would normally never read.

"And now they are reading two or three books a year. This is because they are reading about a subject that they are passionate about. If you give kids what they want to read - they will read it. The problem is that they are not being introduced to the right books”.

His agent also works with world famous children’s writer, JK Rowling. And

Darren said that the Harry Potter author really changed the face of children’s literature in terms of publishers realising there was this huge market there.

Although he has lived in Limerick for most of his life, the writer still speaks with a strong English accent. But he insists that he is no blow-in to the village of Pallaskenry as the family has lived there for generations.

His parents, Liam and Breda, are from Pallaskenry but they moved to London for a while in the 1960s, where Darren was born. His mother is a primary school teacher in nearby Askeaton and his father works in the same school as a janitor.

Darren received his primary education in Askeaton, and went to secondary school at Copsewood College in Pallaskenry. He then travelled back to London to study at Roehampton University.

But he is now firmly rooted in Pallaskenry, where he lives outside the village with his girlfriend, Helen Basini.

Despite his huge success, not everyone has heard of the Limerick writer, besides his legion of blood thirsty fans of course.

However, he is sold in 30 countries and has been translated into over 20 languages, making the New York Times top 10 children’s best-seller list in the past. Interestingly, one of his biggest markets is Japan where his books are marketed as fantasy for slightly older female readers.

This is a newspaper report from the NEW MILTON ADVERTISER (1st November 2006) of a visit I made to Newham Bookshop during my tour to promote Bec.

BESTSELLING children's writer Darren Shan met some of his young fans in Newham. Real name Darren O' Shaughnessy, he is famous for his books on vampires. He has also topped the adult bestseller charts in Hungary and Taiwan. His books have sold more than ten million copies.Darren came to Newham Bookshop in Barking Road, Plaistow, to meet readers and sign copies of his books, including the latest, called Bec. Some youngsters also came armed with their own copies of Darren s previous tales, which he also signed for them. Shop manager Vivian Archer said "Darren's a huge hero, especially to boys. It's a major coup that we got him. The event was fantastic. We had 100 very excited children queuing for a long time to meet Darren, and we sold at least 200 copies of his books."

It's nearly Halloween, the time when ghoulies and ghosties and long-legged beasties - and Darren Shan - creep out of the woodwork. The best-selling children's horror author spoke to Deborah Penn about his forthcoming visit to Kent when he will be signing copies of his new spine-chiller.

Be prepared to be scared, very scared. Darren Shan says he doesn't drink blood but, having looked at his new book, his claim is not entirely convincing. Here is an excerpt from Bec, the latest in his Demonata series: "Then, in a blur, claws dart out of the darkness... a twisted face... fiery eyes ... rows of teeth... the demon grabs me!"Just two days before Halloween, the bloodthirsty best-selling author, known as the Stephen King for children, will be signing copies of Bec at Waterstone's, Bluewater, on Sunday, October 29 for an hour from 3pm. In a nutshell Bec, a trainee priestess, fights to fit in to a tribe that needs her skills but fears her powers. And when the demons come, the fight becomes a war. Bec's magic is weak and untrained until she meets the druid Drust. Under his leadership, Bec and a small band of warriors embark on a long journey through hostile lands to confront the Demonata.

Despite such horrific outpourings, you would never guess from talking to Darren that his mind runs along such bloodthirsty lines. He speaks with a South East London twang although he has lived in Ireland for most of his 34 years. He lives in Limerick with his long-term girlfriend Bas, having moved over the water with his family from the Elephant and Castle when he was six. The season ticket holder at Tottenham Hotspur was born Darren O'Shaughnessy.

He tried to explain where his terrifying ideas originate: "They come from all over the place. Everyone has ideas, daydreams, but writers turn these into stories. There are very few original ideas so you have to find a different spin."

He says his books don't give him nightmares: "I've always loved horror stories, even as a child. Horror's only scary if you don't know the twists ahead - and of course, I do! I write the books I'd like to have read when I was 12, 13, 14 and 15."

Darren began writing as a teenager. He bought his first typewriter when he was 14, and never looked back, knocking out loads of short stories and comic scripts, and making false starts on several books. He eryoyed his first taste of literary success aged 15, as a runner-up in a TV script-writing competition, with a dark comedy script entitled A Day in the Morgue - he was morbid even then.

His first book in a series entitled The Saga of Darren Shan, or Cirque Du Freak as it's known in America, attracted rave reviews. He followed his vampiric Saga with The Demonata, a series about demons, which will run to 10 books. Bec is the fourth and Universal are planning to make a film [of Cirque Du Freak]. Shan's concept of the vampire differs from the Hollywood moaning, neck-biting kind. His vampires cannot fly, morph, and will not kill their prey. They do not have sharp teeth, and neither holy water nor the cross are effective against them. A stake through the heart does kill them, though, and so does a bullet.

The closest action they perform to flying is 'flitting", moving so fast that the naked eye cannot see them. With their extremely sharp nails they make a small incision into the back of your arm to take as much blood as they need and close the cut with their spit, which has special healing powers. Full vampires can knock out a person with special gas that they breathe through their mouths. Perhaps Darren's books should carry a Government health warning: seriously scary.

FACTFILE

Name: Darren Shan (real name Darren O'Shaughnessy).

Age: 34.

Occupation: Author.

Third-level education: Degree in sociology and English from Roehampton University in London.

In the news for: Shan, whose 16th book, Bec, will be launched on 7 October, will be doing a book tour of the UK and Ireland for the rest of October. He will be giving a reading as part of the Children's Book Festival which runs from 4 to 28 October. Shan, who lives in Co Limerick, is the author of the children's books series The Saga Of Darren Shan and The Demonata.

Elaine Larkin (EL): What was your first paying job ever?

Darren Shan (DS): When I was at university, I used to work for the summers in a factory in Shannon.EL: Did you always want to become an author?

DS: Ever since the age of five or six, it was what I wanted to do. It was the one thing I really loved doing. I used to daydream about other things as well but that's the main thing I wanted to do.

EL: Who would you say influenced the course of your career?

DS: I think one of the big influences would be my mother. She was a primary school teacher so she taught me to read and write and she instilled a love of reading in me. I read loads and loads of books. The more I read the more inspired I became.

EL: When did you get your break as an author?

DS: I started out writing books for adults. I had a couple of those published under my real name, back in 1999/2000. The biggest break was when I got my agent, which would have been a couple of years before that in 1997/1998. He took a chance on me and he helped develop my writing skills. He helped me get the first book published and then I came along with Cirque du Freak, my first children's book and the first in the series of The Saga of Darren Shan and he got that published and I haven't looked back since then.

EL: What was the best career advice you've ever received?

DS: I've picked up lots of different advice from reading other interviews with authors. One is everybody gets rejected, so you have to learn to accept that if you're going to be a writer. You can't afford to lose heart, you've to keep belief in yourself even if nobody else does. The other one is the more you write the better you get. It's a case of practice. When I was younger, as a teenager, I was waiting for the muse to strike and for ideas to come cascading down and for stories to more or less write themselves. As I got older I realised it doesn't work that way. The harder you work, the bet ter you get, the more you're able to write.

EL: Do you think third-level education plays a big part in getting on the right career track?

DS: It all depends on what sort of career you're going for. As an author, I would have to say it doesn't make any difference whatsoever. Readers don't care whether you're secondary level, third level or anything else. Obviously as an author, anything you do helps out. I got things from sociology, which I'm able to bring into my books.

EL: What was the highlight of your career?

DS: There's been quite a lot. One of the big highlights was getting to No 1 in Japan — it absolutely topped the entire chart — adult books as well as children's books. It's made the top 10 children's chart on the New York Times bestseller list several times. Selling 10 million copies worldwide was a big mark. The last six and a half years have been a wonderful ride; it's been one highlight after another.

EL: If you were to change career what would you do?

DS: I'm a big film buff — I've always had it at the back of my mind that I'd like to try directing, whether or not I ever do is highly unlikely, but it's still one of those things I still daydream about every so often. Maybe one day.

In school, I wrote a bloodthirsty, futuristic story for a student teacher, thinking, 'She’ll be young and hip enough to dig it.' She wasn’t, and I almost got expelled.

I’ve had more than a few letters from children and parents complaining about teachers who don’t understand them, who criticise them if they choose to write horror stories, who demand blood-free, family-friendly tales.

In my books, I’ve buried a child alive … killed off dozens of characters … cannibals have cavorted merrily … in Lord Loss a boy witnessed a demon using his split-in-two sister as a hand-puppet. Nice!

Oddly, I don’t get many complaints about my books, because as bloody as they are, most adults note the moral resonances. I write about kids who take responsibility, who put their lives on the line for family and friends, who learn the meaning of duty, courage, self-reliance. Horror is the web I weave to capture the attention of my teen readers. But they learn about much more than the workings of vampires and demons. Sure, I like bloody, action-packed fight scenes, but I’m more interested in exploring emotions and the problems my characters face, using fantasy to mirror and probe the more complex real world. Teachers and librarians (well, most of them!) understand this and cut me some slack.

But as a teenager, I wasn’t concerned with exploring moral grey areas or in using horror and fantasy to take my readers on a voyage of self-discovery. Hell, I wasn’t able to. Writers develop over time, with age and experience. At thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, I knew I wanted to be a writer. That’s when I began working hard, writing lots of short stories in my spare time, making my first stab at novels. I yearned to make an impression, create a story that readers would respond to, that would excite and thrill all who passed within its reach.

Lacking the ability to craft such stories, I went for full-on gore and violence instead. I travelled down many vile, vicious paths with my imagination, coming up with the sorts of stories that never see the light of day, being far better suited to as dark a setting as possible! But I learnt to write good stories by churning out these crimson shams. Where writing is concerned, practice makes perfect. The advice I give young, would-be writers – the only advice I think they ever really need – is, 'The more you write, the better you get.'

Naturally, having been stung by showing one of my more colourful stories to a wrathful teacher, I kept these juicy gems to myself. I withdrew into my own world of fiction, a secretive, forbidden world. I couldn’t let anyone into it because I feared the repercussions. My late teens were a very negative time, largely because I was exploring a dark landscape, and had undertaken the task by myself, with no one to guide or encourage me.

If I’d had a teacher I felt free to show my work to, and discuss it with, maybe I’d have come through the darkness earlier and easier than I did. I needed someone to tell me less is more, that I didn’t have to go into disgusting details to impress. Someone who wouldn’t criticise me for going off in the directions I took, but who would explore them with me, explain why they weren’t worth taking, and lead me back to the road I eventually, luckily found by myself.

I think most teenagers have a terrible sense of being alone, especially if they’re of a creative bent and that creativity leads them to places that are frowned upon by the adults they interact with on a daily basis. Sure, it’s fun to be a rebel — but it can be scary, isolating and depressing too.

We don’t live in an ideal world. I know teaching’s a hard job, that it’s easier to mark essays on conventional subjects than give a free rein to surly teenagers who want to write about zombies chowing down on fresh brains. But creativity isn’t a smooth ride. Sometimes it demands detours down grimy alleys of the mind, places no adult might want to visit, but which developing teens feel drawn to. As a teacher, you can choose to block such trends in your classroom and demand your students tread the straight and narrow line, forcing them to give up on writing or labour on by themselves, alone in the dark.

Or you can encourage imagination wherever you find it, explore the quirkier corners of writing with those who truly do 'think outside the box', and try to help even the most creatively wayward students find their true direction. If you do, you might help the next Poe, Mary Shelley or Stephen King to blossom.

Of course, you might inadvertently create the next Charles Manson too — but, hey, them’s the breaks!

Bestselling Limerick author Darren Shan has released his latest horror novel much to the delight of his legion of young fans. Slawter is book three in Darren's The Demonata series. This book is set a few months after the events of the first book, Lord Loss, and sees Grubbs and his friend Bill-E discovering that the monsters on a movie set they are visiting are not as fake as most of the cast and crew believe. Mr Shan, whose real surname is O'Shaughnessy, was born in 1972 in London to Irish parents. When he was six years old the family returned to Ireland and settled in Limerick. He lives in Pallaskenry.

He said of his name change: "I decided to change it in order to blur the lines between reality and fantasy. My first series of books is called The Saga of Darren Shan which blurs the lines further. It's just a literary device. Most readers know the truth but like to pretend it's real."

He has always wanted to be a writer and since getting his first typewriter atage 14 has never looked back. "My parents are delighted that it has all worked out as there really are no guarantees in this business. They have always been supportive even in the lean years," he said.

He started off writing novels for adults but it was his children's books that brought him real success. "One of the reasons I decided to write this genre was because there wasn't any horror books for children when I was younger. It's good to have horror for children, it's fun. I've had the occasional complaint from teachers who say they are banning my books from their classroom but generally I've had few negative reactions so far," he said.

The Saga of Darren Shan has sold over 10 million copies worldwide, has been translated into 20 languages and is sold in 30 countries. The series is to be made into a movie soon with a script by Oscar winner Brian Helgelund and distribution by Universal Pictures.

"At the moment, Universal are looking for a director. I hope it goes ahead and gets made but I'm just letting them get on with it. As a writer I've no real control over it.

"I've always hoped that I'd do well enough to earn a living from it but I am surprised by the success I've had, it's been a dream," he said.

Generally, when a film director yells: "Cut!", any blood to be mopped up is of the tomato ketchup variety rather than your genuine O Positive. But let children's horror maestro Darren Shan on to the set and anything can happen. In his latest novel, when actors, film crews and the usual camp followers turn up at the abandoned village of Slawter, they believe they are there to make a horror movie in which humans take on and overcome an army of demons and monsters.

With Shan however, nothing is quite as it seems, even his name. Originally Darren O' Shaughnessy, a London-born Irishman, he deliberately truncated it nine years ago when he started writing horror for children, lest young fans should try to seek out his darker adult work. Though 33, he has a plump boyish face that skilfully conceals the tongue stuck firmly in his cheek. The idea for Slawter, the third of his Demonata series, came to him during a visit to the Harry Potter film set. (Daniel Radcliffe is a Shan fan and Darren and Jo Rowling share an agent, Christopher Little. ) "I wondered what would happen if I set a horror story on a film set, " says the selfconfessed movie fanatic who boasts a collection of nearly 4000 videos and DVDs. The result is a cross between an adolescent Stephen King and a merciless spoof on the Hollywood blockbuster. Both genres dwell on the interface between illusion and reality, so there are plenty of opportunities for macabre double takes. A mime artist screams silently as he dies. A scene in which a young bit part actor is dragged away by a monster has the watching crowd screaming in terror then laughing to cover their embarrassment. "They've remembered - this is makebelieve, horrific fun, a movie." But is it or have they been caught up in a reality show that would dwarf even the crassness of Big Brother? At the climax of the book we are confronted with dozens of monsters "spitting bile, oozing pus and blood, screeching and howling with malicious glee", as they embark on a killing spree. And kids will lap it up.

Why? "It's that jolt of fear you get on a roller coaster. Scary but fun. It seems very dangerous but really it's quite safe. Reading is the same. It takes them out of themselves and at the end of the scream, they can laugh at it." Though Shan's books are more about action than character development, children identify easily with figures like the bulky, clumsy, decidedly unheroic Grubbs Grady, who appreciates the home comforts of scrambled eggs and hot chocolate between bouts of terrifying combat with Lord Loss, who has writhing snakes where his heart should be.

Behind all the comic gore, there is a serious point, says Shan: "You may not come home and find your family has been slaughtered by demons [as Grubbs does in the first book in the series] but they might die in a car crash and you'd have to put your life back together. I like to get children thinking about death. These days people live a lot longer and not many children die, so most children have never been exposed to it. I want to help them deal with it."

Yet, though his books never promise a happy ending, they are far from bleak. Like the rites of passage his young readers have embarked upon, they are about children having the courage and confidence to confront their demons.

Shan's work also always retains a strong moral framework. In Slawter, he is withering about those who seek to present suffering as entertainment or even art and those who consume it. "We're coming full circle, back to the era when crowds flocked to the Colosseum to watch Christians being thrown to the lions. I believe that in our lifetime, we'll see a reality show where someone dies. People love seeing people suffer."

By contrast, Shan's central characters live by a strict code of conduct that abhors gratuitous violence. "I like the idea of living a good life that is so important for the Samurai and the Celts - the next book in the Demonata series is based on Celtic mythology and set in Ireland. In Arnie Schwarzenegger movies people are killed right, left and centre but, apart from demons, I never try to set up anyone as such a bad guy that it's OK to kill them."

This is a clue as to why Shan is so popular with librarians.His first children's manuscript (Cirque du Freak about a boy who is half- vampire) was rejected by many publishers before being taken by HarperCollins because many believed that teachers and librarians would object to it and kill the series. There's a teasing reference to this in Slawter when Grubbs lightly rebukes his Uncle Dervish with: "You'll scar me for life with stories like that". In fact, librarians loved Shan because here was the pacy, well-written horror story, whose heroes demonstrated loyalty and moral integrity. It was just what they'd been looking for to wean kids off Goosebumps and Point Horror.

Most of all, though, the same playground version of the bush telegraph that was originally the key to JK Rowling's success, worked for Shan too. In fact, a certain post-Potter fatigue with witches and wizards may have helped clear the way for the biggest resurgence in children's horror since Roald Dahl. Shan's 12-part quasi-autobiographical Saga of Darren Shan has sold 10 million worldwide.

The consequent riches have not had much impact on his phenomenal work rate. He continues to write the equivalent of ten pages a day, five days a week, while enjoying life with girlfriend Helen and following his beloved Tottenham Hotspur.

Meanwhile, the screen rights for the first three vampire books have been optioned by Universal Pictures and a script has been commissioned. Is there a futures market for fake blood? On second thoughts, what about a contact for the Blood Transfusion Service?

On Sunday, May 7th, 2006, I was interviewed for TY radio -- a radio show on RTE in Ireland, where transition year students (kids aged 15/16) get to create their own radio show. Super-fan Karen Kavett transcribed it, typing out the full interview! Please bear in mind that it was a live radio interview, and this is a direct transcript, so it won't read as smoothly as most of my interviews!!!

Host: When we were deciding on who to interview on our program, our next guest was top of our list, and we're delighted he agreed to our request. Sadhbh McCoy is here to introduce him. Limerick has produced many best-selling authors over the years, including Frank McCourt and Sarah O'Brien. But one of our best has had international success with his turning books. I am talking about none other than Darren Shan, who is in studio with me now. Hi Darren, and welcome to TY Radio.

Darren: Thanks, how are you?

Host: For those who have not read your books, tell us about the Saga of Darren Shan.

Darren: The Saga is a 12-book series about a boy called Darren Shan who becomes a vampire's assistant, and the books tell about his adventures in the world of vampires.

Host: And tell us a bit about your new series.

Darren: The Demonata is a new one. It's going to be ten books in total. It's all about demons, there's a variety of characters in there. It's a little bit gorier, perhaps, than the Saga, but not especially so.

Host: Do you think it will be as successful as the first series?

Darren: Hopefully. The first couple books have done really, really well. Lots of fans have followed us, and we've picked up some new fans. We'll see in a few more years how it goes.

Host: And what's your inspiration for writing books like this?

Darren: I just write the sort of books which I love to read. I've always loved making up stories, telling stories to my friends, and when I sit down to write a book, I don't think about other people, I think of myself when I was 11, 12, 13, 14 years of age. I think about what I liked to read back then, what I would have liked to have read, and I just write for the boy in me.

Host: And we've heard that you sold the movie rights of the saga. Is this true, and if so, when can we expect Darren Shan to hit our screens?

Darren: Yep, Universal have bought the rights. A script has been written, but there's no director at the moment. It's a very complicated business, the movie business, so there's no release date that has been talked about yet, they haven't started casting or anything like that. I think it would be at least 2 years, probably, before we see a film, but only time will tell.

Host: You were born in England and moved to Ireland when you were young. Do you consider yourself Irish or English?

Darren: Irish. I mean, I've still got the cockney accent, I know, but I've lived here in Limerick since I was six years old. That's over 27 years now, so I've been to school from first class onwards. Even though I don't sound it, I am Irish.

Host: What books do you read for your own personal enjoyment?

Darren: I read, well, obviously lots of horror, that's no surprise, lots of fantasy. I quite like mystery books as well, detective novels, things like that.

Host: If you hadn't become a writer, what do you think you would have done?

Darren: I probably would have tried to be a writer. Lots of writers aren't lucky, don't get that lucky break and they can't support themselves, have to have another job. If I had to have another job, probably something to do with computers. I was always interested in computers, I put my own website together years ago. I have it designed now by professionals, but I still update it all myself. So, probably something with computers.

Host: And on behalf of the Transition Year class, we'd like to present you with a dream catcher that we made for our mini-company.

Darren: Ooh, that's very nice. I like the blood-red color around it. Thank you very much!

Host: Thanks for joining us, Darren. And you can find out more about Darren and his books on his website darrenshan.com.

Darren: You did that very professionally.

Host: Thank you. 

Horror is the hottest genre in children's fiction, and Darren Shan's guesome stories sell by the millions. James Delingpole plucks up the courage to meet him

Darren Shan's home is a bit of a letdown. I've flown to his ancestral village in the west of Ireland fully expecting to find a sprawling pile (complete with dungeon) like the one inhabited by the magician uncle in his terrifying horror story, Lord Loss. Or, at the very least, a Georgian rectory befitting his status as one of the world's most prolific and successful children's authors.

'My books are never about violence and horror. They're about characters in extreme situations'Instead, the house is so very ordinary looking that I drive past it twice before I'm fully able to persuade myself that it really is the same one described in his directions. It's one of those modern, angular, character-free dormer bungalows such as you see dotted all over Ireland. Sure, it has a spectacular view of a lake from the rear garden, but it's scarcely consistent with the rags-to-riches conspicuous excess you might expect from a young literary multi-millionaire.

When I put this to Shan (born Darren O'Shaughnessy; 34; shortish with cropped dark and a roundish, boyish face; speaks with a strong London accent because that's where he grew up), he points out that houses in Ireland cost a lot more than you would think these days. And besides, he says, if he's going to spend money he would rather spend it on art. What sort of thing does he collect? 'Comic art. Impressionists.' Does he have anything good? 'Well, that one there,' he says, casually indicating an unremarkable rural scene on the wall above the fireplace. 'That's an early Van Gogh.'

Van Gogh! This is just the sort of twist Shan is so good at in his novels. He starts you out in a deceptively innocuous world of homework and football, boring history classes and unwelcome parental discipline, and you're thinking, 'Oh God. Another ruddy teen novel.' Then suddenly, the trapdoor opens and you're thigh-deep in pus and gore and the eviscerated corpses of people you were just getting to know and like.

Which is how Ivo, my seven-year-old and I, came to be such huge Darren Shan fans. On a friend's recommendation, we bought the first in his new Demonata series, Lord Loss, and began reading it as a bedtime story. Despite the mild hint of creepiness in the first chapter where the hero replaces his sister's towel with some dead rats while she has a shower, neither of us was remotely prepared for the horror in chapter two. (And if you don't know what happens, skip the next sentence.) The scene in which the boy's father, mother and sister are disembowelled and shredded by the demon Lord Loss and his vile familiars Artery and Vein, must surely be the most jaw-droppingly grisly in children's literature.

'If I'd had a serial killer rather than a demon doing those things, there would have been uproar''Oh, I don't like to boast,' laughs Shan, who thinks he gets away with it for two reasons. First, when you write in the realm of fantasy no one takes your horror too seriously ('If I'd had a serial killer rather than a demon doing all those things, there would have been uproar'). Second, his books may be 'dark', but they are also 'moral'. 'When the hero's family are wiped out, he doesn't just shrug his shoulders and go, "C'est la vie". He goes crazy. He has a breakdown,' says Shan. 'My books are never about violence and horror. They're about characters in extreme situations.'

Horror is the hottest genre in children's publishing at the moment. Shan's competitors include Nick Gifford ('Stephen King for kids'), Anthony McGowan ('The most disgusting book you'll ever read') and Anthony Horowitz, moonlighting from his Alex Rider books with a supernatural series, The Power Of Fire. Before them came R.L. Stine's Goosebumps and the Point Horror series. And before them came Roald Dahl, Struwwelpeter and the Brothers Grimm. Yet, for all the evidence that there are few things young readers enjoy more than being scared out of their wits, not one of the 20 children's publishers Shan approached in 1997 was interested in his first manuscript, Cirque Du Freak.

'Publishing is a business,' he declares, philosophically. 'It's not there to make writers feel good and publish their masterpieces and educate the masses. There had never been a book about a boy who becomes a vampire. Would teachers kick up a stink? Would bookstores not stock it? Would libraries not want it? I don't blame the publishers for turning it down.'

Of course, he can afford to be philosophical now. But he hasn't always felt this way. Born into a 'working middle class' Irish family (his mother teaches in a primary school, his father is a janitor), Shan had dreamed of being a writer since the age of 14. In his early twenties, after university, he had given up his day job working for a television company in Limerick ('very simple stuff: turning on and off people's Sky Sports, that kind of thing') to concentrate on writing full time.

'I was gutted,' he says, of the publishers' rejection. 'I was a young man on the dole and though I'd written books before, Cirque Du Freak was the first idea I'd had where I could see real potential.' In the course of a long miserable walk, he wondered whether he should get himself another job. 'Then I decided, "No! All those publishers are wrong. I'm just going to keep going with it." And events proved me right.'

To date, Shan's 12-part Cirque Du Freak series has sold more than 10 million copies around the world (he's especially big in Japan, where 98 per cent of his audience are girls aged between 14 and 30; he can't go to author events unescorted for fear of being mobbed), while the screen rights have been optioned for a 'seven-figure sum' by Universal Pictures. As Shan points out, these impressive-sounding movie-option deals are meaningless unless the film is actually made. But he's encouraged by the fact that the script is being developed by Brian Helgeland, the Oscar-nominated screenwriter of LA Confidential and Mystic River.

Despite his considerable fortune Shan lives a resolutely unflashy existence with his girlfriend, Helen (whom he met when she approached him to write something for the charity War Child). Like his hero Stephen King, he's determined to continue his Stakhanovite work rate no matter how rich he becomes: 'Nowadays, I've lots of money, but I still try to write as much as I ever did.'

Shan forces himself to write 10 pages a day (about 3,000 words), which will usually take him between three and four hours, after which he's free to surf the internet, watch films, go walking and answer fan mail. He doesn't much like the business of writing ('hard, lonely work: like doing homework'), although he does enjoy the creative process.

'People ask me where I get my ideas from, but everyone has ideas. A lot of writing's about posing the right questions: What happens next? How does he get there?' With Cirque du Freak, he always knew how it would start ('boy meets a vampire in a circus') and how it would end ('boy going reluctantly into the shadows to become his assistant'). All he needed to do was to fill in the gaps.

Shan specialised in children's literature during his English and sociology degree course at Roehampton, and is clued up on the mechanics of the genre. The key question, he says, is: how do you get the parents out of the way for the children to have adventures? 'So, in the Famous Five, the parents would be off on holiday, or they'd go and stay with their uncle. It's what kids want to read: children solving problems and facing dangers by themselves. They don't want mum and dad riding to the rescue.'

Because he writes in short, punchy sentences, Shan is much easier to read aloud than J.K. Rowling or Lemony Snickett (whose 'sluggish' style he can't stand). 'What I do well is plot,' he says. 'My books are like a roller-coaster ride, whereas J.K. Rowling's are more like a pleasure cruise, with a lot more enjoyment in the tiny details. Her imagination is amazing.' He also rates Anthony Horowitz and Eoin Colfer; though his favourite children's author is Philip Pullman.

Shan and J.K. Rowling share the same agent - Christopher Little - but Shan got there first, in the days when Little had never represented a children's author before. Oddly enough, Little's inexperience was partly responsible for getting Shan his big break. Determined to understand more about children's publishing, Little arranged meetings with all the people who had rejected Shan's first manuscript to find out where the writer was going wrong. On second reading, an editor at HarperCollins realised she did like the book after all.

'It's something I'm always saying to young authors: you need your lucky break,' says Shan. 'As a writer, you can push yourself as hard as you can, develop to the best of your ability, but without that lucky break there's nothing you can do. It seems crazy to think that J.K. Rowling or Stephen King ever needed a lucky break, but they did.'

 'Slawter', book three of 'The Demonata' series, by Darren Shan, will be published on June 1 (HarperCollins. £12.99) Pictures: John Reardon

Thursday, March 2nd, 2006, was World Book Day in the UK and 30 other countries around the world. To celebrate the day, I conducted a live chat room event, open to anyone who wanted to throw questions at me. there were lots of repeated questions, idle chit-chat between fans, and some spam Super-fan JEFF went through the chat room after the event and whittled it down, deleting all the nonsense, reducing it to a simple question and answer format. I'm including his tightening-up of the event below. Thanks, Jeff!!!! I then went through Jeff's edit and re-jigged it, making sure all the questions and answers were in order. I think it makes for quite a neat interview in the end!! Enjoy! Abridged Transcript of Darren Shan's World Book Day Chat

--Featuring all questions answered by Darren.

Compiled By JEFF STERN

18:09:09 [darrenshan] Howdy all -- I'm on the board! I see a couple of people have opened up their own sub-rooms here, but to keep things simple I'll only be posting here, on the DEFAULT page!! So, go ahead -- whadaya want to know?!?!?

18:10:00 [Charlie] Is there any chance of you coming to the US for a tour this year?

18:10:38 [darrenshan] I haven't heard anything from my American publishers about a tour this year, but the last CDF book comes out in October, so who knows ...

18:11:05 [blathnat] Darren: where do you get your insperation?

18:11:44 [darrenshan] People ask me all the time where my ideas or inspiration come from. I never answer, because it's too difficult a question!!!!

18:11:46 [Triviumrox] What's your alltime favourite book/author?

18:12:34 [darrenshan] My favourite author is Stephen King. My fave book ... maybe "Salem's Lot" or "The Secret Garden". VERY different books, I know, but I love them both!!

18:13:03 [ari] If you did get asked, would you like to have a role in the movie???

18:14:13 [darrenshan] If I was asked to play a VERY small role in the movie (like a background character), yeah, it would be fun. But so far I've had no direct contact with anyone involved with the film, so I wouldn't hold out too much hope of being in it!! Then again, that might changes as things move forward...

18:13:39 [shadowfox] May I ask how long did it take for you to get your first book published?

18:14:55 [darrenshan] It took me a LONG time to get a book published. First it took several months to find an agent, then a year to sell it, then 2 years before it came out!

18:13:56 [mr. atomic] Hi darren, remember me? i told you about the right click blocker for your secret shanville

18:15:16 [darrenshan] Thanks for the tip, right-click blocker!! I've used it on Secret Shanville!

18:15:13 [adam123] I'm 14 and I write darren can you give me some original advice?

18:16:15 [darrenshan] The best advice I can give any young writer is WRITE. It's as simple as that! The more you write, the more you learn. There are no short cuts!!

18:15:34 [freakking] Darren shan...um..is it normal to not be able to write short stories bcs you always turn them into novels?

18:16:47 [darrenshan] I like writing short stories, but I prefer the longer format of novels, which is why I mostly write books.

18:15:42 [Charlie] How did warner bros hear about your books before theu were published and buy the rights?

18:17:23 [darrenshan] My agent sent Warner Bros a copy of the manuscripts of the first 3 books before they were published. That's the advantage of having a smart agent!!

18:16:22 [shanicus] Did you ever have doubts about becoming an author?

18:17:53 [darrenshan] Yes, I had doubts about being able to succeed as an author. But I never had any doubts that that was what I WANTED to do.

18:16:51 [Wail] Have you ever had trouble speaking in public?

18:18:45 [darrenshan] No, I've never had trouble speaking in public -- I love that side of my work! But I was VERY shy in secondary shcool and uni, and almost never spoke out in class!!

18:18:27 [shadowfox] If you had any advise for a person that wants to become an author what would it be?

18:19:35 [darrenshan] If you've got to the stage where you want to send your work off to publishers, read The Writers And Artists Yearbook (or whatever the American equivalent is).

18:18:15 [mr.atomic] Can you give any clues to your SECRET PROJECT!?!?

18:19:54 [darrenshan] No clues about the SECRET PROJECT ... yet!!!!

18:19:32 [phsyco9] How do you feel about having so many fans?

18:20:43 [darrenshan] I love having lots of fans -- it's great to know there are people out there who want to read my books, and who love them as much (or more!!) than I do.

18:19:51 [blathnat] Darren have you hade any intrest in being a script wrighter??

18:21:07 [darrenshan] I never wanted to be a script writer. I DID want to try directing a film, and maybe I will one day.

18:20:24 [mr.atomic] What do you think about danny devito playing mr tiny in the film?

18:21:44 [darrenshan] Danny DeVito as Mr Tiny?!? Maybe!!!!

18:21:27 [nidhiki] Darren, Is it cavader on the slawter cover?

18:22:42 [darrenshan] No, that's not Cadaver on the "Slawter" cover. It's a new demon.

18:22:45 [Wail] Darren, do you ever listen to certain music and use the songs to get ideas for your stories? (It's what I do...)

18:24:24 [darrenshan] I listen to music all the time when I write, but I never really get ideas from it. I just like background noise!!!

18:22:40 [Dan] Look Darren I don't have long, Do you know if there are auditions yet?

18:23:28 [darrenshan] There are no auditions for the movie yet. Right now Universal are looking for a director. So casting is a LONG way off, I imagine.

18:24:50 [Triviumrox] What type of music do you listen to?

18:25:27 [darrenshan] I listen to lots of pop and rock. Beatles, Stones, Franz Ferdinand, Editors ... anything, basically!

18:22:45 [Triviumrox] Out of the books you've written so far, who is your favourite character?

18:23:55 [darrenshan] My fave character is probably Mr Crepsley. Although I like Bec in the new series a lot, and Dervish too.

18:25:07 [Wail] Have you ever read the stuff on fanfiction.net that people write about your books?18:26:17 [darrenshan] No, I NEVER read fanfiction. All writers start out copying other writers and writing about established characters. That's how we develop. But I've no interest in reading such stuff.

18:26:13 [duckiealex] YET ANOTHER QUESTION!!! In your blog, you mention that you write 10 pages a day. Is that A1 computer pages or pages as they'll appear on a book??

18:27:03 [darrenshan] I write 10 A4 pages a day. About 3000 words.

18:26:20 [mr.atomic] Don't you ever get plane sick, flying all around the world?

18:27:30 [darrenshan] I never get air sickness, but my ears pop badly!! I have to wear special plugs to ease the pain!!

18:27:36 [Wail] Any possiblities of your adult series getting re-printed?

18:28:07 [darrenshan] I WILL reprint my adult books one day, but there are no current plans to do so.

18:27:43 [Charlie] Did you ever track down a copy of the book with your LL poem?

18:28:34 [darrenshan] Somebody has found a copy of the book with my LL poem and has sent it to me!!! But I haven't got it yet.

18:27:54 [irishguy] Will you be setting up an official fanclub?

18:28:54 [darrenshan] No plans for a fan club. With the web site, I don't really think we need one.

18:29:09 [phsyco9] Is the warning on Lord Loss real or a mock warning?

18:29:50 [darrenshan] The LL warning is both real AND mock! It was a fun way of letting people know it was a fairly dark book!

18:29:27 [nidhiki] Darren, What football team do you support?

18:30:04 [darrenshan] I support Tottenham Hotspur!

18:29:42 [shadowfox] Can I ask do you put up all of your fanart? Or is there too much to put up on your website?

18:31:00 [darrenshan] I don't put up ALL the fan art I receive -- there's too much of it! I have to whittle it down. I plan to add new art to the site SOON!!

18:29:37 [GannenGirl] Do you have a favourite quote from your books?

18:30:25 [darrenshan] My fave quote -- "Even in death may you be triumphant!"

18:30:23 [Wali] Do you support an American football team?

18:31:27 [darrenshan] I have no interest in American football at all, I'm afraid, or any other sport except soccer really!

18:30:45 [adam123] Darren from reading your blog i know that you like films what's ur favourite

18:31:55 [darrenshan] One of my fave films is "Salem's Lot", as it had a huge impact on me when I saw it as a kid.

18:30:53 [Charlie] Do you think as an extras on your site you could name all 17 parts of the trials?

18:32:16 [darrenshan] I couldn't name all 17 trials, as I only thought up 4, since that's all I needed!!!!

18:31:49 [Wail] How do you go about book signings in foriegn countries? Is there a translater?

18:33:07 [darrenshan] Yes, I always have a translator when I go to a foreign country.

18:35:00 [ari] Do you eat garlic bread?

18:35:11 [darrenshan] Yes, I like garlic bread!!!

18:35:12 [Vampaneze] Darren can you please answer this: how any series are there? cos i only just found the website 90 mis ago so i didnt get a chance to look up

18:35:48 [darrenshan] There are 2 series -- "The Saga of Darren Shan" (or "Cirque Du Freak") and "The Demonata".

18:35:50 [shanicus] darrenshan> CAN YOU REVEAL MORE ON SLAWTER

18:36:25 [darrenshan] Read Secret Shanville to learn more about "Slawter".

18:35:53 [Wail] Will Koyasan ever come out in the U.S.?

18:36:43 [darrenshan] i hope "Koyasan" will be released in America, but I've no idea when or if it will.

18:36:13 [mr.atomic] darrenshan> whats CASPIAN? its in the names game section of your secret shanville but i dont recall seeing that in demon theif

18:37:10 [darrenshan] Caspian is the name of Kernel's Dad.

18:36:21 [duckiealex] Bex, you gave me an idea... HEY DARREN!!! Do you speak any other languages, besides English ??

18:37:29 [darrenshan] No, I only speak English. I was always terrible at languages!!!

18:37:10 [nidhiki] Why does lord loss love chess?

18:37:56 [darrenshan] You'll find out in book 4 how Lord Loss first got interested in chess!!!

18:37:23 [Charlie] Do you ever let family or friends proof read books to get their take on it?

18:38:29 [darrenshan] I never let family or friends see my books before they're published. My agent sees them first, then my UK editor.

18:37:45 [shadowfox] darrenshan> Do you think that you will create another saga of books after Demonata?

18:39:01 [darrenshan] I don't know if I'll write another series after "Demonata". i probably will, but I might release a few stand-alone books first.

18:38:26 [GannenGirl] darrenshan> What's your favourite food?

18:39:42 [darrenshan] I love all types of food. Pizza, sweet and sour chicken, and fish and chips are some of my faves. And square pies, of course!!!

18:40:07 [duckiealex] OK, When you first found out when either your adult books OR the Saga of Darren Shan... how did you feel? What were the circumstances??18:41:20 [darrenshan] It was great when my first book sold, but not as exciting as winning the lottery -- there was a build-up to it, and I'd worked hard to make it happen, so it didn't come as a complete shock.

18:40:53 [Charlie] Do you like writing for children where you have to censor your writing more or do you like writing for adults where you can be more open?

18:42:01 [darrenshan] I don't prefer writing for adults or children -- I like the challenges of both!

18:42:51 [duckiealex] Any advice for when you have writer's block??

18:43:19 [darrenshan] I've never had writer's block. A professional writer MAKES himself write!!!

18:43:42 [darrenshan] I've no idea what the release schedule for my books is in most countries.

18:44:06 [GannenGirl] darrenshan> Do you like playing or doing any sports?

18:44:46 [darrenshan] I don't play any sports now, but I played soccer, hurling and gaelic football when I was younger, and I was quite a fast runner too!

18:44:36 [headless] are you going to any good concert this year i refuse to miss you at one again

18:45:24 [darrenshan] I might go to Metallica in Dublin, maybe V in England, Rolling Stones at Wembley, and Robbie Williams!!

18:45:07 [Charlie] We know you write a lot of books ahead of time, do you have a couple for after the demonata?

18:46:09 [darrenshan] Yes, I've written a few books already which I might POSSIBLY release after "The Demonata". We'll see ...

18:45:20 [guest] Did you have a spider when you were younger?

18:46:25 [darrenshan] No, I never had a spider. I was always rather scared of them!!!!!

18:46:52 [dervish] cool. Will you be coming to dublin anytime soon for a signing?

18:47:21 [darrenshan] I'll be doing signings in Dublin either in May or October. Or both!!!

18:47:07 [trudemon] What Director would You like to see Directing The Saga

18:47:41 [darrenshan] Since I won't have any choice in who directs the film, I try not to think about it.

18:47:43 [duckiealex] What type of negative reactions have you had from the content of your books? Anything that has put them in jeopardy ??

18:48:15 [darrenshan] I've never had any really negative reaction to the books.

18:48:45 [headless] what would you think of darren shan dolls?? cute cuddly arterys teddys??

18:49:32 [darrenshan] I'd love to see darren shan dolls!! I'm perfectly cool with merchandise!!

18:49:34 [mr.atomic] i havnt got a book mark, so right now im using an old legoland ticket from 2001, is there such thing as official darren shan bookmarks?

18:50:16 [darrenshan] There have been several Darren Shan bookmarks, printed by publishers in different countries.

18:49:40 [blathnat] ari> are you planning on keeping this room?

18:50:33 [darrenshan] I'll probably close this chat room down a few days after this event.

18:50:05 [Wail] How about yellow boxers with pink elephants on them?

18:51:09 [darrenshan] Yes, I think there's a BIG market for yellow boxers with pink elephants on them ...

18:50:45 [LethalLion] Until yesterday, I thought it was pronounced Darren SHARN, but then I saw your MeetTheAuthor thing, and learnt it was pronounced Shaan.

18:51:26 [darrenshan] Shan -- rhymes with Man!!

18:53:49 [LethalLion] First sentance of Koyasan: Koyasan stood nervously by the narrow stone bridge, chewing on a clove of garlic. Chewing garlic? Huh? :S

18:54:16 [darrenshan] In the far east, they do chew garlic cloves!! Though they normally cook them first!

18:53:53 [mr.atomic] where did you come up with the name bec?

18:54:38 [darrenshan] Bec is based on the Irish word for small -- "beag".

18:54:45 [dervish] is the cover for bec near complete yet or has it even been drafted?

18:55:11 [darrenshan] I haven't seen a cover for Bec yet.

18:55:26 [mr.atomic] is bas with you now?

18:56:42 [darrenshan] Bas is in the other room, getting ready -- we're going to see a band called The Transmitters play in the Clapham Grand later! One of her friends is the lead singer.

18:57:07 [Charlie] Question: whats the book you've changed the most from the first round of writing?

18:58:20 [darrenshan] The book I changed the most was my second adult book, "Hell's Horizon". The first draft was totally different from the finished book!

18:58:49 [emmett] since you buy art do you dabble in drawings

18:59:13 [darrenshan] Nope, I can't draw to save my life!!!

18:59:19 [Dan] what would you say has been your most successful year

18:59:54 [darrenshan] My most successful year ... hard to call!! Financially, each year has been better than the last for the past 6 or 7 years!!!

18:59:38 [mr.atomic] darrenshan> are you actually any good at chess?

19:00:28 [darrenshan] I'm OK at chess, but haven't played it in years, so I imagine I'm rusty as hell!!!

18:59:59 [Charlie] you originally said you were going to write 18 books for the saga, knowing that you write far ahead, how many of the 18 did you plan out and write before deiciding to end it?

19:01:14 [darrenshan] I had most of the series planned after book 12, but when I got there, I realised 12 was the best place to stop. I MIGHT write a follow-up series one day, using the ideas I had.

19:00:43 [Wail] Darren -- dare I ask? -- erm, what was your first kiss like?!

19:02:10 [darrenshan] My first kiss was like ... my second and third kiss!!!!

19:00:49 [adam123] other than Stephen King and Garth nix who's ur fave author?

19:01:33 [darrenshan] My fave Irish author is Eoin Colfer -- he the man!!!

19:01:06 [freakking] Darren, in your opinion, do you think its okay to get an idea from an anime or a book, but...just a vague Idea....like.....some war is happening, and your thoughts go far away from what the book is planning...

19:02:45 [darrenshan] All writers get ideas from other works of fiction. That's how ideas spread and develop.

19:01:15 [mr.atomic] darrenshan> i really want to see what the cannaball king would have been like, could you tell us what would have hapened?

19:03:06 [darrenshan] I never discuss "Cannibal King", because I might use parts of it one day!!

19:03:21 [headless] how did you feel after you finish the saga

19:04:07 [darrenshan] I didn't feel much when I finished "The Saga", because I was already hard at work on "The Demonata", and I knew I might return to the vamp world one day, so I didn't consider it TRULY finished ...

19:03:47 [GannenGirl] Darren, who is your favourite character from your vampire books that is not a vampire or vampaneze?

19:04:33 [darrenshan] My fave non-vamp was Cormac Limbs!! I'd love to be able to do what he did!!!!

19:05:06 [duckiealex] Have you ever been to a freak show?? If so, was it legal ??

19:06:02 [darrenshan] I have been to a legal freak show, "The Circus of Horrors". It was COOL!!!!!

19:04:55 [shadowfox] darrenshan> Could I ask did you ever base any of your characters on real people or not?

19:05:41 [darrenshan] Some of my characters are based in parts on real people. e.g. Evra is based on my cousin Lorcan, who CAN stick his tongue up his nose!!!

19:06:28 [Dan] HEY DARREN WHO DO YOU THINK IS A BETTER WRITER THAN YOU AND WHY

19:07:07 [darrenshan] Nobody's a better writer than me!! I am the greatest!!! All others must bow before the master, Darren Shan!!!!!!!! :-)

19:06:13 [Charlie] Darren, do you have questions for us?

19:07:35 [darrenshan] I have no questions -- this is where YOU get to grill ME, not the other way round!!

19:07:22 [headless] darren if you could have one pice of art in the whole world what would it be

19:07:59 [darrenshan] One piece of art ... one of Van Gogh's oil paintings. Maybe Starry Night.

19:07:56 [Arra] Darren, I noticed you mentioned The Lord of the Rings in both The Saga and The Demonata. (A poster on the wall in Debbies apartment, and the chessboard in Dervish's room.) Are you a fan of LOTR?

19:08:31 [darrenshan] I'm a HUGE fan of LOTR. Murlough was actually based on Gollum!!!!

19:08:02 [duckiealex] OK THEN!!! *What would be your idea of a perfect date ??? *turns on the grill*

19:09:19 [darrenshan] Perfect date? Every date with the Shan Man is perfect!!!!

19:08:34 [Charlie] whats the most common question are you asked at signings?

19:09:50 [darrenshan] Most common question -- will there be a film? Or, Where do your ideas come from?

19:08:55 [blathnat] Darren> can you speak gailic?

19:10:19 [darrenshan] I know some words and phrases of Gaelic, since I studied it at school since I was 6! But no, I can't speak it.

19:09:44 [dervish] what's the most books you had to sign at a signing?

19:10:51 [darrenshan] My biggest ever signing was in Hungary -- 9 or 10 hours in one day!!!!

19:11:32 [headless] did you think so many people would be on this chat

19:12:18 [darrenshan] I had no idea how many people would turn up here. I have over 5500 registered fans, so it could have been huge!! I think we got the perfect numbers in the end.

19:13:39 [amy] darrenshan> if you could change one thing in the saga what would it be?

19:14:16 [darrenshan] If I could change 1 thing in The Saga, I'd have written a book between 3 and 4, featuring a teenaged Steve Leopard.

19:15:21 [emmett] darrenshan> did you ever try and skate

19:15:45 [darrenshan] I can't skate -- I have a terrible sense of balance!!!!

19:17:05 [freakking] DARREN....Will you ever go on a trip to the Middle East?

19:17:44 [darrenshan] I definitely plan to come to the Middle East one day ... (I've been to Jordan and Egypt already.)

19:17:44 [headless] were you a goth??

19:18:20 [darrenshan] I was never a goth, but I had LONG hair once ... then I shaved myself bald ... then I had a mohican!!!

19:19:13 [darrenshan] OK, folks, I've got to go. Thanks to everyone for taking part. It's been fun!! We'll do it again some time!!!!! Bye!!

19:22:32 [GannenGirl] Yes. Do you love us Darren?

19:22:35 [ari] darrenshan> do you love your fans?

19:22:59 [darrenshan] And that's it -- I'm logging off!! Final answer -- yes, I DO love my fans!!! Now ... I'm going ... going ... gone!!!!!!

19:23:08 darrenshan exits from this room

End of Abridged Transcript. 

KIRSTIE NEWTON MET TEEN AUTHOR DARREN SHAN ON HIS RECENT VISIT TO PLYMOUTH.

I'm not a big fan of horror, so reading the first chapters of teen author Darren Shan's Lord Loss was a hair-raising task. Chapter one: a vengeful boy chops up a dozen rotting rats and places them carefully in his sister's bath towel. Chapter two: he discovers a scene of unspeakable carnage in his parent's bedroom.

As I walked to Plymouth College to meet Darren, I became convinced that I had stepped on the remains of a rat (it was a shiny wet leaf with a very long stalk). Darren laughs. "Chapter two is the scariest thing I have ever written," he says proudly. "Because it's the first book in a new series, The Demonata, I wanted to start it off with a real bang. Originally, it was even scarier, but I toned it down." His gore benchmark: "Anything that I don't feel comfortable reading out to kids, I adjust".

Darren Shan is seriously hot among nine- to 16-year-olds. He has an estimated nine million readers worldwide, girls and boys, and last year one of his books sold on ebay for £320.

Darren knew from the age of six that he wanted to write, acquired his first typewriter aged 14 and published his first novel aged 17, under his real name of O'Shaughnessy. "I had always liked children's fiction - The Secret Garden was a particular favourite, and Roald Dahl - but I was waiting for the right story to come along."

That story was Cirque de Freak, in which a young boy meets vampires at a circus. Writing for children under the name of Shan, he decided to present the work as a "true" story - hence, Darren Shan is the hero of this, and 11 more books in the Vampire series.

"I wanted to offer a bridge between Goosebumps and adult horror," explains Darren. "That wasn't around when I was 11, so I had to go that step up to the likes of Stephen King, James Herbert and Clive Barker.

"People who don't like horror ask what the appeal is. It's like a roller-coaster ride - scary but fun. I wanted to provide youngsters with a different experience - draw them into this world, make them laugh, cry, feel tension."

Cirque was written before Harry Potter, when the industry believed that "there was no money in children's fiction". So its phenomenal . success took everyone by surprise - even Darren. "By then I had resigned myself to not being a best-seller. As a teenager I wanted to be really famous and sell millions. Then you get into the industry and you realise how difficult it is. But I just wanted to support myself by writing, and would have been happy making the minimum wage."

Cirque could soon be coming to a cinema near you; Universal owns the screen rights. But Darren remains level-headed in the face of fame. "It didn't happen overnight, and I'm glad of that. I still live in Ireland, in the little village in Limerick where I've always lived. I've been able to see the world, but I'm not interested in the jet-set lifestyle."

There will be 10 Demonata books. The second, Demon Thief, is already released in hardback, and the third, Slawter, is due in June. Darren has all but completed the series in draft form. "That way, if I think of a plot development, I can edit backwards."

His book talks are incredibly popular, with his readers often asking specific questions, which Darren takes fully on board. "I love meeting my readers. A lot of writers don't - it's a solitary profession, and writers aren't always good at promoting their work. But I love it when people are excited about my books. That's the best side of the job. It gives me a buzz, that's why I do so much of it."

For World Book Day, Darren is releasing a stand-alone £1 short story called Koyasan. The story is set in Japan, where Darren regularly tops the adult and children's fiction charts. "Last year, I visited a graveyard on a mountain called Koyasan, and something happened there which inspired this book. You'll have to read it to find out!"

Maybe I will - I'm hooked, and go straight home to devour Lord Loss to the end.

On Monday, February 13th, 2006, I was interviewed by Ryan Tubridy on his radio show in Ireland. This was temporarily available online, and while it was, super-fan Karen K transcribed it, typing out the full interview! Bits that she couldn't decipher are marked -------. Please bear in mind, as you read this, that it was a live radio interview, and this is a direct transcript, so it won't read as smoothly as most of my interviews!!! Oh, and by the way, I've actually sold more than 10 million books worldwide, but I didn't think it would be polite to correct Ryan live on air!!!!!!!!

Host: Now, let’s move on to our next guest. He’s sold 9 million books worldwide. The last book of his series outsold “The Da Vinci Code” in this country. He inhabits a dark world of vampires, freak shows, poisonous insects, and curses. And naturally enough, the -----. Darren Shan joins us now, promoting World Book Day, which is coming up in March, but ahead of that, he’s bringing out a new novel for one euro fifty as it happens and he’s going to give us all the details. Darren, good morning.

Darren: Good Morning.

Host: How are you?

Darren: I’m not too bad, thanks a lot.

Host: I’m just fascinated by your success, it’s just incredible. So let me start by saying congratulations on that.

Darren: Thank you.

Host: And I noticed a kind of rather thick London accent. You’re a Limerick man. What’s your, what’s your -----?

Darren: Well, I was born in London. I moved back here to Limerick when I was six years old. I’ve lived here ever since. But I never lost the original cockney accent. It stuck with me like a curse.

Host: How did you get to keep it so strong, from the age of six, it must have been shoved in your throat.

Darren: It just stuck with me. To be honest, I’d love to get rid of it, cause every time I meet somebody for the first time, I’ve got to go through the whole thing, that I’m really Irish, I’m not from London. But this is what I sound like so there’s nothing I can do.

Host: No, not at all. I mean, absolutely it’s kind of a Limerick sound such as Jamie Oliver in some ways, just a little. Well, what, you are fully, fully Irish, now we’re not claiming you unfairly, now are we?

Darren: No, I’ve lived here since I was twenty-seven years of age. My real surname’s O\'Shaughnessy.

Host: Ok.

Darren: Shan is just a pen name I use for my children’s books.

Host: Very good. So, tell us a bit about World Book Day before we get stuck into your own whole success.

Darren: Well, World Book Day is on Thursday, March 2nd.

Host: Yeah.

Darren: It’s a great initiative. Basically, there will be several books released on the day, for one euro fifty each. They’re very short books, written especially for World Book Day. I’ve done one of those this year, called Koyasan.

Host: Yeah.

Darren: There’s another initiative called books for hospitals, which basically, in bookstores all around the country in March there are going to be special bins, and they’re asking people to go to the bookstore, buy a book, put it into the bin, and the collected books will be given to hospitals around the country.

Host: That’s wonderful, isn’t it? And so simple. As well, people can also put books in that they don’t want, necessarily…

Darren: Yep!

Host: Any that they might have them on their shelves at home.

Darren: Anything, basically. Adults, children, whatever you can give, it will go to hospitals.

Host: And there will be in shops around the country.

Darren: All around the country, in March, the whole month of March.

Host: You got your first typewriter at the age of fourteen. Was that where it all began, really?

Darren: Yeah, I mean, I’d been writing up until that stage, played around. I’d always wanted to be a writer. But I was fourteen, fifteen, I got my first typewriter. I found out I could actually type a lot quicker than I could write by hand.

Host: Yeah.

Darren: And I began writing in my spare time, after school, on holidays, weekends, and it’s just grown from there.

Host: And was there a TV script writing competition for ----- that triggered an interest in it as well?

Darren: There was, there used to be a show called Nothing to It. Pauline McLynn was on it, it was one of her first shows, and Michael Murphy.

Host: Oh, yes, yeah.

Darren: Gerry Stembridge used to write it.

Host: Yeah.

Darren: And towards the end of the series, every week would be about jobs, it was about these three teenagers who got a different job every week, so it had this whole educational aspect to it as well, but it was mostly just a comedy show. And during the season, they asked teenagers to send in a script, and the winning script got turned into an episode. I didn’t actually win it, I was one of the runners-up, so I got to go up and appear on the show. That was my first brush with success.

Host: And on you went then to get into books. But your first book was an adult book, is that right?

Darren: That’s right. I actually started out writing books for adults. Um, I’ve had two published, and my first adult book came out back in 1999. And I used my real name, Darren O\'Shaughnessy, when I was writing that one.

Host: Yeah.

Darren: Which is why I decided to use a pen name when I came to write for younger readers, because I didn’t want kids picking up my adult books, cause some of the material in that wasn’t really suitable.

Host: Sure, sure, and you’re aware of that, you don’t want to make, you want to make the division between the two quite clear.

Darren: Yeah, just keep them separate, two separate worlds, so when I’m talking about the kids books, I’m Darren Shan, talk about adult books, I’m Darren O\'Shaughnessy. So there’s no real, no real conflict.

Host: Ok, and The Saga of Darren Shan, right? 12-book series, where did he emerge from, what part of your dark soul did that come from?

Darren: I was just sitting in the car one day, and this is back in ‘97 and I just had an idea of a boy who meets a vampire at a circus and reluctantly becomes a vampire. And it was a very simple idea. I said, it was in 1997, so it was before Harry Potter, it was before children’s books were popular, well in terms of being, you know, nobody made money in children’s books back then. The standard wisdom was, you know, children’s writers don’t really make anything, you just do it cause you love doing it. And I had this idea for this book about a boy who becomes a vampire. I started writing it, I enjoyed it, I sent it to my agent, he liked it, and it just took off.

Host: And when you say took off, translated into 20 languages, sold in 30 countries, and million copies sold in the UK alone, 9 million worldwide, I mean, what is the attraction, to whom are you appealing mostly, do you think?

Darren: The attraction, I think is that, well, I think readers always like horror, they like, people like to be scared. It’s always, horror has always done well in publicized writing. I think why my books succeed probably is, I tell quite complex stories but in a very, very simple manner. So, I have 9 and 10 year olds reading my books, but I also have 15 and 16 year olds reading them. Cause they’re very, very dark books, there’s lots of characters, lots of twists, but they’re written very, very simply.

Host: Yes, yeah. And it’s a page-turning exercise as well.

Darren: Yeah, whenever I’m giving young writers advice, I always say, write the sort of books you like to read, or the sort of stories you like to read. And I love page-turners, I love Stephen King, I love Wilbur Smith, I love books that really move fast and have a lot going on. So that’s what I write.

Host: Right, right. And what a success it’s been. Do you attribute much of your influence to comics?

Darren: Yeah, I’m a big comics fan. The first comic I really got into Evil, back in 1980, it was relaunched.

Host: And you’re bringing me back there? Yes, yes?

Darren: All the way back to 2000 AD. I never really got into superheroes because you couldn’t get American superhero comics back when I was growing up. You know, I lived here in Limerick and you know, 2000 AD was as advanced as it got. But then in later times I got into Alan Moore, Frank Miller, and so on. So I’ve always been a big comics fan and yeah, a lot of my influences would come from comics. Especially, what I love about comics was the cliffhangers. Most comics would have a cliffhanger every week, or every month, and that’s something I’ve worked into my books, a lot of my books end on cliffhangers. When I take a story forward from book to book.

Host: Yeah, of course. I wonder what would have happened if your, what direction you might have gone with in, if your influence had been Beezer or Whizzer and Chips.

Darren: Well, I read those as well.

Host: Yeah, so did I. But in the meantime, you’ve found yourself in a position where financially, I take it, you’re not doing too badly. And, good on you for that. But it allowed you to indulge in an interest, in collecting, originally, original comic artwork. Is that right, you’re kinda going back?

Darren: Yeah, about five or six years ago, when I got online, I was checking out EBay, I realized a lot of the artwork of the comics that I liked is actually available for sale. And back in the old days you couldn’t just get it, because, you know, most of it was just sold in America.

Host: Yep.

Darren: But now EBay is opened up so everyone can pretty much get in on the act. So I started picking out pages from comics I really liked, just stories that I loved, and yeah, I’ve grown into that, I’ve grown into a bit of an art collector.

Host: I know you’re a committed blogger. And this being the weblog that people like to use. Do you get many handwritten letters, we talk about them on this show quite a bit.

Darren: I do, I get quite a lot. I’ve had a website now since 2000 and in the early days I used to reply to emails. That’s not possible anymore, because I get 20, 30, 40 emails a day. I do still reply to every letter I get.

Host: Do you?

Darren: I really, I love getting those. I think if somebody takes the time to sit down, write a letter, pay for a stamp, and post it to you, it’s only polite to write back. So I’m trying to keep on top of letters. I get probably about 20 or 30 letters a week or so.

Host: And you write a little note to each one of them?

Darren: Yeah, I don’t write a big long, long reply, but yeah, it’s nice to get a little handwritten note saying thanks and answer one or two questions if they ask them.

Host: That’s extremely thoughtful.

Darren: Well, the thing is, I’m in a nice position, able to go to Sotheby\'s and buy a Van Gogh because I have fans who buy the books. So I’ve never lost sight of that, you know, I’m in the position that I am because the fans. So, yeah, I think if you have a good relationship with those, it bodes well for the future.

Host: Do you think that American children are more inclined to write handwritten letters than, say, European children?

Darren: Yeah, the vast bulk of the letters I get are from America. I think over there, they have somewhat of a more positive attitude than we might have here. They believe, I think, if they send a letter, they’re going to get a response. While I think a lot of us over here think, that guy will never reply to me. So yeah, I get loads of letters from the States. They’re not always the most legible of letters, but I like the fact that they do go for it.

Host: We got a call from Austin who you met in, she’s the country librarian in ----- She said, Darren, you’re one of the few writers who can get boys in the 10 to 12 age group to read. His books are massively popular. Darren put on a show in the library on several occasions and the boys loved him. Would you consider going back there again? Austin wishes you all the best, Darren.

Darren: Hi Austin. Yep, I’ve always tour in some way or another. I’ll be doing a lot of stuff around May and June, that’s when I’ll have a new book coming out, and in the late year, probably around October, I’ll be touring around as well. Yeah, I had a good time there, that was around October 2004 was the last time I was up there.

Host: That’s a great library too. J.K Rowling, Darren, what do you think? Hero or villain?

Darren: I love her. I really like the books, and I think they’ve been brilliant for children’s books in general. As I said, when I wrote Cirque Du Freak back in 1997, children’s authors didn’t make fast money. Publishers didn’t pump money into children’s books. So when a children’s book came out, it would come out in a very, very small print run, and it would sell over time. It would take normally 5, 6, 10, 15 years for a book to really gain speed. Cause it was basically word of mouth that would spread a book. Harry Potter’s changed all that. It’s made it now so publishers are now more willing to take risks on books, they give them more publicity, they push them harder. So I think it’s been great for the entire children’s literature.

Host: Do you think from your travels, Darren, that book-reading is alive and well with the competition from TV, TVs in children’s rooms, computers, X-Box, iPod, you know, Gameboys, everything. Do you find the interest is still very much alive and well or is it diminishing ever so slightly? Can you tell if -----

Darren: I think it’s very alive and well. I think, if anything, the Internet is a boom for writers, because it makes it much easier to get a hold of books, to find out what’s hot, what isn’t. Because the trouble with books, especially children’s books is actually knowing what’s out there. There aren’t, there are very few magazines about children’s literature, it’s very rare that children’s authors turn up on television talking about their books. So, I think children can sometimes find it hard to know what’s new, what’s coming out, what should I be reading? And the internet had made it much easier. There’s loads of great sites now you can go on, you can see what other people are reading, you can read comments, or you have a way of communicating with authors or finding out about them. So, no I think its going great at the moment. There’s this misperception that books don’t sell, but I think, in the travels that I’ve done, there’s loads and loads of readers out there.

Host: Text in, I’ve been a fan of Darren’s for the last five years, he’s just amazing, keep at it. So there’s a little bit of encouragement from a fan, and Helen, good morning to you, says Darren is a real gentleman, he stayed to meet the children at Armani’s, I presume that’s Armani’s book shop in Limerick.

Darren: I’ve been there several times.

Host: I’m sure you have, long after you were supposed to be, you stuck around. I get the impression that you generally enjoy the company of your readers. That is to say that the younger people who read your books, you know, you seem to like them, as opposed to sitting in some cave, writing, dispatching your manuscript to the publishers.

Darren: Yeah, I mean, to me that’s the most enjoyable part, is going out to book signings, to school events, libraries, basically, I’m a big fanboy. You know, I was a fan of writing years before I became a writer.

Host: Yes.

Darren: And I used to go to comic conventions.

Host: Did you?

Darren: I’d meet my comic heroes, I’ve been standing in line for an hour waiting to get a signature, and I know what its like to be a fan. So, when I go along to events and stuff, I know it’s exciting for those who come to them. So I try to you know, to chat with them, to sign all the books that they bring, it doesn’t take much to be nice, and for me that’s the enjoyable part.

Host: Do you censor yourself when you’re writing, because you are writing kind of horror stories. Do you find yourself going, Whoops that’s a bit much, I’ll hold back off that.

Darren: I do, yes, I always bear in mind that I am writing for, well I say younger readers, I also said that I have 15 or 16 year olds reading my books, but I also have 9 and 10 year olds. So, even though I put in lots of dark material, I always bear in mind that, you know, some of the readers won’t necessarily be ready for complete darkness. So, yeah, I do censor myself, I do. My yardstick is, I do lots of school events and library events, and anything that I would feel uncomfortable reading out live, in front of a group of children, I won’t put into the books. So if there’s something especially gory or juicy, I’ll save that for one of my other books later in life.

Host: Very good. And do you think that adults would enjoy The Saga of Darren Shan?

Darren: I get loads of feedback from adults. Normally, its quite guilty, its like a mum sends me a letter saying I know I shouldn’t be reading this, but its my kids book, I picked it up, I really enjoy it, so yeah, I think, because what I was trying to do with these books, I didn’t write for an audience, I write for myself. I thought of myself when I was 12, 13, 14 years of age, and I thought about the books which I loved to read, about ----- Roald Dahl, and other children’s books, but I was also reading Stephen King and James Hurbert, and what I wanted to do with my books, was combine the best of both worlds, basically adults books and the children’s books. So even though my books are written for children, there’s a lot of adult material in there. So, grown-ups, yeah, they do like…

Host: Good crossover. Well, World Book Day is on the 2nd of March, that’s a Thursday, it’s a great event, and one that we wholeheartedly support. And don’t forget the boxes that you can put books in, that will be going to hospitals, it’s another terrific idea too. Darren, I’m very impressed and I really wish you well in the future. Good looking. Keep it coming.

Darren: Thanks a lot.

Host: Thanks a lot. Darren Shan joining us there, and he’s sold 9 million books worldwide, is doing extremely well with his Saga of Darren Shan. 

My books get a mention in a poll conducted by A&C Black, which apparently asked 100,000 teenagers what they REALLY like to read!

And now a list of what teenagers really read. A poll of 100,000 11-16 year olds by publishers A&C Black aims to shed some light on what teenagers really do read.

Forget Paradise Lost and Don Quixote, teenagers prefer to secretly pore over glamour model Jordan’s autobiography and the Kama Sutra, according to a story in the Daily Mail.

Parents may also be alarmed to discover their children are reading How to Cope with Your Parents and Melvin Burgess’ controversial novel for teenagers about heroin addiction, Junk, according to the paper.

This is A&C Black's Ultimate Teen Book Guide, as published in the Daily Mail:

The books that children cannot put down
Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
Alex Rider series – Anthony Horowitz
A Series of Unfortunate Events – Lemony Snicket
The Lord of the Rings trilogy – JRR Tolkien
The Saga of Darren Shan series – Darren Shan
His Dark Materials trilogy – Philip Pullman
The Diamond Girls – Jacqueline Wilson
A Child Called ‘It’ – Dave Pelzer
Girl 15, Charming but Insane – Sue Limb
Holes – Louis Sachar

… And the ones they hide from their parents
Angus, Thongs and Full-frontal Snogging – Louise Rennison
Girls in Love – Jacqueline Wilson
A Child Called ‘It’ – Dave Pelzer
Bridget Jones’s Diary – Helen Fielding
Junk – Melvin Burgess
Coping with Parents – Peter Corey
Kama Sutra – Sage Vatsyayana
Bumface – Morris Gleitzman
Forever – Judy Blume
Being Jordan – Katie Price

Is this cause for alarm...?

VAMPIRES ARE STALKING the charts after a rest in their tombs. With Stephanie Meyer’s debut novel, Twilight, poised for bestsellerdom with its chaste yet intensely erotic description of a teenager’s love-affair with a vampire, Darren Shan’s 12-volume Saga of Darren Shan — of which the latest volume is Sons of Destiny — racing to the big screen and Demons of the Ocean, part of Justin Somper’s Vampirates series one of the top-selling titles of 2005, vampires are suddenly the next big thing.

Since Bram Stoker published Dracula in 1897, vampires have held the popular imagination. The vampire never dies, becoming increasingly complex and intriguing.

The historian Tom Holland, the author of three vampire novels, remarked in The New Statesman five years ago: “Nowadays, it is almost de rigueur for modern vampires to be gay, and many are drug addicts... Even as the outward appurtenances of the vampire — the castle, the cape, the crucifix and garlic — have increasingly become the props of a kitsch mass culture, so film makers and novelists have responded with ever more desperate attempts to shock. Yet these too, by the law of diminishing returns, would seem to spell the end of the vampire’s allure. Or perhaps not — for the vampire, like a virus, has endured by mutating.”

This is exactly what happened. Polidori’s The Vampyre, the first in the genre, was a Byronic libertine, his appetites the apotheosis of Romantic self-Indulgence; Stoker’s Dracula was an aristocratic nightmare to delight republicans.

However, vampires have spent the beginning of the Millennium developing a conscience and a culture. Terry Pratchett’s blood-suckers were the first to reform — in Monstrous Regiment (2003) his elegant female vampire Maladict drinks coffee not blood and proves a faithful friend to the heroine. But Shan’s Vampire Princes, with their isolationist warrior culture, have completely reformed the genre. Shan — the only living author praised by J.K. Rowling, and the one children most want to see filmed — originally planned three books about his hero’s choice to become a vampire to save his best friend’s life. But by the third, he was interested in the background to his “vampaneze” culture.

“We’re used to Dracula being evil, that’s the norm, but I wanted to explore what might happen if you have to drink blood to survive but don’t lose human emotions. Mine are not nice guys, but rather than the straight division between good and evil I was thinking of warrior cults such as the Masai Mara, the Celts and the samurai,” he says Part of Shan’s appeal to children of 10-plus is that his “autobiographical” saga is a coming-of-age story about loyalty and friendship. It resonates with the fear of terrorist cells that could destroy us from within. Shan is a young Irishman and the Troubles were at the back of his mind when he created the vampaneze — he was “trying to explore the way you have to talk to people, because if you don’t talk you become a separate culture”.

The vampire’s status as the outsider who looks like us plays to our deepest preoccupations now that Britain and the US feel under siege from home-grown terrorists, but it is striking how the new wave of vampire writers insist upon the vampire’s potential for compassion. Just as we modify our view of immigrants according to whether we think of them as terrorists or Polish plumbers, so the vampire is becoming potentially benign.

Meyer says: “I think the attraction vampires hold for us humans has to do with their dual natures. Obviously, we all enjoy being scared — you only have to look at the success of the horror industry to see that. Of all the monsters we dream up to frighten ourselves, most are traditionally ugly, repulsive things. They are the opposite of the things we want ourselves to be, and we run from them. The exception is the vampire. They have attributes we envy: they are beautiful, they are forever young, they are intelligent and well-spoken, they often wear tuxedos and live in castles. We want what they have, even as we fear what they want.”

Her story, recounted in hypnotic, dreamy prose, encapsulates perfectly the teenage feeling of sexual tension and alienation. Bella Swan, her narrator, is half way to the vampire world when she moves to Seattle to live with her father. Pale, eccentric, clever and virginal, she is drawn to four beautiful “siblings” at her new school. All are vampires sworn to abstinence, feeding only on animals or criminals. Edward, with whom she falls in love, thirsts for her blood but can’t consummate their relationship if she remains human; their passion becomes even more dangerous as Bella is hunted down by a posse of very different vampires.

To Meyer, the vampire is not a figure of evil glamour against which the virginal heroine must pit her virtue. Her vampires possess supernatural strength and telepathic abilities, but garlic, crucifixes and sunlight don’t affect them. Immortal and beautiful as angels, their problems stem from loneliness and a refined sensibility.

“Vampires stand for the choice between the worldly and the heavenly — the pull of these things we want (immortality, riches, beauty) versus the idea of choosing good over evil. Is it worth it to be evil, if you can get everything you want?”

Somper also addresses this problem in his romping Vampirates sequence, Demons of the Ocean and the forthcoming Tide of Terror (Simon & Schuster). A twin brother and sister, adrift on the sea after running away from an orphanage, are picked up by vampire pirates. At first, Grace, the heroine, doesn’t realise why she must stay away from the crew; the discovery that some humans are kept on board to be bled like cattle is a flesh-crawling shock. Then she discovers that the pirates who have her brother are worse.

“I’m interested in the idea that we really don’t know who our enemy is — that enemy is all a question of perspective, often derived from lack of information or misinformation,” Somper says. “In Vampirates, the twins have grown up hearing a shanty which sets up the vampirates as the ultimate evil but when Grace comes into contact with them she finds that this may be unreliable. The vampirate captain and his comrades are capable of compassion. They are essentially peace-loving. To Grace, the pirate world is more abhorrent than that of the vampires.”

Vampires may seem to be strong meat for children but much classic children’s literature plays with the concept of appetite, as pleasure and the source of evil. Appetite for food, life or another person all mingle in the vampire; the Millennial vampire, like many of us, could simply be exercising consumer choice in turning against human flesh for the free-range and cruelty-free.

“As much as you might play around with elements, you can’t get away from the central idea that vampires crave blood,” Somper says. “In Vampirates, some of the vampires have imposed controls on this need and found ways to meet it without harming others. But other vampires think such control is a denial of their true self.”

Chaste, self-denying, humane and civilised, the new vampire might seem to be in danger of becoming too anodyne. Yet the one thing the vampire does not hunger for is revenge. By playing on our deepest hopes rather than our deepest fears, Dracula’s descendants may have a stake in our hearts, rather than the other way about.

DARREN SHAN knows a lot about sinister things. His last collection of books were all about vampires, and now his new series, "The Demonata", tackles demons. The master of teenage horror takes fresh on a journey to the dark side.In a fight between a demon and a vampire, who would win?

A demon. Demons are creatures of magic. Physical strength is no asset when fighting a demon. Some humans (and, indeed, vampires) have magical abilities, which allow them to fight on a level playing field. But most are hopelessly inadequate in the face of a demon.

Do you believe in such things?

No comment!

You've hinted that this new series, "The Demonata", will reveal "the origins of life and everything". Is it 42?

Nope! I can't speak too much about the grander revelations of the series, especially as most of them won't become apparent until the last few books. All I'll say is, there's been a lot of discussion among scientists as to what existed before the Big Bang, and why it happened. Well, I intend to settle all such arguments.

"Lord Loss", your new book, features a lot of chess. Are you a bit of a grand master yourself?

Nope. I like chess, and I'm an OK player. But I play chess a bit like I write - I like to get stuck into the game without any grand plan and see how things develop. That works fine with my books, but on the chess boards, against a good player, it's not so neat.

With "Lord Loss" did you deliberately set out to write some of the most shocking scenes ever found in teen literature?

Not really. Those who've read my "Saga" books know that I don't shy away from violence and death. But nor do I revel in them. I deal with the consequences of violence, the grief and loss that comes when someone close to you dies.

What would you count as your influences?

Stephen King, Star Wars and a whole lot more. Writers are like sponges - we absorb everything we see and hear, then give ourselves a squeeze and wring our influences out in a different pattern.

How would you describe your relationship with your fans?

Great. And very close. I love being in close contact with my fans. I was a fan myself in my teens, and loved learning about my writing idols. Back then, there was no internet, so I never got to learn very much about Stephen King, Kurt Vonnegut, Clive Barker, Robert Cormier, and so on. They were shadowy beasts at best. Now, thanks to the web, that doesn't need to be the case.

Has there been anything any of your fans have done that's taken you aback?

I'm always amazed by their dedication. Some travel miles to see me. I've had people travel up to Edinburgh from London to come to one of my events.

Is there going to be a Darren Shan film?

The "Cirque Du Freak" rights have been bought by Universal, who plan to combine the first three books into a movie. They might then film four, five and six together, and so on. There's been interest shown in "The Demonata" too.

What's the scariest film you've ever seen or book you've ever read?

"Salem's Lot" had a big impact on me as a kid, and so did the book when I read it later.

"Lord Loss" is out now on HarperCollins

Copyright 2005 SMG Sunday Newspapers Ltd.

A NIGHTMARE ASSEMBLY

He’s 33 years old, was born in London directly opposite Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament and moved to Limerick, Ireland, at the age of 6.

Surprisingly, he speaks with the heavy accent of a true Cockney after all these years in Ireland. Wearing a hoodie sweat shirt and carrying a big black backpack he walked onto the stage at Hampton Academy last week and you could’ve heard a pin drop.

Darren Shan, or Darren O’Shaughnessy, had captured the attention of the auditorium well before his car arrived. The students at the school (and by the sound of it, across the country and the pond as well) have been hooked on Shan’s Cirque Du Freak series of eight books. And they’re eagerly awaiting the last two to be released.

To ease the pain of the end of the Cirque series, Shan gave a peek into the inner workings of the newest series called La Demonata. Unlike the vampire-inspired Cirque du Freak books, Shan is exploring demons and the magical influences that surround those beasts.

"The Demonata books begin in a rather bloody and violent way," said Shan. "But I don’t throw in death and violence cheaply. I always explore the aftereffects of the death and violence. How does it change the characters and how and who they are?"

Questions flew after the author finished reading the looseleaf pages that held the words to his newest book.

How do you get your inspiration?

How did you become an author?

Did your parents support you?

What’s your favorite character?

Do you have children?

Inspiration comes, said Shan, from everything.

"If you’re a writer, then everything affects you. I’m a huge movie buff, from blockbusters to foreign film. Everything you read or watch inspires you."

As to how he became a writer, it’s a matter of writing.

"Just like everything, you have to write and write and write. I knew I wanted to become an author at age 5 or 6 but it was when I was 14 or 15 that I got my first typewriter and started to really write."

Shan continued: "It was my mother who was my biggest influence. She was a teacher, taught me how to read and how to write."

And the nightmare factor of his books? Shan laughed.

"I used to lie in bed when I was little and try to give myself nightmares! They’re fun, they’re like a roller coaster ride. If you get nightmares from reading my stories then I guess you get value for your money!"

The Cirque du Freak book series has been purchased by Universal Studios and is in the script-writing phase. If the movie gets the green light to go ahead and be produced Shan will have no participation except to receive payment for the use of his material.

"That’s fine," he said. "They’re going to take the first three books and combine them so the movie will stand apart by itself as a separate story and the books will remain three individual parts. You’ll be able to enjoy both for what they are.

"And like you, I’ll be seeing the movie for the first time in the theater!"

Darren Shan’s Web site can be found at www.darrenshan.com.

He continues to post upcoming news as well as daily blogs to keep his teen audience up to date and in the loop.

A 3-in1!!! You get a short biography of me, followed by an interview, followed by a piece I wrote about the "treats" of horror!!

BIO

I was born in London in 1972, directly opposite Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. I lived in London until the age of 6, and started school aged 3 (I was such a wild child, no pre-school facility would have me!!). I came from a largely working class Irish family, though my mother was a primary school teacher. In London I lived in a block of council-owned apartments.

I loved the switch to Ireland: we moved into my great-grandfather's cottage (he lived with us until his death 10 years later), out in the countryside, and I relished the freedom and dark, spooky nights (the countryside's far eerier than the city!). Irish TV was very primitive in those days (2 channels, which only aired for less than twelve hours each day!), so I had to read lots of books to pass the time. I read every sort I could find, but I especially liked horror stories.

I was always interested in horror, both books and movies, and loved giving myself nightmares. Many of the books I write now are rooted in delightfully chilling childhood scare sessions, when I'd keep myself awake at night, imagining horrible scenarios in which vampires and other assorted creatures would surround my little cottage and lay siege!

I live in Ireland, and have been fascinated with vampires since I was six years old. I write full-time, and I still love giving myself nightmares.....

INTERVIEW

January 9, 2002

Kidsreads.com writer Serena Burns recently had the chance to talk with author Darren Shan about what makes him shiver---and about the similarities between him and his main character.

KRC: Where did the main characters of CIRQUE DU FREAK come from? Why have a character with the same name as your own? Are you actually a blood-sucking freak? Do you have a sister Annie we should be worried about?

DS: Actually, my real name's Darren O'Shaughnessy. I changed it for this series because I write adult books under my real name, and I didn't want to confuse readers by publishing adult and teen fictions under the same name. Darren in the book is an idealized version of myself---he's much braver, tougher and nobler than I am!! I don't have a younger sister, but I do have a brother 5 years younger than me, on whom the character of Annie is based!!! Other characters are combinations of people I know, or else just completely drawn from imagination (unless, of course, this is really a true story ... heh heh!!!!!!)

KRC: Why have a freak show as central to the story? Have you ever been to one? I'm scared of clowns...are you?

DS: The freak show was an intriguing and different way of entering the vampire world which is central to the series. When you start reading CIRQUE DU FREAK, it seems to be a book about circus freaks, and unless you've heard in advance what it's about, the revelation that Mr. Crepsley is a vampire should come as a genuine shock. No, in "real life" I haven't been to a freak show, and no, I'm not scared of clowns!

KRC: Mr. Crepsley is very scary, but all in all, the vampires themselves seem to be good. What ideas about good guys vs. bad guys do you want your readers to come away with?

DS: In my books, I want people to be unsure about my characters' intentions for long periods of time -- thus, it's not until book 3, TUNNELS OF BLOOD, that we learn for definite whether Mr. Crepsley is truly good or evil, and in later books some good characters turn out to be bad, and vice versa. I think this keeps readers on their toes!! Another aim, which becomes evident the further the series progresses, is to explore the very nature of good and evil, and to question how we determine one from the other.

KRC: There are literally hundreds of movies and books about vampires. What is it about the vampire story that makes it so timeless?

DS: I don't know! There's just something incredibly creepy, yet alluring, about vampires. They've been going strong in fiction for more than a hundred years now, and even though they're the most over-used monsters around, people's interest in them still hasn't diminished.

KRC: Darren is now a half-vampire. Will he ever become a full-vampire? What kind of abilities and super-powers does he have now and what sort of powers do full-vampires have?

DS: Darren is much stronger than humans, can run faster and live much longer. If he ever becomes a full vampire (and I'm not saying if he does or doesn't!!), he'll be even stronger and faster, capable of moving at a super-fast speed called "flitting", able to communicate telepathically with other vampires -- but sunlight will kill him!

KRC: How do you feel about BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER?

DS: I've never watched it!!!!

KRC: What was the last book you read that gave you a good scare?

DS: I haven't read many horror books recently. SALEM'S LOT by Stephen King, is one of my all-time favourites.

KRC: Did you have a particular teacher or relative who encouraged you to write? What advice would you give to aspiring young adult writers?

DS: My mother's a teacher, and she was instrumental to my learning to read and write. My best piece of advice is also the simplest: KEEP WRITING!!! The more you write, the better you get. If you stick with it, you will eventually work your up to the point where you're good enough to be published. It takes a lot of time and hard work -- and you must be prepared to be rejected when you start submitting stories and books -- but that's ALL it takes.

KRC: If we looked at your nightstand, what books would we find there?

DS: A lot of crime fiction at the moment, especially the books of James Ellroy. I've also just started to read the HIS DARK MATERIALS trilogy by Philip Pullman.

KRC: What projects are you working on right now?

DS: I'll be editing books 7 to 10 of the Saga Of Darren Shan over the next few weeks, then starting work on book 11 -- I like to work far ahead of publication schedules, so there aren't long delays between the books coming out!!

KRC: What five books would you give as Christmas presents?

DS: 5 books I'd give as Christmas presents: THE SECRET GARDEN by Frances Hodgson Burnett; REBECCA'S WORLD by Terry Nation; SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES by Ray Bradbury; THE CHOCOLATE WAR by Robert Cormier; THE MACHINE GUNNERS by Robert Westall. (I haven't included any of the Harry Potter books, because everybody probably has them already!!!)

--- By Serena Burns

WRITING HORROR - FORBIDDEN TREATS by Darren Shan

I remember somehow catching the hammy Vincent Price film, "Theater Of Blood," when I was 6 years old. It's the one where he plays a lambasted Shakespearean actor who sets out to silence his critics with artistic murderous licence. In one scene he feeds a critic the mashed-up remains of his beloved poodles, on which the poor man duly chokes. I was blown away! This was story-telling as I'd never experienced it, and even at that tender age, while other kids were glued to nice, safe, anodyne stuff, I knew I wanted more!!!

That thirst for "more" has never left me. As a child and teenager I sought out all the horror that I could, be it in movies, books or comics. I craved creepiness. If nightmares were the result - all the better! Over the years, I moved on and found other loves (horror is fun, but it can be limiting), though nothing ever had the same effect on me as those old Hammer movies, or Stephen King's early novels, or the short stories of Edgar Allan Poe.

When I came to write Cirque Du Freak, I had only one mandate in mind: I was going to write the sort of book that I'd have loved to read as an 11/12 year old. It didn't matter that, as a twentysomething, I wasn't as stoked-up by horror as I'd once been. I wasn't writing for twenty year olds: I was writing for kids, and for the kid I'd once been - and I was determined to treat them to the sort of gruesome helter-skelter ride I believed they deserved.

Cirque Du Freak isn't a reckless, irresponsible book. Although it's about vampires and circus freaks, I wasn't interested in sickening readers or pushing back the boundaries of what is acceptable. It explores such themes as friendship, the im-portance of family, and the need to make personal sacrifices for the good of oth-ers. But, like "Theater Of Blood," it certainly isn't for the squeamish! While there are no poodles in the book, there are vampires and poisonous tarantulas; a savage Wolf Man and a Snake Boy; one character winds up in a coma, whilst another gets buried alive. It's a book designed to play on a reader's emotions. There are out-and-out scary scenes ("boo! moments" as I like to call them), but also darker, less bombastic scenes, which will linger in your mind for days (and nights!) to come.

That, for me, is the secret of good horror: the subtle menace between the sudden bursts of action and violence. Cirque Du Freak is designed not just to thrill you, but to set your nerves on edge. It's sometimes shocking, but also thought-pro-voking. Because that's where I believe the greatest horrors lie: not in having something leap at you out of the darkness, but in staring into the shadows of the night and brooding about what lurks within...waiting...staring back...

© Darren Shan. 9 November 2005. 

Darren Shan is the author of many horror books for kids. His dark tales include Cirque Du Freak and Lord Loss.

What was your favourite book when you were a child?

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. I read it many times and always found something new to excite me.
 

How old were you when you knew you wanted to be a writer?

Five or six years old!! I used to daydream about being all sorts of things at that time, but being a writer was what I wanted more than anything else.

Any tips for kids who want to get started as an aspiring author?

Just keep writing!!! There really aren't any secret formulas or shortcuts. The more you practise, the more you learn and the better you get. Write the sort of stories you'd like to read, and keep looking for ways to improve. If you stick with it, you WILL succeed. It won't happen overnight, but the struggle and long period of time involved is largely what makes it so enjoyable and rewarding in the end!

What makes books so special?

They're personal. At the cinema, museum, arcade or a concert, you're part of a crowd. Reading's something you always do alone. You're the one who decides what the characters look like, and how elaborate or simple the settings are. You can set your own pace and read as much or as little as you like, spreading a good book out or devouring it all in one quick go. And there are no limits - a good book will spark off as many ideas and stories as your imagination is capable of processing.

How do you get your inspiration for your writing?

I just think about stories a lot. Ideas aren't something you can control, and, in all honesty, they're not the most important part of the process. I had loads of great ideas for books when I was a kid, but of course I wasn't able to turn them into novels because I lacked the experience. My advice is to work hard at improving your writing, at learning to plot, to develop characters, to handle dialogue, to pace a story strongly. The ideas will come by themselves. The trick is to be prepared to make the most of them when they come!!!

Darren Shan is one of the Crowgrrl’s favorite authors! I’ve been hooked on his books ever since I first sank my fangs into the first book of his Cirque du Freak vampire series, Cirque du Freak: A Living Nightmare. The entire series is deliciously macabre and at a fast pace where the reader can’t wait to see what happens next.Darren creates his own realistically believable world of Vampires, a new mythos that immediately draws the reader in. Now Darren has another series as well, the Demonata, which offers a new insight into a demonic world. The Crowgrrl recently caught up with Darren to talk about both of these phenomenal book series!

How was the Edinburgh Book Festival?

Great. I've gone for the past 6 years and I love it up there. I stay on for a few days after my events and go to lots of plays and comedy shows. The best show I saw this year was "Dirty Fan Male" -- real transcripts of letters written by fans to soft-porn models!!!!

With all the book-signings and touring, how do you find time to write?! Do you work on the road as well?

No, I never write when I'm traveling. I try to do my touring in chunks, i.e. go to a few different countries within the space of a month. Then I write when I return home. It's a bit tricky, and I don't get to spend as much time writing as I'd like, but that's just part of being a successful writer in today's wide open world.

I’ve noticed you’re always hard at work on future books before others are officially released. How far ahead do you stay of your publishers?

Usually 2 or 3 years. I don't like working to a deadline!!

The new Vampire mythos you created in the "Cirque du Freak" series varies a bit from more conventional vampire beliefs in popular culture. How did you come up with your Vampires’ world?

I just thought a lot about the old myths and tried to think what life would really be like if you had to drink blood to survive and could live for hundreds of years.

Do you have any personal favorite books in that series?

Not really. For me, it's one big book which I simply released in installments. So, "Cirque Du Freak" is chapter one for me, "Vampire's Assistant" is chapter two, etc.

What were your inspirations behind your Demonata series?

I wrote "Lord Loss" as a stand-alone novel, a 3 or 4 years ago. I set it aside for a couple of years, to focus on finishing my vampire series. During that time, I had ideas for other books about demons. Originally, the books weren't meant to link or form a series. But, as I wrote the other books, links began to fall into place and I saw that I could knit all the various plot-line together to create an overall series story-line.

Are the two series ever going to cross into each other, or remain separate?

They're two entirely different stories, and won't cross at all.

Your books are translated in lots of languages; how do the storylines have to change with each culture where the books are released?

Well, because I only speak English, it's hard for me to know if anything's been changed in the translated editions!!!! :-) I think the actual plots are kept intact, and only certain words and phrases are changed, when they wouldn't make sense for foreign readers. e.g. in Japan they don't cross their fingers for luck, so my Japanese translator always has to use some other expression.

The short stories and "deleted scenes" and other extras on your website make the stories even richer! Did you work on most of that while writing each book, or do you revisit the stories from time to time?I wrote the extras as each of the first books was released. My original plan was to write some short stories each time a book came out. But, as the popularity of the books increased, and I was called upon to travel a lot to promote them, I found myself with less and less time to write. Something had to go -- and unfortunately that was the extras.

All of your books that I’ve read so far would make great movies. Is that possibility in the works?

Universal have optioned the rights to "Cirque Du Freak", and Brian Helgeland ("L.A. Confidential", "Mystic River", etc) is working on a script.

Would you be writing the screenplays yourself?

Nope. Writers normally have no input when a movie is made from their books. I'm happy to stand back and let the film people do as they like.

 What was your tie-in with Jetix UK, and will that happen with Jetix US as well?

My publishers set up the tie-in with Jetix. It wasn't something I was involved in.

You’re very hands-on with your website, aren’t you?!

Yup!! I love having a web site. As a fan, I would have been ecstatic if I'd had the internet when I was a kid. I'd have been surfing it day and night to find out more about my writing idols. The web allows a writer to build extra links between themselves and their fans, and I try to take as much advantage of that situation as I can. Apart from the design of my site, which is done by Xeropoint.net, I do everything on the site -- I scan in and upload the photos and art, update all the pages ... the lot!!! It means the site isn't updated as regularly as it should be, since I have to squeeze work in around my other commitments, but it means that everything fans see there came from me personally!!!What have I not asked that you would like to tell Perch readers?

When is my next book out?!? :-) Book 10 of my vampire series, "The Lake of Souls", is on sale NOW, and the first book of my demon series, "Lord Loss", goes on sale in October (but might start appearing in shops as early as September!!!).

http://www.crowgrrl.com/reviews/091805perch.htm