Darren Shan

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Darren O'Shaughnessy

Darren Shan reading an extract
Born Darren O'Shaughnessy
July 2, 1972 (1972-07-02) (age 35)
London, England
Pen name Darren Shan, D. B. Shan
Occupation Novelist
Nationality Irish
Writing period 1999—present
Genres Horror, Fantasy
Notable work(s) The Saga of Darren Shan, The Demonata
Official website

Darren O'Shaughnessy (born July 2, 1972 in London, England[1]) who commonly writes under the pen name Darren Shan[2], is an Irish writer and author of The Saga of Darren Shan. He also is currently writing The Demonata series, as well as writing The City Trilogy, a series of books for adults under the alternative name of D B Shan.[3]

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Darren O'Shaughnessy was born on July 2, 1972, in St Thomas' Hospital, London, England. He lives in Pallaskenry, County Limerick, in Ireland. At the age of three he started school at English Martyr's in London. When he was six, he moved, with his parents and younger brother, to Limerick, Ireland, were he has been living ever since.

He received his primary education in Askeaton, and went to secondary school at Copsewood College in Pallaskenry. He then traveled back to London to study Sociology and English at Roehampton University.

[edit] Career

O'Shaughnessy worked for a cable television company in Limerick for two years and then decided to become a full-time writer. He bought his first typewriter when he was fourteen and wrote many short stories, comic scripts, and books that he never finished. His first success came to him at age fifteen, when he was a runner-up in a TV script-writing competition for Radio Telefís Éireann in Ireland, with a dark comedy story entitled A Day in the Morgue. He finished his first novel at age seventeen. Mute Pursuit was never published, but he loved the writing experience, so he started focusing on novels more and not on short stories.

All of Shan's first books were oriented to adults. He thought writing children's books would be a nice idea for the future but adult books were his main focus. His first breakthrough was with his book, Ayuamarca, written under his full name instead of his pen name. It was published in February 1999 by Orion Publishing Group, and did not sell very well. The sequel, Hell's Horizon, published in February 2000, was thought by some to be a better book, but it sold fewer copies than did the first. Ayuamarca was re-released in March 2008 under the title of Procession of the Dead and under the pen-name D.B Shan. Hell's Horizon and the third in the trilogy, City of the Snakes are set to follow in March 2009 and March 2010 respectively.

[edit] Sales success

By 2008, Shan's books were on sale on every continent (except Antarctica), in 36 countries, and in 29 languages. (There is also an illegally produced version of his books available in Iran, written in Farsi). He has been a children's bestseller in the United States, Great Britain, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, and other countries, and he has topped the adult bestsellers charts in Hungary, Japan, and Taiwan. His books have sold over 10 million copies worldwide.

[edit] Interests

Darren has a collection of thousands of movies, and he also likes to collect original artwork. He enjoys reading books and comic books, taking long walks, watching football (he is a Tottenham Hotspur F.C. and Republic of Ireland fan), listening to pop and rock music, and traveling worldwide. Some of his favourite books are: Salem's Lot by Stephen King, The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien, The Belgariad by David Eddings, Childhood's End by Arthur C Clarke, The Machine Gunners by Robert Westall, Rebecca's World by Terry Nation, Sleeping In Flame by Jonathan Carroll, Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury, The Sirens Of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut, The Hyperion Books by Dan Simmons, The Grapes Of Wrath by John Steinbeck, Watership Down by Richard Adams, The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier, and Dracula by Bram Stoker

[edit] Bibliography

[edit] The Saga of Darren Shan

Main article: The Saga of Darren Shan

The Vampire Blood trilogy

The Vampire Rites trilogy

The Vampire War trilogy

The Vampire Destiny trilogy

note 1: in the UK, the first five books were published in a similar style, with a small image and the title of the book in large print; with book 6 the style was changed, and a skull and crossbones logo was introduced; the first five books were later reprinted with new covers to match those of book 6 onwards. There were also proof copies (copies intended for reviewers and booksellers, printed and made available ahead of the book's release) of Books 1, 3, 4 and 5. All copies of the books were released in paperback, although the first was also released much later in a special hardback edition -- so far, no other books in the series have been released in hardback.

note 2: in the USA, the books were all published in hardback first, then in a large paperback version (which kept the cover of the hardback), then in mass market paperback editions (which used new covers). Also, in the USA the books are known as the Cirque Du Freak series.

Short stories

[edit] The Demonata

 This article or section contains information regarding scheduled, forthcoming or expected future book(s).
The content may change as the book release approaches and more information becomes available.
Books

The Demonata series currently has seven books released, with the eighth to be released in October 2008. The series will be made up of 10 books. The release dates listed below refer to the UK and Ireland. In America, the books will be released every April and October, i.e. book 7 (Death's Shadow) in fall (October) 2008, book 8 in spring (May) 2009, etc.[4] For release dates in other countries, visit Darren Shan's website at www.darrenshan.com and go to the LINKS section, where you will find a full list of his publishers, with links to their web sites. You should be able to find out their schedule for the books on their sites or by contacting them.

  1. Lord Loss
  2. Demon Thief
  3. Slawter
  4. Bec
  5. Blood Beast
  6. Demon Apocalypse
  7. Death's Shadow
  8. Wolf Island (October 2008)[5]
  9. Book 9 (May 2009)[6]
  10. Book 10 (October 2009)[7]

[edit] The City Trilogy

The City Trilogy was written for adult readers and was released inder the name of D B Shan.[8]. The third book was never published and they are now out of print. They were published by Orion Publishing Group. However, as of March 2008, Ayuamarca was re-publsihed (with substantial changes) by the Voyager imprint of Harper Collins (Shan's children's publisher), with Hell's Horizon to follow in March 2009 and City of the Snakes in March 2010.

  1. Ayuamarca - Re-named Procession of the Dead - First published in the United Kingdom in February 1999 and then in Russia.
  2. Hell's Horizon - Sequel to Ayuamarca. First published in the United Kingdom in February 2000.
  3. City of the Snakes - Never published.

In March 2008 Ayuamarca was re-released as Procession of the Dead with the author's name as D B Shan. Shan has vastly re-edited the book for its re-release. In March 2009 Hell's Horizon will follow it, again in a re-edited version. The third book, City of the Snakes, which was previously unpublished, will finally see print in March 2010.

[edit] Other books

  1. Koyasan - A special book released for World Book Day 2006. Darren Shan confirmed at the Edinburgh International Book Festival 2007 that he has also worked on writing a 4-book mini-series that explains how Larten Crepsley came to meet Darren Shan[citation needed].

[edit] Short stories

  1. "Hagurosan" - Originally written for Kids' Night In.
  2. "Young Alan Moore" - Originally written for Alan Moore: Portrait of an Extraordinary Gentleman, a book written to celebrate the 50th birthday of Alan Moore.
  3. "The Good Ship Tree" - Originally written for the Times Educational Supplement, and accepted.
  4. "Life's a Beach" - Originally written for the Times Educational Supplement, but rejected.
  5. "Guyifesto—Who We Are" - Originally written for Guys Write For Guys Read. (Play on words of "manifesto")
  6. The Saga of Darren Shan tie-in short stories - See above

[edit] Unpublished books

  1. The Contender - Code name for a book that Darren wrote before The Demonata and plans to release after it is finished. There has also been rumors that The Contender is the same book as The Cannibal King, as Darren himself has stated that The Contender is based in a fantasy world, as the last chapter in The Saga Of Darren Shan was supposed to be. However, on March 8, 2007, Darren denied this statement on his blog.
  2. Mute Pursuit - A futuristic cross between The Terminator and Stephen King's The Dark Tower; Darren's first complete book
  3. City of the Snakes - See above
  4. The Cannibal King - The planned 12th book of The Saga of Darren Shan. Never published because it was originally part of the planned 24-book Saga. Darren had planned to write 18—24 books for The Saga, with half of them taking place in the future wasteworld shown in Book 10, The Lake of Souls. This book was never published because Darren decided to end the series with Sons of Destiny, which was to be the 12th book if the series went the way originally intended. There has also been rumors that Cannibal King is one and the same as The Contender. However, on March 8, 2007, Darren denied this statement on his blog.

[edit] Future film(s)

Universal Studios have bought the film rights to the first three books of The Saga and plan to combine them to make a single movie. If it is successful, they might make four films in total, each film combining a trilogy of books from the series. Lauren Shuler Donner is producing the film, Paul Weitz directing, screenplay by Brian Helgeland. The movie will most likely be called Cirque Du Freak. The cast:

[edit] Awards

[edit] The Saga of Darren Shan

In 2001, Cirque Du Freak (Book 1) received 2nd prize at the Sheffield Children's Book Award.

In 2001, Cirque Du Freak (Book 1) was shortlisted for the WHSmith Children's Book Of The Year in the UK.

In 2002, Cirque Du Freak (Book 1) received an IRA-CBC Children's Choice Award, in the USA. (IRA = International Reading Association, and CBC = Children's Book Council).

In 2002, Cirque Du Freak (Book 1) received a certificate of Outstanding Achievement in Books from the Parent's Guide to Children's Media Inc, in the USA.

In 2004, Cirque Du Freak (Book 1) WON the Wyoming Soaring Eagle book award.

In 2005, The Vampire's Assistant was shortlisted for the Wyoming Soaring Eagle book award.

In 2007, The Allies of the Night (Book 8) was shortlisted for the I Love This Book book award.

In 2006, Lord Loss WON the Redbridge Teenage Book award, in the UK.

In 2006, Lord Loss was shortlisted for the Berkshire Book award, in the UK.

In 2006, Lord Loss was shortlisted for the Doncaster Book award, in the UK.

In 2006, Lord Loss was shortlisted for the Lancashire Children's Book Of The Year award, in the UK.

In 2007, Lord Loss was shortlisted for the Leeds Children's Book award, in the UK.

In 2007, Demon Thief was shortlisted for the Doncaster Book award, in the UK.

In 2007, Demon Thief was shortlisted for the Irish Children's Book Of The Year award, in Ireland.

In 2007, Demon Thief was shortlisted for the Lancashire Children's Book Of The Year award, in the UK.

In 2007, Slawter was shortlisted for the Staffordshire Young Teen Fiction book award, in the UK.

In 2007, Blood Beast was shortlisted for the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Award, in the UK.

In 2008, Lord Loss was shortlisted for the Flume: NH Teen Reader's Choice award, in the USA.

In 2008, Blood Beast was shortlisted for the Doncaster Book Award, in the UK.

In 2008, Demon Apocalypse was shortlisted for the Worcestershire Teen Book Award, in the UK.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Darren Shan Biography. Retrieved on 2008-06-06.
  2. ^ Biography. Retrieved on 2008-06-06.
  3. ^ About D B Shan. Retrieved on 2008-06-06.
  4. ^ Demonata books. Retrieved on 2008-06-07.
  5. ^ Demonata books. Retrieved on 2008-06-07.
  6. ^ Demonata books. Retrieved on 2008-06-07.
  7. ^ Demonata books. Retrieved on 2008-06-07.
  8. ^ About D B Shan. Retrieved on 2008-06-06.

[edit] External links

v • d • e
The Saga of Darren Shan
Vampire Blood
Vampire Rites
Vampire War (Hunters trilogy)
Vampire Destiny
Characters
Other
Darren Shan (author)  · Cirque du Freak (film)  · Shanopedia
v • d • e
The Demonata by Darren Shan
Released Novels
Upcoming Novels
Protagonists
Other Characters
Demonata Universe