I did my first Bec tour on Monday, with a lovely lady called HEATHER and her son THEO, and it was a wonderful day. We wandered lazily through Craggaunowen, taking in all the places there that inspired scenes in the book, and I read out extracts to demonstrate how important the park had been in my research. We met all the guys in the attached photos. I was especially intrigued by the blacksmith -- he wasn't there back when I was putting the book together, which was a pity as one of the characters in Bec is a blacksmith and it would have been great to chat with his modern-day counterpart in advance of writing it! I even ended up driving Heather and Theo back to their campsite -- the first time I've ever played chauffeur at one of my events!!!! :-)

If you're wondering what on Earth a Bec tour is, and how Heather and her son wound up on one... It's one of the perks I offered in my Terrified Troll fundraiser late last year. For €250, fans were able to book a tour of Craggaunowen with me as their personal guide. Although the fundraiser has finished, I'm still offering the chance to book a tour if anyone is interested -- it lasts about 2 hours, and the price includes entry into the park and a snack and drink at the end. I tell you all about how Bec was created, and you can ask me loads of other questions too. Oh, and of course I'm happy to sign any of my books that you choose to bring along! All profits made will go towards producing the first ever Darren Shan picture book, which artist Eva Byrne is hard at work on even as I type. If interested, email me at [email protected] and we can discuss options.