It was World Book Day on March 6th. In the UK the organisers ran a poll to compile a list of 50 Books That Will Change Your Life. I’m absolutely delighted to be able to announce that LORD LOSS made the mix!! You can check out the whole list here: http://www.worldbookday.com/writes-of-passage/

What’s especially interesting to me is that there are sub-lists, and Lord Loss quite naturally appears on the Books That Will Scare You list — but it’s the only YA book to make the cut! The others are books for adults by Stephen King, James Herbert, Iain Banks and George Orwell.

PREMIER LEAGUE READING STARS

I was delighted to see not just one, but two of my books chosen for a recent Premier League Reading Stars initiative. Basically, this involved a selection of football (soccer) players from the UK's Premier League choosing books to talk about and read out from. There are also competitions which fans in the UK can enter, based on the extracts read out. First up, you can listen to Tottenham Hotspur central defender Jan Vertonghen read from Zom-B Angels by CLICKING HERE -- I was particularly pleased about this choice, as this is the team I support!! And then you can listen to Stoke City midfielder Charlie Adam reading out from my short book Hagurosan by CLICKING HERE -- Charlie actually pronounces the name the wrong way, but that's not his fault, as it's a Japanese word, so it's tricky for someone unfamilar with it -- the correct pronunciation is Hag-roh-san.

It's going to be a Shantastic few months in the world of leading sci-fi magazine SFX!! As well as the Zom-B Circus giveaway in issue 248 (see above) they're running a short story-writing competition in issue 246, which went on sale on March 5th, in which one of the judges is going to be... ME!!! One of my rules over the last fifteen years has been to never read unpublished fiction -- in fact, I don't normally read a lot of published fiction either, since I just don't have enough time. However, I've agreed to make a rare (it might even prove to be a one-off) exception, and will read the final shortlist, before chipping in to help choose an overall winner. If you've ever wanted me to read one of your stories, this might very well be your only opportunity to make it happen! HOWEVER, please note that the competition is only open to people who live in the UK, and you must be 16 years or older to enter! I know this rules a lot of you out, and I'm sorry about that, but the rules have been set by SFX. If you fit the criteria and want to enter, you can find out more and do so by CLICKING HERE.

There will be more about the competition in issue 247 (on sale April 2nd), along with an ad for Zom-B Mission. Then the Zom-B Circus giveaway in issue 248 on April 30th. The winner of the short story competiton will be announced in issue 250, on sale June 25th -- and the winning short story will also be included! And then there'll be an ad for the eighth Zom-B book, Zom-B Clans, in issue 251.

So -- do you need any MORE reasons to subscribe to maybe the coolest sci-fi magazine on the planet?!? http://www.sfx.co.uk/

GUARDIAN INTERVIEW

There was an interview with me in the Guardian in the UK recently, where all the questions were posed by teenagers. They came up with some cracking questions for me, and I hope my answers live up to the high mark they set! I very strongly recommend this interview for all die-hard Shansters, as it touches on most of the books that I have written over the years. To check it out, CLICK HERE.

LUNCH WITH DARREN SHAN

I had lunch with an interviewer called Darragh McManus several months ago. It was meant to appear in one of the Irish national newspapers, but his editor left and the replacement proved less than enthusiastic about giving me a slot (I've dispatched a team of vampaneze, demons and zombies to teach him the error of his ways!!). Thankfully Darragh runs his own web blog, and he has published the piece there instead. I highly recommend it -- it's VERY well written. To check it out, CLICK HERE.

USA - SIGNED BOOKS

Although some of my Saga Of Darren Shan/Cirque Du Freak books were published in audio format in the UK years ago, the series was never completed or made available in other countries. That’s all now changed! The first eleven books in the series have been released in brand new audio editions in USA (some of the earlier books are also available in the UK), and Book 12, Sons Of Destiny, will be released on April 1st. The narrator is Ralph Lister. I haven't yet been sent the cover, so I'll include it here next month instead.

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 available books on that page.

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

My Zom-B books are also available in audio format in the USA (and some of the early books are also available in the UK -- we're trying to get the rest of them released, but the company that was making them has gone bust, so we're currently talking with their replacement) -- again, I'd recommend Ambling Books. This is THE LINK for book 6, Zom-B Gladiator, and you can find the other books once you're there.

IRISH JUNIOR CYCLE

The Irish government are introducing a new examination system in a few years time, called the Junior Cycle (the equivalent of the British O Levels), and guess which book by a certain Master Of YA Horror makes the shortlist of recommended books for first year secondary students?!? To find out, CLICK HERE.

I'm always in two minds about my books being taught in schools. On the one hand it introduces lots of new readers to my world and hopefully makes learning more fun for them than it would otherwise be. But I do worry that some teachers (i.e. those who simply teach the book because it's on a list, not because they truly like it and think it will be good for their pupils) might drain the joy from the pages. Great teachers who care about books help their students see that books are fun as well as being educational -- but lesser teachers can make a novel seem the same as any other school textbook. Oh well, I just have to keep my fingers crossed that teachers across Ireland don't lose track of the most important thing when they're using my book in class -- that it's first and foremost an exciting read that should be a pleasure. I'm a big believer in the maxim that if children are taught to read for fun, other good educational things will follow -- but if they're forced to read because they've been told that "books are good for them" then they'll rebel and become non-readers.

PODCAST

There will be a podcast interview with me on the PNR Radio website on April 7th, in which I talk about my various books, both for adults and children. http://ilovevampirenovels.com/podcast/

GIVEAWAYS

There will be a Zom-B Mission giveaway on web site, Adventures In YA Publishing, on April 7th, and then on April 11th they will also be publishing a piece I wrote for them about the writing process. 

There will be a giveaway of three sets of signed, hardback copies of Palace Of The Damned and Brothers To The Death on the Live To Read site on April 15th.

There is a UK giveaway of all 7 Zom-B books so far published over on the Readaraptor site, running until April 7th for UK fans. CLICK HERE.

Back in 2003 I wrote a short story for a book that was compiled to celebrate comics writer Alan Moore turning 50 years of age. It was a lighthearted piece about him when he was 10, in which I namechecked a lot of the characters and books that he would go on to write about over the next 40 years. The story is available on my site, but has also now been made available in a nicer format on the AlanMooreWorld site -- to read it, CLICK HERE.

If you aren’t familiar with a lot of Moore’s work (you should be!!) then there’s a link on the page to a guide that explains what most of the references relate to.

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