A very happy Shanster in the USA got in touch with me recently to say they had picked up an entire set of my Cirque Du Freak books at a bargain price on ThriftBooks, and suggested I bring the site to other people's attention, in case they were unaware of it.

I've got to be honest -- it wasn't a site I was familiar with. Back before Cirque Du Freak struck big, I used to scour the second-hand bookshops of London and Limerick, searching for good books at bargain-basement prices, because I had VERY little money back in those days -- indeed, there was a lengthy period, when I was drawing unemployment benefits, when I used to receive the grand total of £25 (old Irish pounds) a week! Second-hand books, videos and cassette tapes (ask your grandparents what those were!) were gold dust to me. But I didn't have a computer, and the internet as it exists now was still a dream world to me, so I used to pad from shop to shop, scouring the shelves, sometimes for hours at a stretch.

Again, being honest, these days I love the convenience of being able to just download or stream pretty much any book, album or film I like, but I do miss those long-ago marathon treks around the stores. They gave my life a very enjoyable structure back then, and rare, unexpected finds could put a bounce in my step.

Anyway -- I'm rambling!! So, yeah, while I was unaware of ThriftBooks in the year 2021, thirty years ago I'd have been all over that site like a rash, if it had existed back then!! Well... an Irish or English version of it anyway.

I've had a quick look, and they appear to have second-hand copies of most of my books, many of them at half price or even less, so if you're in the hunt for a bargain, click on this link -- happy hunting!!! Oh, and if anyone knows of a British or Irish equivalent, let me know and I'll be happy to share a link for that too.

https://www.thriftbooks.com/browse/?b.search=darren%20shan#