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Darren O'Shaughnessy

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Darren O'Shaughnessy
Pen nameDarren Shan, D. B. Shan
OccupationNovelist
NationalityIrish
Period1999—present
GenreHorror, Fantasy
Notable worksThe Saga of Darren Shan, The Demonata
Website
http://www.darrenshan.com/

Darren O'Shaughnessy (Template:Pron-en; born 2 July 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 has also recently published the last book in 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]

Biography

Darren O'Shaughnessy was born in 1972 at St Thomas' Hospital, London. He lives in Pallaskenry, County Limerick, Ireland, with his girlfriend Bas. 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, where he has lived ever since.

He received his primary education in Askeaton, and attended secondary school at Copsewood College, Pallaskenry. He returned to London to take a degree in Sociology and English from Roehampton University.


Career

Darren worked for a television show company in Limerick for two years before he 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 Darren's first books were oriented to adults. His breakthrough came with Ayuamarca, written under his full name instead of a 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 sold fewer copies than 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 followed in March 2009, and the third in the trilogy, City of the Snakes is set to be released in the UK in March 2010 (but this time under the name of Darren Shan). In January 2000 Darren released Cirque du Freak, the first book of The Saga of Darren Shan series in the UK and Ireland.

Interests

Shan is in possession of thousands of films and collects 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 travelling worldwide.

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

Online short spin-off stories

The Demonata

The Demonata was a twelve-book series .ten books have now been released in the UK and Ireland. In America, book 10, Hell's Heroes, will be released in April/May 2010.

  1. Lord Loss
  2. Demon Thief
  3. Slawter
  4. Bec
  5. Blood Beast
  6. Demon Apocalypse
  7. Death's Shadow
  8. Wolf Island
  9. Dark Calling
  10. Hell's Heroes

The City Trilogy

The City Trilogy was written for adult readers and was released under the name of D. B. Shan.[4] The third book was never published and they are now out of print. They were published by Orion Publishing Group. However, in March 2008, Ayuamarca was re-published as Procession of the Dead (with substantial changes) by the Voyager imprint of Harper Collins (Shan's children's publisher). Hell's Horizon was released in March 2009 and City of the Snakes is due for release in March 2010.

  1. Ayuamarca - Re-named Procession of the Dead - First published in the United Kingdom in February 1999 and later in Russia. Re-released in the UK in March 2008.
  2. Hell's Horizon - Sequel to Ayuamarca. First published in the United Kingdom in February 2000. Re-released in March 2009.[5]
  3. City of the Snakes - Coming - March 2010. [5]

In March 2008, Ayuamarca was re-released as Procession of the Dead with the author's name as D. B. Shan. Shan vastly re-edited the book for its re-release. In March 2009 Hell's Horizon followed 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.

In July 2009, Shan announced that his adult books would, from this point on, be published under the name of Darren Shan in the UK and USA. The first two books of the series will be re-branded as Darren Shan books in March 2010, when City of the Snakes is released for the first time. In the USA, the first book goes on sale on June 1st 2010.

Future books

Shan has mentioned several new works being developed on his blog, but in August 2009 he announced his one-off fantasy book was called The Thin Executioner, which will be released in May 2010 in the UK. He will follow that up with a four-book series about Mr. Crepsley (a character from The Saga of Darren Shan) with the first being released in October 2010 in the UK. 'The Thin Executioner' will be released in the USA in August 2010, and the first Mr Crepsley book will be released in the USA at the same time as its release in the UK, in October 2010. Book 2 of the Mr Crepsley series will be released in the UK and USA in May 2011, Book 3 in October 2011, and Book 4 in May 2012. No more information is known about his books beyond that, other than he is currently working on another lengthy series. [6]

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
  7. "Koyasan" - Originally written for World Book Day 2006.[7]

Unpublished books

In July 2009, Shan revealed that he was written first drafts of 53 books in total. 31 of those are published or due for publication over the next few years. The rest include some books that he is working on for the future, along with some he might one day return to and publish, and others that he will probably never do anything more with. We know the names of three of these unpublished books.

  1. Mute Pursuit - A futuristic cross between The Terminator and Stephen King's The Dark Tower; Shan's first completed book, when he was 17 years old. Shan has written lots of books which have not been published, mainly for adults, and most of these books are still at the first draft stage.
  2. The Cannibal King - This was originally going to be the 12th book of The Saga of Darren Shan—book 11 was originally meant to be much longer, including elements from the first half of what became Sons of Destiny. The Cannibal King was never published because it was originally part of the planned 24-book Saga. Shan 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. For reasons explained on his web site, Shan decided to end the series with Sons of Destiny, which was written and released instead of The Cannibal King. He never reveals anything that he wrote in this book, because there is a possibility that he might one day write a follow-up series to The Saga, which would take parts of this book as its starting point.

Film

Universal Studios bought the film rights to the first three books of The Saga and combined 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, original screenplay by Brian Helgeland but rewritten entirely by Paul Weitz. The first movie is called The Vampire's Assistant and was released in the USA on October 23, 2009.[8]

From 12am to 1am on Sunday 23 August 2009, Shan stood upon the Fourth Plinth of London's Trafalgar Square as part of Anthony Gormley's One & Other living art installation. He used this opportunity to talk about the release of the film, and to read extracts from a number of his books. There is a link at the bottom of this page, letting you watch the entire hour of his appearance.[9]

Awards

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 (Book 2) 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.

The Demonata

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.

In 2009, Death's Shadow was shortlisted for the Worcestershire Teen Book Award, in the UK.

References

  1. ^ "Darren Shan Biography". Retrieved 2008-06-06.
  2. ^ "Biography". Retrieved 2008-06-06.
  3. ^ "About D B Shan". Retrieved 2008-06-06.
  4. ^ "About D. B. Shan". Retrieved 2008-06-06.
  5. ^ a b http://dbshan.co.uk/thecity/
  6. ^ http://therealdarrenshan.wordpress.com/2009/08/18/marathon-session/
  7. ^ "Koyasan". Retrieved 2009-08-05.
  8. ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0450405/
  9. ^ http://www.oneandother.co.uk/participants/DarrenShan

-www.darrenshan.com 2009 (audio)]


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