I've always appreciated the time, effort and expense that it takes to send a letter to an author, so I've always made a point of replying to every piece of physical fan mail that I've received over the years with a handwritten letter of my own. Sometimes it can take me quite a while to reply, but I always get there in the end.

As proof here are photos of three letters, from three different time periods, that fans shared with me recently. The first, in the frame, was shared by KIMI, and although the date is a bit unclear, I think it hails from 2005, back when I was in the middle of releasing my Demonata books, and before I'd revealed to anyone that my next series would be about Mr Crepsley, covering the two hundred years before he met Darren and Steve at the Cirque Du Freak.

The second, belonging to LIANE and dating back to 2011, was arranged for her by her friend, KATEE BIRD, and was for her 21st birthday. It's hard for me to fathom how Liane would have been just 9 or 10 when Cirque Du Freak was first released, and is now 32!!! Where have all the years gone?!?

The third, sent to me by STEPH, is the most recent, from just three months ago. (Although I usually write my dates as day, month and year, when replying to American fans I normally change that to month, day, year. It's the little touches that make all the difference!!) Steph has produced huge amounts of wonderful fan art based on my books over the years, which I allude to in the body of the letter.

If YOU would ever like to send a letter to me, you can find the address here: https://darrenshan.com/contact

Oh, and in case you missed it yesterday, the December (Christmas!) issue of my monthly online newsletter is now live, with all the latest Darren Shan news and updates: https://darrenshan.com/news/shanville-monthly