Darren Shan's Blog, page 25

Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part 1

I went to see the latest Mission: Impossible film recently. As with most of the entries in the series, it's a fun, fast-paced, thoroughly satisfying piece of escapism. I'm old enough to have seen all the films when they were released, and there's no way I'd have predicted after the first couple that it would run this long or this successfully. Kudos to all involved for shaping what should have been no more than a gimmicky, short-lived revival of an old TV series into something far more ambitious...

Sci-Fi Weekender 2024

As most of you are all too aware, I've done extremely few in-person events since the end of my Zom-B series. I try to squeeze in one or two a year, but that doesn't always happen -- this year is looking like I might not get to do any at all. :-( BUT good news is just around the corner for the those in the UK who would like to catch me live!! I've signed up for SFW XV next March, a sci-fi weekender in Great Yarmouth. Details of what I'll be doing there are yet to be confirmed, but I imagine I...

The Anomaly

I read The Anomaly, by Herve Le Tellier, while on holiday recently, and thoroughly enjoyed it. A thought-provoking piece of lightly-sci-fi, with a very large cast of characters, that takes its time in revealing what it's actually about and where its story is going to lead. I rated it 5 stars on Goodreads, and it's not too often I hand out top marks to a book! The book also resonated with me for other reasons. Back in the 1990s, when I was writing furiously and trying all different kinds of g...

The Ballad of Darren

I have subscriptions to three magazines -- Empire (movies), National Geographic (world events), and Mojo (music). My latest issue of Mojo arrived today, and when I tored it open, I found myself staring at the back cover, an advert for Blur's upcoming new album, which is called... THE BALLAD OF DARREN!!! Awww -- how sweet of them to name an album after me!! I never knew they were such big fans of mine!!! :-) :-) :-) In all seriousness, while I'm sure that title has absolutely nothing to do wi...

10 unique vampire movies

I've often been asked over the years, especially back when I was releasing the Cirque Du Freak books, why vampires are so popular and have continued to endure for well over a century in modern books, movies, comics, TV shows, etc. It's a tricky question to answer, and I usually don't manage much more than a "Well, they're really COOL!!" kind of response. But I think one of the key reasons why they've thrived is their flexibility. Although Bram Stoker pulled together ideas from lots of places...

Smashwords sale reminder

This is a quick reminder about the SMASHWORDS SUMMER SALE, which runs until the end of July, where LOADS of eBooks are on offer, some at absolutely massive discounts! To link in with the sale, I've reduced ALL of my Archibald Lox eBooks by 50%, so if you don't already own them, this is the perfect time to pick up the entire series at HALF its regular price!! Or you can gift them to somebody else if you want to buy them as a present. My advice is to choose the trilogy Volume collections over the ...

Kristian’s 7 chapters

Some months ago, a vlogger called KRISTIAN set out to do an in-depth video review of my book, Birth Of A Killer -- the first book in my Saga Of Larten Crepsley series. Kristian's very ambitious goal was to record a video reflecting his thoughts on each chapter of the book. He devoted an average of 10-to-12 minutes to each review, although one of them ran to more than 23 minutes! I remember wondering at the time how far Kristian would get with the project -- I was pretty sure he wouldn't make...

10 movies that failed

CBR.COM ran an article a while back entitled: 10 Young Adult Movie Franchises That Failed After Their First Movie. It started by saying: "If the '90s were the age of teen rom-coms, then the first two decades of the New Millennium were the era of the young adult fantasy flick. Following the massive success of film series like Harry Potter and Twilight, studios started to greenlight dozens of potential franchise-starters in search of the next big money-maker. While some film series like The Hu...

Reaching the reluctant

There was a lovely post on TwitLonger a while back, from a reader called JAMES PENDLEY, who used to hate reading, until his teacher told him (and the rest of his class) that he had to pick a book series to read and then write an essay about. James chose Cirque Du Freak, and forced himself to start reading, expecting it to be an agonising assignment -- instead he fell in love with the story, which led him to revise his view of reading, and he's even started writing! It's a great essay, and you ca...

Smashwords sale - all Archibald Lox book at HALF PRICE!

If you're looking for some eBook bargains to fill up your summer with reading, without putting too much strain on your wallet, you might be interested in the SMASHWORDS SUMMER SALE, where LOADS of eBooks are on offer, some at absolutely massive discounts! I've reduced ALL of my Archibald Lox eBooks by 50%, so if you don't already own them, this is the perfect time to pick up the entire series at HALF its regular price!! My advice is to choose the trilogy Volume collections over the individual bo...