Darren Shan's Blog, page 185

New York update

Sorry for another long blog absence, folks, but I've been in New York on holiday for most of the past week and I just couldn't find the time for a long blog! I have been tweeting quite regularly — if you haven't started to follow me yet on Twitter, my account name there is @darrenshan

Bas and I flew to NY last Friday. After a delicious burger and hot dog in the Shake Shack in Madison Square Park, we met my friends Jennifer and Emily (the latter lives in Taiwan, but happened to be in NY ...

The hardest talk

The last couple of days have been hard. After my Grandad died on Sunday, his body was taken away to be embalmed and was then returned to the house. I stayed up all night with some of the family — it's a tradition here that someone keeps the corpse company all night when it is resting at home. I grabbed some sleep on Monday morning, then returned for the laying out — that's another tradition here in Ireland, where people who knew the deceased are invited to come and view the body before the...

Bye bye Grandad

Sorry I haven't posted a blog for so long but it's been a difficult week. My Grandad fell seriously ill last Monday and spent the whole of the week passing way. He finally moved on to Vampire Paradise this Sunday at 2.25pm. I spent most of the week up at his house, and while I did my best to Tweet every day, I wasn't able to find the time or energy to blog. It's a sad occasion, obviously, but he lived a full life and was 84 and a half years old when he died, and he went very peacefully...

Perfection can wait

I took Saturday off and went for a walk along the beach in Ballybunion with Bas. Apart from that I've been working hard, editing a book for adults which I wrote several years ago. I have two books for adults which I'm currently working on, one which I've mentioned on this blog before, and this one. The former has a fantastical element, this one doesn't. I like them both, a LOT, and definitely hope to publish both in the near future. It's just a matter of deciding which one to try and lead...

Celtic synchronicity!

I received the following email from a lady called Tracy in the USA, which made me smile:

So I sat down and watched the Vampire's Assistant movie sometime ago and noticed it came from a book series. Since I'm a proud owner of the B&N Nook I ran off and downloaded some of the books which later turned into ALL of the series. Fantastic work! I will say though I am happy I've learned through the book to movie projects that you should ALWAYS see the movie first and you'll appreciate both the...

Done touring… again!!

The end of another successful, enjoyable tour!! I had a busy Saturday morning signing session in Chelmsford — I was there for two and a half hours, going at full speed!! The evening event in Dulwich was one of my quieter public events. I've been to the area quite a lot over the years, and I think maybe it's time to give it a rest for a while — in my experience, with very few exceptions, fans do get tired of seeing the same old face rotate in year after year!!

On Sunday I was signing in...

Buzzing along nicely

The tour has been buzzing along nicely. I did a lunchtime signing in Nottingham on Thursday. Most kids were at school — the reason we did a signing rather than a schools event was because of the election in the UK, which meant some schools were closed.  Even though many of my fans weren't able to come because of school, lots of fans sent their parents, or even grandparents, so I was signing for an hour and a half!! I then went to Boston in Lincolnshire, where I did a public event for...

Beautiful day!!

The tour has been going splendidly!! I was signing in Southampton for 2 hours 45 minutes on Monday. Bournemouth was the only small turnout of the tour so far — I was only there for 45 minutes. I did a big schools event in Dorking on Tuesday, for 300 kids, and signed for 2 hours. Then I did a public event for 160 in Worcester in the evening, and signed for another couple of hours. I faced a long drive to Sheffield after that, and didn't arrive at my hotel until well after midnight.

But...

Wicked weekend

No rest for the wicked in the world of Darren Shan this weekend!!! My flight to London on Friday was slightly delayed, so it was well after 01.00 before I got to bed. In the morning I walked up to Waterstones Picadilly for a public signing. The weather was bad, and the transport services were severely disrupted because of a May Day demonstration, so we didn't get a massive crowd, but it was still a good turnout and I was signing for two and a quarter hours. After that (and a tasty...

First leg covered

The second day of the tour is done and dusted, and that means the first leg has now been completed — I'm done in Ireland, and moving on to England. It's been a manic couple of days. I started with a great schools event in Portlaoise for 250 kids. The town has recently been involved in a One Town One Book project, where they chose a book for the entire community to focus on — and they chose Cirque Du Freak!! 500 copies of the book were distributed, not only to school kids, but to adult ...