Good news for fans of my books for older readers -- I'm putting the ebooks of TWO of my Darren Dash novels for adults on sale this month.

First up, running from Monday 3rd to Friday 7th, is An Other Place, my very dark sci-fi offering from a couple of years ago. This is a book that I thought might go down like a lead weight with readers, as it's so different to anything else I've ever written, but it's been one of my most warmly received novels on the adult front. If you want to give it a try, the ebook will set you back a mere $0.99 in the USA, or just £0.99 in the UK -- please CLICK HERE to be directed to your local Kindle store. It's also available as a paperback if you prefer a physical book, and you can read it for FREE any time of the year if you're a member of Kindle Unlimited.

The following week, from Monday 10th to Friday 14th, I'm running another Kindle sale, this time for the ebook of The Evil and the Pure, which was the first book that I released as Darren Dash. A grim thriller, set on the streets of London around the turn of the millennium, it's my attempt to channel James Ellroy and do for London what he did for Los Angeles. It's big and sprawling and twisting and violent. If you want to get on board, the ebook will set you back just $0.99 in the USA, or £0.99 in the UK -- please CLICK HERE to be directed to your local Kindle store. As with all my Darren Dash books, it's also available as a paperback, or you can read it for FREE any time of the year if you're a member of Kindle Unlimited.

Midsummer's Bottom (my most recent Darren Dash release) is continuing to stir up strong reviews. Here are a few snippets from last month's reviewers to hopefully tempt you to take a chance on the book!

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.

MIDSUMMER'S P.S.

I'm continuing to post author notes for all of my novels to my Facebook page, normally one or two books per week. I'm up to my Zom-B series now and busy describing how they all came together, who certain characters are named after, why I made specific key decisions, etc. Follow me on Facebook to stay in the loop (along with a whole lot more). I also post them to my web site, and you can find the full collection by CLICKING HERE. (I'll be gently tweaking the notes for the later Zom-B books as I move along on Facebook, and adding the notes for my Darren Dash books when I come to them.)

LADY OF THE WEEK

FROM START TO FINISH

Speaking of reviews... a blogger called Bookmarks And Bobby Pins is working her way through my Saga Of Darren Shan/Cirque Du Freak series, reviewing each book as she goes. She's recently read book 9, Killers of the Dawn, and is enjoying the ride so far. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that she finds the final quarter of the series as worthy as the first three! You can read her review for Killer by CLICKING HERE, and access her reviews of the other books on her site.

EDINBURGH

Last month I was in Edinburgh, making what will probably be my only public appearances of 2018. I had a fun time, especially at my solo event -- with no new book to promote, I was able to do three of my favourite readings from older books of mine -- Cirque Du Freak, Lord Loss and Zom-B. It's not very often that I perform all three of those in a single event (indeed, I'm not 100% certain that I ever have before!), so it was nice to fire through them -- the closest thing I have to a greatest hits concert! Although, having said that I enjoyed the event, it got off to a rocky start. I was doing the scene from Cirque Du Freak where the Wolf Man bites off a woman’s hand. I asked for volunteers to help me act it out and chose four kids at random. The girl who volunteered to play the woman started to look a bit queasy when I got out the fake hand that I’ve been using for the last 15 or so years. I asked her if she wanted to go sit back down and she said yes -- but she was clearly freaked out big time and ended up leaving with her mother a few seconds later. That’s the first time I’ve ever traumatized an audience member BEFORE I’ve started my act!

One family traveled all the way from Bulgaria to come to my events, and there's a photo of me with them above -- mum Violeta, son Amir and daughter Adelina. Another fan, called Arra, took a few bus-journeys-from-hell to travel up from the souh coast of England, and could probably have flown to Australia and back in the time she was on the road. I'm always stunned when people travel so far to see me. More proof, if any was needed, that book fans are the very best kind of fans in the world!

FLIP-FLOP!

The Cirque Du Freak movie got a mention in a recent list of YA movies that flopped: CLICK HERE As I've often said, I don't think the CDF film is that bad on its own terms. Of course, for those who wanted an adaptation that was faithful to the books (and obviously I was one of them!), it was a travesty, ripping apart the structure of the novels, replacing much of my well-thought-through world-building with rather shakier vampire lore and history of its own. It cut out characters who were crucial to the plot, changed or diluted others to the point where they were hardly recognisable, and even introduced a few ill-advised characters of its own (though I must admit, even though many fans of the books tend to rail against her, I thought the monkey girl was a nice addition). And its real marketing failing, in my view, was to fall between two genres -- too scary to work as a comedy film, too funny to succeed as a horror movie.

But for all that, on its own terms, for those who had never read my books, I think it worked quite well. In tone and ambition it's unlike any other YA film that I've seen (and I've seen a LOT of films), some of the comedy works, the action isn't that bad, John C Reilly is great as Mr Crepsley (those who claim otherwise are usually people who can't forget the comedy roles that he's become famous for, but I think that's unfair on him -- judged solely on this performance, he's A1). The film brought my story (albeit in a mangled version) to many teenagers who had never heard of me before, and quite a few of those enjoyed it enough to come check out the books afterwards.

Having said all that, regardless of one's opinion of the quality of the movie, one fact is certain -- at the box office it definitely DID flop. The returns weren't actually terrible, but Universal spent a HUGE chunk of money making and promoting the film, and they didn't make back anywhere near the amount that they spent. So, yes, sadly, it DOES belong on a list like this, and there almost certainly WON'T ever be a sequel, although I'm hopeful that it will be rebooted one day, perhaps for TV, where the lengthy story and extensive cast could be done more justice. Watch this space...

8 OF THE BEST

I was thrilled to see Hell's Horizon, one of my adult thrillers, make this Barnes & Noble list of 8 of the best dark fantasy noir novels. Of course I'm always pleased when any book of mine appears on a list like this, but it was especially sweet in this instance, because Hell's Horizon was maybe the most difficult book I've yet to write. To find out why it was so tricky, CLICK HERE. And to see the full B&N list, CLICK HERE.

IT'S A WRAP!