I posted VERY briefly about SHANTA CLAUS yesterday -- the reason it was so brief was that I was rushing out the door to get to my Ash concert!! So, for those who might have overlooked it in my haste, here's a bit more info...

I first published a Christmas story set in my Cirque Du Freak universe in December 2000, and I've republished it annually every year since then. It's grown massively during that time, to include appearances by characters from all my main series, as well as a few of my one-off books. I tweak it each year, sometimes adding a few lines, other times whole new sections. It's the only place in the official Shan universe where all my different worlds collide, although please don't take anything here as gospel -- it's very much tongue in cheek!!

I've also started using it, in recent years, as a way to provide an update on any movie/TV news. There are no huge reveals in the latest issue, BUT it does mention the fact that the team working on trying to adapt Cirque Du Freak into a TV show are trying to get a very famous actor on board to take on the Mr Crepsley role, and there's a very cryptic clue as to who that might be -- I'd be stunned if anyone actually guessed correctly from the scant clue provided, but hey, you guys have often proved me wrong in the past, so have a careful read and see what you can come up with!!

As well as the short story, I also publish some Shanified Christmas carols every year, and a reworked version of Twas The Night Before Christmas. You can check out all three of my yuletide offerings by clicking here: https://darrenshan.com/extras/list/christmas-specials

Oh, and the wonderful drawing which I've attached was done by ZERO, who read the story and decided to draw the scene where Darren Shan the author is having a little chin wag with Shanta!!