Darren Shan's Blog, page 7

Vijay Zom-B review

VIJAY is back with another short video review, this time for Zom-B Chronicles I, an omnibus edition that collected the first three books of the series. To find out what Vijay thought of the books, click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkBx9... 

Second Bec tour

I hosted my second Bec Tour of Craggaunowen Park yesterday, with a lovely guy called ADAM, who's been a fan of my books for many, many years. We spent a relaxed couple of hours strolling around the park, as I explained how it had inspired many of the scenes in the book, and read out lots of short extracts from it. We also spent a good bit of time chatting with the artisans who bring characters from the past to life, and that was fasinating too -- no matter how many times I visit Craggaunowen, I ...

CBR - 10 shows in need of adaptation

CBR ran an article around this time last year (sorry for the incredibly late share!!!) entitled: 10 YA Series That Need Adaptations Before The Harry Potter Reboot In a nutshell, it listed ten different YA series that they would like to see adapted as movie or TV shows. I was delighted to see The Demonata in among the mix, and the warm words of praise that they had for it. Of course, fince this aired, The Demonata HAS been optioned, with an eye to developing it as a TV show, so hopefully CBR ...

The YA Horror 400

Coming soon, on June 25th... The YA Horror 400, by Tony Jones. It's a book collecting 400 reviews of YA and Middle Grade horror, compiled by a librarian who has been reviewing them online for more than a decade and a half. As well as the reviews, it also features loads of contributions by authors whose books are included in the reviews, and one of those authors is... ME!!! I wrote an article, more than 600 words long, about the book of mine which was reviewed, talking about how and why I cho...

665 delightful demons!

A fan of my books, called LINDEA, was idly scanning the shelves of her local goodwill bookshop recently, when to her shock she spotted THIS -- one of the limited edition copies of Bec that my British publishers, HarperCollins, released back in 2006. And it turned out to be a really cool number too -- 665, the second-last of the 666 copy edition!! I was delighted for Lindea, and also rather impressed by the clarity of my signature! I have very messy handwriting at the best of times (occasiona...

Monthly newsletter - June 2024

The June issue of my online monthly newsletter is now LIVE!! Posts this month span a wide range of topics, including... the 27th anniversary of the start of Cirque Du Freak... a radio interview with me, where I talk about some of my favourite books... info about how to come on a personal Bec tour with me... I talk about the role of the vampets in my vampire books... there's a Cirque Du Freak quiz... and I reveal who would win in a to-the-death battle between zombies and Peppa Pig!!! I al...

Larten and Murlough

A fan called JEREMY emailed me recently, to ask the following question: "I have a question about the timeline in the series. In the first Larten Crespley book, Birth of a Killer, Larten and Webster encounter Murlough in the cellar of an abandoned building. Does Larten remember Murlough when he encounters him in Tunnels of Blood?" Jeremy isn't the first to ask that question. As he points out, a young Larten crosses paths with Murlough when the vampaneze is in his prime, but never mentions...

First Bec tour

I did my first Bec tour on Monday, with a lovely lady called HEATHER and her son THEO, and it was a wonderful day. We wandered lazily through Craggaunowen, taking in all the places there that inspired scenes in the book, and I read out extracts to demonstrate how important the park had been in my research. We met all the guys in the attached photos. I was especially intrigued by the blacksmith -- he wasn't there back when I was putting the book together, which was a pity as one of the characters...

Zombies vs Peppa Pig

This made me chuckle!! A school librarian (Ms. Yingling Reads) tweeted the attached photo, with the message: "End of school year! Always make sure that @darrenshan ZOM-B series doesn't spend the summer next to @WendyShang books. You can never be too careful!" I assume this is because Wendy Shang's books are aimed at younger readers, and the librarian is worried that, in her absence, an 8 year old could walk home with Zom-B by accident and start reading!!! :-) This reminds me of when ...

How to read The Demonata

With work ongoing on a potential TV adaptation of The Demonata (still VERY early days, so don't go getting TOO excited!), this might be a good time for a re-read of the series, to refresh yourselves with the storyline, if only to be able to accurately judge just how savagely it ends up being butchered!!!! :-) :-) :-) But with ten books to work your way through, you might not recall where to start or in what order to proceed from there. Luckily, the HOW TO READ ME site has listed the running ...