Four letters from fans had been sitting on my desk for a while, so I decided to reply to them today -- it's always my intention to reply to a fan letter within a day or two of receiving it, but in reality that rarely happens, as I normally set it aside then get distracted by a load of other stuff and forget it about it! I mean, I see it every day, because it's right THERE, on my DESK, but my eyes just kind of sweep over it and don't register it, until one day, with a startled blink, I realise what it is, and that I should have replied to it WEEKS ago (sometimes, to my shame, it can be MONTHS, though it's rarely THAR long), and I swiftly pull it forward to deal with.

Anyway... what was the point I was trying to make???? (See how easily I get distracted?!?) Oh yes!! Bizarrely, three of those four letters were from people wanting relacement Darren Shan signatures. They (or their loved ones) used to have signed books or letters from me, which had been "lost" -- in two of the cases, mothers had thrown out the signed items. (This happens SO often!!! Most mothers are absolutely brilliant in most recordable ways, but they do have an irritating habit of casually tossing away items of huge sentimental value -- sometimes financial value too -- simply because they think their children have outgrown such "useless junk" and surely have no need for it any longer.) In the third case, a house flood had destroyed a couple of precious signed Shan books.

I was more than happy to send signed letters to the grieving Shansters, and in the case of the house flood, I sent a signed book which the fan's husband had tracked down online and sent to me, having checked with me first to see if that would be alright. I usually prefer for fans NOT to send me books through the post, as they can get lost or damaged so easily, and return shipping can be tricky for me to organise, but in this case I made an exception, as the husband wrote to me not long after I'd suffered a house fire, so I was in a sympathetic frame of mind!!

Anyway, if any of YOU would ever like to write to me, for a handwritten, signed reply, I'm always open for business. I can't guarantee a swift reply (but I can guarantee that I'll PLAN to reply swiftly!!) but as long as you include a return address, I most certainly WILL eventually reply. You can even asked me about a replacement signed book, but you'll need a good story that can tug at my heartstrings, and timing might be everything!!! :-) :-) :-) Oh, and if you want a signed letter, you WILL need to SEND ME a signed letter -- I normally will only reply to emails with emails. With letters, you gotta give some physical scribbles to get back some physical scribbles. Um... so to speak!!!!

If you want to send me a letter, you can find my address here: https://darrenshan.com/contact