Tattoo Tuesday is making a welcome return, with perhaps the most chilling Darren Shan-inspired tattoo EVER!!!!

While most tattooed Shansters opt for quotes or images taken from Cirque Du Freak or The Demonata, SHEILA has gone for Mr Dowling from my Zom-B series -- and in incredibly gory detail too, on a scale much larger than most Shan tattoos!

If you haven't read the Zom-B books, Mr Dowling is the world's scariest clown. (Pennywise dosn't count, because he was a fanastical demon/alien. I'm talking about actual flesh and blood clowns.) I came up with the idea for him long before I wrote the books, when I was being driven around by a bookseller who confessed to me that she was terrified of clowns. With a dark chuckle, I began inventing and describing the most hideous clown I could conjure up to her, knowing I had a captive audience -- she could hardly stop the car and run screaming for the hills!! When I was finished, I promised I'd include him in a book one day and name him after her surname, which, of course, was Dowling.

Hmmm... I wonder if it's because of little incidents like this that I don't get invited out on tour much these days?!?