I wrote a short story for the War Child anthology, "Kids' Night In," many, many years ago. There was a digital version on my website for several years, until the publishers Barrington Stoke, who produce books for children with dyslexia or other reading problems, asked me if I would help them turn it into a short book with pictures. When that was released, I removed the story from my site, not wanting to take away from sales of the physical book.

Last year, when checking on the Barrington Stoke web site, I saw that the book was out of print, so I restored the short story to my site, along with the Barrington Stoke version. The staff at Barrington Stoke spotted this and got in touch to politely ask if I would take it down again, as they were working on plans to reissue the book. Once I heard that, I was more than happy to comply, and removed it from my site immediately. But then, some months later, the staff informed me that they wouldn't be moving ahead with their plans to reprint the book, so... in short...

It's BACK!!!!

As before, I've included both versions of the story of my site -- the original version which appeard in Kid's Night In, and the reworked Barrington Stoke version. I think the Barrington Stoke version is the stronger of the two, so if you're only going to read one of them, I'd recommend that one -- but hey, if you want to read both, maybe you'll disagree with my prognosis!!

This is the link for the Barrington Stoke version: https://darrenshan.com/extras/feature/hagurosan-barrington-stoke-version

And this is the link for the original version: https://darrenshan.com/extras/feature/hagurosan

The paperback edition released by Barrington Stoke is a truly beautiful little book, with a wonderful cover and fabulous drawings by Zack McLaughlin. Although it's out of print, you should be able to find cheap second hand copies through a site like Abebooks: https://www.abebooks.com/ or Alibris: https://www.alibris.com/