I was watching a creepy episode of Inside Number 9 on Sunday, November 20th -- it was a Halloween special episode called Dead Line. Strange things were happening in the show, when suddenly there was a power cut in my house. My first, awed reaction - “How the hell did they do THAT?!?”

When I realized the two events were unconnected, I chuckled at my gullibility and went to the kitchen to light some candles. Mrs Shan joined me, while our daughter Gaia was asleep upstairs. (Our son Dante was staying with his grandparents.)

As we were lighting the candles, the lights began flashing on and off, and there was a strange crackling noise. My first thought was - Inside Number 9!!! But then I realized I was in fact facing a far more horrific situation.

My fuse board had gone on fire.

I screamed at Mrs Shan to go grab Gaia, get her out, and ring our electrician and 999, while I grabbed a fire extinguisher and went to spray the flames and hopefully snuff them out. And yes, I know that was dumb and I should have just got the hell out of there, but my brain had gone a bit haywire.

Anyway, I sprayed the flames from afar, as carefully as I could, and they went out. Phew!!!

Then they flared up again, like those candles on birthday cakes that keep relighting.

Funny on a cake. Absolutely terrifying on a fuse board.

I went through three fire extinguishers, doing my best to control the spread of the fire while we waited for the fire brigade to arrive. (And yes, no argument, I should have just got the hell out.) Then I was out of ammo and had no choice but to retreat.

My electrician and the fire brigade arrived much quicker than I’d feared, and they managed to cut the power to the house and properly extinguish the flames. In the end they were able to confine the worst of the damage to a few downstairs rooms, though there’s smoke damage throughout, and we probably won’t be able to live there again for several months while the mess gets sorted. But, hey, on the bright side, I have a good story to tell, and maybe I'll even write about it one day!!!

PAUL WEITZ TALKS!

There was a major interview on SYFY WIRE recently, with Paul Weitz, the writer/director of the Cirque Du Freak movie. You can read the full interview by CLICKING HERE

This is the first time, to the best of my knowledge, that he has talked in depth about the movie, and it's fascinating to get his thoughts on it at this remove from the project (which hit cinemas 13 years ago). He talks about how his love of pre-World War II German Expressionist art influenced the look of the movie, and the themes that drew him to the story in the first place.

I love that he gives special mention to John C Reilly, who played Mr Crepsley, and talks about how much work he put into bringing the character to life. I've often noted over the years that John read all the books, and was a real champion for them when the movie was being made, and it's nice to have that seconded.

I was also surprised and gratified to see him talk about his desire to see someone else reboot the series. He says, "I wish someone else would make a totally different series... There is a different, and no doubt, extremely cool version of this movie that could have been made, which was much darker. But at the time, that was not what people were going for. I'd be interested to see that if someone was to make that."

I wish that too!!! :-) I've always said that I enjoy the Cirque Du Freak film on its own terms, but there's no doubt it was a very loose adaptation that veered away from the darker elements of the books. Hopefully, if it ever does get remade, they'll stick more closely to the story and mood of the novels, and it might fare better with a wider audience.

Anyway, whatever your view on the movie, this is a fabulous and fascinating interview, and I can't recommend it highly enough.

STEPH'S SHANTOBER

Have you heard of SHANTOBER?!? Yeah, it's a thing!!! In a nutshell, a few talented, ambitious ("Crazy?!? Don't call me crazy, hmm?!?") Shansters set themselves the task of drawing characters from my book EVERY day of October!!

I only know of one who actually completed the challenge -- step forward Steph Bral Ross and take a well-deserved bow!!!!

I've inclued one of Steph's drawings below, and attached all 31 of them to a post on Facebook, which you can access by CLICKING HERE

I'd strongly advise having a look at all of them. One might think, given the size of the challenge, that they would be little more than rough scribbles, hasty sketches designed to get Steph over the finishing line without overly exhausting her in the process. One would be wrong!!!! These are fabulous, each and every one of them. PLEASE look at them all, and if you enjoy them as much as I have, PLEASE share some love with Steph, as that's the only reward she's going to get -- nobody ever said that doing Shantober would pay any bills!!!

A FORGOTTEN STORY

Should I be worried that I just read a story that I wrote but can't remember writing?!?

Somebody recently linked to a short story of mine in reply to a Facebook post. It's called A Change Of Heart and you can find it on my web site by CLICKING HERE

I've got to be honest -- when I saw the title, I scratched my head and thought to myself, "What the hell is THAT?!?" I had no memory of ever writing a short story by that name!!

When I clicked through, I saw that I'd written it ten years ago, for The Times newspaper in the UK. But as I read it, I STILL couldn't remember writing it, and though a few things about it began to resurface in my memory banks as I read on, it was almost as much of a new experience for me as it would have been for its readers back in 2012!!! It's a strange experience, reading a story that you can't remember writing!! Thankfully (IMHO) it's quite a good little number, and I enjoyed it a lot -- imagine if I'd read it and thought it was rubbish!!!!!

Oh, by the way, the drawing, by LIV, is of the character Darren Shan when he's dreaming of becoming the Lord Of The Shadows, but it seems to fit this story very neatly too, which is why I tagged it on.

The winners of my November competition, who each won a signed, dated, limited numbered edition copy of Archibald Lox Volume 3, were, in the order drawn...

BRANDON NOBACH, USA.

OLIVER EAST, ENGLAND.

TYLER HOUSE, ENGLAND.

RYAN OLESEN, NEW ZEALAND.

Congratulations to the winners, and better luck to the rest of you next time round!! There will be another competition coming soon, in my online monthly newsletter. To subscribe to it and insure you don't miss out, click on the following link -- I don't share your info with any other organisations, and only send very occasional emails, when I have something of note to share: https://darrenshan.com/news/subscribe

IT'S A WRAP!