Lady of the Shades should be available in all good book stores, but If you want to pre-order the book on Amazon, you can do so here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lady-Shades-Darren-Shan/dp/1409143600/shanville Or you can pre-order it on Kindle here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lady-of-the-Shades-ebook/dp/B007ZXK154/shanville

Apart from the prologue and first chapter, I'm not going to reveal a huge amount about Lady of the Shades, as I don't want to spoil any of its many surprises and plot twists -- I think this probably packs in more shocks than any of my other books, and I want fans to be able to enjoy each and every one of them!! However, to hopefully intrigue you all a bit, I decided to share a line from the the book every week in the run-up its release, on my Facebook and Twitter pages, and here are the lines that I revealed:

"Jose Nilson dos Linos was brushing dandruff from his hair when he was executed."

“Jose Nilson dos Linos’s head exploded in a cone of bone, brain and blood.”

“There was good money in killing, but if you weren’t careful, it could be the death of you.”

“I wake abruptly from a troubled sleep to find the dead pressing in tightly around me.”

“London’s landscape is smudged with the fingerprints of the dead.”

“Nobody living sees me palm the knife, but the ghosts spot it and press forward, leering, sensing blood.”

“I look around and imagine a burning man stumbling through the market, women screaming, men trying to extinguish the fire, the stench of scorched flesh.”

"‘Deleena,’ I moan, but before I can say any more, she silences me with another kiss and soon I’m lost."

"As his head snaps backwards, I drag him to the door, grab the telephone cable, loop it round his throat, take firm hold of the cord with both hands, dig my right knee into the small of his back and pull."

For another subtle insight into what lies in store for you, Orion have created a super-slick trailer to give you a little taste of the mood of the book. I think it captures the overall spirit of things perfectly! It's less than a minute long, and well worth checking out! To have a look, click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jy43OZqCvUg&feature=youtu.be

LUCK BE A LADY TONIGHT!

SHADY REVIEW

DISSECTING THE INTERIORS OF A ZOM-B

After Lady of the Shades, my next book to be released will be Zom-B near the end of September in the UK and mid-October in the USA. This is the start of a 12 book series for teenagers, all about zombies, and the books will be released at the rate of one every three months. Each Zom-B book is going to feature interior art by the fabulous Warren Pleece, about 15 drawings per book, highlighting some of the scenes from the stories. I shared two of the images with you over the last couple of months, now here's the third and last before publication.

This one makes my mouth water! Imagine if you were a teacher to these little monsters!!!! Sweet dreams, Shansters!

As you can see from the above drawing, Warren Pleece is a highly talented artist -- I was delighted when we were able to snag him for Zom-B. Advocate Art, the agency that represents Warren, recently announced the news that he was illustrating all of the Zom-B books. They featured a couple of the drawings on the page, which I have already included in the last couple of issues of the Shanville Monthly, but you can also link through to their home page for Warren, to check out lots more of his fabulous work. http://blog.advocate-art.com/index.php/archives/11973

Proof copies of the first Zom-B book were sent to booksellers and reviewers in advance of the book's release. I featured the first review that I had come across in last month's issue. Here are a few more;

A Reader Of Fictions: "As promised, there is horror galore. The zombies are creepy, with bones spurting from everywhere and the ease with which they can infect. Ugh. There's plenty of brain-chewing to keep the zombie-enthusiasts pleased. Most disgusting and horrifying scene for me was most definitely B's dream about zombie babies on an airplane. Glad to know I'm not the only one terrified by babies. *shudders*" Full review here: http://readeroffictions.blogspot.it/2012/08/zom-b-darren-shan.html?spref=fb

The Bookbag: "If you are a follower of Mr Shan, you will know he has spent almost a book setting a scene for a reason and, even if issue-based stories bore the pants off you, you will know it'll be worth it for what comes next. It'll be cruel and doom-laden, gory and exciting, and it'll take you to entirely unexpected places. I'd bet my Kindle on it. So if you are coming fresh to this author, and want more schlock, stick with it. It'll be worth it." Full review here: http://www.thebookbag.co.uk/reviews/index.php?title=Zom-B_by_Darren_Shan

The Book Zone: "I loved it, from beginning to end, and I guarantee that it is going to be massively popular with Shan fans around the world, and will also gain him a whole legion of new devotees... Zom-B has its gory moments, but it is much, much more than your average splatter-fest... Naturally, given that this is the first book in a series of twelve, and Darren wants to keep his readers hungry for brains more, it ends on a massive cliffhanger..." http://bookzone4boys.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/review-zom-b-by-darren-shan.html

I hope those fab reviews have got you all panting for more!! Don’t forget, the book goes on sale on September 27th in the UK and Ireland — the official release date in the USA is mid-October, but it will probably be available in most States around the same time as the release in the UK. It should be available in book stores everywhere, but if you would rather pre-order it online, you can do so through Amazon UK here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Zom-B-Darren-Shan/dp/085707752X/shanville  or Amazon USA here: http://www.amazon.com/Zom-B-Darren-Shan/dp/031621440X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1343760530&sr=1-1&keywords=zom-b  It is also available in eBook format through both sites.