I Found a Hero

When I was growing up, if someone asked me who my favourite author was, the response was always the same: Darren Shan. It wasn't because I liked his books better than everyone else's. It wasn't because I especially loved horror. No, I liked him because of the author he was, not the books he wrote.

To make sense of this, we need to go back a few years. As in, primary school. I read two different authors' books - JK Rowling and Lemony Snicket. Rowling was my favourite of the two, and continued to write some of my favourite books right up to the time when I got my first job. (Specifically, the midnight release of The Deathly Hallows was when I was offered my job.) Snicket, on the other hand, I only picked up - and this will sound ridiculous - because Klaus Baudelaire looked like Harry Potter.

Yep, I was that shallow.

I was completely enamoured with Snicket and Rowling, whose books were published regularly throughout the first four years of my secondary school life. But it wasn't enough. I needed a new author.

That was when I found Darren Shan, upon the suggestion of perhaps the first friend I made in second school, after a friend from primary school recommended them to me a couple of years beforehand. What was most important, then, was that the library in school actually stocked the books. I had a ton of books to catch up on, and by the time I finished them, he was getting ready to release another series.

I was also open to reading different books, the more I actually read different authors, which was a major plus. Garth Nix quickly found his way onto my book shelves, and by the time I started working I was ready to try new books by new authors.

In the meantime, I got to meet Darren Shan for the first time - on the day I arranged work experience in the shop that I would later work at on weekends. He was funny, he strangled everyone, and he made everyone in the queue for signing feel welcome.

The next few years are a blur of me showing up at every signing I could, reading The Thin Executioner even when I was supposed to be studying for exams. He imparted some wisdom upon me when my shop closed down, and helped me through that period of my life, until, a couple of years later, I moved from fan-in-a-queue to guest-at-launch.

Yes, in the summer of 2012 I got to sit down at the big fancy dinner held my Simon & Schuster to celebrate the launch of Zom-B and his moving over to them from Harper Collins. All around me were authors and journalists, booksellers and book buyers, publicists and Shan. It was wonderful, and he made sure I was comfortable before the night began, introducing me to different people from different places so that, when we sat down for dinner, even if he wasn't there, I'd know somebody.

When I was a boy, I thought authors were hermits, sitting alone in a room writing their books. I thought authors didn't know how to talk to people, because everything about the idea of writing a book seemed isolated. I think, for me anyway, I needed to meet someone like Darren Shan, whose real life personality was as big as his narrative voice. I needed to see that an author could be outgoing and write books that people loved. I needed a hero, and I found one.

Review - Birth of a Killer

Larten Crepsley is back. Darren Shan’s latest book, Birth of a Killer takes us on a rollercoaster adventure back to the childhood of our favourite orange-haired vampire, Larten, to show us how and why he became a vampire and all of the things he managed to get himself up to since he became a vampire’s assistant, since he was blooded and more!

I was fortunate enough to receive a free proof copy of the book from Waterstones’s Twitter feed, so I had this book read at the start of August. I’ve been dying to get the review online since, but I didn’t want to get people too excited. It’s not that the book isn’t good, it’s just that I don’t think fans of Shan want to die of awesome before they even get to read the book.

So, how does the book compare to the others?

What, all of them? Okay, it’s a step back from the gore of the Demonata books, and it’s nothing like The Thin Executioner (reviewed here), except in the narrative style – Shan seems to have moved away from first person stories to write in the third person, giving him more mobility with the thoughts and feelings he writes about other characters. If I’m being honest, I preferred his previous methods, but the change is nice. The only problem with the book I can see, based on one reading, is that the narrative can seem a little jumpy, which I’m assuming is a result of getting a proof copy and not the final work. But I forgave it, anyway, because I only noticed it as something that I’d been warned away from in my own writing.

What can you reveal about the book?

Not much. Really, I don’t want to ruin the surprises in store. But familiar names pop up in the book and it’s split into four parts (at least the proof was... I think it’s safe to assume the finished work will be like this, because it works really well!). I can reveal that the book follows Larten Crepsley, though, and that in this book – the first of a new, short series that will tell this tale – he’s not quite the vampire we may remember him as in Cirque du Freak, when we were first thrown into the world of vampires. He’s wilder than Darren was!

Definitely recommended?

If you’re a fan of Darren Shan, yes. If not... well, I’ll actually recommend the book, but maybe after you’ve read The Saga of Darren Shan, so that you can get the same enjoyment out of the book as I did, spotting names you didn’t expect. However, you might still get the same experience if you read them in reverse order, starting with Larten and moving on to Darren. That way, you’ll see the names you became so familiar with popping up in another vampire’s life long after they were originally introduced to Larten! So, yes, read this book. Whether it’s before or after Cirque du Freak is up to you, but definitely give it a shot!

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Birth of a Killer is the first book in a series of four to follow the life of Larten Crepsley up to the time of his meeting with Darren Shan. It will be published in hardback in the UK on September 30th 2010, and in the US on October 5th 2010 (note: details of the release date vary – Amazon.co.uk says September for the UK, while Darren Shan’s website says October 5th for both the UK and the US.)

Review - The Thin Executioner

This long awaited review of Darren Shan's The Thin Executioner comes a couple of days after I've finished reading it. I'll admit it took me much longer than I'd hoped to read it; it came out at the end of April, but I had exams that got in the way, and then a lot of summer distractions. Anyway, on to the review!

First impressions of the book?
Okay, at first I wasn't happy with the book. I couldn't get into it after my exams. It took a while to get back into the swing of it. That's more to do with me not being in the mood to read. Once I got going, mainly on the last day when I got through an awful lot of it, the book was a great read. The story always took the reader on a new journey. There was always something to reference back to, something to shock and disgust and repel. In short, something to horrify!

How did it compare to other books by the author?
Darren Shan out-did himself on this one, creating a stand-alone title that rivals both his series(es?). It ended in a much neater way than The Saga of Darren Shan and The Demonata. While I loved both of them, this was truly a masterpiece of collective story telling in a single tome. The character developed in a lot neater way, the world was much more full, the mythology more expansive, and there wasn't any of what had become usual of Shan as a downside. That is to say, there was no verging-on-pretentious creation story, and no meddling with time. The book was was it was; an adventure, a change in a life, and in the end the love story everyone had been hoping for. Okay, so I knew how it was going to end. But anyone who knows anything about stories or Darren Shan, or both, could figure that one out. Still, it was a nice ending.

I want to get this for my ten/eleven/twelve year old; is it suitable?
What does that even mean anymore? Okay, there's references to sex. But that's in everything now. The Simpsons makes loads of references to sex. Much more than this book. There's violence. Lots of it. But almost every movie and television show has violence. The only difference is that this is a book. But can I just say, if you're surprised there's violence, look at the title. See the third word? Yeah, those guys kill. There's violence, and it's wonderful. So, if you're okay with those two details, then yes, this book is suitable.

What about recommended?
Most definitely! If it had been out in mass paperback this would have been a staff-pick at work! But they frown on us picking books that cost too much if they're going to be available for cheaper in a few months. But I still recommend it. Especially as a summer read! It's pretty much amazing.

Did you get it signed? We know you Paul - you're obsessed with Darren Shan.
What are you, my stalker? Yes, I got it signed. I went to the signing in Dublin on April 30th, and had a nice little chat with Darren Shan himself. It began with "Oh, hello again. Still writing away?" Yeah, we keep in touch. He's pretty cool that way, that he remembers who I am every time I got to a signing now. He also wrote a pretty cool inscription on the book. Made. My. Day.

What a fun anecdote... why did you tell us that?
To show that Darren Shan's not just a great writer for his stories! He's a legend of a man, very friendly, and you're doing the world a service by making sure he has the publication deals to keep making his tours amazing for everyone. He listens to his fans. He gets to know them. You don't get that very often. You will love Darren Shan. Trust me on that one. He's very cool. And his books are pretty awesome too.

So... are you going to rate the book?
Eh... no. I never rate books. I'm not critical enough to give anything less than a four. If we go by YouTube's system of rating, though, I give this book a thumbs up. It's not to be missed.

The Shanster

If you read my blog post yesterday, you would have read that I sent an email to Darren Shan regarding my joblessness and the woes around it. Well, he's taken the liberty of posting my email on his blog, with his response, my response, and then some additional made-of-awesome comments to go along with it.

As a direct result of this blog post, I am jumping off the walls with excitement, and I can barely contain myself long enough to type this post. Just thinking about it gets me ecstatic all over again.

I encourage you to go read the post, here. It's really awesome.

In other news, that isn't related to Darren Shan, I got most of my essay done for my Justice and Peace module. I had thought I was finished, until I discovered that the word count was meant to be two hundred words higher than what I'd written. Personally, I blame the lack of a posted word count in the email the lecturer sent us... but don't tell his son I said that. (I'm just complaining for the sake of it, of course; I'm sure I can find something to write about, with regard to a message of justice in the book of Amos in the Old Testament).

Also managed to buy some paper. It's been a while... and we were running out. I think my dad is repaying me... if not, he's not allowed use the paper. I'm unemployed, and I demand to have full use of what I pay for. (Now I'm being bitter for the sake of it...)

With said paper, I printed out a good few more pages of Meet Sam to be edited as soon as this darned essay is done. And my tutorial work is finished... And when I can successfully begin my coursework journal for my Fiction to Film module... which all requires an essay. Bugger. Well, I will edit, I promise. I have more time at the weekends than I used to, so I will. I will. Stop looking at me like that, I WILL!

*ahem* I was talking to you, reader. There's no one in my head who ought not be. Fictional characters, yes, but they ought to be there.

I sound crazy...

Back to Shan related news, there's only two full months between me and The Thin Executioner. I know what you're thinking - "Paul, you just lost your job! Should you really be thinking about buying more books?" The short answer, yes. The slightly longer answer, Yes, I need them. The unnecessarily long answer...

Books keep me at the stable balance between normality and insane asylum. Without access to literature, my mind melts into a state of not being able to function properly, which then needs to be treated with several intense doses of reading before I can write again. By several, I mean about a dozen. By intense, I mean four hours at a go. Otherwise the process takes much longer, and while I can write, I can't write anything that's worth reading. Even with editing. This is partially why I'm editing now, and not working on something new. I haven't had the chance to dive into a book properly since Mr Mumbles, which didn't take very long. I have to whip out a novel of some description tomorrow or my brain will turn to mush. Fact.

And before I go, apparently I don't want to know what Maureen Johnson did before she was a full time author... Gotta love Maureen for her small bouts of revealed insanity.

First Day

I've never experienced a Saturday off that I wasn't supposed to have off. The closest I got to that was when the English Paper 2 was shown on the wrong day in the Leaving Cert, and we had to sit the backup paper that Saturday. But other than that, I've been in work most Saturdays, or in work the Sunday instead.

Admittedly, I was still a little spooked about not having a job. I ended up on the phone to Sandra, one of my ex-collegues at Hughes and Hughes, and she's just as shaken up about it. And she almost lost her dog, but that's a different story. She hadn't heard anything about the company collapsing like this either. She did know that those present at the time of closing had paperwork to fill out... that'll be a fun thing to do... not!

I watched Glee to cheer myself up. Okay, so I almost cried at one point, but the destruction of teenage life kind of does that to me. Actually, the destruction of any believeable life in fiction does that to me. Not a bother on me in a ridiculously murderous movie like From Paris With Love, where many people get killed... they weren't believeable deaths. But Glee set me off, almost. At least the songs were great!

I emailed Darren Shan as well, to see if he might be able to shed some light on his own experiences with unemployment and writing. He went through practically the same thing, except his jobs weren't funding his writing, and he willingly gave one up. But he gave me some very sound advice and made me realise that I should take advantage of the time I have and do some work. As a result, I wrote a very short story that won't be used...ever... and around 13 Doctor Haik-Who. Okay, exactly thirteen. And I edited the same number of pages of Meet Sam, before I ran out of printed material. It was a load of fun though!

I printed that email too, to make sure I can always look at it and remember that I have something many people lack - time to write. Hughes and Hughes didn't give that to me, Darren Shan did. I might have wasted the day if I hadn't been told that.

Of course, I spent time watching television too. I watched Nanny McPhee with my mum while we had dinner, and Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. I've seen the latter before, and I always enjoy it. The former... didn't expect it to be as fantastic as it was! It certainly attributed to the brightening up of my day (which really only felt great after Darren Shan's amazing email!)

Too late to do any work now, but I'll be waking up to an essay on Justice and Peace. 1000 words. It's not too bad, and if I can get it done quickly, then I have time during the week to do other things... like my tutorial work. But I'm going to catch up on everything. I'm promising myself that.

Holy Cow. Ever get one of those "I just realised something" moments? Well, I did... just now. Yes, I voiced my surprise in my blog, sue me. (don't... I'm unemployed and can't afford to pay you). Well, I just realised that the Irish Student Drama Association competition is next week (starting the 8th). Drama is almost over for the year! Ah!

Oh, brightside of yesterday I never got around to, because of the joblessness... well, I went to the cinema, saw the aforementioned From Paris With Love, and Eileen texted to say that we have our tickets to One Republic in April! Good thing I forked out the money for that before I found out about work, or I might have had to change my mind!

Hmm, did I just see the brighter side of life? So much for my misery of yesterday!

The Day Before The Music Began

Tomorrow is NaNoWriMo. Or at least, Day 1 of NaNoWriMo. Alarm set for 8 am, I'm ready to tackle a month of extreme novelling; The Wedding Singer will follow up Meet Sam, with less of a main-character-hearing-the-narrator feel to it. However, I liked the narrator last year, how I wrote with her voice in my head, so I'm going to write like that this year too.

I have my first sentence, which will be posted here tomorrow night. I'll tell you this though - Sophie Byrne will wake up at the same time as me. She'll live in the house across the street, sing her heart, break it a few times, fall in love, love a dog (but in a different way) and follow the ChartJackers. Yes, the ChartJackers.

Now, onto business. Darren Shan (AKA my HERO!!!) agreed so many months ago that I could Interview him. We tried to offer it to the public... they essentially said no. Soooo we're letting the public ask questions instead! I've announced it on Twitter, on Bebo and on the forum (better mention it on Facebook too!) - follow the hashtag #q4shan on Twitter to see the fans' questions! I'm super excited about this one, and will even try get to Limerick to see him for the Interview.

Please ask questions! ^_^

Shan the Man

On Sunday, I met my hero.

Darren Shan, in the flesh, signed my books.

Darren Shan knew my name.

Darren Shan choke me for a photograph.




Now I'm going to direct you to this video, which contains the inscription he put in my book. Hoo hoo I'm so happy!

And with this short blog post done, I bid you adieu!

Review - Hell's Heroes

The End is Nigh. The Demons are here, the heroes are falling, the world is at its end. So not much has changed then!

Darren Shan, the Number One Master of Horror (as far as kids are concerned) released, just 10 short days ago, the last book in his best selling Demonata Saga. 10 books, three protagonists, millions of demons, magic, science and all sorts of spiritual mumbo jumbo later, and I still love them.

I expected Hell's Heroes to go off with a bang. WARNING: SLIGHT PLOT SPOILER It slowed down a bit at the end. No big battle, but mainly because that would have undermined everything Shan had led the story to. He couldn't use the big weapon to kill the Demonata, because that would mean that it could have been done very easily in the past instead. And there would have to be a cheesy party at the end, which would have resulted in literary suicide for Mr Shan. His characters can never be eternally happy. That wouldn't work. That wouldn't make his fans happy. So in short, the ending was neat, tidy.

The rest? Fantastic! I still like the ending, but the rest of the story was.. wow! Blood, guts, vendetta, betrayal, death, Death and more DEATH! What more could you ask for?

It's suitable for children. I should point that out. Not very young children, but anyone 11 up should be able to get through this book without being too scared. There are far worse things out there than Demons in books. Afterall, it's an episode of Doctor Who that stops kids from sleeping (Blink). Darren Shan.. well, he's never kept me awake with fear, but he has turned my stomach on enough occassions. And I love him for that.

The man is a legend. Pure and simple. And the book, the SERIES, is a reflection of that greatness. When I say he's my hero, I mean it - I want to be like Darren Shan if I ever get published. Not physically, obviously, because I'm happy with how I look. The popularity...well that's always nice for authors. But the way he deals with his fans - that's how I want to be. I want to go on big signings because fans love that sort of stuff. I want to answer emails and write letters and blog and all that stuff that lets fans keep in touch. Because he does that. He keeps in touch more than any author I've ever had the good grace to read (except perhaps Samantha Priestley, but she's my good friend via the Internet, so that doesn't count.)

Read the books. You will love them, especially the early scenes of wonderment and gore. Lord Loss - plenty of stuff to start exploring. Demon Thief - oddities you've never imagines. Slawter - the first taste of Demon power on earth and what it can really do (and lots of blood!). Bec - the history of it all, in ways you never imagined (my personal favourite!). And it keeps going on. From that point, the stories are cronological, and fantastic! I'm 18 and I still love them, so you have no excuses!

Now if you'll excuse me, I have a signing to get to. Mr Shan..! I'm COMING!!

Just what Happened with Dark Calling?!

Okay, lots of people have been asking about this on Darren Shan fan sites. Here's what happened.

Dark Calling, Book 9 in the Demonata series by Darren Shan, was released early. It was shipped early, you see, so the shops got it, displayed it, and evidently sold a few copies. Almost immediately after the very early release, it was pulled back. The recall left the bookshops empty of stock, had some fans wondering where it went after their mates got it, and after a bit of thinking from Mr Shan, left the remaining copies as collector's editions.

At the end of the book, there are a stream of words in Italics. I won't say why, only that they're important to the story. It's a thought, a memory, rather than speech. The initial ending was an "in-character" trait, and then there arose a problem. The publishers, by mistake, pasted the line: onclusion, coming October 2010

On the next page is the advert for Hell's Heroes, the final book in the series with the line Don't miss the Earth-shattering conclusion, coming October 2010

There are, as you can see, two mistakes there. Firstly, the word is "conclusion," which is an obvious indication that half-way through a sentance, the word was cut in two, and placed in the main text of the book. This raised the suspicions of readers who had the book - a mysteriously poor ending by Darren Shan? Nonsense!

They also got worried by the 2010 remark. That was also wrong... Here's what happened!

The books were recalled. All of them, mainly. Only 30,000 Hardback copies in the UK survived the recall, with a slip from Harper Collins being slotted into the books with the real text and an apology (from what I've heard.) These books are rare, and as such, valuable. Then there comes the Irish ones! None were left on the shelves, but some were bought. I have one beside me, limited edition, typographical error, one of only a few copies bought, due to the fact that fans weren't aware of the release.

Hell's Heroes is in fact coming out in 2009, on October 1st. It's something fans are dying for; the cover is too tempting to resist buying that book! Hopefully, it won't come out early with a typo....

Sources of reference: Shansters United on Bebo and the May 09 issue of Shanville Monthly

Book Reviews: Dark Calling & Gone

Good evening! I purchased a couple of books while at work on Saturday, and earlier today I finished reading the second of the two. In tune with my older blogs, I'll review them!!

Review: Dark Calling

About the book...
Kernel Fleck sees lights - it's one very important factor to keep in mind. He sees lights, he had control these special lights, and now, they're talking to him. He fights demons, he's part of a weapon, and the universe is at stake in the next battle. Darren Shan (the oh-so-famous author) picks it up around there.

Was it as good as the prequels?
Most definetely. I'd go as far as to say that it's perhaps the most important book so far, as it gives the reader a lot of answers as to what's going on. The series, up to then, looked a little... well, I won't say messy, but it was at the stage where it could be hard to follow. Dark Calling filled in the gaps and gave us more than we thought we'd get.

The only bad thing...
Well, there are two, but one isn't Shan's fault. It's a typing error in the back of the book. It says the final book is coming out in 2010, not 2009, and there's a line that wasn't brought down past the actual text of the book. No, the problem is that the series is coming to an end!! Hell's Heroes is the final book in the ten book series, and should wrap everything up. It's the big problem when authors tackle a series of books - they sometimes don't know how to end them. Shan had an...okay ending to The Saga, so he knows what he's doing. I expect he's going to follow the same sort of feeling the rest of the Demonata had - it's going to be a mighty big ending!!

I heartily recommend Dark Calling!!

Review: Gone
About the book...
There are no adults. Just suddenly, they are vanish. It's November; Sam Temple is 14 years old, turning fifteen in 299 hours, 54 minutes. Precise? You betcha! Anyone fifteen or over disappears, forever. They don't come back, and there have been no exceptions. What's more, is that people start developing abilities. The world is changing around them. The small Calfornian town is trapped in a ten mile radius, coming from the nuclear power plant. They call it the FAYZ, or Fallout Alley Youth Zone. But when some people have power (the power) and others don't, there can only be trouble.

Expectations...?
I did, and I didn't. I work in a bookshop, so I heard about this one a few months before it's release. They described it as being Heroes for the book world. So I knew then and there that there was going to be super-powers. I was waiting for them. All the while, I was loving the book. It's fast, without being at a lightning speed. It's exciting. There's a real motive behind the protagonist Sam's actions - he has only days to live before he "poofs." His story is developed, his emotions become raw, his mind is put down on the page (although it should be mentioned after that that it's not a first person narrative; several others are followed for shorter periods of time). So I expected something with powers, and I got just that. I expected something about the people, not just about the powers. I got that too. But I heard the writer, Michael Grant, worked on Animorphs, so I expected two things from that: a short book, and a bad story. For one thing, the book is in no way short. Over 500 pages in length, it takes up a lot of space. And the story? Well, I loved it.

Wrapping up...
The book was brilliant, there's no denying it. Now I wonder if Grant can do it again. Hunger, the sequel, is out in April 2010. I can't see it being so compelling, except that I know the characters now. But this is one book we all need to keep an eye on! It's a fantastic read!!

The freakiest thing about it...
Not the powers, no. It's the many similarities Sam Temple has with my own friend. Same first name, similar appearance (as described), similar tastes in music, and a shockingly close family story. Freak, freaky stuff. I struggled to keep the two apart in my mind.

That's a wrap for this one. Come back next time, when I may have actually done something on the Campaign instead of reading books for 3 days!!