Darren Shan's Blog, page 173

Diversity

I was very touched by this short article by Khadija Osman, a member of staff at the Round Table Books store in Brixton, London, talking about the impact that my character Debbie Hemlock had on her when she was a young girl.   I've always tried to write about different types of people in my books. It's not that I'm overly PC or trying to provide a wider appeal to boost sales -- it just seems like a natural thing to me as a writer, to try and observe and understand the world through the ey...

Black Ops 3

I know absolutely nothing about the Black Ops 3 video game, except that one fan of my books couldn't help personalising it in an appropriately freakish manner... :-)  

Tattoo Tuesday

It's Tattoo Tuesday time again, and this week's offering was submitted by a fan called Ellis. It features a design from the UK covers. Ellis also noted that Evra Von from the Cirque Du Freak would no doubt approve of the other tattoo -- perhaps the lady with the snake is a long lost Von cousin...  

Rediscovering a “classic”?!?

I thoroughly enjoyed reading teacher Jon Love's review of Cirque Du Freak, though I was surprised at first to see it mentioned as a "classic," as I normally associate that term with much older books that have been around for years and years.   Then I remembered that this coming January will mark the 20th anniversary of the release of Cirque Du Freak, so, yeah, I guess the cap might just about be starting to fit.   I suppose the next stage will be kids moaning about that "rubbish old...

The eyes have it!

It's Sunday, so, as usual, I'm uploading some family pictures -- I always feel that Sunday is a good day to take some time away from more work-related posts.   I love the way our new addition, Gaia, is staring so intently at Dante and me in the first two photos. (Taken a month apart, the second taken when she was just a few days old, the first one month later.) She's been an inquisitive soul ever since she emerged on the scene, just as Dante was when he was born, eyes darting every which...

Demonic drawings

I posted about my Demonata books a few days ago, and the best order in which to read them, which makes this seem like a good time to share some Demonata fan art. All four of these pictures were drawn by a fan called Sari Andita.   The first features Beranabus, Drust and Bec. (Those who've read all the books will know why these three were grouped together, even though Beranabus initlally appeared in a different book to the other two.)   The second features Dervish, Grubbs and Bill-E....

Bulgarian improv

I recently received a lovely email from a fan of my Darren Dash books for adults, which put a big smile on my face. The fan is called Tatyana, and she lives in Bulgaria, where Sunburn -- the book in question -- is set. Here's what Tatyana had to say about it, and I'll tell you afterwards why I grinned so broadly!   "I just finished reading Sunburn (it took me awhile to accept and give a chance to your Not-Darren-Shan-or-Mr-Crepsley-Saga books). I will be as quick as possible - you nailed...

What comes first?

A fan called Mathias emailed me a while ago to say that he was about to start re-reading my Demonata series, but should he start with the first book -- Lord Loss -- and read them in the order published, or should he start with the story that is set the earliest -- Bec -- and read them in chronological order? For those unfamiliar with The Demonata, it features three narrators, and the over-arcing storyline dances backwards and forwards in time between them, especially in the first half of the...

Madrid!!!!

Madrid, here I come!!! It's costing an arm and a leg just to get there, with no guarantee of a ticket on the night, but I've waited my entire life for this, and I'm gonna do everything I can to be at our biggest game ever! COYS!!!! :-) For those who don't know what I'm ranting about, click here: https://www.skysports.com/football/aj...    

Lilo and Crepsley!

A few days ago, I shared a drawing by a fan called Numie of Darren and Mr Crepsley, inspired by a scene in the Cirque Du Freak manga, but drawn in a cartoonish style. Numie went on to share another drawing of Darren and his mentor with me, but this one took inspiration from Lilo And Stitch. I like these reimaginings of my characters. Does anyone else want to have a go? I welcome and will be happy to share pretty much all attempts -- well, maybe not if you model them on certain scenes from The...