Darren Shan's Blog, page 181
August 2, 2011
Shanville Monthly August
The August issue of the Shanville Monthly is now online, with all the latest news (including tour news for October) and the next round of the Great Global Giveaway!! Check it out! http://www.darrenshan.com/news/shanvi...
July 28, 2011
July competition
The very exctiing news for anyone who entered the July Shanville Monthly competition before the cut-off date is that EVERYONE is a winner!! Yes, I was able to find a prize for every entrant for all of the countries—except Japan, since nobody entered for that one!! Everyone will be getting at least one signed book—some fans will be getting a couple or even several!!! Since I have to process so many prizes (close to 100 in total) I won’t be contacting winners by email to let them know that they...
July 26, 2011
Tough times for newbloods
There was a worrying article inthe Bookseller in the UK recently about the difficulties that children's authors are facing. You can read the full article here: http://www.thebookseller.com/news/chi... It paints a pretty bleak picture, but then again, making a living as a children's author has ALWAYS been hard. Writing, in general, is a highly risky business. That's why so many children and teenagers are warned against going down that route by their te...
July 22, 2011
Ungroovy teachers!!
I received the following email from a fan in Canada: It has always been my dream to write books. Since I could write I would write picture books. As my age progressed I started writing novels. My teachers would always get mad at me because they would only want a 2 paged story and I would hand in 12 paged doubled sided stories, which weren't even double spaced. I gave up on my dream because my high school teachers told me that my imagination is too childish, and that I won't get far if I try...
July 20, 2011
The Saga of my prep work!
I've been busy, since my return to Ireland, preparing for my solo Edinburgh event in August (see the Shanville Monthly or Events pages on http://www.darrenshan.com for date, time, etc). Usually it takes me about half a day to prepare an extract for an event. I'll choose a section that I think will sound good read out loud, edit it down a bit to try to make it work to its maximum as a stand-alone piece, and I'm good to go. Occasionally I've spent a bit longer than that on a piece, for instance...
July 12, 2011
Ocean of Blood comp update
http://apps.facebook.com/oceanofblood/ Latest incentive to enter the Ocean Of Blood Facebook competition -- 50 lucky fans will each win a signed Palace Of The Damned cover proof!! These proofs have been designed especially for the competition and can't be found anywhere else. Once we recevie 500,000 drops of blood, a draw will be held and 50 winners will be picked at random from those who have entered. Remember, you can enter as many times as you like, and there are LOTS of other (instant) pr...
July 7, 2011
Crikey!!!
Crikey!! Can't believe I haven't produced a proper blog entry since June 16th!!! I used to blog almost daily, but now I tend to focus more on Twitter, which allows me to pass on messages more swiftly to fans. Even so, I still like to blog, so I'll try not to let this long a time pass again without popping my head up to give you all a shout!! The main reason I've been absent so long is that I've been enjoying an extended birthday celebration. I turned 39 on July 2nd and I've been in London m...
June 30, 2011
July Shanville Monthly
The July issue of the Shanville Monthly is now online, with all the latest news and updates, as well as details of the first round of the Darren Shan Great Global Giveaway!!! To check it out, click here: http://www.darrenshan.com/news/shanvi...
June 22, 2011
Ocean Of Blood - one week special terms!
OCEAN OF BLOOD CHALLENGE ALERT! For one week only, from June 22nd, HarperCollins have completely REMOVED the sharing buttons on the Ocean of Blood app. This means you can donate AS MANY drops as you like, one after another, without notifying your friends. You've never had a better chance to win one of the hundreds of prizes still up for grabs!! And because you can enter as many times as you like, you don't have to stop if you win a prize -- you can carry on and try to win more prizes!!! Not o...
June 16, 2011
Edinburgh ahoy!
The Edinburgh Book festival launched their 2011 programme today, so I'm now able to reveal that I will be doing two VERY special events this year!! First, on Saturday 20th, I am doing a panel event with Barry Hutchison (I loved Raggy Maggie when I read it last year) and Alexander Gordon Smith (who used to send me fanmail as a Shanster before he established himself as a top-notch author in his own right with the pulsating Furnace). We will be discussing horror books, how we developed our love ...
