I had an absolute BLAST in Tunbridge Wells yesterday!! It was my first in-the-flesh event in almost three years, and I hadn't realised how much I missed that interaction with a live audience. I drew a really good-sized crowd (phew!), many of whom were followers of my blog and Facebook and Twitter posts -- it was lovely to be able to put faces to some very familiar names!

The readings all went smoothly (though I suspect I was a bit rusty at the start) and the audience came up with loads of interesting questions. Then I signed solidly for two hours afterwards -- I was worried at one point that I might run out of time, and have to start imposing a limit on how many books I could sign per fan, but luckily things worked out perfectly, and everyone walked away with as many signed Darren Shan books as they'd come with.

The festival organisers had worked very closely with me to make 25 copies of Archibald Lox Volume One available for sale. We weren't sure how many would sell, and they'd agreed to donate any leftover copies to local libraries, but in the end they sold out quite quickly, and a few fans had to go away disappointed on that front -- though I suppose it will ultimately be good news for Amazon or Book Depository, as I suspect they'll buy it there!

I also wasn't sure if people would want to pose with me for photos, as they used to do in pre-COVID times, but pretty much everyone did, and I was busy strangling left, right and centre!! Although, as the two attached photos with Arra and Tabby prove, I don't ALWAYS strangle my fans -- I dole out the occasional HUG too! :-)

Huge thanks to the staff of the festival, and to everyone who came along. I really did float away from this on a high, and hopefully it won't be anywhere near as long a wait until my next public outing...

Oh, and for anyone wondering about the May issue of the Shanville Monthly -- I wasn't able to get it ready in time for today, so it will probably go out tomorrow instead... although it's a bank holiday here in Ireland, so perhaps it will have to wait until Tuesday... although my son's school is off on Tuesday too, so I might be doing family stuff that day too, so maybe it will be Wednesday... Oh, well, whatever day it appears, I'm hoping to have a very exciting little reveal for Archibald Lox fans worldwide, so stay tuned...