The third book of The Saga Of Larten Crepsley will be blazing a trail across Canada, Ireland, the UK and the USA this month! In fact, Palace of the Damned offically went on sale in Ireland and the UK on September 29th, and although it is not scheduled to go on sale in the USA until October 3rd, some shops started selling it early, including online industry heavyweights Amazon and Barnes & Noble!! Picking up where Ocean of Blood ended, the book starts in the icy wilderness of Greenland, before going on to sweep across the globe, taking in such settings as Paris, Vampire Mountain, the trenches of World War I, and Revolution-era Russia. It's an epic tale of a lost soul who hits rock bottom them starts to climb again, in a search to find himself and discover who he really is. There are battles, betrayals, shocking twists, romance and lots more! To read my Author Notes about the book, in which I discuss it in more detail, CLICK HERE.

Palace of the Damned should be available in book stores throughout Canada (I had been told from October 5th, but on Amazon it's saying October 18th) Ireland, the UK and USA. If you can't find it on the shelves of your local store, please do ask a member of staff to track down a copy for you -- after all, that's what they're there for!! Alternatively, you can download it as an eBook through Kindle or almost any of the other official online eBook channels. Or, if you prefer to buy a physical copy online, you can click on any of the following links to buy it through Amazon UK if you live in the UK or Ireland, or through Amazon or Barnes&Noble if you live in the USA, or Amazon Canada if you live in... well, I think you can guess where!!! -)

I will be touring the UK and Ireland to promote the book -- in fact, I'll be at least a few days into the tour by the time you read this! I'll be focusing on the southern parts of the UK on this tour, as I haven't been down to many of those areas for a couple of years. Fans in the north shouldn't worry -- having serviced the west and east and south quite comprehensively over the last couple of tours, I think it's safe to say that I'll be spending a good chunk of my tour next May in the more northerly sections of the country!! For full details of this month's tour, check out the listings further below.

I have also now opened a forum on my Message Board, where fans can discuss Palace of the Damned once they have read it. You can access the Forum by CLICKING HERE. Please do not read any of the posts in the forum UNTIL you have read the book, as they may contain spoilers about the book!

In Hungary, City of the Snakes, the third of my trilogy of books for older readers, goes on sale on October 1st. I'll be interested to hear what my hordes of avid Hungarian fans make of this -- it's my favourite from the series, so I'm hoping they'll like it too! You can check out the incredible cover for it by CLICKING HERE.

VIDEO INTRO

THE DARREN SHAN GREAT GLOBAL GIVEAWAY!!

When my books are published, my publishers always send me free copies of them. I've built up a massive collection of Darren Shan books over the years, from countries all around the world. I always keep a few of each book for myself, but in many cases I have extra copies. These were stacked away haphazardly in my old house, then in storage for a year while I was living elsewhere, but when I moved back in, I had a chance to go through them and sort them out. Which means that I am now in a position to start GIVING THEM AWAY FOR FREE as competition prizes!!! Most months, for the next few months, I am going to run a competition for readers in different countries. The number of prizes will vary for each country depending on how many books I have to give away. I won't announce the number of books up for offer for any given country in advance -- all I will say is that I have a LOT of books to give away, so I'm going to be trying to issue as many prizes as possible each time! You don't get a choice of book as a prize -- basically, I'll see what I have available, and issue prizes accordingly. And, of course, I will SIGN every book before I send it out!!

This month I am giving away books for fans in ENGLAND, IRELAND, NORTHERN IRELAND, SCOTLAND and WALES.

GENERAL TERMS FOR ALL ENTRANTS:

1) This competition is only open to fans who live in England, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland or Wales. (You cannot enter if you work for one of my publishers or are one of my relations.)

2) You can only enter ONCE, and there can only be one entry per household. If you try to enter more than once, ALL of your entries will be disqualified.

3) Put the NAME OF YOUR COUNTRY and YOUR NAME in the SUBJECT BOX when you send your e-mail. (For example, if I was entering, I would put Ireland, Darren Shan). And make sure you INCLUDE YOUR FULL POSTAL ADDRESS in the body of the e-mail. This is so that I can easily send your prize to you if you win!

3a) If you are 15 years old or older, and would like to be considered for one of my adult books instead of one of my books for children, please include the word ADULT in your entry. (For example, if I wanted to be considered for a City book instead of any of my others, I would put Ireland, Darren Shan, Adult.) Please note. you cannot enter for both -- if you do, both entries will be disqualified. If you put the word Adult into your subject entry, you will be entered into the draw for my adult books -- otherwise you will be entered into the draw for one of my books for children/teenagers.

4) Closing date is midnight, UK Time, Monday, October 10th, 2011.

6) Information submitted by entrants WILL NOT be shared by me with any other individual or company. I'll keep your details on my PC, then delete the info once the competition ends.

7) My decision will be final.