Darren Shan - Author

Hi everyone, and welcome to the November issue of the Shanville Monthly. The Zom-B Baby tour has finished (although I'm going to do a few more school events between now and the end of the year) and the dust has settled. The nights have got longer, the temperature has dropped, and I'm busy writing after my time on the road -- it's going to a long but hopefully productive winter! In the meantime I've got lots of new covers to reveal this month -- the new Zom-B Gladiator cover is clearly the pick of the crop, but there are some cool Demonata and Saga covers too, along with the latest Zom-B cover from Taiwan. I also reveal the title of the 7th Zom-B book... there are new interviews... a review by me of Stephen King's latest book... and a whole lot more. But first, what we've all been waiting for -- the new, screamingly good Zom-B!!!

Book 6 of my zombie series, Zom-B Gladiator, goes on sale on January 2nd in the UK, and January 7th in the USA, and around the same time in Australia, Canada and New Zealand, and that's the (literally) eye-opening cover above -- I hope it sends the same sort of shivers down your spine that it sent down mine!!! You can find a larger version of it HERE. I should have the American cover to share with you by this time next month.

In addtion to the new cover, I'm now thrilled to be able to reveal that the title for the seventh Zom-B book is...

This is due to go on sale in the UK and Ireland on April 7th, 2014, and will hit book stores in the USA a day later on April 8th. Zom-B Mission will also go on sale in Australia, Canada and New Zealand around the same time. You should be able to find the book in your local shop, or get the staff there to order a copy for you. But if you prefer to order online, you can do so in the USA through Amazon or Barnes & Noble. UK links to come -- they're not yet online. You will also be able to download it as an eBook through a variety of online stores and platforms, or in audio format read by Emma Galvin in the USA or Zawe Ashton in the UK

I can't tell you much about the book yet, except this the start of the second half of the series, and as fast-paced and action-packed as the first half was, you ain't seen nothing yet! The first six books were all about getting the major players into place and setting the stage for the main story. That begins to kick in here, and there will be barely time to pause to draw breath between now and the final book of the series. Strap yourself in tight -- this is going to be a hell of a ride!!!!!

Blood Beast and Demon Apocalypse, Books 5 and 6 of The Demonata, have been released in their brand new-look editions in the UK and Ireland. You can see them below, and you will be able to find them in a good book shop near you from January 2nd -- if not, either ask a member of staff to order them in for you, or order them online through Amazon UK or some other reputable company. They're a fiery couple of beasts! I hope you enjoy the new designs as much as I do. Books 7 and 8 are set to get the revised treatment and go on sale later in 2014, so look out for them. You can find larger scans of the covers, along with earlier drafts of both, by clicking here.

I've given a few new interviews over the last month. First up, there's a lengthy interview with me on The Muse Bouquet, one of the very few times that I've been interviewed in my own house -- this gives you some rare day-to-day insights into my life! Next up, I did a short interview for MS Readathon in Ireland. And I did another short interview for The Emirates Literary Festival in Dubai. Plus you can listen to a podcast of a radio interview I did on Today FM, though this might only be available to listeners in Ireland. Finally, I wrote a short blog for the Books And Writers JNR site, all about my love for Halloween and Trick Or Treating -- you can find it by CLICKING HERE.

The first Zom-B book is currently on sale in eFormat on Kindle UK for just £0.99 -- yes, less than a pound!! I'm not sure how long the sale will last, so my advice is to snap it up ASAP if you don't already own a copy! (UPDATE! I'm afraid this offer has now passed, though it's still on sale at a hefty discount -- £3.49 when I last checked.)

The first Zom-B book is also on sale in the USA across a variety of eFormats (Kindle, Nook, Kobo, Apple, etc), for just $2.99, but this ends on November 2nd, so you'll need to be VERY quick to get in there! If you're in time, and want to buy, CLICK HERE, for links to the different places where it is on sale.

Although some of my Saga Of Darren Shan/Cirque Du Freak books were published in audio format in the UK, the series was never completed or made available in other countries. That’s all about to change! The first three books in the series have been released in brand new audio editions, in both the UK and USA, with the rest to soon follow -- see below. The narrator is Ralph Lister.

You can download Cirque Du Freak through the Amazon UK site here or you can buy it on CD here. You will find links for the other 2 books on that page.

In the USA you can download Cirque Du Freak through the Ambling Books site here or buy it on CD through Amazon here. You will find links for the other 2 books on those pages.

Books 4 and 5 are scheduled to be released on December 1st, books 6 and 7 on January 1st 2014, books 8 and 9 on February 1st 2014, books 10 and 11 on march 1st 2014, and book 12 on April 1st 2014.

Meanwhile, audio fans who are keen to sink their ears into my zombie books might want to note that Zom-B Baby is now on sale in the USA in audio format, read by Emma Galvin -- you can BUY IT HERE. It should go on sale in the UK soon too, read by Zawe Ashton.

Zom-B Undergound, the second Zom-B book, goes on sale in Taiwan on November 11th. My publishers, Crown, have gone for a VERY different cover look -- i hope you all like it! They've also created a quirky short preview trailer for it, which you can CHECK OUT HERE.

Simon & Schuster, my UK publishers, are running a competition where you can win the zombie baby featured in the photo above. I LOVE these little guys!! We had some at the trade launch for Zom-B last year, and I even brought one along to my wedding in March, and had him sitting on a throne during the reception! It's only open to fans in the UK and Ireland, and you have to be 18 years old or younger -- sorry!! To enter, go to the official Zom-B UK site by clicking here. Closing date for entries is midnight November 30th.

This is a rare video of me reading out a scene from Zom-B, where B describes having a recurring nightmare about babies. It was recorded during a Skype session that I did with a school in Australia a couple of months ago. To view it, CLICK HERE.

I was asked to review Stephen King’s new book, Doctor Sleep, by We Love This Book ahead of its release. I don't write full reviews like this very often, but as a lifelong Stephen King fan, how could I say no?!? You can find out what I thought of it BY CLICKING HERE.

TOP TENS

I was thrilled to see Zom-B listed among the Top 10 books you can find in a library, on a list put together by school librarians of the year, published recently in The Guardian! They have great taste, librarians — and I’m talking librarians in general. If you’re ever looking for something new and exciting to read, your local librarian will probably be your best port of call for a solid recommendation. Anyway, you can check out the full list by CLICKING HERE.

I was also delighted to see not one, but two of my books mentioned in this Books Of Amber list of top ten scariest book covers. There are lots of other cool, creepy covers too -- have a look and see what grabs your fancy by CLICKING HERE!!

And, OK, it's not a Top Ten list (more of a Top Two list!), but I was also well chuffed to see one of my series listed as a Halloween recommendation over on the bookw0rmtales site. You can find out which of my series they chose, and what they had to say about it, by CLICKING HERE.

COMPETITION WINNERS

The winners of the Shanville Monthly October competition were:

Britta Pang, Tallin, Estonia.

Shennon Lucia, New York, USA.

Imogen Worrall, Manchester, UK.

Natasha Mohamed, Mullingar, Ireland.

Michael Martin, Belfast, Ireland.

There were 331 correct, valid entries, from Iceland, Iran, Indonesia and many other countries beyond and between! My thanks to everyone who entered, my congratulations to the winners, and my commiserations to the rest of you — better luck next time!!

ZOM-B BABY TOUR

My tour to support the release of Zom-B Baby in the UK and Ireland has come to its end, but I'm doing a few more school events between now and the end of the year. I'll next be on the road for a few days in Ireland in January to support Zom-B Gladiator, before doing my next full tour in April when the 7th Zom-B book is released.

Friday 8th November

11.30am -- school event, YouthReach, Limerick.

Friday 13th Decmber

2.00pmm -- school event, Iselworth & Syon School, Middlesex.

HALLOWEEN READS

I was asked by We Love This Book to suggest five suitably scary books to suggest to people for Halloween reads, for different ages. You can see what I came up with OVER HERE.

And that's it for November. As I said above, I'm busy writing at the moment -- a brand new book, which will hopefully be my next published work when Zom-B finishes. I can't say anything else about it just now, because I never like to talk too much about a work in progress (it might turn out to be rubbish!!), but rest safe in the knowledge that I'm not sitting on my laurels, taking things easy! I also hope to be able to make an announcment about my next book for adults in December -- I'd hoped to do that this month, but ran into a few problems that I need to iron out first. I'll be back here at the start of December with the Christmas edition, with all the latest news and updates, as well as a link to everyone's favourite Yuletide story -- yes, it's almost time again for Shanta Claus!!! Until then, all my bloody best, Darren Shan. x x x

Follow Darren Shan on Facebook and Twitter. He also has a (very rarely updated!) YouTube page.

Issue 160 - November 2013

Shanville Monthly Archive