Darren Shan's Blog, page 174
May 6, 2019
Lord Loss fan video
Checkmate! This is a nice, short promo video for Lord Loss, made by a fan called Brandon. Nothing fancy on the technical front, but it goes to show that sometimes simple can be very effective. https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_co... --------------- The May issue of the Shanville Monthly contains all the latest Darren Shan related news and updates: https://www.darrenshan.com/news/shanv...
Published on May 06, 2019 21:46
May 5, 2019
Creative education
The students at Team Kolbe House are studying Cirque Du Freak, and were challenged to come up with adverts for a vampire's assistant. You can see their wonderfully creative responses in the photo. This is a great example of how reading can be both fun AND educational. Inspiring teachers know that you can tease much more out of students if you find alternative ways for them to muse upon the text of their favourite books, rather than just making them write dull, straight essays about them. Brav...
Published on May 05, 2019 21:34
May 4, 2019
Ghoulish Grannies
My son Dante adores his two grandmothers, and hopefully his baby sister Gaia will too as she grows up and gets to know them better. (Assuming they don't shuffle on off to Vampire Paradise any time soon!) Both grannies were there to see her on the day of her birth, and here are pictures of the beaming pair. The first is my Mum, the second is Mrs Shan's. "But what about the Grandads?!?" I hear you cry. Well, Grandad Basini is sadly no longer with us, and Grandad Shan is camera shy...
Published on May 04, 2019 22:21
May 3, 2019
From manga to cartoon
A fan called Numie decided to do a cartoon-style drawing of Darren and Mr Crepsley from my Cirque Du Freak books, inspired by a panel in the manga series drawn by the wonderful Takahiro Arai. I think Numie did a great, fun job -- indeed, it makes me wonder if it's time for a cartoon adaptation of the manga adaptation... :-) :-) :-) Something that certainly doesn't need an adaptation is the May issue of the Shanville Monthly -- I mean, how can you improve on freaky news-reporting...
Published on May 03, 2019 20:09
May 2, 2019
Edinbugh Book Festival
Edinburgh is a beautiful, majestic city, worth a visit any time of the year, but it's especially worth visiting in August, when the Edinburgh International Book Festival runs for three glorious weeks. It was the first book festival I ever did a public event at, and I fell in love with it. I've been lucky enough to have been invited back ever since -- this year will be my 20th appearance in a row!! The details for the public events won't be announced until the 6th of June, but the Schoo...
Published on May 02, 2019 21:16
April 30, 2019
Shanville Monthly
It's the start of a new month, which means... a new issue of the Shanville Monthly! For those unfamiliar with it, this is a monthly newsletter in which I round up the main bits of Darren Shan (and Darren Dash) related news from the previous month. This month there are links to new reviews of my books, articles about my novels, the debut of the Cirque Du Freak film on Netflix in Germany, and a whole lot more. Most of the entries have appeared here in individual posts over the course of the las...
Published on April 30, 2019 20:45
April 29, 2019
Tattoo Tuesday
I have another Tattoo Tuesday post for you, and this one will make your hair singe! It was sent to me by a fan called Chloe, who wanted to immortalise Mr Tiny, and the control he exercised over Darren, Steve and Mr Crepsley. I don't think the little meddler has ever looked as sinister as this before -- I imagine it will bring a tear to his eye if he accidentally stumbles across it while searching the web for "severed arm" photos... ��
Published on April 29, 2019 21:44
April 28, 2019
Germany calling
One of my German fans was very excited to spot the Cirque Du Freak movie streaming on Netflix in Germany. I hope that excitement held through their viewing of the film, though I know there's a good chance that it might not! :-) The CDF movie is streaming in quite a lot of countries, I think, including the USA. In the UK it used to be on Sky -- I'm not sure if it still pops up there, or if it's now available on Netflix -- to be honest, I'm more of a DVD man -- these new-fangled technolo...
Published on April 28, 2019 21:37
April 27, 2019
Birds of a feather
I've been sharing lots of photos of my daughter Gaia since she hit our world last month, but I don't want to overlook my other little monster, the light in the darkness that is Dante Shan! So here are a few photos of the two of them together. He's studying her intently in her cot in the hospital in the first one. Making sure she's correctly secured in hr car seat in the second. And holding her on his lap for the first time in the third. I know, I know -- if these were any sweeter, they'd have...
Published on April 27, 2019 23:19
April 26, 2019
Books and Phobia
My book, Vampire Mountain, was recently reviewed on a German site, Books And Phobia. It's a very nice review, which captures a lot of what fans most enjoyed about the novel, and I especially liked the short, apt summation at the end, which went: "Significantly quieter than its predecessor, but no less thrilling, the 4th volume of the Darren Shan series managed to fully immerse me in its world. In addition, many secrets were revealed that more than surprised. I hope it goes on like this...
Published on April 26, 2019 21:50