A follow-up to yesterday's post.

I realised, after I'd published it, that there have actually been 52 published Darren Shan books, not the 51 that I quoted. It wasn't that I got my numbers wrong, because both of them are correct.

Confused? Let me explain.

In Japan, in the early noughties, my books were hugely popular. I've actually sold similar amounts in the UK and USA over the last twenty years, but there was a steady, incremental growth in those territories, as word of mouth built and built, and my books got passed on to younger brothers and sisters, who recommended them to their friends, and they got taught in schools, and so on. In Japan they went VERY big VERY quickly, and were mostly bought by women between the ages of 18 and 30. (I kid you not!) For a brief while, I enjoyed rock star status in the land of the rising sun.

At the height of Shan-mania, my Japanese publishers asked me if they could release a Darren Shan fan-book. They translated several short stories (which are available in English on my web site, in the Extras section) and sent a team to Ireland and London to take loads of photos of my on my home turf -- there are pictures of my house, the block of flats in London where I used to live, a fry-up that we had while they were here, and lots, lots more. It was published in 2004.

I don't include the fan book in the official count of my books, since it was never released anywhere outside of Japan, but it DOES exist, and it IS a Darren Shan-titled book, so, y'know... 51 or 52... take your pick!!! :-)

If you're interested in buying a copy of the fan book, there's a site called YesAsia which is still listing it. They ship worldwide, and shipping is free if you spend over $39. (The fan book is $22.49.) https://www.yesasia.com/global/0-aid765665-0-bpt.47-en/list.html