GREETINGS!

Hi everyone, and welcome to the first 2022 issue of the Shanville Monthly! I hope you all enjoyed the yuletide period. I had a nice, relaxed time -- there were even a couple of days where I didn't do a blog post, which is almost unheard of!! I'll be climbing back into the writing saddle this month, though I'm not 100% sure what I'm going to work on first -- one possibility is a new book for middle graders, an idea for which I had in the cinema in the run-up to Christmas! You can read more about that further down in this newsletter, which also contains info about a podcast interview with me, an ongoing eBook sale, the state of play of the third Volume of my Archibald Lox series, and a whole lot more. There's also a fabulous new drawing of me, which I'm sure you'll all be downloading to use as your screensaver -- you can view it... right... here...

BAD BOOK BASH

Bad Book Bash is a very amusing podcast by comedienne Betsy Speer. In each episode she takes aim at the "worst books in existence...YA paranormal romance novels." I was very nervous when Betsy got in touch to say that she was going to feature Cirque Du Freak on an upcoming episode, but then she explained that she'd decided it was time to feature the work of an author she actually LIKED, to prove that books could be GOOD as well as terrible -- and my heart settled in my chest again. :-)

Betsy interviewed me for half an hour, and the recording went live last month. She teased me gently at times, but spared me the brutal kicking of her usual targets -- phew!! You can listen to the interview through a variety of podcast providers, but if you're a novice to podcasts (like me!) then the easiest way might be to listen to it on Google by CLICKING HERE

As for the amazing accompanying portrait... that was created by an artist called Steve Kirkwood, a friend of the podcast who wanted to get in on the action when he heard that Betsy would be interviewing me! You can check out his Facebook page, for more of his incredible work, by CLICKING HERE

VOLUME 3 EDGES EVER CLOSER...

I finished my final "solo" draft of the Volume 3 arc of my Archibald Lox series last month. So it's edging ever closer to its end -- this is the final storyline, and as with the others, I'll release it as three short books, then follow up with a collected edition that presents it as a single story, which is how I originally wrote it. Warning!! Books 7 and 8 will end with HUGE cliffhangers, but I promise you won't have to wait too long for their resolutions -- I plan to release the three short books fairly swiftly after each other, though I haven't yet settled on exactly how long I'm going to leave between them -- maybe one month, maybe two...

I can't say for certain either when book 7 and the others will be released, except that it will be at some point in 2022. Now that I've finished my last "solo" draft, I've sent the book to my editor (hi, Zoe!), who will be spending most of January working on it. She'll get back to me with her thoughts, comments and corrections, and I'll then go through it very carefully one FINAL final time -- that might take a couple of weeks, or a couple of months, depending on whether or not I have to do much to it in response to my editor's feedback. Then, when I've crossed the final t and dotted the final i, I'll have to typeset all three books (plus the collected edition) for both their digital and physical editions. Oh, and I suppose it will help if I sort out covers for them a bit before that point too. :-)

So, a lot of work still to do, but the bulk of it is now behind me, and I must say I think Volume 3 is looking to be in very good shape -- fingers crossed!! Hopefully we'll see book 7 in late spring or early summer, but keep an eye on my monthly online newsletter for updates.

I ran a BookBub promotion last month for the first of my Archibald Lox eBooks -- if you're unfamiliar with BookBub, it's the undisputed king of book promotions -- and I heavily discounted the prices of the digital editions of Books 2, 3 and 4 to tie in with it. Archibald Lox and the Bridge Between Worlds rode high in the charts for a few days after the promotion -- at one point, as you can see in the attached screenshot, it was #2 on the overall Bestseller Kindle chart for free books in the UK (it might even have hit the #1 spot -- I didn't check very often!), which was amazing.

Even though it's a few weeks later, I'm STILL getting a good number of new readers each day, on the back of the promo, so I've decided to keep the eBook sale going for a while longer. Book 1 is always FREE to download worldwide through all the main sellers of eBooks (Amazon, Apple, Barnes &Noble, Google Play, Kobo, etc), but during the sale Book 2 is half price in the USA and costs $0.99 instead of $1.99, Book 3 is also half price and costs $1.49 instead of $2.99, and Book 4 has been rediced to $1.99 instead of $2.99. The eBooks have been reduced to similar prices in all other online stores across the world, e.g. in the UK Book 2 costs £0.99, Book 3 costs £0.99, and Book 4 costs £1.49. Here are the links for the FREE Book 1 eBook -- you'll be able to order all the others from that page.

eBook 1 on Amazon: CLICK HERE

eBook 1 on Google Play: CLICK HERE

eBook 1 on Apple, Kobo, B&N, etc: CLICK HERE

ARCHIBALD LOX OMNIBUS EDITIONS

SCHOOL EVENTS

I did an online school event with some of the students of Outwood Shafton Academy last month, in which I chatted about my books, did a reading, and answered LOTS of questions. I've attached some photos that the school posted online, featuring a shot of the event, plus a couple in the library afterwards when my books were flying off the shelves like hot cakes!! I was especially pleased to see a copy of The Thin Executioner being checked out -- I mentioned in the event, when answering a question, that it was my favourite out of all the books I've written, so it was good to see that the students were paying attention!! :-)

I used to be very reluctant to commit to online events. Living in the countryside, my internet connection was unreliable, so I was always concerned about things at my end. And schools faced technical difficulties and limitations too, and often they only had one small computer screen at their end, meaning they couldn't accommodate more than a small selection of students in a single, cramped room.

That's all changed. My internet connection is much better than it used to be, while Zoom and the like have made it very easy to set up large-scale talks -- most of the events I've done recently have linked to several rooms in the hosting schools, meaning students from lots of different classes can get involved -- and they all have projectors, so the students can see as well as hear me! :-) Indeed, I'm doing an event in January in which several schools will be involved, all linking in at the same time, which should be a lot of fun.

In short, my doors are now VERY much open on the virtual event front, and I'm doing far more online sessions than I've ever done before -- I already have a few booked in for January. If YOU are a teacher or librarian, anywhere in the world (or if you're a student who wants to show this to your teacher or librarian) and are interested in contacting me to enquire about the possibility of arranging your own online event, please feel free to reach out and drop me a line using this email address: [email protected]

I don't charge, and I'm happy to talk about any of my books. I don't say YES to every request, but if you're well organised and can put together a sizeable group of students, then you've got a damn good chance of reeling me in!!!

As many of you are no doubt already aware, I write books for adults under the name of Darren Dash (having published four under the Darren Shan name many years ago). I've been rather quiet on that front recently, as the massive Archibald Lox series has been consuming most of my time over the last couple of years -- there's just so much more you have to do when you're a self-publisher! I'm hoping to release a new Darren Dash book at some point this year, though there's a good chance it might be 2023 before it sees print.

While we're waiting, here's a link to a lovely review from a few months ago, for my most recent release as Darren Dash -- a fast-paced thriller called Molls Like It Hot. The review appeared on a site called Al Wrote A Book, who replied to his own question of Is It Any Good? with a nice, resounding "Simple answer – yes." The review could have stopped there and I'd have been happy enough, but thankfully Al went on to chat about it in a bit more detail than that, and you can read his full review by CLICKING HERE

If you want to find out more about my Darren Dash books, I have a separate website for them, though I haven't updated it since Molls went on sale a couple of years ago -- in fact, now that I think of it, I don't believe I've even added my notes for Molls yet (usually I write some author's notes for each book that I publish). Something else to add to my Must Do Soon list... :-) Anyway, here's the link for the Dash site: CLICK HERE

HORRORIFIC REVIEW

10 BEST HORROR BOOKS FOR TEENS

There was an article on the Culture Vulture site a few months back, entitled 10 Best Horror Books For Teens, which listed... well, I think you can work that out yourself without any long explanation from me! :-)

It featured an interesting mix of novels, going back as far as Frankenstein and Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde, and I was very pleased to see Cirque Du Freak nestled in the #3 spot. It did, however, set me wondering again -- it's something I've wondered about for more than 20 years now -- IS Cirque Du Freak actually a horror series?!? Oh, it's been sold in most countries as a horror series (though some marketed it as a fantasy series), and of course it's about vampires, and yes it can get quite grisly in parts, BUT...

I dunno. Like all my series, it's a real mix of genres, with some strong elements drawn from the fantasy and sci-fi fields, but if I had to describe it briefly, I'd have to say that overall I consider it a very dark action/adventure series. It's full of twists and turns, and there are definitely plenty of horrific scenes laced throughout, but I don't think it hits the horror notes full-on, in the same way that The Demonata or Zom-B did. I'm not saying by any stretch that I think it's out of place on a list like this, and as a lifelong horror fan I'm delighted that it's become such a prominent part of the horror canon. I just... yeah... every time I ask myself the question, I have to scratch my head and wonder...

But hey, what do I know? I'm just the author!!! :-)

You can check out the full list, and see what they had to say about each book, by CLICKING HERE

THE GOOD SHIP GREENWAY

I went for a family walk last month along part of the Limerick Greenway, a 40km stretch of smooth walking and cycling path through the countryside. We drove to Rathkeale, which is the start of the trail, and did an hour's round trip out along it. When we got back to the start, I took my children, Dante and Gaia, into a nearby playground. They had a great time in the playground, and we were there another hour. While they were playing, I heard Dante using his imagination and making up scenarios to add spice to their play, and it reminded me of an article which I wrote for the Times Educational Supplement in the UK more than 20 years ago, about childhood memories. It's on my website, and you can check it out by CLICKING HERE

IT'S A WRAP!

And that's it for January. I'll be easing back into my normal working routine once my son returns to school, and trying to shed a few of the extra pounds that I piled on over the Christmas period -- I didn't MEAN to eat so much, but it's so hard to resist at that time of the year!! I'll see you back here at the start of February, when no doubt I'll be trim and full of vim!!! :-) 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.

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