Arra Sails remains one of the most popular characters from my Cirque Du Freak books, even though she didn't have a lot of page time in the series. She actually was never planned to be as important a character as she turned out to be -- she just took on a life of her own as I was writing the Vampire Mountain books, and ended up forcing herself into the story. It's always a pleasure when that happens with a character, and I loved getting to bring her back the Larten Crepsley books, so that we could see more of her in action and development.

An Arra fan, called JULIANA, wrote a highly interesting essay about her last year, talking about what makes the character so interesting, and why Juliana enjoyed reading about her so much. It's definitely worth a read, and you can find it here: https://julisimp.wordpress.com/2023/11/14/a-closer-look-at-arra-sails/

The artwork, which matches the essay perfectly (almost as if it was the work of DesTiny!!) is by another fan called LIV.

As many of you hopefully already know, I'm releasing my first ever picture book next year, with the artist Eva Byrne, called The Terrified Troll. It's initially coming out as a signed, limited edition, the print run being based on the orders we got to it when we ran a fundraiser in late 2023. We're planning to release it in a more widely available edition after that, ideally with the help of a traditional publisher.

I had a meeting with Eva yesterday to look at where we're at and to set ourselves up for the final push. We're VERY close to the finishing post -- just eight pages of interior art to go!! It would have been even less, but I added in another couple of pages -- I'm loving Eva's art so much, I wanted more of it!!

I'm sharing one of Eva's latest finished pages, which comes near the end of our little Troll's long, troubling night. I absolutely adore the colour scheme of this one -- so subtle, so simple, yet so effective.

We're hoping to get the book all done and dusted by March or April, though there's a good chance it might stretch on a month or two longer than that, depending on how the editing and proofing processes go -- Eva wants to go through the entire book again when she's done, to make some tweaks and adjustments, and then we'll have to get proof copies made up, to check that the colours all come out the way Eva wants, and that everything aligns correctly. But the end IS in sight -- hurrah!!!

I'm honestly a bit blown away by how this is shaping up. It's far more evolved than I had anticipated back at the start, and I think the guys who pre-ordered are going to get an awful lot for their money!!

A Tweeter called FESTIE recently marvelled at what looks like a very subtle Easter Egg in Birth Of A Killer, the first book of my Saga Of Larten Crepsley series.

Mention of a bedpan in the first chapter sent Festive scurrying back to the first chapter of Cirque Du Freak, which mentioned... a toilet! Was this intentional on my part, a little mirrored-scene reward for the most eagle-eyed of my readers?!?

Festie certainly thought it was intentional -- but I'm not so sure!!! I do certainly drop in little callbacks like this, far more regularly than many of my readers might realise, but I don't recall doing it on purpose in this instance. That doesn't definitely mean I didn't -- I may well have done it and then forgot about it later!!! But even if I forget when I do something like this, I usually recall it if someone brings it to my attention years later, but this time there isn't even a small bell of recognition dinging inside my brain.

But ssshhhhh!!! Don't tell Festie! Let them go on thinking I'm a devious little genius!!!!!

The Shans moved back into our house this day last week, after having been out for almost two years following a fire. The place is currently full of boxes and crates, containing everything that was put into storage when we had to move out. Each box is full of surprises, things we'd forgotten about or didn't expect to see back again. But nothing has been as surprising a find as THIS little baby!!!

Mrs Shan hurried to find me last night, while I was reading. She was beaming as she cooed, "You'll never guess what I just found in one of my boxes!!" I was even more astonished than she was when she revealed her find, and words can't really express the way my heart lifted as she handed it over.

"But what the hell IS it?!?" I hear you all cry, as you stare with disbelief and confusion at a scrappy bit of card with very jagged edges and some faded writing.

It's my bookmark.

I'd been using this in pretty much every single physical book that I read since I was in university. You can see the 8th June 1990 date on it, but I'd actually been using it for a good while before then. I have no idea where I picked it up, or why I started using it instead of a nice, proper bookmark, but it had been a huge part of my reading life for more than 30 years, coming with me on every literary adventure that I undertook. Granted, I read mostly on Kindle these days, and have done for quite a few years, but any time I returned to hardbacks or paperbacks, the bookmark came with me.

Until two years ago, when I left it on a shelf in the house when everything was packed away, and forgot to retrieve it before the moving team hit that particular room. I was sure I'd never see it again, and had resigned myself to the loss, telling myself that I was being ridiculous, mourning the loss of a bit of card. But to my delight, the movers packed it away and returned it, so we've been reunited, hopefully for another 30 years or more.

Read on, MacDuff!!!!!

A busy day on the virtual events front. Did one with a school in the UK this morning, and doing another with a school in the USA tonight. Effortlessly spanning the continents -- that's me!!!

These photos are from an event I did last month, with Trinity Academy in Halifax in the UK. Each event is set up differently, depending on the school's needs -- for instance, the one this morning took place in the school library, with the kids up close, sitting on chairs and beanbags -- but this gives you a good idea of how it CAN be staged.

If YOU are a teacher or librarian, interested in having me talk with your kids about my books, they're easy to set up. We do them on Zoom or Teams. Each event runs about 30 to 35 minutes. I do a reading, chat a little bit about myself, then take lots of questions. I like big groups where possible -- the more the merrier -- but I do smaller groups too sometimes. To find out more, just drop me an email at [email protected] and I'll get back to you to discuss the possibilities and specifics. Oh, and if you're wondering if you can afford me... I don't charge anything for these!!! :-)

A little update on the Demonata TV adaptation.

The team (Max and Ijaz) have been working hard on scripts for the last few months, and have now sent a bunch to me, for me to read through, comment on, and tweak or alter. Once I've done all that, I'll send the scripts back, and they'll go through them again, then maybe I'll go through them again, then maybe they...

Once we're all happy, we'll be moving on to the next stage, where we start shopping the scripts around in search of the people with the money to turn our dreams into a reality.

Please don't go getting TOO excited -- it's still very early days, and we're going to be beavering away on the script for the next few months at least, I would imagine. I just wanted to let you know that we ARE working away hard behind the scenes (well, Max and Ijaz have been working hard -- so far I've just been sitting in my high-backed chair, stroking my chin like a Bond villain!!!). I don't know if we'll get anywhere with this, but if we don't, it won't be for want of trying...

Keep those fingers (or claws or tentacles if you're a demon) crossed for us!!!

p.s. the structure of the series has yet to be determined -- we're looking at possibly structuring it the way the books were structured, so we do Lord Loss as four episodes, then Demon Thief, then Bec. But we might also mix things up and take a different approach.

For those of you wondering why I didn't post my Shanville Monthly newsletter yesterday... It's because I'm currently in the UK on holiday with my family, and it's too awkward trying to do it on my phone. I'll piece it together once I'm back home, and it should be up and running not long after the weekend.

In the meantime, here are some lovely Shan BOOKSHELFIES to hopefully take your mind off the gaping Shanville Monthly-shaped hole in your life!!! In order, these belong to...

WESLEY

MATT

LIZZY

LADY EMILY

Lots of different formats and editions. Which is YOUR favourite?!?

If you live in the USA, and have access to MAX, you're going to have a freakily fabulous start to the month, because the Cirque Du Freak movie is streaming on MAX from today!! Yay -- or boo -- depending on your opinion of the movie!!!!

For a list of everything else that is new on MAX this month, click here: https://lifehacker.com/entertainment/whats-new-on-max-in-november-2024

And if you don't live in the USA, but want to watch the movie, you can either buy a copy of the DVD or Blu-Ray on a site like Amazon, or buy or rent it through one of your local streaming services -- I recommend searching on JUSTWATCH to find out your options: https://www.justwatch.com/

I wrote in yesterday's post about how teachers and librarians have been great champions of my books over the years. Thankfully (and rather surprisingly), my work has never been strongly targeted by individuals or groups who try to get books banned. But, every so often, they will fall foul of a rogue banner, as happened in some school libraries in Pennridge in the USA a couple of years ago.

I'm including the text of an article which explains in depth what happened, but in short, two board members decided to sneakily ban twenty books, without telling anyone -- they had the book "checked out" by not-existent students, so that they were never on the shelves!! Thankfully, a parent got suspicious and challenged them in court, and they were recently forced to come clean. Whether the books are back in circulation again or not, I don't know.

The curious thing is that, according to the article, all the banned books "include topics including sexual abuse or assault, abortion and gender identity." But, of course, Cirque Du Freak includes NONE of those topics!!! Hmmm...

-----------

This article was written by Chris Ullery and appeared in the Bucks County Courier Times. The reason I'm not just providing a link to the original article online is that I wasn't able to access it from Ireland.

Pennridge removed these books in 2022. What's next for over 20 'shadowbanned' titles?

A list of more than 20 books removed from Pennridge School District libraries will likely be the first titles reviewed once a new resource materials policy passes, emails with district officials show. The list provided by Superintendent Angelo Berrios to Pennridge parent Darren Laustsen includes several titles by two authors, Sarah J. Maas and Colleen Hoover, frequently challenged in school districts nationwide over the past two years.

The day after Pennridge school board members gave the first of two votes approving a revised “resource materials” policy on Aug. 26, Laustsen requested a list of books “secretly removed” September 2022 when the board first approved its controversial library policy.
Two years ago, Laustsen found that often-challenged books were being checked out en masse almost immediately after the policy was adopted. Laustsen won a legal battle with Pennridge last October in an open-records appeal for library records that ultimately found the district “effectuated a cover up” showing that “non-students” had checked out the books, according to court documents.

The current and potentially incoming policy governing how new books, movies and other media are included in classroom and school libraries does include a challenge process for residents, but the books removed in 2022 were apparently taken off shelves without any formal challenges.

Court filings point to Pennridge board: Two Pennridge board members ordered books removed from schools, court documents say

What books were removed from Pennridge in 2022
The books removed from Pennridge schools run a gamut from medieval fantasy to personal memoir, but all include topics including sexual abuse or assault, abortion and gender identity. Most can be found on BookLooks, a website with ties to conservative parental rights group Moms For Liberty — designated an “anti-government” hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Here are the books removed from Pennridge two years ago:

• "A Court of Frost and Starlight" by Sarah J. Maas
• "A Court of Mist and Fury" by Sarah J. Maas
• "A Court of Thorns and Roses" by Sarah J. Maas
• "A Court of Wings and Ruin" by Sarah J. Maas
• "Allegedly" by Tiffany D. Jackson
• "Cider House Rules" by John Irving
• "Cirque du Freak" by Darren Shan
• "Gender Queer" by Maia Kobabe
• "It Ends with Us" by Colleen Hoover
• "Last Night at the Telegraph Club" by Malinda Lo
• "Looking for Alaska" by John Green
• "Losing Hope" by Colleen Hoover
• "Maybe Now" by Colleen Hoover
• "Milk and Honey" by Rupi Kaur
• "November 9" by Colleen Hoover
• "Out of Darkness" by Ashley Hope Pérez
• "Precious" by Sapphire
• "Push" by Sapphire
• "Sold" by Patricia McCormick
• "The Haters" by Jesse Andrews
• "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" by Stephen Chbosky
• "Ugly Love" by Colleen Hoover

What happens next in Pennridge?
School board President Ron Wurz said in an Aug. 27 email to Laustsen that a review committee will consider returning the books removed in 2022. The board unanimously approved a first-read vote on a revamped resource materials policy last month, but the board needs to hold a second-read vote before enacting the policy. The Pennridge school board meets next at 7 p.m. on Sept. 23, but the agenda has yet to be published.

First-read on for new Pennridge policy: The new-look Pennridge board is poised to amend its contentious book policy. What to know.
“When the new policy is in place we will have our librarians review the removed books and decide which shall be reintroduced, as they would with any new book,” Wurz said in the email. “We are committed to being transparent, we will publish all books added to the library as well as those challenged.”

Look what was Book Of The Week at DENBIGH SCHOOL LIBRARY last week!!

I love it when teachers and librarians highlight my books this way. Back in 1997, when every publisher in the UK rejected the early draft of Cirque Du Freak, one of the reasons cited was that it would inspire fury among educators, who would call for it to be banned. When the book came out in 2000, not only did this prove NOT to be the case, but teachers and librarians became some of the earliest champions of the book, recommending it to their students and helping it become a word-of-mouth success. They saw what the publishing experts didn't -- that despite its grisly trappings, it was a positive, uplifting story about the importance of friendship and the courage it sometimes takes to do the right thing and put others' futures ahead of your own. So, whenever I see a post like this one from the staff at Denbigh High School, it tends to remind me who the TRUE experts are when it comes to the world of children's books and what kids will or will not want to read. Publishers, book sellers, reviewers, authors... we all play second fiddle to these guys!!!! Respect!!!!!!!

With just a few days left to go until Halloween, this is the perfect time to share this list of horror books that aren't TOO scary, for the younger horror fans out there -- or for those who are grown up but just big scaredy cats!!!

The list appears on SCREEN RANT, who included Cirque Du Freak in the #7 spot, and had some very nice things to say about it. I also absolutely LOVE the picture they created to go with the list -- my book nestled next to books by Stephen King and Ray Bradbury, two of my all-time favourite authors, who were (and are) huge influences on me. If you'd told me thirty years ago that a book of mine would be keeping company with such heavyweights, I'd have thought you were patronising me!!!!

To read what the compilers of the list said, and to check out every other book that made the cut, click on the following link: https://screenrant.com/great-horror-books-not-too-scary/

A fan called JAMIE got in touch with me recently to say the following:

"I’m watching hoarder videos while cleaning (because, that’s what we do) and in this video, at the 39:55 mark, I saw something that made me cry! I read my copies to shreds! And it makes me sad that they likely never cracked open these books."

To find out what brought tears to the sharp-eyed Jamie's eyes, click on the following link and fast-forward to near the end of the 39 minutes mark -- unless, of course, you love watching hoarder videos too, in which case feel free to watch the whole thing!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LPrcqBfKQE

I never worry too much about books that get moved on. Life changes for us all, and I like to think that books that get thrown away are simply undergoing a state of migration, and will hopefully fine lovely new homes with owners who will enjoy them all over again. But hey, as you all know from reading my books, I *AM* a starry-eyed optimist...

In Common is an independent, not for profit community, arts, culture and society website, based in Southampton. This month, in the run up to Halloween, they put together a list of recommended horror books, grouped around different monsters -- so there's a werewolves section, a witches section, etc.

No prizes for guessing the title of one of the books that made it into their VAMPIRES section!!! But if you want to see what else made the list -- and it's a really interesting list, with plenty of books that are new to me -- and pick up some good reads for the spooky season, click on the following link: https://www.in-common.co.uk/2024/10/07/vampires-demons-and-ghosts-with-the-most-reading-for-october/

Halloween is almost upon us -- just one week to go!!! It's the perfect time of year for Darren Shan books, and some schools and libraries are using the occasion to recommend my books to their students, which fills my heart with freakish pride and joy.

The first photo is of a display in CHALFONTS COMMUNITY COLLEGE in the UK, where my books share a special Halloween section with other cool horrific books.

The next two are from HYMERS COLLEGE LRC, where they created a gorgeous display of my Saga Of Darren Shan (Cirque Du Freak) books.

The final photo comes from TAJIMI LIBRARY in Japan, where the librarians are trying to promote the English language copies of my books. In an ideal world, there'd be a library in England pushing the Japanese language editions of the same books, but I haven't seen any evidence of that... YET!!!!

I had a LONG video chat with vlogger KATIE O'SHAUGHNESSY recently. When I get asked to do something like this, I usually have to consider it for a bit of time, but in this instance I couldn't say no -- she's a Limerick lady, and her surname is the same as my real surname, so it was pretty much a done deal as soon as I opened her email to me!!!

We chatted for well over an hour, about my books, writing, the horror field in general, and lots, lots more. The time truly flew by for me when we were talking -- it felt like twenty minutes -- which is always a good sign. I don't do an awful lot of interviews these days, but even if I was doing loads, I think that this would be the standout video that you wouldn't want to miss!!

Katie also starts with an absolutely beautiful intro to the video, which is a MUST-SEE, even if if you don't want to stick around to listen to ME waffling on for more than an hour!!!

You can check it out by clicking on the following link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EY6bDbm1Eo&t=1s

That's Mrs Shan looking fabulous in the attached photo!! The reason I'm posting it?!? Well, basically, she is involved with Sanctuary Runners, a solidarity-through-sport movement with a particular focus on community integration, especially of refugees and asylum seekers. Started in Ireland in 2018, the group now has over 20,000 people who've taken part in one of their events since they started, and 40 groups in Ireland who run or walk weekly - more info about that here: https://sanctuaryrunners.ie/

Tomorrow, Saturday 19th October 2024, they've organised a massive Global Solidarity Run. Their aim is to get 1 million people running, jogging, walking or rolling to show solidarity with all those who are forcibly displaced and living in extreme poverty. This is an opportunity for people to show solidarity with refugees and those seeking safety and sanctuary across the planet. The event is sponsored by Irish Aid and the Ireland Funds.

There are people taking part all across the globe. So far they have refugees, diplomatic missions, sporting organisations, charities, NGOs, University groups and individuals running in more than 70 countries, and I think it would be really cool if some of you SHANSTERS took part too!!!

If you'd like to take part, it couldn't be more simple:

1. Wear blue

2. Run, Jog, Walk (or roll using a device with wheels) any distance (they're suggesting 5km, but you can choose to go longer or shorter)

3. You can do it individually or in a small group

4. Post a picture of yourself (or your group) taking part on social media using the hashtag #globalrun2024 on Saturday, October 19th or email the content to be posted to [email protected]

4a: You can also tag ME in it too if you wish, and if you'd like to have something Darren Shan related in the photo (e.g. one of my books), all the better!! And if it's a book with a BLUE cover, even better yet!!!! You can tag me using @darrenshan on Twitter/X or @darrenshanverified on Facebook.

5. This is an event to show solidarity so there is NO fundraising involved whatsoever and NO registration. All they're asking is that you take part, post a photo to show solidarity, and ideally let all your friends and family know about it as well, if you think they might be interested

For more info about the run, click here: https://www.ireland.ie/en/irish-aid/global-solidarity-run/

I'll be showing my support for refugees and asylum seekers tomorrow. I hope some of you guys will too. Hey, maybe we'll even get a few Vampire Generals or Princes out on the roads too -- Harkat Mulds must surely be a shoo-in, given that he wears blue ALL the time!!!!! :-)

Here it is, folks -- the FULL COVER REVEAL for the 25th anniversay edition of Cirque Du Freak!!!

In case you missed my previous posts... January 2025 will see the 25th anniversary of the first ever release of Cirque Du Freak in the UK. To mark the magnificent occasion, my British publishers, HarperCollins, are reissuing the book with a brand new cover -- and here it is!!!

As I revealed before, the new cover art is by a very talented artist called Artem Chebokha.

I also revealed that I've written a brand new INTRODUCTION which will appear at the start of the book, talking about how the idea for the book first came to me and discussing some of my memories from the early years after its release.

And I can now reveal the release date will be... January 2nd, 2025. So, nice and early in the month -- if you get any book vouchers as Christmas presents, you might want to hang on to them for a week or two!!!!

I think they've done a fabulous job with the cover, and I hope you all love it as much as I do!! If you do, please share it as widely as you can, with anyone you think might be interested in it. This is the second coming of Cirque Du Freak, so let's try and help it land with as big a splash as possible!!!!!

I've just now drawn the winners of my October competition, and it threw up a statistical anomaly that I can't recall ever having run into before over the course of the twenty-five years that I've been running competitions!!

First up, the two lucky winners are, in the order drawn...

REBECCA PROENZA, from the USA.

REBEKAH FARMER, from the UK.

See what I'm talking about?!? TWO Rebecca's!!!! OK, they spell the name differently, but still!! There were more than 400 entries, so the odds against the two winners having the same first name must be astronomical!! Could it truly have been mere coincidence... or might FATHER, that super-computer from the future, have jerry-rigged the draw in order to let us know that he's keeping a very close eye on things here in the past?!?

Either way, I'll ship out the signed books to the two Rebekah's later this week or just after the weekend, and hopefully that's the last we'll hear from Father! BUT if the winners in my next competition also have the same first name... we'll know we're in trouble!!!!

Thanks to everyone who took part, and better luck next time to those who didn't win on this occasion.

COMPETITION!!!

I released Father of the Future (my latest book for adults, released under the author name of Darren Dash) around this time last year. I signed some copies of the hardback on its release day, and also dated them and scribbled in "publication day." I'm offering TWO of those signed copies as prizes in a competition, one for each of two lucky winners. To be in with a chance of winning a copy, all you have to do is answer a VERY simple question and email it to me, along with your name and address -- but be quick, because the competition closes at 11:59pm TOMORROW (Tuesday October 15th 2024).

1) Answer this question: "What is the title of my latest book for adults?" (This isn't a trick question! It really IS that simple!!!)

2) Send your entry to: [email protected]

3) Put your NAME in the SUBJECT BOX when you send your e-mail. Make sure you INCLUDE YOUR FULL POSTAL ADDRESS in the body of the e-mail, as well as the answer, so that I can easily send your prize to you if you win

(4) Closing date is 11.59pm UK time, Tuesday, October 15th, 2024.

(5) This competition is open to fans everywhere in the world, unless you work for one of my publishers or are one of my relations.

(6) You can only enter the competition ONCE. If you try to enter more than once, ALL of your entries will be disqualified.

(7) Only one entry per household -- if you send in more than one entry, ALL of your entries will be rejected. If more than one person in a house wants to enter, you'll need to make a joint entry.

(8) The draw for the winners will be made on or after Wednesday, October 16th, 2024. It will be a completely random draw, made by Darren Shan personally (I use an online number generator to pick the winners). I will try to notify the winners by e-mail, and will post their names in my social media channels too.

(9) Information submitted by entrants WILL NOT be shared by me with any other individual or company.

(10) My decision will be final.

January 2025 will see the 25th anniversary of the first ever release of Cirque Du Freak in the UK. To mark the momentous occasion, my British publishers, HarperCollins, are reissuing the book with a brand new cover.

I'm sharing another cropped image from the new cover today -- who could it possibly be?!?

I'll be doing the FULL COVER REVEAL next Thursday, October 16th -- I hope you're all as excited about it as I am!!

As I revealed last week, the new cover art is by a very talented artist called Artem Chebokha. I can also now reveal that I have written a brand new INTRODUCTION which will appear at the start of the book, talking about how the idea for the book first came to me and discussing some of my memories from the early years after its release. I think it's a nice little extra for existing fans who want to buy the book again in its new format, while providing some context for those are are new to my freakish little world...

A fan called JODIE emailed me quite a while back, asking if I recalled writing a recipe for Bailey's Ice Cream in the distant past -- she had a vague memory of it, and wanted to find the recipe again, as she used to make it and loved the ice cream when she did! But I couldn't really recall, so I wasn't able to help her.

Fast forward to the last week, and Jodie got in touch again -- she'd found a copy of the recipe on an old device of hers (it used to be on my American publisher's web site), and shared it with me. This was a real blast from the past -- and it's also got me thinking it might be time that I made a batch of this for myself again!!

Great news for my fans in IRAN!!

After publishing the first Archibald Lox book last year, the publisher, Vida, has confirmed that they plan to publish Book 2 later this month -- the exact date is yet to be confirmed -- and here's the cover for it, which I absolutely ADORE!!!

I'm so pleased this is happening. The publishing industry in Iran has been having a very hard time of things in recent years, and it isn't easy for a publisher to bring out a new book, even in a small print run. But the first print run of Book 1 has sold out, so as well as releasing book 2, Vida are planning to issue a second printing of the first book as well, which is amazing news!!!

Oh, and I need to mention that these are OFFICIAL versions. All of my other books (with the exception of the first two Zom-B books) were published illegally in Iran and I was never paid a penny for any of them, even though many sold in very high numbers there back in the days before the country's current struggles. But Vida agreed a deal with me for the first three Archibald Lox books, and these have been published with my blessing and full support.

I'll let you all know once the release date for book 2 is confirmed -- I think there might also be a special limited time deal for those who order it early on, so I'll keep you in the loop on that front too!

Fab news for eBook fans in the UK who haven't yet read my Zom-B books!

For the month of October, each book in the series costs just £0.99!! So you can buy the entire set of 12 ebooks for just under £12!!!

And don't forget about Zom-B Circus!! The "secret" 13th book in the series isn't part of the October sale, but that's because it's available to buy for just £0.99 all the time!!! Simply do a quick search for it on Amazon UK once you've added the other books to your cart, and it can be yours for a song too!

Click on the link below for the undead good bargain of a lifetime!!!

https://t.co/8bChBuShew

As I said last week, January 2025 will see the 25th anniversary of the first ever release of Cirque Du Freak in the UK.

To mark the freaktastic occasion, my British publishers, HarperCollins, are reissuing the book with a brand new cover.

I'm sharing a cropped image from the new cover today, the first time anyone outside of the publisher's inner circle have seen it -- I hope you find it suitably intriguing!!

There will be another cropped image next Thursday, ahead of the official FULL COVER REVEAL on Thursday October 16th.

The new cover art is by a very talented artist called Artem Chebokha.

Enjoy!!

The Halloween issue of my monthly online newsletter just went live! Among the entries this month...

There's a new Cirque Du Freak cover on its way (the first in a long time)...

there's a Halloween sale on one of my Darren Dash eBooks...

you can submit work to a forthcoming Cirque Du Freak fanzine...

I provide an update of how the team working on the proposed Demonata TV show are getting along...

and there's a brand new COMPETITION, my first in a good while.

Click on the link below for all of the above and lots more!

https://darrenshan.com/news/shanville-monthly

Oh, and the fabulous artwork attached to this post was drawn a few years ago by a Cirque Du Freak fan called CORO. Incredible, isn't it?!?

A quick follow up on a post I shared last week, from Dreamology Pictures, regarding the script for BEC that they are working on.

As most of you are probably aware, the team are working on trying to adapt the books into a TV show. Quite a few of you took the post to mean that they were going to start chronologically, i.e. base the first season on Bec, and work forwards from there. This isn't actually the case, and I'm sorry I gave that impression.

Max and Ijaz are actually working on three different scripts, one for Lord Loss, one for Demon Thief, and one for Bec. When they've completed work on those, we're going to look at all three scripts and talk about them and start plotting a way ahead from there. The most likely starting point remains Lord Loss, but nothing is set in stone right now. Ultimately we'll go with what we feel works best -- well, I say "we" but Max and Ijaz will have the final say, as when it comes to adaptations, I'm always happy to cede control to the adapters. They're the sensible bosses on this one -- I'm just a mischievous passenger who's going to whisper demonically in their ear and try to lead them astray!!!

"Let's start with Hell's Heroes and tell the story in reverse!!!!!" :-) :-) :-)

January 2025 will see the 25th anniversary of the first ever release of Cirque Du Freak in the UK.

To mark this momentous occasion, my British publishers, HarperCollins, are reissuing the book with a brand new cover.

I'm going to be sharing a couple of cropped images from the new cover over the next two Thursdays, ahead of the official COVER REVEAL on Thursday October 16th.

I'll also be sharing some more info about the new edition of the book in the forthcoming posts, so stay tuned for updates!!!

I like the new cover a LOT, and I hope you guys will enjoy it too!!

Work on The Demonata scripts is continuing apace!! We're still at the stage where the writers are knocking the scripts into shape, before taking them to various studios to hopefully get backing to take things further. I haven't seen the scripts yet, but they'll be sharing them with me shortly, and inviting my feedback and input, which will be a first for me -- I've always been kept well out of the scriptwriting process prior to this!!

I imagine my response will probably go something along the lines of...

"Listen, I've had a lot of time to mull this over, and in retrospect I think those books are rubbish!! Let's just keep the titles and turn them into ten feelgood musicals -- DARREN'S DEKALOG: DANCING WITH DEMONS!!!!"

***Some letters from fans take a while to compose, but are worth waiting for! This one from XAVIER is a case in point, and made my heart throb with joy when I read it...***

Dear Mr. Shan,

My name is Xavier. I've been trying to figure out how to write this correspondence for about 14 years now. It began as a letter I first tried to write at 10 years old, back in 2010. I never could put together the right words to say. Now, as a young adult in his mid 20's, I've decided to take another shot expressing my gratitude.

I guess I'll start at the beginning and I promise not to take too much of your time. I was 10 years old in a new school district with new people and no friends. Our teacher took us to the massive school library. Well it wasn't massive, I was just small. I wandered around not finding anything and feeling discouraged until I stumbled upon Demon Thief. It was the only book of yours on the shelf at that time. I was so excited! I finished that book in 2 days. I can't even explain my excitement when I found out there were NINE MORE books! I ended up finishing that series withing a few months.

I saw myself in Grubbs, and, in fact, I found pieces of myself in many of your characters. From Dervish, to Bec, to Bill-E all the way to Bran/Beranabus (holy plot twist by the way!!). Each character showed me bits in pieces of myself and helped me grow as a person.

But after finishing the series, now what? The Saga of Darren Shan, that's what! Unfortunately, my school library didn't carry those. That didn't stop me though, I had them special order every single one of those books until I finished that series! That series showed me what it really meant to be courageous, selfless, and how to face my fears. From there, I moved onto my favorite novel of all time, The Thin Executioner. What a piece of literature! It was so amazing, that I bought the novel for my girlfriend to read recently!

Now you may be asking, why am I telling you all of this? There are so many people out there with my story, what's so different about mine? As an adult, I was diagnosed with ADHD and High Functioning Autism. Through therapy, I've been learning a lot about myself, especially my childhood. My mom was dealing with substance abuse and wasn't that present, my dad wasn't a big factor in my life, and my step-dad didn't want to overstep so he never really contributed to my personal development. And if you recall from earlier in the email, I had just moved to the district and I had a lot of trouble making friends. My point is, your books helped me develop my imagination, sense of self, and so much more. I imagine that’s exactly what you hope to achieve as an author, crafting characters that resonate with readers in such personal and profound ways.

I'm proud to say that I am the Vice President of one of the largest school districts in my state, and I also work in the State Assembly leading the charge on productive change. Keeping everything in perspective, I wouldn't be where I am today without you. So thank you for helping me become me.

Recently, I’ve started reading Archibald Lox, and I’m already captivated by the world you’ve created. It’s incredible how, after all these years, your stories still have the power to draw me in and spark my imagination. I’m excited to dive deeper into this new series and see where it takes me.

Best regards,

Xavier

A Shanster called Morgan was reading Zom-B Bride recently when he noticed a VERY familiar line!! See if YOU can spot it too -- if not, I'll point you towards it at the bottom of this email...

While there are, of course, lots of coincidences in the world, this line was inserted deliberately, as a little Easter Egg for sharp-eyed fans who had read Cirque Du Freak. It seemed like a fun little way to hark back to the start of that series, and while I don't normally include anything like that, as it can break the spell of a book and jolt readers out of the world that I've carefully created for them, this was one instance where I just couldn't turn away from the idea once it presented itself to me.

Or... I suppose it might also have been... DesTiny?!?

****If you still haven't located the line in question, look at the third line from the bottom in the photo***

Proving, once again, that I really do need to start sharing links from my "rainy day" folder more regularly that I have been doing... Here's a link to an article from about this time last year (!!!!) called When Adaptations Go Wrong: 15 Book-to-Movie Flops

https://startefact.com/news/when-adaptations-go-wrong-15-book-to-movie-flops_a117

It's hard to make a case for most of these flops, although I really enjoyed the Gold Compass movie myself. And I really enjoyed the entry that pops up at #13 on the list -- no prizes for guessing what that one might be!!!

The compilers noted, of Cirque Du Freak, that it possessed "An intriguing foundation crumbled by a lack of focus and jumbled subplots." This is a pretty good summation, in my opinion, of why it didn't work for a lot of people. (Though there are quite a few, like me, who do appreciate it.) The books are VERY focused, building carefully, one block at a time, whereas the film rushed things along and threw in too many elements, including from later books. Sometimes you CAN have too much of a good thing.

The Cirque Du Freak Fanzine is a lovely little online freebie that's been going for quite a few years now. Put together each year by a fan of the book, who invites other fans to submit drawings or stories or poems or cosplay photos (or a mixture of those). I always love checking it out when it goes live around Halloween.

It's going ahead again this year, and is now open to submissions, so if you want to submit a piece of work -- or create a piece of work to submit -- click on the link below. You have until October 26th, so time most certainly IS on your side!!

https://t.co/x1GppLLtMS

I received quite a few presents on my recent trip to Hungary, which came as a pleasant surprise -- I genuinely wasn't expecting anything. Art, postcards, snacks, some alcoholic drinks (hic!!) and more.

While every gift was of course warmly accepted and cherished, two in particular just blew me away. The first, by a fan called ANNA, is what she terms a booknook -- a display to sit between books on a bookshelf. She made it from scratch, providing us with a glimpse backstage at the Cirque Du Freak -- there's Mr Crepsley's hand holding Madam Octa... Mr Tall's hat... Harkat Mulds... and loads of other tiny details -- you see more and more the longer you look into it!!

The other was a little lamp box, made by a fan who sadly didn't include her name with the present -- if you're reading this, please let me know, so that I can acknowledge you and say thanks! Each face presents a different scene from my books -- Harkat... Mr Crpesley and Darren... the Wolf Man. It's absolutely stunning, especially when the light is turned on.

As I said, every gift was special to me, but the work and time that went into these just astounded me, and I was honestly left somewhat speechless on the day. Suffice to say, a little bit of my heart will always remain in Budapest.

My son Dante is big into rap. It's not something I've ever delved into deeply, but maybe I'll have to start broadening my field, as at least ONE rapper appears to have devled deeply into MY work!!

An article about a rapper called NATIVE JAMES popped up in my timeline recently. He's released a new song called "Field," which fuses rap with nu-metal. I've listened to it a few times, and it's a catchy number (although rather sweary, like many rap tunes, so approach with caution if easilly offended!).

But what drew it to MY attention?!? You can find the answer in the second paragraph of the article, which mentions some of the music and books which inspired the singer when he was younger...

https://www.thelineofbestfit.com/tracks/native-james-field

Mr Tall wasn't too happy when he saw the name of this upcoming burlesque night at a craft kitchen and brewery in Oregon!! https://www.mycentraloregon.com/event/la-bon-burlesque-presents-cirque-du-freak/

I have it on good authority that he's sending his team of lawyers round to "have a quiet word" with the organisers. That would be worrying in the best of circumstances, but Mr Tall's lawers are... LITTLE PEOPLE!!!!

I think it won't be so much a case of "Cease and desist!!" as "DEcease and desist!!!!!"

:-) :-) :-) :-)

A new month = a new "Cirque Du Freak is one of the worst movies ever" article!!! :-)

This time round it's the good folk at COLLIDER, who compiled a list of the 10 Worst Horror Movies Based On Great Books, and placed Cirque Du Freak in the #10 spot. Which I guess is tragedy heaped on insult -- if a film of yours is going to make a list like this, I imagine you'd probably want to at least be #1 on the list, is only for the notoriety value!!!!

A list like this is always something of a mixed blessing for me. On the one hand, they're slagging off a movie based on my books, which isn't very nice -- but on the other hand, they're saying my books are GREAT, which is extremely flattering for ME!!!

Since I had nothing to do with the making of the movie, I guess I should just take the plaudits and keep quiet, but as I usually do in this situation, I must confess that I do truly like the film on its own terms. Yes, I think it should have been a lot more faithful to the books. Yes, I think it might have worked better if they'd involved me in the adaptation process. And yes, it's nowhere near as dark as it should have been.

But lots of people who'd never read my books (or even heard of me) saw the film and liked it enough to go read the books afterwards. I met quite a few of them at my recent event in Hungary, as I usually do when I meet with a large group of Shansters. It was their introduction to my world, and even though their opinion of it might have dipped after they read the books and realised how much of the source material the movie-makers had junked or changed, many of them still look upon it fondly. As do I.

So -- great books? Yes, immodest little chap that I am, I'd agree with that 100%!!! But one of the ten worst horror movies ever?!? Nay. Not in my opinion. Indeed I'd say very far from it.

Anyway, to check out the entire list of the unfortunate ten movies, click here: https://collider.com/worst-horror-movie-book-adaptations/

Wow! Saturday in Budapest was a crazy, fabulous day!! I've had some epic signings in Hungary in the past, and this was certainly one to add to the list!

The day started at 10am, when I met with a small group of fans who had signed up for a pre-event event (if that makes sense!). This was a nice, relaxed start to the day -- I was able to take my time singing their books, answered lots of questions, and hung out with them for a while.

There was a 45 minutes delay after that, while the organisers got everything lined up. Then I did a Q&A (I posted a video of that yesterday) and started signing for the BIG crowd shortly before 1pm... and, with only a very short 15 minutes to so break for lunch, I stayed signing until just after 9pm!!! Yup, eight hours in total, furiously signing books, answering questions as swiftly as I could, and of course strangling fans in their photos with me!!!

I know the whole signing session took a few hours longer than anticipated, and some people weren't able to stay to get their books signed, but it's always very difficult with a crowd this large. We could have just rushed everyone through -- a quick signature in just one book per person -- but I always like to give everyone at least a minute when they come up to meet me, write a message for them, sign as many of my books as they've chosen to bring along, and then have fun taking the photo. It's a big deal for a lot of fans, and some travel a long way -- at this event I had people come from Serbia and Austria!!! We could have capped the numbers, of course, and only allowed in 100 or 200 people, but I don't get to Hungary very often (it had been 10 years since my previous visit), and I wanted to give as many people as possible the chance to meet me. In an ideal world, we would have staged the event over two days, but I could only commit to a single day because of travel limitations (there aren't very many flights between my local airport at Budapest).

Anyway, while I know lots of you waited a VERY long time in the line, I hope it comes as some small comfort that *I* waited longer than anyone!!! People kept commenting on how cheerful I seemed to be, even after five and six and seven hours, when my hand and back and neck were hurting -- but in all honesty, I WAS truly cheerful. I had a brilliant day. For me, a busy event is a great event. I love to meet as many of you guys as I can when I travel, and I was thrilled that so many of you went out of your way to come meet me. I would have stayed until midnight if I'd had to, though it was probably best that it didn't run quite that late -- the venue turned into a night club later, which would have been something of a rather big challenge!!!

I hope to get back to Budapest again in the not too distant future, and next time we'll have another look at the organisational side of things, to try and make it a little bit smoother and easier for those who come. But for now, those of you who DID come and WERE able to stay in line for hours to get your books signed, will be able to say in years to come that you didn't just ATTEND a Darren Shan event... you SURVIVED it!!!!!

Finally, an extra big THANK YOU to Carmen and her team of volunteers who worked so hard to make this happen, and who stuck with me all the way to the end. You guys went above and beyond the call of duty, and it's truly appreciated.

Until next time -- CHEERS!!!!

A fan in the crowd recorded the whole of my Q&A at the event in Budapest yesterday. It runs 46 minutes in total, but that includes the translations to my answers -- if you fast forward through those (as I assume all non-Hungarian speakers will), you should shave a good 20 minutes or so off the running time.

There was a scheduled interview to begin with, where I was asked questions by the interviewer on stage, then we threw it open to the crowd. We covered LOTS of ground and touched on all sorts of topics. It's been a long time since I did a public Q&A like this, and very few of those back in the day were ever fully recorded, so this is a rare chance to catch me in action and hear me speak on a wide variety of subjects.

Click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OKhJXW54ZM

A post was trending on Twitter: "Nobody understands the bond between a girl and the mediocre book she read when she was 13 years old."

Several people mentioned my books (mainly my Cirque Du Freak and Demonata series), which was lovely, but I do bristle at that word MEDIOCRE.

I get what she means -- sometimes a book can play a huge part in your life when you're a teenager, and if you try to read it again as an adult it doesn't have the same impact on you, and can even seem a bit (maybe a LOT) lame in retrospect. But I think it's crucial to bear in mind that it's YOU that has changed, not the book.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with leaving the world of children's books and YA books behind and moving on to the world of books that are written for adults. Indeed, that's a path I'd encourage ANY and EVERY reader to take. I've always had a soft spot for children's literature, and still read several every year, and while I rarely enjoy them as much as I would have 40 years ago, they do still hit a sweet spot for me. They're not a major part of my reading habits, any more than horror or fantasy or sci-fi are major parts of my reading habits these days -- I read a very wide variety of books. But they do still work for me, and I continue to read them for pleasure.

I suspect I'm in a minority on that one, and most adults don't read an awful lots of kids' books, unless reading them to or with their own children. And that's perfectly fine and absolutely natural -- if I had to choose, and could only read books for adults or children, I'd pick books for adults.

But I think it's a pity if we lose sight of the fact that there are GOOD children's books and BAD (or MEDIOCRE) children's books. I've always been an avid reader, and I've forgotten most books I read as a child and teenager -- while I might have enjoyed them at the time, they haven't lived with me in my memories, so I suspect they weren't that strong. But other books HAVE remained with me -- The Secret Garden... Rebecca's World... The Machine Gunners... The Chocolate War... The Belgariad. These rocked my world back then, and I still remember them fondly all these years later. OK, they might not stoke my fires as strongly if I read them again now (although I'm sure at least some of them still would), but that in no way reduces them as brilliant books. I have changed. I've gotten older. I've branched out. I've explored more literary paths and niches. That in no way means that any of those books are lesser joys now than they were back then.

If you remember a childhood book fondly, please don't cheapen it by casting any MEDIOCRE light upon it. If it lives on within you, that's because it was a GOOD book. You don't have to blush with embarrassment if you're mentioning it to anyone, or laugh away your love for it by mocking it -- "Oh, yeah, Cirque Du Freak... it's awful, I know, but I loved it when I was a kid. Children, eh? What do they know?!?"

They know LOTS, is my short, concise answer. And no matter how wise and informed an adult you might have turned out, you shouldn't forget that those books you read and loved in your younger years helped shape you as a wise, informed adult... and if you mock them now and turn your back on them snobbishly, perhaps you're not as wise and informed as you might think you are...

The first Hungarian review for the second Archibald Lox Volume hit the web today: https://www.roboraptor.hu/2024/08/21/darren-shan-konyvek-archibald-lox-a-rab-herceg-fantasy-kritika/

It's a solid 7/10 review. The reviewer felt there was a bit too much focus on Grop (a sport that is hugely popular in the worlds of The Megre in the series), but that the series was building nicely and that answers to certain key questions would probably come in the third Volume -- which they certainly do!

One line made me smile wryly: "the author could have worked out how Archie had credibly explained to his parents and guardianship his disappearance. We didn’t get any feedback on how much his absence had influenced his relationship with his foster parents, since they already have a dead child."

This was something that a number of people commented on when they were reading the first two Volumes. Archie spends a lot of time away from home over the course of his adventures, but doesn't talk much about how he's squaring that away with his foster parents. It seemed like a bit of lazy writing on my part -- though I don't think anyone quite put it THAT bluntly!

Heh heh!!! Those who know me well (which is hopefully most of you who are reading this) will know that there's very little laziness on my part when it comes to constructing my twisting, sneaky plots!! If it looks like there's a big hole in my narrative, or that I'm shying away from properly explaining something... well, that's when your Spidey senses should be tingling, because it's normally a subtle sign that I'm gearing up to pull the rug out from under your feet in a completely unexpected (and often quite shocking) way!!!

Vlogger BLURBAL REASONING recently reviewed the fifth volume of the Cirque Du Freak manga adaptation. It's a 16 minute review that goes into quite a lot of interesting detail, and is certainly worth checking out, which you can do by clicking on the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDLU7R-e1T0

If you've never read the CDF manga (or even heard about it!), all 12 books were adapted many years ago, first in Japan, then in translated editions in lots of other countries around the world, including the USA and UK. Those orignal editions are out of print and very hard to track down these days (very costly too, in some cases), but they were reprinted a few years ago in omnibus editions, two books per volume, and these should be a bit easier to find -- although, having said that, the reprints seem to have gone out of pring too, and a few of those can be tricky to find too!!

If you can't source copies through your local manga specialist, you might enjoy some luck on a site like Abebooks or Alibiris, both of which specialise in second-hand books and have huge numbers of titles up for grabs.

SCREEN RANT posted a feature some time ago, entitled TEN GREAT HORROR BOOKS THAT MADE FOR TERRIBLE MOVIES.

No prizes for guessing which books featured in the #4 slot!!!

You can check out the full list here: https://screenrant.com/great-horror-books-terrible-movies/#vampire-blood-trilogy-cirque-du-freak

As I almost always state when the subject of the Cirque Du Freak movie is broached... I had nothing to do with the film... I do wish it had been more faithful to my books, and a lot darker than it turned out... but I do think that on its own terms it was a pretty neat, entertaining little movie, that probably deserved to find a wider audience than it did upon release. I have no axe to grind with it, although I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the books get rebooted for a TV show, and that the adapters look to involve me this time, and stick a bit more closely to the source material.

There was an interesting article on COURAGEOUS NERD a while back (OK -- quite a long time back! July last year in fact!!), looking at YA fiction of the early noughties, and how the Harry Potter books changed the YA world and paved the way for other authors to follow in its slipstream. You can check it out by clicking on the following link: https://courageousnerd.com/2023/07/31/jk-rowling-and-6-other-innovative-ya-authors-of-the-2000s/

In the author's summary at the end of the article, he states: "Without JK Rowling and Harry Potter‘s impact, the YA landscape would not be the same."

I absolutely agree with that -- Harry Potter made publishers far more willing to push YA books, especially those that were on the edgier side, and certain authors (such as myself) enjoyed a level of success that we very likely would not have enjoyed if we'd published (or tried to publish) our books several years earlier.

But the author also said: "JK Rowling’s success with Harry Potter inspired other authors."

And I actually have to disagree with that, at least in my case. I'm sure the Harry Potter books DID (and still do) inspire lots of other authors, but I'd actually written most of the books in my Saga Of Darren Shan / Cirque Du Freak series before I ever read one of the Potter books -- indeed, I think I was well into my Demonata series too. They certainly were on my mind when I was creating my Archibald Lox series, and I think you'd find strong traces of them (along with the works of other authors, such as Dianne Wynne Jones, Ursula LeGuin, Neil Gaiman) if you were to compare those two series. But my noughties books, while absolutely enjoying a huge Potter push in terms of sales, actually featured pretty much no Harry Potter-inspired DNA!!

A fan of mine called JAY emailed me recently to say:

"I’ve just started reading The Belgariad series and saw your quote in the front of the book. I’ve been a massive fan of your books for some time and wondered if anything from this series has helped inspire your work. I saw some parallels in Belgarath and Beranabus and wanted to see if it was a little Easter egg!"

Jay was partly right about the Belgariad easter egg, but got the wrong book and characters! While Belgarath might have been a subconscious influence on Beranabus in my Demonata series, in my vampire books Vancha and Evanna both owed a very conscious debt to a character from the Belgariad called Beldin!!! :-)

I love The Belgariad and read the books several times in my teenage years. They definitely were a big influence on me, and I recomend them most wholeheartedly -- which is why I gave the publishers a quote which they used on some of the covers when the series was refreshed a few years back. (And the teenager in me still finds it rather surreal that a quote of MINE has been used to help plug one of my favourite series!!!)

To tie in with a Kobo promotional sale, for the entire month of August, the eBook of Volume One of my Archibald Lox series will be reduced to just $0.99!!! It will be a similar low price around the world, and just £0.99 in the UK, and €0.99 in European territories. If you haven't yet read the book, or read it but don't own a copy, or want to recommend it to a friend or loved one, this is the perfect time to grab Volume One at a bargain basement price!! It collects the first three books of the series, and presents them as a single story, the way it was originally written. On sale through Kobo (obviously!), but also Amazon, Apple, B&N, Google Play, and most other online eBook sellers.

When I announced last year that I was going to be releasing my first ever children's picture book, The Terrified Troll, with artist Eva Byrne, I said that we were hoping to release it before the end of summer 2024, but "our time scale MIGHT prove to be overly optimistic." That, alas, has turned out to be the case. We haven't actually run into any external bumps, such as sickness or accidents (touch wood!!), but it has been a much steeper learning curve than we'd anticipated. For instance, we started out without a storyboard (basically a map of the entire book, featuring a detailed sketch for every page), not knowing that we would need one. When we realised that a storyboard would be essential, it took a few months to work it up from scratch, and as we did that, our aims grew more ambitious and the book grew longer by several pages -- which is good news for all of you who pre-ordered a copy, as you'll be getting far more bang for your buck, but it does also mean a longer wait, as each of those pages had to be planned, and now have to be drawn.

We're almost at the the halfway point, as far as the internal art is concerned. Eva is in the final stages of her MA this coming month, and her children are on holiday, but come September, with the MA in the bag and the kids back at the school, she'll be able to devlote much more time to the book. We don't have a precise estimate for you guys at the moment, but we think spring 2025 -- say, March or April -- is a realistic target. We're hopeful of being in a position to deliver it even earlier than then, but of course the obverse could happen too, and it could end up being even later than that (although we genuinely don't anticipate that much of a delay).

We're sorry for the delay, but we hope you'll all think it was well worth the extra effort and time when you see the finished book -- it's already far exceeded MY expectations of it!! So, your patience is greatly appreicated, and I'll be back in touch with more news and a more concret ETA at some point over the coming months, as work progresses even further and the end starts to trundle into sight. In the meantime, here are three of the pages from the book for you to enjoy -- a little taste of the Trolltastic treats to come!!!

I've another TATTOO TUESDAY post for you all, and today's corker was shared with us by a Shanster called DEMI.

Demi wrote to me a while back, saying she wanted to get a tattoo of her favourite quote of mine -- "Even in death may I be triumhant." Demi's not alone in favouring that particular quote, and many fans have adopted it for tattoos -- but Demi wanted to know if it might be possible to have it done in MY handwriting.

While I don't have very neat handwriting (I was always being criticised for it by my teachers in school), I appreciate the fact that it's still MY handwriting, which makes it rather more desirable than it would otherwise be! (If I was a doctor, my patients would be cursing me for it!!!) So I was happy to help out, and kept it as tidy as I could, knowing that Demi would have to walk around with it for the rest of her life!!

I'm rather pleased with how it turned out, and luckily Demi is too!!!!

I'll be making a rare public appearance in Budapest, Hungary on Saturday August 24th. I'll be giving a talk and answering questions from those in attendance, then signing books and posing for photos. It's been a long time since my last event in Hungary, and I haven't been doing many events anywhere over the last several years, so if you live in Hungary and miss this one, it might be a long time before you get a chance to catch me again!!

I won't be the only author at the event -- there will be Hungarian authors giving talks and signing as well, with the focus very strongly on fantasy books. The organisers were forced to change the venue, but have come up with somewhere that looks like it might work even better than their original choice. To confirm where it will be, and to book your tickets if you haven't already done so, click here: https://www.facebook.com/bookaholickiado

You can find some extra info on the organiser's Facebook EVENT page, including times (although these might change slightly, so make sure you double-check on the day when you get the venue!), by clicking here: https://www.facebook.com/events/334569889574322

A fan on Facebook asked where my book Bec was set, He thought Ireland, but when one of the characters talked about making a march on foot of 8 or 9 days, he started doubting himself, as he felt Ireland was too small a country for such a long march, and that you could cross the whole place in just 2 or 3 days...

I can confirm that Bec IS set in Celtic Ireland. If the country seems a bit larger than our current geographical mindset would suggest, it's worth bearing in mind that they didn't have roads like ours 1600 years ago. Much of the country would still have been forested, with lots of briars and bushes to hack through. They weren't travelling through familiar terrain. And because of the demons, they could only travel in daylight hours. So, while they could have completed their journey in today's world much more swiftly, even on foot, back then travel tended to take a lot more time. The world HAS got smaller in recent centuries, and I think books like Bec should help remind us that we live in what people of the past would have considered miraculous times. There's much to complain about in these modern times, of course, but there's so much to marvel at too...

OK folks, this is a mixed news post -- potentially good long-term news, but mixed in with some short-term bum notes!!

So, I was planning to surprise you all in October with a new Darren Shan book. It's a short horror novel that I wrote several years ago. My agent at the time presented it to my publishers, but they weren't interested in it, so I put it aside for a while, before returning to it this year to polish it up and get it ready for self-publication -- I felt there'd been a long enough wait since the end of my Archibald Lox series, and decided this would be a good one to follow it up with, as I still have a soft spot for the book, regardless of what the publishers thought. My plan was to get it ready, then drop the news on you guys at the last minute, shortly before I went ahead and released it.

As I worked on pushing ahead with the book, I sent the latest draft to my new agent. I always run my self-published work by her ahead of releasing it, to keep her in the loop, and also to give her the chance to step in and take it to traditional publishers if she feels there might be a market for it. I fully expected her to knock this one straight back, since it had been rejected previously, but to my surprise and delight she came back with some very thoughtful comments and suggestions for a rewrite. (For the first time in my long career, I've had someone ask me to make a story darker instead of tone it down!!!)

There's absolutely no guarantee that the rewrite will go well, or that we'll be able to land a publishing deal for it. I may very well end up pushing ahead with my original plan, and self-publish the book next year. But I'm going to give it a go, as there's no doubt that it stand a much better chance of finding a wider audience if it goes through a traditional publisher -- I'm not very good at the publishing side of things and taking my self-published work to a larger readership.

The rewrite will take time (I'll probably have to go through it a few times before I'm happy with it), and then it will have to go to my agent, and then -- if she likes it and thinks it has a shot -- it will have to be sent to a few publishers. So there's absolutely no way it's going to see print this year.

I'd like to put out a Darren Dash book instead, to plug the gap, but unfortunately I don't have one ready to go, as I was concentrating on the YA book. I'm going to start working on one as soon as I can, and might even work on it at the same time as I'm rewriting the Darren Shan book, but I think it's VERY unlikely that I'll be able to get it all lined up before the end of the year. I'm not ruling the possibility out completely, but it's an extreme long shot, and I imagine it will be spring 2025, or even later, before it will be ready for release.

So, this look like being a VERY rare year, with no new book from me on either the YA or adult front. But hopefully I'll make up for it in 2025, with a new Darren Dash book, plus a new Darren Shan YA book, PLUS of course my first ever picture book, The Terrified Troll. Keep those fingers crossed!! And while you're doing that, I'll keep working hard on things at my end, to bring the books to you as swiftly as I can. 2024 might prove to be a bust, but 2025 could end up being one of my most productive years ever!!!!

A budding writer called BEX emailed me today, having been hurt by a review of her work in progress:

"I hope this is OK to send but I would like to pick your brains about something. Next year, I’ll be self-publishing my debut novel. I’ve chucked the plot about in a private author group only for it to get torn to shreds and it triggered something inside me, spiralling me down a stressful pit of despair and asked myself ‘am I good enough?’

"It then brought on the concern of how do I take criticism? If all it takes is one person (who called my writing poor judging by how I used exclamation points in the synopsis!) to set me off, how will I fair when it comes to negative reviews? So, my questions are – how do you do it? Were you just as nervous before your books were published? Should I not waste energy on [the negative reviewer]?"

I felt Bexs pain, and here's what I told her, which I hope might come in useful for other budding writers too:

"You just have to remember the old adage -- opinions are like a**holes... everyone has one!!! :-) :-) :-)

"My advice is to either ignore reviews completely, or else try to take them with a grain of salt when you read them. Positive reviews put a small smile on my face... bad reviews make me scowl slightly... but I try not to pay too much attention to either. Once you publish a work, it's done, and no review can have any real impact on it from that point on. You should be thinking about the next book, not worrying about what people are saying about one that is now in your past.

"Easier said than done, I know, and some reviews DO rankle with me, even after all my years, especially when they're an ill-formed review. But you really are better off not responding to them, or saying anything to the reviewer. When you put a work out there, people are free to say whatever they want about it, and if you argue with them -- however politely you might argue, even if only to correct them on a big mistake on their part -- they won't appreciate it and it probably won't go well for you. Let them say what they like... take it in, mull it over for a few seconds if you wish... then move on."

I then wished Bex good luck, and I wish that to everyone else readig this who is planning to put their work out there, or dreaming of one day doing so. It's a hard world. Reviews CAN be cruel. BUT -- and I should have said this to Bex, but didn't think to add it at the time -- while it's very easy for someone to write a review, it's incredibly difficult, and takes a whole load of courage, to put a story out into the world, knowing it can be torn apart by literary vultures. Anyone who has the guts to publish their work should be proud of that work, and the strength it took to create and put it out there. Even if you ONLY get negative reviews, you should be proud. Because when you publish a story... you're a writer. Doesn't matter if you're a good writer or a bad writer -- that's entirely subjective, and opinions can wax and wane with time. But you've put in the hard creative work, you've summoned up the nerve-shredding publishing verve, and you've joined the pantheon of writers who've bared their souls and put everything on the line, and that's something that can NEVER be taken away from you.

It's TATTOO TUESDAY!!

Today's tantalising tat comes to us courtesy of a fan called KAIDYN, who refers to this as her "trifecta" tattoo, as it contains three elements drawn from my books -- Madam Octa, obviously... part of the logo from the British editions of The Demonata... and a long cut which has been inflicted by a vampaneze or one of my other villainous creations!!

How cool is THAT?!?

A fan called RYAN sent me an email recently, raving about my Archibald Lox series, and ending with a question about the books:

"I wanted to ask you about Archibald Lox. This was the first series from you that I didn’t read as a kid, after re reading Cirque and Demonata (both of which held up and then some. Seriously amazing adventures). Turns out, this became my favorite of your work. Had no clue what it was going in, loved it as I was reading it, loved telling my girlfriend about all the twists and turns. But after I finished it, I realized I was still thinking about it every day for weeks, and I still think about it often. It’s such a magical experience man. Thinking of the ending line still gives me goosebumps. Did not see the twist coming at all. Anyway, the question I wanted to ask is how do you feel about the series now that you’re a a few years removed? Would you put it up with your best, or are there things you’re not happy about?"

Firstly, I view it equally to all my other long series. I spent several years of my life at work on each of them, and I genuinely don't have a favourite between them. (Although I often cite The Demonata as the one I'm proudest of, as it's the one that stretched me most as a writer.) Archie is as dear to me as Darren Shan, the cast of the Demonata, B Smith, or Larten Crepsley.

Having said that, it DOES bug me that I couldn't work in a fourth story arc for the series! Although released as nine short books, I wrote the series as three large Volumes -- The Missing Princess, The Kidnapped Prince, and The Exiled King. I would have loved to be able to include another large book between Volumes 2 and 3, using the word Queen in the title, to make it a nicely rounded royal quartet -- but although I played around with various ideas and story snippets, I just couldn't find a strong enough story to justify its inclusion. The series works perfectly fine as a trilogy, but part of me does still regret that I couldn't find a way to fashion it into a quartet.

It's Fan Art Friday time again -- probably my favourite posting day of the week!!

An artistic fan called ZERO -- their Twitter handle is @Charlie0_4869 -- is nearing the end of my Saga Of Darren Shan / Cirque Du Freak series, and has been drawing lots of images inspired by scenes in the book. Here are four derived from Book 10, The Lake Of Souls. I've arranged them in random order, using the titles Zero assigned to them -- I'll leave it to you guys to work out which section of the book each refers to!

Drawing 1 -- All must fall to the Lord of the Shadows.

Drawing 2 -- The most nightmarishly monstrous creature imaginable.

Drawing 3 -- I seek my soul, spirits of the dead.

Drawing 4 -- Death was on the cards that day.

A Finnish blogger reviewed my Saga Of Darren Shan / Cirque Du Freak series last year. It wasn't an entirely gushing review, with the blogger highlighting what, in their view, were some weaknesses, but overall it was pretty upbeat. If you'd like to check it out, click on the following link -- my browser offered me the option of translating it into English, and while it was a far from perfect translation, it did the job well enough:

https://meridianliterature.blogspot.com/2023/07/darren-shan-darren-shanin-tarina-1-12.html

I did an online event with a class of kids at Brimington Junior School last week, and their teacher sent me the following letter a few days later. What a lovely response!! It's always amazing to get follow-up feedback like this after an event -- usually I don't get to find out how my chat went down and what the students got out of it. I especially like Archie's comment near the end!!

(I had a weird start to the Q&A session with the kids. The first boy up was Archie, so course I told him that the main character in my most recent series was called Archie. Then the next girl up was called Lexi, and there's a character called Lexi in a book that I'm working on at the moment!! I had a glorious yet terrifying thought -- what if EVERY kid in this class shares a name with a character from one of my books?!?)

Schools are out for the summer, so I won't be doing any more events like this for a while, but if YOU are a teacher or librarian, and you're interested in trying to set up an online event with me when the kids return after their break, just drop me a line at [email protected] and I'll do my best to sort something out with you.

Back in the day I used to get lots of letters and lengthy emails from fans of my books. That's changed with social media, as most of you now contact me via Facebook or Twitter, where your messages tend to be more truncated. But I do still get the occasional old-school letter or long email, and one was sent to me a few months back by a Mum of a young boy who had just discovered the joy of reading. It's the kind of email that reminds me, on my glummer days, why I became a writer and how important my stories have been to my readers, and gives me a kick up the bum to say that I should be busy writing, not sitting around moping!!! :-)

"Dear Darren, my son Noah, age 9 (nearly 10) is a very competent reader, however he has never chosen to read for pleasure despite my encouragement. We've been to bookshops and libraries on numerous occasions, where he would choose a book that he seemed interested in, only for it to sit unread at home. Even my offers of reading it to him weren't enough to change his mind, he was totally uninterested. Until last week.

"He came home from school and started talking about a book that his teacher was reading to his class, he was keen to tell me about the characters and storyline. He was consistent in talking about it for three days, and while on my lunch break I came across a copy in a charity shop, so I bought it for him, and I have never seen him so thrilled to receive a book.

"That book was Cirque du Freak, and he eagerly started to read it the moment we got home. He was eagerly telling me about the plot, he was reading aloud to me, so keen to involve me in every chapter. He completed it in three evenings!

"Having seen how interested he was, I wanted to encourage him, so I purchased the complete set for his birthday. I ended up giving him the set yesterday as an early birthday present as he just would not stop talking about how he couldn't wait to find out what happens next. He was over the moon. The minute he got up this morning he started book two, and as I write this he's halfway through it. He has read the blurb on every book, and talked non stop about what he thinks will happen, and what he hopes will happen.

"I just wanted to say a huge thank you for writing a series of books that has captivated the most reluctant reader, and hopefully sparked a love of reading that will continue. I'd better leave it at that as I'm now being told that Darren has returned to Cirque du Freak, and is sharing a room with Evra the snake boy! Thank you so much, Zoe."

I seem to get asked about audio books for The Demonata every other day! I've summarised before, but here's the skinny again for those who missed it previously...

The first 6 books were released as audio CDs in the UK many years ago. My publishers decided to stop at that point, much to my dismay. They have never been made available to buy through sites like Audible. I've urged my publishers to rectify this situation many times over the years, but so far I've enjoyed no success. I plan to go back to them soon to ask again and make as strong a case as I can, so if you would like to see the series finished and made available on Audible, keep those fingers (and toes) crossed!!! But given my previous failures to convince them, don't hold your breath!!!

A podcaster called JACK, whose podcast is called Storytellers Sanctuary, devoted an episode to Cirque Du Freak, the book that he says turned him into an avid reader. It's long -- almost 1 hour 20 minutes!! -- so brew yourself a nice cup of hot chocolate, settle back into a comfortable chair, and hit PLAY when you get to the podcast by clicking on the following link: https://pca.st/4q8w89k2

A lovely, lengthy vlog from CHLOE, talking about my Demonata series and how much it meant to her as a child. It starts with a short piece about Roald Dahl, but then the rest of it is pretty much demons!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpDU8d3wk6I

VIJAY is back with another short video review, this time for Zom-B Chronicles I, an omnibus edition that collected the first three books of the series.

To find out what Vijay thought of the books, click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkBx93y_AME

I hosted my second Bec Tour of Craggaunowen Park yesterday, with a lovely guy called ADAM, who's been a fan of my books for many, many years. We spent a relaxed couple of hours strolling around the park, as I explained how it had inspired many of the scenes in the book, and read out lots of short extracts from it. We also spent a good bit of time chatting with the artisans who bring characters from the past to life, and that was fasinating too -- no matter how many times I visit Craggaunowen, I always learn something new!

We concluded the tour with scones and drinks from the cafe, and spent quite a bit of time chatting there as well -- oh, and I signed Adam's books of course! Here are a couple of photos that we took at the end, along with one of me with Adam when we met back in 2009 for the release of Hell's Heroes -- Adam's hardly changed a bit in the last 15 years, has he?!? :-)

If YOU would like to go on a private Bec tour with me, drop me a line at [email protected] and I can let you know how we can make it happen.

CBR ran an article around this time last year (sorry for the incredibly late share!!!) entitled: 10 YA Series That Need Adaptations Before The Harry Potter Reboot

In a nutshell, it listed ten different YA series that they would like to see adapted as movie or TV shows. I was delighted to see The Demonata in among the mix, and the warm words of praise that they had for it. Of course, fince this aired, The Demonata HAS been optioned, with an eye to developing it as a TV show, so hopefully CBR will get to see at least ONE of their dream adpatations come true in the not too distant future...

To check out the full article, click here: https://www.cbr.com/ya-series-that-need-adaptations-before-hbo-hp-reboot/#the-demonata-by-darren-shan

Coming soon, on June 25th... The YA Horror 400, by Tony Jones. It's a book collecting 400 reviews of YA and Middle Grade horror, compiled by a librarian who has been reviewing them online for more than a decade and a half. As well as the reviews, it also features loads of contributions by authors whose books are included in the reviews, and one of those authors is... ME!!!

I wrote an article, more than 600 words long, about the book of mine which was reviewed, talking about how and why I chose my narrative style for it. But if you want to find out what that book was, and what I had to say about it, you'll need to buy a copy of The YA Horror 400!!! :-)

You can find out more about the book, and pre-order it, by clicking here: https://gnofhorror.com/the-ya-horror-400-your-go-to-almanac-for-ya-horror/

And here's even more info, copied from its Amazon page:

The YA Horror 400 is an authoritative guide, with extensive reviews of 400 of the best Young Adult and Middle Grade horror novels written between 2008 and 2024. They are recommended by Tony Jones, a librarian who has worked in schools for thirty years, is a lifelong horror fan and passionate about getting teenagers reading. In addition to each individual review, which range from 150 to 450 words, the following supplementary information is provided on each of the 400 books:

Buzzwords: brief keywords which describe the book at a glance.

Why Read It: a short opening comment on why Tony rates it.

Notes: comment on the author, other publications or points of note.

Age Suitability: ranging from 8/9 to 15+. Identifies the target audience.

Fear Factor: from 1 to 10. Just how scary is each book? Also identifies triggers.

If You Like This Try: every book has 6 or 7 alternative titles to investigate.

A fan of my books, called LINDEA, was idly scanning the shelves of her local goodwill bookshop recently, when to her shock she spotted THIS -- one of the limited edition copies of Bec that my British publishers, HarperCollins, released back in 2006. And it turned out to be a really cool number too -- 665, the second-last of the 666 copy edition!!

I was delighted for Lindea, and also rather impressed by the clarity of my signature! I have very messy handwriting at the best of times (occasionally I've had fans come up to me with books that I signed for them at previous events, asking me to transcribe the message that I wrote for them!) and I signed all 666 copies of the book on the same day. By this stage of the process, I'm surprised my signature wasn't a barely legible scrawl!!

Anyway, it was lovely to see this again almost 20 years later. If any of you are keen to try tracking down a copy yourself, hit those charity stores for all your worth!! If that fails, you might enjoy some luck on a site like Abebooks or Alibris. There were also limited editions (again, 666 copies each) of Lord Loss and Demon Thief. (For some weird reason my publishers didn't do one for Slawter.) There was one for Hell's Heroes too, but there were only 50 copies of that one, and they hardly ever come up for resale -- you can expect to spend at least several hundred pounds on it if one ever does, unless you make a VERY lucky find in your local charty shop or second-hand bookstore!!!

The June issue of my online monthly newsletter is now LIVE!!

Posts this month span a wide range of topics, including... the 27th anniversary of the start of Cirque Du Freak... a radio interview with me, where I talk about some of my favourite books... info about how to come on a personal Bec tour with me... I talk about the role of the vampets in my vampire books... there's a Cirque Du Freak quiz... and I reveal who would win in a to-the-death battle between zombies and Peppa Pig!!!

I also make a brief, first-ever mention of a new project that I'm working on, for those who want to be among the very first to find out when there's a new Shan tale in the offing -- although I'm not saying very much at the moment about what exactly that might be...

For all of the above, and lots, lots more, click here: https://darrenshan.com/news/shanville-monthly

A fan called JEREMY emailed me recently, to ask the following question:

"I have a question about the timeline in the series. In the first Larten Crespley book, Birth of a Killer, Larten and Webster encounter Murlough in the cellar of an abandoned building. Does Larten remember Murlough when he encounters him in Tunnels of Blood?"

Jeremy isn't the first to ask that question. As he points out, a young Larten crosses paths with Murlough when the vampaneze is in his prime, but never mentions that in Tunnels Of Blood when he's telling Darren about him. Did he just forget about their previous encounter?!?

No, of course not. Now, being perfectly honest, *I* knew nothing of their original run-in when I wrote Tunnels Of Blood. Mr Crepsley's past was mostly a mystery to me when I was writing Cirque Du Freak and its sequels. I had no idea that he and Murlough were old foes. It was only when I came to write Birth Of A Killer that I saw a way to weave Murlough into the story -- I'd always wished that I could have done more with him, so I was delighted to be able to include him in the book, to give us a look at what he was like before his mind deterioriated.

If I HAD known about their previous history, would I have had Larten mention it in Tunnels Of Blood? No. I love that Mr Crepsley told Darren so little about his past. It was part of his charm, and one of the reasons why I think readers (and I) warmed to him so much. We could tell that he was a man still in much pain, and his refusal to discuss the source of that pain made us feel for him. So, even if I'd known about his encounter with Murlough, I wouldn't have nodded to it in Tunnels Of Blood. He was more fascinating to us in his pain, and if he'd started opening up to Darren, I think he would have lost some of his brooding appeal. His reluctance to talk through what was troubling him was tough for Mr Crepsley, of course -- but made for good reading for the rest of us!!!

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.

This made me chuckle!!

A school librarian (Ms. Yingling Reads) tweeted the attached photo, with the message: "End of school year! Always make sure that @darrenshan ZOM-B series doesn't spend the summer next to @WendyShang books. You can never be too careful!"

I assume this is because Wendy Shang's books are aimed at younger readers, and the librarian is worried that, in her absence, an 8 year old could walk home with Zom-B by accident and start reading!!! :-)

This reminds me of when Zom-B got pulled from a major supermarket chain in the UK many years ago, around the time that Zom-B Baby was released. (The hardback of that book has an especially grisly cover!!) Supermarket workers don't take the same care with placing books that a seasoned librarian takes, and they were simply stacking all the books for children together in one section, which meant Zom-B Baby was being stacked next to Peppa Pig books -- and the cover was traumatising toddlers and angering their parents!!! Enough parents complained for it to become an issue, and rather than train their staff to stack books correctly, the chain simply pulled Zom-B from their shelves.

So, if you've ever wondered who would win in a war between zombies and Peppa Pig... :-) :-) :-)

With work ongoing on a potential TV adaptation of The Demonata (still VERY early days, so don't go getting TOO excited!), this might be a good time for a re-read of the series, to refresh yourselves with the storyline, if only to be able to accurately judge just how savagely it ends up being butchered!!!! :-) :-) :-)

But with ten books to work your way through, you might not recall where to start or in what order to proceed from there. Luckily, the HOW TO READ ME site has listed the running order, along with a brief synopsis for each book -- plus they've also listed the chrnological order, in case any of you want to read the story in the way the time would have unfolded, rather than in the backwards-and-forwards way that I structured things.

(I think the BEST way to read the series is the way I structured it, but it might be fun to start with Bec and work forward from there, especially if you've read the books before.)

For your directions in the demon-ravaged darks, click here: https://www.howtoread.me/the-demonata-books-in-order-darren-shan/

Ther are two teachers in California, KEVIN and JENNIFER, happily married and teaching in the same school. Every year, for the last 17 years, they have read Cirque Du Freak to their students, and are still enjoying it after all this time! They get the kids to send me a letter when they've finished the book, and I always love replying.

They also give the kids a Cirque Du Freak QUIZ each year, and the one who scores highest wins a copy of the Cirque Du Freak omnibus!! They sent me a copy of this year's quiz, and I have to say, it's INCREDIBLY hard!!! There are 16 questions in total, and I think most readers will struggle to get even half of those right! (I didn't dare test myself, as I don't want to fail it!!!!)

But hey! if you want to prove me wrong, I've attached scans of the quiz here, so go ahead and test yourself! Just, please, no cheating! It's a fun quiz, designed to find out how much you've actually retained abut the book. So no peeking or Googling the answers!!! Take on the challenge squarely, as any vampire of good standing would, and see how you fare. I'll be eagerly awaiting your scores in the replies to this post -- just don't expect any free books from me at the end!!!!

What's Allies Of The Night (the 8th book of my Cirque Du Freak series) like if you re-read it as an adult?? A fan called LUKE decided to find out, and documented his take on the book here: https://medium.com/@lukewhenderson/rereading-cirque-du-freak-as-an-adult-pt-8-allies-of-the-night-a6b7add5b35e

***SPOILERS ***

I'm going to talk about events from the book here, so if you haven't read it, and don't want spoilers, my advice is to stop reading NOW.

Luke raises a very interesting point about the Vampets, and their similarity to fascists like the Nazis. This was definitely deliberate. Luke doesn't like it, because it casts the Vampaneze as out-and-out bad guys, and he felt I'd been much more nuanced in my presentation of them up to that point. He's absolutely correct, but at the same time I think he's misinterpreted what's going on with the vampets, and the reason why I went all-out bad with them.

The vampaneze are NOT automatic bad guys. They have different beliefs to the vampires, and I'd absolutely be more with the vampires than the vampaneze, but they're not inherently evil. But that changes when Steve comes into the mix. Because of Mr Tiny's prophecy, and their belief that their Lord will see them conquer the vampires, they follow Steve blindly, which allows him to corrupt them. The Vampets are HIS henchmen. HE ordered their recruitment, and directs their actions. The vast majority of the vampaneze disapprove of the Vampets, but Steve is their Lord, and his word is law, so they allow it to happen.

Although I didn't get into politics heavily in Cirque Du Freak, the state of the world WAS on my mind all the same, and I addressed it with the Vampets and the negative impact they have on the vampaneze. They're a warning not to put too much power into the hands of our leaders, as corrupt officials can then lead us disastrously astray, as happened with Germans in the 1930s. I don't think any groups of people are inherently bad -- we're all one big family, and we sway the same ways. But the systems we implement can allow individuals in positions of authority to move big groups in sinister ways, and what I was saying with the Vampets was that we should never have a system where our leaders are granted God-like powers, where they're placed above our laws and rules, because such systems will always, eventually, be abused, to the harm of the wider populace.

Nice to see Cirque Du Freak make a list of "old" series on Gamespot entitled: Introduce Your Kids To Some Of The Most Popular Books From Your Childhood This Summer -- even though I still find it hard to believe that almost a quarter of a century has passed since Cirque Du Freak was first released!!

The set that they've included an Amazon link for is actually the boxset of the British editions, where the series is known by its original and official title -- The Saga Of Darren Shan. (Though I'm happy to refer to it as the Cirque Du Freak series too!) As long as you don't mind the covers, which are VERY different to the American covers, it's incredibly good value -- all 12 books, in a stylish slipcase, for about $45?!? Yes please!!!!

Click here for the article and the Amazon link: https://www.gamespot.com/gallery/summer-reading-for-kids/2900-5373/#1

I appeared on The Hard Shoulder, a show on Irish radio station NEWSTALK, earlier this week. I talked about two of my favourite books -- longtime fans of mine probably won't be too suprised by my choices, but newer fans might be caught off-guard by at least one of them! I also mentioned what I was reading at the moment, and we covered some other stuff too.

The interview has been archived as a podcast, so you can now listen to it at your leisure, no matter where you live in the world, by clicking on the following link: https://www.newstalk.com/podcasts/highlights-from-the-hard-shoulder/the-bookshelf-with-darren-shan

Enjoy!! And do feel free to share YOUR recommendations with me in reply to this -- I'm always on the lookout for good new books to read...

There was a nice little article on Buzzfeed recently, about people's favourite books, although it had a rather cumbersome heading: Here Are 15 Books That Are So Good, People Wish They Could Relive Reading Them Again For The First Time. That header writer needed a good editor!!! :-)

Anyway, there's a sweet mention for Cirque Du Freak in among the mix. To read what they had to say about it, and to check out the other books that got highlighted, click here: https://www.buzzfeed.com/elizabeth_cotton/books-people-wish-they-could-read-again-for-first-time

A mother of a student went to his school recently, and was impressed to spot a "literary Tube map" -- this is like the famous London Tube Map, only every "train line" represents a genre of books, with various novels and schools dotted along the way.

The Shantastic parent sent me a picture of part of the map, and I was delighted to see a freakishly fabulous book at the start (or end) of the black horror line! All aboard for the Cirque Du Freak!! Choo-choo!!!!!

To tie in with a Kobo Mother's Day sale in the USA, I've reduced the price of the eBook of my Darren Dash novel, Midsummer's Bottom, to just $0.99 for the next few days. I've also reduced the price across all other sellers of the eBook -- Amazon, Apple, B&N, Google Play, Smashwords, etc -- and in all territories, so it's just £0.99 in the UK, €0.99 in European countries, and a similar low price everywhere else.

Midsummer's Bottom is utterly different to all my other books. A broad, farcical comedy, inspired by Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, it features more fairies than you can count, and the world's most terrible actors. There are changelings, mischievous imps, and lots of complicated, hilarious romantic entanglements. It's Darren Dash (and Darren Shan) as you've never seen him before, as if blown in from some alternate universe where instead of writing dark, horrific tales for the last quarter of a century, he'd been writing frothy, romantic comedies instead!!! I had no idea what the reaction would be like when I wrote it, but it actually tickled a lot of funny bones around the world and garnered positive reviews all round, some snippets of which I'm including below in the hope of swinging those of you who are sitting on the fence!!! :-)

As I said, the price of the eBook has been reduced to just $0.99, but only until the middle of the coming week. You should be able to buy it through your online store of choice, i.e. wherever you normally buy your eBooks. If you'd prefer a physical copy, you can buy a paperback edition through Amazon stores worldwide, but sadly I can't offer any reductions on that -- the power of the fey folk only stretches so far!!! :-)

"A clever and kinky theatrical romp with a big heart." Kirkus.

"It is comedic, a little hectic, and the strength of its rich cast keeps things moving at a delightfully entertaining pace... this unique tale is that rare reimagination of elements of a classic story that captures all the comedy, drama, and emotional satisfaction of its original and in some ways exceeds them." US Review of Books.

"Midsummer's Bottom delights with Shakespearian couplets and a cacophony of human foibles that smash up to a satisfying ending. Tightly-written and imaginative, Midsummer's Bottom glides the reader through a wonderful story towards a rewarding, and unexpected, end." Self-Publishing Review.

Twenty-seven years ago today, on May 8th 1997, I was sitting in a car, babysitting a young cousin who was asleep in the back, when I had an idea for a book about a young boy who runs into a vampire at a circus and ends up reluctantly becoming his assistant as a creature of the night. A few days later I began writing the first draft of the book that I had decided to call... Cirque Du Freak!!

I had no idea at the time that this would change my life forever. I'd been writing full-time for a couple of years, and had written lots of books, all intended for adult readers. I was making a bit of headway with them, and assumed they would be my bread-and-butter if I was going to be able to make a career out of this writing lark. Cirque Du Freak was a side-project. I didn't think there was any money to be made writing for children, and I wasn't sure if I'd be any good at it -- I thought it would be difficult to rein in the darkness of my adult work. But, what the hell, I thought I could have some fun with it, so I went ahead and wrote it regardless!

When I'd finished my first draft, I asked my agent if he'd like to have a look at it. He said he would, and he really enjoyed it. He saw commercial potential that I hadn't seen, and submitted it to twenty different publishers in the UK, hoping to start a bidding war for the rights... only for all twenty of them to reject it!! It looked like my experiment in books for children had been a huge failure, and commonsense told me to push it aside and focus on my books for adults again.

But I'd already written the first draft of the second book (I worked FAST back in those days!), and Chris didn't want to let it drop, as he still believed in its potential. So he set up meetings for me with three of the publishers who'd rejected it, to chat about what they had liked ot hadn't liked, and if they might be interested in other work from me. One of those editors, a lady called Domenica De Rosa, re-read the manuscript ahead of our meeting, to refresh herself with the material, and second time round it snagged her interest. She made a few very helpful suggestions -- such as making early mention of Darren's love of spiders, which didn't appear in the first draft until he was at the Cirque Du Freak and saw Madam Octa.

Buoyed by this, I went away and did a re-write, and Domenica ended up commissioning it for HarperCollins. She then went off to have twins and never returned, and her replacement didn't like the book and tried to sell the rights back to us! But Chris stood firm and insisted they go ahead and publish it, and although they sat on it for a couple of years, they did put it out eventually, and... well... it did OK when it started appearing on bookshelves of shops, didn't it?!?

Happy birthday, Cirque Du Freak. Thanks for bringing so much dark joy into the lives of millions of readers around the world, and giving me a fairytale kind of life that I couldn't even have imagined in my wildest dreams back in 1997, when I was drawing unemployment benefits and living with my parents.

There was a lovely review for Father Of The Future, my latest Darren Dash novel for adult readers, on BEYOND THE SPINES REVIEWS. It was the first of my books for older readers that the reviewer had read, and while at first uncertain of what to expect, she enjoyed it immensely in the end, as best illustrated by this little snippet:

"For me, this book felt like 1984 meets Netflix’s Loki meets 2001 meets I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream, except that I enjoyed this novel more than any of those four fictions."

High praise indeed, especially as 1984 and 2001 were BIG influences on my work in general, and Father Of The Future in particular!! If you'd like to read the full review, you can do so by clicking on the following link: https://beyondthespinereviews.wordpress.com/2023/11/09/father-of-the-future-book-review/

And if you'd like to read the book, you can buy the very reasonably priced eBook on Amazon, Apple, Google Play, Kobo, Smashwords and lots of other sites. Or you can get it as a hardback or paperback through Amazon stores worldwide.

I've had a few people asking me recently if the Cirque Du Freak audiobooks are being removed from Audible. As far as I'm aware, no they're not -- but, based on this screenshot that one fan sent me, it looks to me as if they ARE being withdrawn from the FREE downloads list.

I've got to be honest -- I know next to nothing about audiobooks! (Which might be why I'm not overly bothered by AI audio narrators, even though I know lots of people who listen to audiobooks are horrified and outraged by them!) I don't listen to audiobooks, and had little to do with those of mine which have been recorded and released by my publishers over the years, aside from rubber-stamping their choice of narrators. But I'm aware that fans on Audible have been able to listen to the Cirque Du Freak books for free, for a few years now. (Don't worry -- I do still get paid!) Or at least some fans in some countries have been able to, depending on their subscription model.

That now seems to be changing -- but I don't know if it's everywhere or just in certain zones. But I'm pretty certain that the books WILL remain on Audible -- I assume you'll just have to pay for them now, or use your monthly credits to download them if you have that set up. (As my wife does. She's always keenly looking around for new audiobooks to spend her credits on, though I don't think she ever spends them on mine!! Then again, I did read a few of my books to her on long car journeys years ago, so I suppose when you've have a private Darren Shan narrating experience, every other narrator will inevitably come up short!!!)

By the look of this screenshot, you have until May 17th to listen to the books for free on Audible, so if you've been planning to give them a listen (or re-listen) but haven't got around to it yet, my advice is to act swiftly -- indeed, given the number of books, you might have to move even swifter than a vampire at full flitting speed!!

I just this minute finished typing up one of my plans for how a TV adaptation of The Demonata might be structured.

"One of?!?"

Yep. When I started working things out, I saw that there were two different ways to do it - well, there are LOADS of ways to do it, of course, but there are two ways of special interest to ME - and I need to type up the second plan next, before submitting it to the Dreamology Pictures team. They may well not want to go in one of my suggested directions, which will be absolutely fine -- I'll happily support them in their preferred approach if that turns out to be the case. But at least I'll have pitched my plans to them and put my ideas out there.

A band called EVELYN'S CASKET recorded a song with the very cool name of Cirque Du Freak a while back, in honour of my books which they enjoy. It's a great, catchy little number, and I've shared it here before, but now they've added a VIDEO which is a lot of fun, featuring snippets of them performing it live. But damn, I wish I could make it to one of their gigs to take my place in the mosh pit and sing along!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NivERjr0mIo

For quite a while now, readers in the UK (and, to an extent, Europe) have been able to order complete sets of most of my series through Lowplex at extraordinarily low prices. The sets have occasionally popped up on Amazon in the USA, at prices that don't match Lowplex but come in at pretty good value -- but today I saw a link for a site called JUST KIDS BOOKS, with VERY low prices for two of my series. You can get all 12 Cirque Du Freak books (in a very nice slipcase) for just $38.99, and all 12 Zom-B books for $39.99. Shipping is free if you spend over $40, or else it's $4.99.

If you're interested, you can access the Darren Shan part of the store here: https://justkidsbooks.com/collections/darren-shan

If you live in the UK, Lowplex offer both of the above sets, at the jaw-dropping low price of just £15.98 for all 12 Saga Of Darren Shan books (in a beautiful slipcase), or £19.99 for all 12 Zom-B books. You can also buy all 12 Demonata books (again in a very cool slipcase) for just £18.49, or my 4 books Saga Of Larten Crepsley series for £9.99. They do ship to Europe as well, but you have to pay import taxes and shipping, which will drive up the price -- though they might still prove to be good value...

If you're interested in having a look on the Lowplex site, click here: https://www.lowplexbooks.com/pages/search-results-page?q=darren%20shan

One of the perks I offered in my Terrified Troll fundraiser was a handwritten copy of the poem that inspired the picture book. A grandfather called Stewart, who came to see me regularly with his son Matthew when I used to do the Ediburgh Book Festival every year, bought one of the poems for his grandson LUCCA. He asked if I could possibly personalise it with a short message to Lucca, but I told him there wasn't really space on the page to do that. However, I suggested that I could rename the poem and tweak it slightly so that it was written from the point of view of a little troll's grandparents... ����

There were ten copies of the poem up for grabs, and they all sold. I won't be doing any more, as it was a strictly limited edition, but there ARE other perks unofficially still up for grabs, even though the fundraiser ended back in January. If you fancy treating yourself (or a special Shanster in your life!) you can book...

a one-to-one 40 minutes Zoom chat with me, for €150...

meet with me for 2 hours either in Limerick (€200) or London (€275)...

you could come on a Bec-inspired tour with me in Craggaunowen Park in Ireland for €250...

or try and survive a 3 hour Zom-B tour with me in London for €275.

If you're interested in any of the above, email me at [email protected] and I can talk you through the confirmation process.

An interesting review of BEC by The Phoenix Project. The reviewer is as eloquent as ever, and praises the novel highly, but DOES call its placement in the series into question, arguing that it should be the third book, not the fourth. To which I reply...

Nonsense!!! :-)

Seriously, while I do see his point, I think it's placement is perfect, and I don't say that lightly. It certainly didn't need to be #4 in the series -- it was actually the second Demonata book that I wrote. After Lord Loss, the next five books were written in a different order to the way they were published. I spent quite a few years gnawing away at the structure, trying to figure out the best way to tell this huge, sprawling story that had more than one narrator. It wasn't actually until I wrote the sixth book, Demon Thief, that I cracked it.

Three narrators. A storyline that moves backwards and forwards in time. The idea that time is circular and we keep coming back to key moments in our lives. I decided it need a PALINDROME-like structure, where the order of narrators would be the same backwards as forwards, and where the timeline flowed like the sea, moving backwards and forwards like the waves coming in and retreating from a shore.

I know the structure is more challenging that way, and perhaps many readers would have enjoyed a cleaner presentation, but I wholly believe that this was the very best way to deal up the story, and of all my works' structures, it's the one I'd argue most vociferously for, as it's the one I'm proudest of. (That said, I may well help tear it to shreds and rebuild it in a very different way if it gets adapted for TV!!)

Anyway, heres the link to the full review, which is VERY worth reading, even if the reviewer and I have agreed to disagree on the order of the books! https://phoenix-prjct.com/2024/04/15/%F0%9F%93%9A-bec-blasts-us-back-to-the-past-to-deliver-some-bloody-revelations-in-depth-review-%F0%9F%93%9A/

When Father Of The Future - my latest novel for adult readers, released under the pseudonym of Darren Dash - was released late last year, it picked up lots of extremely positive reviews, including one from US Review Of Books, which noted in its closing line: "this is a fascinating and imaginative science fiction tale that blends fact and fiction to weave an entertaining read."

The review also neatly summarised the book's main plot, something I often struggle with -- I'm not very good at giving the short version of my sometimes very long stories!!! :-)

You can check out the full review here: https://www.theusreview.com/reviews-1/Father-of-the-Future-by-Darren-Dash.html

The eBook of Father Of The Future is on sale through all the major online retailers (Amazon, Apple, Google Play, Kobo, B&N, etc) or you can buy a hardback or paperback copy through Amazon stores worldwide.

When I announced late last year that I was working on my first ever picture book, The Terrified Troll, I said it had been inspired by my children and their love of chewing on stones when they were little! I'm sure lots of people thought that I was making that up, but Mrs Shan recently unearthed some old photos which verify what might have seemed like a wild, fanciful claim!!!

Dante was especially fond of stones, and chewed on them for quite a long time. That was when I originally came up with the opening line of a poem: "My son is a troll, he loves eating stones." Years later, when I spotted Gaia also chewing on stones, I was drawn back to that line and finally got round to finishing the poem, which went on to become the basis for the book.

The artist, Eva Byrne, and I fundraised to raise the money we need to produce a limited edition of the book. While the fundraiser is currently inactive, a few of the perks ARE still available to those who enquire. They include: a one-to-one 40 minutes Zoom chat with me... a 2 hours meeting with me in Limerick or London... a Bec-inspired tour with me in Craggaunowen Park in Ireland... or a Zom-B tour with me in London.

If you're interested in any of the above,email me at [email protected], and I can provide you with prices and more info. But be warned -- you don't get personal time with Darren Shan on the cheap!!!

I'm almost finished my read-through of Demon Thief, which I'm doing ahead of working on a structural plan for the potential Demonata TV adaptation. There's no guarantee that the adaptors -- Dreamology Pictures -- will want to go down the route I'm suggesting, or even if *I* will want to go down that route! I have an idea for how the books might be adapted, but I'm not at all certain that it will work out. Right now I'm just refreshing myself with the books. Then I'm going to work on piecing the story components together in a different way, to see if it might work better for TV that way. If I feel it's working, I'll pitch it to Max and Ijaz at Dreamology. But if I feel like it doesn't have legs, I'll let it drop there, and leave the team to pitch THEIR plan to ME.

Man, I'd forgotten so much about these books!! I got to the scene where Kernel meets with Lord Loss, which I thought came almost at the very end of the book. When I realised there were still many chapters to go, I found myself wondering, "What the hell happens next?!?" :-)

I'd also forgotten how cruel Beranabus is. I'd always wanted him to be a bit of a brutal character, so focused on his mission to save the world that he doesn't care too much about any given individual, but in my memory he was nicer and warmer than he actually is. A fan posted on social media recently, saying he was a disgusting monster who had terrorised poor Nadia. At the time I thought she was being a bit harsh on him, but now... nope, I agree with her!!! At the same time, that's exactly how he needed to be in order to save the universe. Sometimes our heroes are ugly people. It's a contradiction that applies in real life as well as in fiction, and it's something that has always fascinated me. Would flawed heroes be even more heroic without their flaws? Or do we need to take them as they come, and try to appreciate them for the good they have done despite their flaws?

If anyone knows the answer, stick it on a postcard and send it to me!! In the meantime, I'll no doubt carry on picking away at the puzzle in my stories and making sense of it as best I can through those...

A year ago, a vlogger called MORGAN reviewed all four books in my Saga Of Larten Crepsley series. I provided a link to his review of the first book at the time, but never got round to sharing links for the others. Whoops!!! Well, better late than never!! So here's the link for book 4, Brothers To The Death, with the other two just beneath it, along with the link for Book 1 in case you missed it first time round.

Book 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VO11jv4iY3g

Book 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZ-X6Z1OBiM

Book 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BPEZPwMtKE

Book 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfBlgtNMwb8&t=881s

I'm very proud of the Mr Crepsley books. It was a big challenge for me, trying to tell a story that had to be paced out across the span of two centuries. I didn't want it to just be a "filling in" exercise, which was there only to serve the desires of hardcore fans who wanted to spend more time with Mr Crepsley. I wanted the books to tell a meaningful story, to be able to exist on their own terms, and work in their own dynamic way. And I think I achieved all that, and then some.

That said, the books came out quite a long time after the end of Sons Of Destiny, and a lot of my fans never found out about them -- indeed, I'm willing to bet that I get a least a few people today, who are long-time fans of mine, who will be learning about the Mr Crepsley Saga for the first time ever as they read these words!! So I'm truly grateful to reviewers like Morgan who shared their views of the books with the world and helped (and are still helping) to get the word out there. Much vampish love to you, my man!!!

Now that the kids are back at school after the Easter holidays (hurrah!!!) I thought I'd mention again that I'm available to do online events with schools/libraries around the world, as I did with the students of ST VINCENTS PRIMARY SCHOOL a while back -- I've attached a couple of photos that the staff took during the event.

Teachers and librarians set up these events in different ways. Sometimes they gather all the students in a large room or hall with a big screen projection, but in this case the students stayed in their classrooms and joined in through smaller screens. I'm always happy to work around whatever best suits any particular school's needs. All I need is to be able to see and hear the kids! :-)

If YOU are a teacher or librarian, anywhere in the world, and are interested in setting up an online Darren Shan event, feel free to drop me an enquiry. You can contact me by email: [email protected]

My online events run for 30-35 minutes. I do a reading, chat about myself a bit, then take questions from the students. They're always fun, and always FREE -- I don't charge anything for them. And the more students you can involve, the better -- it's always more exciting playing to a larger crowd!!

A Shanster called MORGAN was pleased to spot some of my books in their local library, and took a couple of photos to share with me. Coolio!!!

I've been very lucky to enjoy great support from librarians all around the world over the years. When my agent was struggling to sell Cirque Du Freak back in 1997, one of the reasons given by some of the editors at the various publishing houses was that they feared librarians would rise up in arms against the book, since it was so much darker than any other books released for that age demographic. They thought there would be a media storm, with library staff speaking out loudly against the book, and they didn't want to get caught in the middle of such a messy situation. Of course, good librarians know much more about children's books than publishers or editors or, indeed, writers -- I've always been astonished by how knowledgable and well-read they are, and have learnt so much from them. They saw the merits in Cirque Du Freak straight away, and played a big part in its gradual rise into the public consciousness. I love that they're still out there, doing their best to connect my work with readers, even a quarter of a century down the road.

It's been AGES since I shared any Cirque Du Freak memes, so let's correct that right away!

These are both by a Tweeter with the handle of FESTIE. (Used to be FestivalOfTheUndead, or some such variation!) The OFFICE meme dates back quite a while, but Festie only shared the LAST SUPPER one this week -- and I think it's an absolutely cracker!!

Festie's title for the second one, which made me chuckle almost as much as the image did, was “One of you will stick a knife into Gavner Purl tonight” (CDF. 5:19)

I *might* have shared this one with you before, but I don't *think* I have!!!

Basically it's a podcast from nearly 3 years ago, called YOU KNOW WHAT I LIKE...? They covered lots of books and movies, and spent one episode talking just about Cirque Du Freak, which both of the hosts -- Mark and Sophie -- were big fans of in their teens. They went back and refamiliarised themselves with the books ahead of the podcast, then chatted about their thoughts. They're not always gushing in their praise, especially Sophie, but it's interesting to hear how people absorb a book differently when they're adults compared with how they did when they were younger.

The podcast runs about 45 minutes in total, and you can check it out here: https://www.ykwilpodcast.com/58982/8778434

I was so busy having fun with my April Fool's Day post yesterday (go back and check it out if you missed it!) that I didn't mention that the April issue of my online monthly newsletter is now LIVE. The major news items revolve around the optioning of my Demonata series (it includes no fewer than four different entries) but I have plenty of other items to report on too, including...

if you're quick, you can pick up the eBook of the weirdest novel I've ever written for just $0.99...

you can listen to me chatting with one of Ireland's most poular radio DJ's...

I pick up a rare and unexpected award...

I share some news about the potential Cirque Du Freak reboot...

there's a Darren Shan-inspired Wordle...

some World Books Day photos...

and lots, lots more!

You can check it out for free, online, by clicking here: https://darrenshan.com/news/shanville-monthly

In the world of movie/TV adaptations, things usually move at a snail's pace. But sometimes something happens that allows a project to explode -- and that's happened in the last few weeks with Cirque Du Freak!!!

As I've said before, Cirque Du Freak has been under option for quite a while now, the plan being to turn it into a TV show. A team in America has been working on the scripts and getting it to a point where they could pitch it to the major players. I've been very hands-off throughout that process, happy to leave them to it. But now I suddenly find myself slap bang in the middle of things, and it's all down to... geography!!!

Who remembers the Ed Sheeran video for his song Bad Habits? It was released almost 3 years ago, and fans of Cirque Du Freak were in touch with me almost immediately, saying he looked very much like Mr Crepsley in the video. They wondered if he too might be a fan of my books?!? I chuckled and said I doubted it, although one fan did get in touch saying he'd gone to the same school as Ed, and that they'd had lots of my books in the library there, so maybe...

Anyway, fast forward nearly three years, to a couple of weeks ago, when I was in Great Yarmouth for SFW XV (a sci-fi/fantasy/horror convention). It turns out that Ed Sheeran has a holiday home nearby, and had spotted that I was going to be at the convention -- and he WAS a fan from his childhood!! Using his contacts, he reached out to me to ask if he could swing by and hang out for a few hours. Well, I was hardly going to say no to one of the world's biggest pop stars, was I?!?

So, Ed came over on the Saturday morning and snuck into my caravan. He's a lovely chap and we chatted about my books and his music and all sorts of other stuff. Then the topic of the possible TV adaptation came up, and Ed went into overdrive! He said it had always been his dream to play Mr Crepsley, and he'd taken a few small acting parts (including in Game Of Thrones, which I recalled) primarily in the hope of working his way up to one day being able to tackle the role. He asked if I thought the team in the States might be interested in chatting with him about it. Well, there was only one way to find out!!

So, on the Monday morning I let them know, and once they'd got over their astonishment, they got in touch with Ed immediately. Their conversation went exceedingly well, and a couple of days later they'd signed him up, and on the back of that signing, they also scored a deal with Netflix before the end of the week!! Yep -- the Cirque Du Freak series IS going ahead, and Ed Sheeran is going to be playing Mr Crepsley!!!!

But that's not all!!!!

While they were chatting with Ed, they asked him if he'd consider writing some songs for the show. They were hoping for two or three, but Ed had a better idea. He's a big fan of musicals, and his favourite is Les Miserables, where all the dialogue is sung. He asked them if he could work with them to turn their scripts into songs, and have the show be a fulyl sung musical from start to finish, with Ed writing all the tunes. They were a bit uncertain at first, but then he composed a few sample songs and sung them to the team, and they were blown away.

So... Cirque Du Freak is going to be a musical, where every line of dialogue is sung, in every episode!!! Well, except for Mr Tiny's lines. Ed said he didn't dare compose anything for Mr Tiny, as he believes the little meddler is real and he didn't want to do anything that might annoy him. So Mr Tiny is going to be played by a mime artist, who will mime all his lines any time he appears.

They're going into production very shortly, and the plan is to release the first episode on this day next year, which is, of course...

APRIL FOOL'S DAY!!!!!!

Sorry, folks!!! I've been pulling your leg from the start!! I mean, yes,. there IS a team in the States working on adapting Cirque Du Freak for TV, but everything else in this story is A-grade bull fertiliser!!!! But go on, be honest -- did I have you believing it, even for a few seconds there?!? I bet I did!!!!!! :-)

The Ray Foley Show on Today FM is one of the biggest radio shows in Ireland, and I was delighted to be invited on last month to chat about my books and the Demonata TV option news. I was only meant to be on it for 2 or 3 minutes, but Ray is really into books and got carried away, and we ended up chatting for ten minutes! Thankfully it's been podcasted, so you can listen to the interview in full by clicking on this link: https://www.todayfm.com/podcasts/ray-foley/are-you-a-shanster-meet-the-irish-author-who-has-sold-over-40-million-books

I must point out that although the image on the site says I've sold over 40 million copies of my books, the correct figure is actually closer to 30 million. Still a huge number, of course, but unlike certain ex-presidents, I never like to claim to be worth more than I actually am!! :-)

CBR ran an article a while back* called 10 Fantasy Movies That Deserve A Series Reboot.

I was very pleased to see Cirque Du Freak listed among them -- it actually occupied the #2 slot. You can check out what they had to say about it, and what else made the list, by clicking on the following link: https://www.cbr.com/fantasy-movies-that-should-be-tv-series/#cirque-du-freak-the-vampire-39-s-assistant-2009

As I've mentioned a few times here over the last couple of years, Cirque Du Freak actually IS under option again, with an eye to rebooting it as a TV series. I'm still not at liberty to say much about it at the moment, as unlike with the news of the recent Demonata option, the team working on the adaptation want to keep things quiet for the time being. What I CAN say is that the guy working on the scripts is a writer/producer/director whose films have made close to ten billion dollars at the box office over the last 30 years, so, y'know... not too shabby!!! :-)

*yikes! I've just checked and it was almost a year ago!!! I really must get through my bookmarked aretcles more swiftly!!!

Most of you are probably aware that I have released several books for adults under the name of Darren Dash. Until very recently, the eBooks have only been available on Kindle, but I have now broadened out their reach to include Apple, B&N, Google Play, Kobo, Smashwords and other sites -- in effect, you should now be able to buy them through the eBook store of your choice. (But the paperback editions can still only be bought through Amazon stores worldwide -- sorry.)

I'm going to highlight them individually over the coming weeks, but I'm starting with An Other Place, a VERY weird dystopian sci-fi novel that I released towards the end of 2016. I really had no idea how this one was going to go down with readers, as it was SUCH a different novel to everything else I'd ever written -- hell, it's extremely different from anything that ANYONE has ever written!!! To my delighted shock, it went on to become one of my best reviewed books, and has built up a solid, unwavering cult fanbase over the years!

The reason I'm highlighting An Other Place today is that it's currently on sale at a heavily reduced price, to tie in with a Kobo sale -- instead of the regular price of $2.99, you can buy it, for a very limited time only, for JUST $0.99 in the USA and Canada, £0.99 in the UK, €0.99 in Europe, and a similar low price everywhere else in the world!!! Some direct buying links below -- and I'd absolutely love it if you could help spread the word to anyone who you think might be interested in it...

Amazon/B&N: https://mybook.to/anotherplaceebook

Apple/Kobo/Smashwords/more: https://books2read.com/u/3y9Lkn

Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Darren_Dash_An_Other_Place?id=8wv3EAAAQBAJ

There was a very nice article on the Laois Live website, with news of the TV option that I've agreed for my Demonata series. The information is spliced together from various posts that myself and the adpators have posted in recent weeks, but it edits them down succinctly, picking out the key details. So, if this is coming as complete news to you, this is a handy way of getting up to speed swiftly and efficiently! :-)

https://www.leinsterexpress.ie/news/arts---entertainment/1456880/darren-shan-horror-series-optioned-for-tv-adaptation.html

Here's a photo of me taken last week, with the two young film-makers who are hoping to adapt The Demonata into a TV show. That's Ijaz on the left (my right) and Max on the right (my left).

Ive spent the last few days skim-reading Lord Loss, returning to it for the first time in 19 years or thereabouts. In an attempt to pin down the perfect structure for the adaptation, I'm reading through books 1, 2 and 4 (Lord, Loss, Demon Thief, Bec) and jotting down a brief summary of what happens in each chapter. Once I've finished that, I'm going to look at different ways we might put those various pieces together for TV, and Max and Ijaz will be doing the same thing at their end. Then we're going to have a good old chinwag to discuss our ideas and hopefully formulate a master plan that we can take to the big production companies -- who will, of course, be so blown away by our pitch, that they'll shower us with all the many millions of pounds/dollars we will need to take things forward from there and make the universe of The Demonata a TV reality!!! It should be a cinch, right?!? :-)

This has been a real nostalgia trip for me. I'd forgotten so much about Lord Loss, all the little details I'd woven into it, such as naming lots of the characters after family members and friends. It's an incredibly fast-paced book, isn't it?!? As I'm sure I've said before, The Demonata owes its style to Killers Of The Dawn, book 9 of my Cirque Du Freak series. That was set within the space of 24 hours, and was thus much more swiftly paced than the other books in the series. I really enjoyed the speed at which it moved, and decided to apply that speed to The Demonata -- I wanted the books to be fast and deadly, and boy, they are!! I've moved away from that style in recent years, with my Archibald Lox books, but flicking through Lord Loss again has got me itching to get back into that high-speed vein of writing. All I need now is to find the right story to tempt me back into a universe of high-octane thrills and spills...