Midsummer's Bottom (my latest Darren Dash book for adults) is continuing to tickle the fancy of reviewers across the world. I posted snippets from different reviewers over the past few months, but new reviews have continued to trickle through, so here are a few more to whet your appetite and hopefully tempt you to take a chance on the book!

"A charming, funny romp full of a host of quirky characters... entertaining, racy and humourous." Banshee Irish Horror Blog.

Midsummer's Bottom is on sale as a paperback or eBook across all Amazon stores worldwide.

Click here to buy the eBook in your local Amazon store: http://getbook.at/midsummersebook

Or click on this link if you would prefer to buy it in paperback: http://getbook.at/MidsummersBottom

Alternatively, you can read it for absolutely FREE if you are a member of Kindle Unlimited.

To celebrate the sizzling summer, I've put Sunburn - my grisly Darren Dash horror novel for adults - on sale for a short, red-hot period - the sale starts Monday August 6th and ends at midnight on Friday 10th.

Why choose Sunburn for the sale? Well, because it's a summer holiday novel. In the book, three friends head to Bulgaria on their summer break. It's not the most peaceful of vacations -- they argue and bicker a lot -- but all's going reasonably well until one of them gets stranded on a forested hill and wakes up sunburnt to the bone. As he's gingerly trying to find his way back home, he spots an old cottage in a clearing, runs into a monster that's using the shack as its base, and sunburn soon becomes the least of his worries!

The ebook of Sunburn usually retails for $2.99 in the USA and £1.99 in the UK, but during the sale I've reduced the price to $0.99 (a 67% reduction) and £0.99 (51% off) respectively. If you'd like to nab it at a real bargain price, click on the following link to be taken to your local Amazon store, and swoop like a summer swallow!

http://mybook.to/sunburnebook

Although the sale is only valid on Amazon USA and Amazon UK (sorry!), the eBook of Sunburn is on sale through Amazon stores worldwide at a very reasonable price. Sunburn is also available as a paperback worldwide, or you can read it for FREE if you're a member of Kindle Unlimited.

YA FLICKS

AUDIBLE ZOMBIES!

A fan called Richard was delighted recently when he found one of my Zom-B books on CD -- especially as he wasn't aware that the series had been done as audio books! In fact, all 12 of my Zom-B books are available on audio. They were released by my American publishers, LittleBrown, and are available on CD or as downloads through sites like Audible in the USA. I don't think they're on Audible in other countries, but you can get the CDs through global Amazon stores or possibly sites like Abebooks or Alibris, though you might have to do a fair bit of hunting to track them all down. They're worth the effort -- they're really well done. (The first four books were also released on audio in the UK, with a different (British) narrator, but the company making them went bust, so that was that!)

BOB'S ZOMBIES!

A fan of my Zom-B books called Stefan spotted this clip from an episode of Bob's Burgers and swiftly brought it to my attention, figuring -- correctly -- that it would make me chuckle. For those not in on the joke, the zombies in my Zom-B series grow long, sharp fingernails and toe nails when they turn into undead monsters, all the better to cut open skulls with to get to the sweet, juicy brains nestled within!!!

If you haven't yet read my Zom-B books, and are thinking of buying a set, I strongly recommend Lowplex in the UK, which offers a complete set of all 12 paperbacks for the amazing price of just £19 or thereabouts. CLICK HERE

Lowplex ship worldwide at reasonable rates, although obviously there's no cheap way to ship 12 books if you live a long way away. They also sell my other series at incredibly low prices, so have a look when you're on the site.

The UK Zom-B set is also available through Amazon stores worldwide -- it's usually cheaper to get them through Lowplex, even with the shipping added on, but my advice is to check on Amazon too, just to ensure you get the best possible deal.

PALACE OF REVIEWS

Here are links to a couple of recent reviews for Palace Of The Damned, the third book in my Saga Of Larten Crepsley series, four books which chart the course of Mr Crepsley's life across the two hundred years before he crossed paths with Darren and Steve at the Cirque Du Freak.

The first review comes from a blogger called Madelon, who gives it a stonking five stars. CLICK HERE

The second reviewer, on the Angelic Impressions blog, was less enamoured with the book, not finding it as powerful or as moving as the second in the series, but it's a lengthy, thoughtful review that should be of interest to readers of the series. CLICK HERE

WARNING: both reviews contain a number of spoilers, so if you haven't yet read the Saga Of Larten Crepsley, you might want to hold off reading these until you're up to speed. The books are on sale in the UK and USA, as well as many other countries around the world -- if your local bookseller can't get hold of them for you, try a site like Amazon, or pick them up through Lowplex where they're going for a real steal: CLICK HERE

HAIRY SHAN!

My cousin Ronan recently celebrated his 30th birthday, which led to his sister Meara tracking down this old photo of me, Ronan and his younger brother Lorcan, taken in London a long time ago when we were all a hell of a lot younger -- and I was a hell of a lot hairier!!! Ronan and his brothers had a key role to play in my move into YA books in 1997. It was while I was babysitting one of them (Kealan or Tiernan) while he was asleep in a car that I first had the idea for Cirque Du Freak. And one of the main reasons I proceeded to write the book -- not having any idea if it would turn out to be a complete waste of time, since I'd never written for children before -- was that Ronan's birthday was coming up and I wanted to be able to give him something special. I didn't have any money back in those days, so I couldn't buy him anything nice, but I thought that if I wrote a book and printed it off and gave it to him, it would make for a pretty neat present, even if it turned out to be rubbish and of no interest to anyone else in the world except him. And so I pushed on with it, and, well, that's why we have Darren Shan. So, y'know, if you don't like my books and think the world would have been better off without my novels on so many shelves -- blame Ronan!!!

p.s. Lorcan had an important role to play too. He has a very long tongue, which he can stick up inside his nose. I thought that was both a cool and disgusting talent, which would perfectly fit a certain member of the Cirque Du Freak, so I modelled Evra Von after him!!

COMPETITION WINNERS

173 of you entered the July Shanville Monthly competition, but in the end the first five Shansters across the finishing line (well, picked by a random number generator!) were:

Robbie Concha, UK.
Tyler Koestner, USA.
Rebecca McKevitt, Ireland.
Alice Bernamont, UK.
Sinead Kiely, Ireland.

BIRTHDAY BOY

IT'S A WRAP!