GREETINGS!!

Hi everyone, and welcome to the November issue of my Shanville Monthly newsletter! I hope you all enjoyed Halloween. I spent the run-up to it in Derry in Northern Ireland, where they have Europe's largest Halloween festival -- needless to say, I was in freaky heaven! I highly recommend a visit if you ever get a chance in the future -- the festivities begin a few days before Halloween itself.

We finished shipping out the pre-ordered copies of The Terrified Troll, my first ever picture book, last month. But if you missed out on a copy when we ran the crowdfunder a couple of years ago, you WILL have a chance to buy one later this month -- more info about that below.

In other news, I'm setting off on the final leg of my 25th anniversary of Cirque Du Freak TOUR... the fourth episode of Cirque Dub Freak has hit the web... there's a new podcast interview with me... and more! Let's start with details of where you can catch me on tour early in the month...

UK TOUR

The final leg of my 25th anniversary Cirque Du Freak tour happens early this month, with a MAGNIFICENT SEVEN signings in England and Wales. It's great if you book tickets in advance, as it gives us an idea of how many people we will be dealing with, and it also guarantees you a copy of the 25th anniversary edition of Cirque Du Freak. BUT you can also just turn up for free on the day, so if you're not sure you're going to be able to make it, or if you don't want to buy a copy of the book, that might be the better option for you. I'm happy to sign books you bring from home (there are usually no limits, unless I'm running out of time to catch my train to my next city) and pose for photos.

Please note, the correct start time in BOURNEMOUTH is 10.30am, NOT 10am as it says on the poster.

NOVEMBER

Wednesday, 5th November - school events in BIRMINGHAM.

Wednesday, 5th November - 4.30pm - public signing in Waterstones BIRMINGHAM.To book tickets, CLICK HERE.

Thursday, 6th November - school events in BIRMINGHAM.

Thursday, 6th November - 4.00pm - public signing in Waterstones COVENTRY. To book tickets, CLICK HERE.

Friday, 7th November - 4.00pm - public signing in Waterstones CARDIFF. To book tickets, CLICK HERE.

Saturday, 8th November - 10.00am - public signing in Waterstones BRISTOL GALLERIES. To book tickets, CLICK HERE.

Saturday, 8th November - 3.00pm - public signing in Waterstones READING. To book tickets, CLICK HERE.

Sunday, 9th November - 10.30am - public signing in Waterstones BOURNEMOUTH CASTLEPOINT. To book tickets, CLICK HERE.

Sunday, 9th November - 2.00pm - public signing in Waterstones SOUTHAMPTON WEST QUAY. To book tickets, CLICK HERE.

CIRQUE DUB FREAK 4

Episode 4 of CIRQUE DUB FREAK went live on Halloween, which was pretty perfect timing!!

It's the point in the story where Darren settles down to what he thinks will be a lovely, fun relationship with Madam Octa... only for DesTiny to have other plans in mind for him!!!

You can watch the episode by CLICKING HERE

Cirque DUB Freak is a fan-made, non-profit manga dub of The Saga of Darren Shan, based on the official manga adaptation of the book series. It's not an officially sanctioned project, but it IS pretty damn coolio!!!!

IRISH TOUR REPORT

I had a lovely time on tour in Ireland last month. I did events in Limerick and Derry, where I talked about the origins of Cirque Du Freak, answered lots of questions and signed lots of books. Then I did a signing in Belfast. There was a storm warning in place that day, and it was VERY wet and windy, so I was expecting a small turnout, but the Shansters took us all by surprise and turned up in their hordes. I ended up signing for FOUR AND A HALF HOURS! An amazing, memorable day, the perfect way to wind up tyhe Irish leg of my tour.

A lot of the fans on this tour have been Shansters for many years -- in some cases, decades. Quite a few were meeting me for the first time ever, but there were plenty who had come to events or signings of mine in the past, like the guy in the photos above -- yes, that IS the same person! It's been lovely to catch up with you all and to see how you've been aging over the years!!!

CREATIVELY ME

I was recently interviewed by DANIEL HEAPHY for his podcast, CREATIVELY ME. We talked about my books, the creative process, and lots more.

The piece runs for 40 minutes, and you can listen to it on Spotify by CLICKING HERE

To check out Daniel's Instagram page, where you can see a short video clip of me, CLICK HERE

TROLLS ALL SHIPPED!

This is a photo of the final posted copy of The Terrified Troll, which I dropped off at my local post office about a week before the end of October. ALL of the books have now been sent!!! (Except for one copy, which I've been asked to hold back until January.)

If YOU pre-ordered a copy, depending on where you live in the world, it could still take a week or two before your copy arrives -- if there's no sign of it by mid-November, do please get in touch with me.

Thank you so much for your patience. I know this has taken WAY longer than anticipated, but it was a steep learning curve for myself and Eva. I think the finished book is proof that our efforts weren't wasted, and that it was time well spent -- we're delighted with the final product, and more importantly, people who bought the book have been delighted with it too!!!

If you missed out on the numbered and lettered editions, the good news is I'll be putting up some unnumbered copies for sale this month, so watch out for a post about those, in case you missed out first time round, or did pre-order but want to get another one or two -- Christmas isn't that far round the corner, and they would make the perfect gift for the little Shansters in your life...

NEW ARCHIE REVIEW

There was an absolutely fabulous review for the first volume in my Archibald Lox series recently, by a reviewer called MARK KIELTY, who sums up his overall view of it very neatly at the start:

"Archibald Lox is one of those gems that deserves much more attention than it gets. I love finding these books, ones which fly under the radar but when you give them a chance, you count your lucky stars you did."

There's plenty more after that, so if you want to read the whole review -- and I strongly recommend that you do -- then CLICK HERE

YOUR NUMBER'S UP!

I ran an impromptu cometition last month, giving four lucky fans a chance to buy one of the last four copies of the numbered edition of The Terrified Troll. There were lots of entires, and the fortunate four, in the order drawn, were...

RONAN KIELY, Ireland.
PAULA COOMBER, UK.
DOROTTYA KOVACS, Hungary.
AMY MASON, UK.

But it's not ALL doom and gloom for those of you who weren't succesful on this occasion! We're going to be able to offer everyone who entered an unnumbered copy of the book, though you'll have to wait until I'm finished touring before I can start reaching out to people and taking orders.

As for the rest of you out there... as I said in an earlier post, we MIGHT end up making a few more of the unnumbered copies available, depending on how our stock is looking -- so keep an eye on my social media pages feed for updates later this month!

25TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION

My British publishers, HarperCollins, posted this nice image of the 25th anniversary edition of Cirque Du Freak in the run-up to Halloween. Which made me think it would be a good time to remind you all of its existence -- you should be able to find it in your local bookshop, or ask a member of staff to order in a copy for you. Or, if all else fails, you can always buy a copy online...

IT'S A WRAP!

And that's it for November. I was invited to visit The Nightmare Realm last month, Dublin's infamous annual haunted mazes extravaganza. I'd been before a few years ago and really enjoyed it, but this year's was even bigger and better in its new location in the suburbs. I'd definitely recommed keeping your eye out for it next year, and booking early, as many of the slots sold out.

I'll be back here online at the start of December to get you all in the mood for Christmas, and with all the latest news and updates. Until then, all my bloody best, Darren Shan. x x x

You can follow Darren Shan on Facebook and Twitter and Bluesky. He also has a (very rarely updated!) YouTube page.

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