Darren Shan

About Author

DARREN Shan was born on 2 July 1972 in London. After starting school at the age of three, he moved to Limerick with his parents and younger brother. He went back to London to study Sociology/English at college.

Darren worked for a cable television company for 2 years before setting up as a full time writer. He had his first taste of literary success aged 15 when he was runner-up in a television script-writing competition with a comedy script titled, 'Day in the Morgue'. Darren completed his first book aged 17.

A big film buff, he also reads lots of books and comics. Other interests include travelling, art collecting, swimming, watching and discussing football and dreaming up new ways to terrify his readers!

CIRQUE DU FREAK was the first book in 'The Saga of Darren Shan' series. It is about something out of the ordinary, but set against the background of children's normal lives to chilling effect.

CIRQUE DU FREAK ends with the chilling three words 'To Be Continued ' Its sequel, The Vampire's Assistant was published in June 2000 and was followed with Tunnels of Blood, Vampire Mountain, Trials of Death, The Vampire Prince, Hunters of the Dusk, Allies of the Night, Killers of the Dawn, The Lake of Souls and Lord of the Shadows. The Saga came to a climactic final book in SONS OF DESTINY which was published in October 2004.

The books are on sale in 30 countries, in 24 languages, and total worldwide sales across the series are well over nine million copies. They have made children's bestseller charts in America, the UK and several European countries, and have been #1 bestsellers on the adult book charts in Japan and Taiwan.

The movie rights to the series have been bought by Universal Studios, and Oscar-winning scriptwriter Brian Helgeland (L.A. CONFIDENTIAL, MYSTIC RIVER, A KNIGHT'S TALE, etc) has been lined up to write the screenplay.

Following on from his success with vampires, Darren has moved on to demons and other beastly creatures of the night. In June 2005 he released the first book in 'The Demonata' series, Lord Loss. The book has been sold to several countries and there has already been interest from a number of movie studios. There will be ten books in 'The Demonata' series, with a new book hitting stores every June and November up until the end of 2009.

Darren Shan maintains and updates his own web site, at www.darrenshan.com

Darren Shan answered some questions from ReadingZone members when Demon Thief was published:

Why did you use your own name when you wrote the Darren Shan Saga?

'Well, it might all have been true...
Actually, my real name is Darren O'Shaughnessy but I think one of the fun things about horror is to pretend that it's true. I wanted to write this as if it was a real story, in the first person, so it made sense to use the same name for the author and the character - to blur the lines between reality and fiction.'

Who is your favourite character in your books?

'That's Mr Crepsley, the main vampire character. He was interesting, I was never really sure if he was going to be a good guy or a bad guy and it was only in book three that I decided.'

What did you read when you were a boy?

'I always loved horror but there wasn't much around at that stage for children apart from Edgar Allen Poe. I loved adventure and mystery books, and the Just William books. But my favourite book was The Secret Garden I saw it on tv and then read the book.'

What's the scariest thing that has ever happened to you? Have you ever seen a ghost?

'No, I've never had a supernatural experience but when I was in New Zealand last year I went white water rafting and I fell out of the raft just as we were going down a series of six rapids. That was scary.'

Do you like horror films?

'I used to watch loads as a teenager. I think the first really scary one I saw was Salam's Lot by Stephen King, I saw a film version of it when I was a kid and it had a HUGE impact on me! It's all about vampires who take over a modern day town. VERY creepy!!! I was eight or nine, and that gave me nightmares. I've seen too many bad horror films since then though. They don't scare me anymore.'

Will there be movies made of the books?

'Universal has bought the rights to "The Saga". Brian Helgeland ('A Knight's Tale', 'LA Confidential', 'Mystic River') has written a script, combining elements of the first three books. So there's a strong possibility that a film WILL happen in the
next few years!!!'

Why do you spend so much time and effort keeping in touch with your fans?

'When I grew up I knew nothing about my favourite authors, like Clive Barker or Stephen King, and I would have loved to know things like, why they wrote those books or what do they do when they're not writing, and I think it's important to let your readers know who you are.'

Are you planning to go back to writing books aimed towards adults anytime soon? To be specific, is getting City of the Snakes published along with the rest of the city series on your mind at all?

'I'm focusing on my "Demonata" books right now. Sometime next year I hope to have a crack at the adult market again, or at least start moving back in that direction (not that I plan to stop writing for teens!!!). We'll have to wait and see what the future throws up ...'

So what do you do when you're not writing?

'I like to read, watch movies and travel.'

Interview

ZOM-B

SIMON & SCHUSTER

OCTOBER 2012

Zom-B, published by Simon & Schuster, is the first book in a new series by horror master Darren Shan. Instead of vampires, this series will feature zombies, but fans can still look forward to Shan's trademark horror, plot twists and of course, plenty of gore.

Other than the zombie theme, a key difference between this series and Darren Shan's previous books is that Zom-B titles will be published every four months, so fans don't need to wait a whole year to find out what happens next. While each book is planned to be stand-alone, it will naturally fit into the Zom-B series that explores what becomes of the lead character, B.

Why 'B', rather than a full name? You'll need to read it to find out, we will try not to give away that particular plot twist - but look out for the clues in the story.

In Zom-B, a media storm hits when small villages are invaded by zombies and its inhabitants either killed off, or become zombies themselves. But this was only the start and one morning, cities and towns around the country awake to their own zombie nightmare. The book focuses on B and B's family and friends and follows what happens to them as they head off on an apparently very normal school day.

The Zom-B series will also develop a number of key themes and issues. The first book is dominated by racism; B's father is an unashamed racist and the author explores what this means for B, especially in a household that is dominated by the bullying and abusive father.

Many will find the level of racism uncomfortable reading, but it also provides a starting point for debate. Shan says, "I have always dealt with various issues in my writing but not as explicitly as in Zom-B. I have done a lot of travelling around the world in the past few years and this has made me much more of world issues.

"I suppose this is an extension of my reaction to 9/11 and the bombings in London which have succeeded in developing this atmosphere of fear over the last decade where we are all being encouraged to be afraid and worried. A lot of this tension comes through the media but when you travel and find out more about the world, you get a very different perspective."

He adds, "I think my key message in the book is that you should always use your mind and come to your own conclusions. Question what you are being told, look for the truth behind the cloud of make-believe. We have to be responsible, to look at the facts and think about them and make the right decisions."

While the racism in the book is explicit and aggressive, Shan says that it was much more graphic in the first draft of his book and he struggled to make it readable, while still delivering uncomfortable truths. "It's very easy to go down the racist track and very easy to think about the world at that level, life becomes very simple when you define your 'enemy' as one group of people," he explains.

"I realised I couldn't be too realistic in this book because words have a different power. I am using words I have heard in real life but when I reread what I had written, I realised it was going too far in the book. I went back and rewrote it and developed B as a much more sympathetic character. In the first draft, B was horrible but I realised that readers wouldn't care what happened to the character. Even if you have an unsavoury character, you still need to make them interesting and appealing to the reader."

He also believes that it is important to tackle issues like racism in books for young people. "I think it's important to have books like this that get young people thinking, and if we can do it in an entertaining way so much the better."

While Zom-B readers can focus on these different ideas, the story itself is exciting and readers will see different layers and more questions evolve. At the end of book one, we are left to wonder who are the zombies and where have they come from?

Shan adds that, as the series progresses, the zombies may not turn out to be the main threat..... "Zombies are dangerous, they are an unstoppable menace, but at the same time people are far scarier; we have to be aware of thinking, scheming people. Racism is more dangerous than anything we can write in fiction. A father who can tell you to be afraid of other cultures is a menace."

An overriding theme as the series progresses is the abuse of power, says Shan. "B's relationship with the father is the starting point and the racist angle that propels the story forward. It's all about the abuse of power, whether that is racism or power mongering - how people twist power so that it works for them and how they get other people to do what they want them to do."

Zom-B is tied to one setting, a secondary school, an idea that Shan borrowed from movies like Dawn of the Dead where people are trapped in one building and threatened by these creatures. However, the rest of the series will open out although it will stay focused on London. "It was hard being restricted to one place in Zom-B", he admits. "I found it hard not to have the freedom to move on and to have to draw out the action in what must be one of the least interesting settings imaginable. It did present problems but I also enjoyed the challenge."

The violence and plotline, like his other books, allows Shan to 'sneak in other issues under the radar', he says. "You can do a lot more with a horror book than if you write the story in a realistic way. This is a book about zombies eating brains, that's fun, rather than it being about racism."

In the next book, Zom-B Underground (publishing in January 2013), Shan starts to answer the question of who are the zombies and where they are from, although it take until book 12 before we really find out. "There are a lot of different theories as we go through the series and I enjoy playing with readers' expectations."

He adds, "On one hand this is a traditional kid of tale about zombies, but the zombies in this world aren't there by accident, and the forces responsible for creating this zombie apocalypse have created different kinds of zombies. There'll be more to come on this."

Shan has already written the first draft of the entire series so that the books can be published every four months. The final Zom-B book will be published in July 2015. "When I started to write it I was thinking of Dickens who used to write and release a chunk of his novel every month. I also used to read a lot of comics and used to love having a wait to continue the story the next week or month. I liked the story being stretched out like that." He also wanted the books to be published quickly to create a sense of urgency for the readers.

Shan gave us just a brief glimpse into Zom-B Underground - you can expect B to return and, as its title suggests, much of the action takes place in London's Underground train system.

PALACE OF THE DAMNED

October 2011

Published by HarperCollins

Palace of the Damned is the latest title in Darren Shan's Larten Crepsley series and is aimed at readers aged ten/11 years plus (although many Darren Shan fans are younger than this...).

The Larten Crepsley books are a prequel to his Cirque Du Freak series. In Palace of the Damned, we learn why Larten Crepsley becomes the tormented figure we see later in the Cirque Du Freak books.

Q:Why did you want to return to the Cirque du Freak books, and why decide to write a sequel?

A: I hadn't planned to write any more books about vampires, but Larten Crepsley had a very mysterious background in the original series. I never really felt like I knew what made him tick.

While I was working on The Demonata, I found myself thinking about Larten and trying to piece his story together. I didn't want to write any books about him -- I just wanted to know for myself.

Eventually, so much revealed itself that I felt compelled to sit down and start writing -- I knew that was the only way that I could fully scratch the itch!!

Q: How many books do you plan to write about Larten Crepsley?

A: There will be four books in total. The fourth and last book comes out in May 2012.

Q: You like to kill off main characters, but obviously Larten Crepsley needs to survive - did you feel hampered by not being able to kill him and some of the other characters in these books?

A: It was a challenge, but for me that was part of the appeal of the project. I couldn't structure it in the usual dramatic way, since we knew that Larten and so many of the other characters would survive. So how could I make it interesting?

It was like a puzzle, and solving that puzzle was a large draw for me. I had to push myself in a new direction, to write a type of story that I had never written before.

And for me that is ultimately what writing is all about -- I don't like writing within my comfort zone -- I'm always looking to try new things and pull off the impossible!

Q: Palace of the Damned pits vampires and vampaneze against each other - what made you decide to create a new 'breed' of vampire?

A: I created the vampaneze back in the original series. I wanted to explain why people had such a negative view of vampires, and my reasoning was that they had confused vampires with the murderous vampaneze over the centuries.

The vampaneze are very important to this series -- the fourth book sees Larten at the centre of a plot to start a war between the two clans...

Q: Do you ever find yourself holding back from particularly gory descriptions, or from making your characters 'too' evil?

A: No. Since books are the domain of the imagination, I think writers have far more leeway than other creators. i.e. a scene is only as powerful as a reader's imagination can let it be.

Books are a collaborative creative ground -- a story is always a unique union between the writer and each reader. Those with advanced imaginations will make the most of my gorier scenes, but are perfectly placed to deal with the product of our shared imagination. Those with less vivid imaginations will not squeeze as much disturbing drama out of a scene.

It's not like a movie, where an "innocent" viewer can be exposed to upsetting scenes that they might not be equipped to deal with. A reader is engaging in a dance with an author, and if you're clued-in enough to match the writer's steps, you're more than capable of dealing with whatever they throw at you, no matter what age you are.

Q: Was there any part of this book that you found particularly difficult to write?

A: There's a scene in book 4 that always brings a lump to my throat, as it finds Larten at his most exposed and pained.

He's a character I care about deeply, but as we know from Cirque Du Freak, something very bad happened to him that forced him to sever all of his ties with the vampire clan and the people he cared about most.

This series has all been leading up to explaining why he went into enforced exile, and the reveal is almost as gut-wrenching for me as I'm sure it will be for readers of the books.

Q: When did you first start reading horror?

A: I read some scary tales from about the age of 8 or 9, but I was about 10 or 11 when I read my first Stephen King book, Salem's Lot, and I've never looked back!

Q: What was your favourite horror book / film as a child / teenager?

A: Salem's Lot. I saw the film first, and loved it -- it gave me nightmares, which I think is the best compliment I can pay a work of horror! And then I read the book, and that freaked me out too!! A double whammy!!!!

Q: Could you see yourself writing in a different genre for young people - comedy, perhaps?

A: There's actually a lot of humour in my books. I think it's important to have some lighter moments in a very dark book, otherwise it becomes a miserable experience!

In fact, I've worked lots of different genres into my books over the years -- fantasy, sci-fi, thrillers, drama -- there's even a touch of romance in Palace of the Damned!

I see the horror field as a springboard -- I like to have a horrific undertow to my books, but I think it's the other areas I explore which makes them so interesting for such a wide variety of readers.

Q: What are you writing now? When can we expect to see the next book in the series?

A: Brothers to the Death comes out in early May 2012. I will be starting a new series in October, but I can't say anything about it just yet -- it's top secret!! I hope to be able to announce details soon on my web site, www.darrenshan.com

Q: How has being a successful author changed your life?

A: I can afford to buy new books in hardback rather than having to buy second-hand paperbacks!!

Q: Tell us a little bit about your writing day.

A: If I'm working on a first draft, I try to write ten pages a day, at least five days a week (sometimes more, if I'm about to dart off on tour somewhere).

When I finish a first draft, I set it aside for a few months and work on something else. When I return to it, I might edit twenty or thirty pages a day during the first edit.

By the time of the final edit (six or seven drafts later) I might get through 60 or 80 pages a day -- by that stage, I'm trying to read it the same way a reader will, at the same fast pace, making only a few tweaks here and there.

As well as all that, I'll answer lots of emails, tweet several times, check the web for reviews of my books, update my web site, maybe do a blog, etc. etc. And sometimes I'll answer a batch of fan mail as well. Busy busy!!

Darren Shan first became known for his debut book, Cirque Du Freak, which quickly turned into a bestselling series.

Palace of the Damned is the latest title in Darren Shan's Larten Crepsley series and is aimed at readers aged ten or 11 years plus (although many Darren Shan fans are younger than this...). We put a few questions to Darren about his new book.