Happy Birthday to me! Happy Birthday to me!!

Yep, it's birthday time in Shanville, and this year I've reached the ripe old age of 48. Hardly seems possible, but here I am, just two years shy of the big 5-0. *shudder*

I won't be engaging in any major celebrations this year, just hanging out with my parents and Mrs Shan and the kids, so I thought I'd share a photo from more than 40 years ago, when I REALLY knew how to party! This was taken in London, on my 6th birthday. I'm the grumpy-looking git at the back with his arms crossed. That's my younger brother Declan to my left, and my uncle Derek (only 4 years older than me, so more like a big brother) next to him. The other two boys were my two best friends at the time, Derek Bruton (just in front of me on my right) and Padraig Purcell -- I guess in many ways they were the prototype for Alan Morris and Tommy Jones many years later when I came to write Cirque Du Freak...

I'm not the only one in Shanville with a birthday this month -- my monthly newsletter, the Shanville Monthly, is celebrating its 20th birthday, and I HAVE gone in for a big celebration on that front, putting together five of the rarest, most mouth-watering sets of prizes I've ever offered up in a competition. To find out more (and keep abreast of all the latest Darren Shan news and updates) click here: https://www.darrenshan.com/news/shanville-monthly