Good Morning, Booklovers!
It’s hot in the US Midwest! It’s iced coffee for me today. Grab your favorite fortifier and join me in welcoming fantasy author Darren Shan with his featured Archibald Lox YA series.
Thanks for chatting with us, Darren. What can I get you to drink?
DS: Brace yourself – I can’t stand coffee! The smell alone nauseates me, never mind the taste. I love the idea of coffee, all the different types and choices, and am jealous of those who can indulge in the whole coffee culture, but my taste buds have drawn a line in the coffee bean sands, and alas it’s one I cannot bring myself to cross.
Almost uniquely for someone from Ireland, I don’t really drink tea either. I can stand the taste of tea, and have the very occasional cup, but it just doesn’t excite me. For me, the cacao bean is king. Hot chocolate is my luxurious beverage of choice. I have a cup most nights, and these days I make it using a “velvetiser” which was developed by Hotel Chocolat, a British chocolatier company, which basically does the same thing with hot chocolate that a Nespresso machine does with coffee. I pour in a very specific measurement of milk (ideally unpasteurized, as that’s so much richer), add a sachet of 70% dark chocolate, leave it for a couple of minutes or so of quiet, internalized whisking, and it’s hot chocolate heaven!
Ally: I’m really sorry you miss all the wonders of coffee, but my magic pot can prepare everything. Hot chocolate it is. Perhaps with a chaser of ice water this morning! :) While I fix our drinks, please tell readers more about yourself.
It’s hot in the US Midwest! It’s iced coffee for me today. Grab your favorite fortifier and join me in welcoming fantasy author Darren Shan with his featured Archibald Lox YA series.
Thanks for chatting with us, Darren. What can I get you to drink?
DS: Brace yourself – I can’t stand coffee! The smell alone nauseates me, never mind the taste. I love the idea of coffee, all the different types and choices, and am jealous of those who can indulge in the whole coffee culture, but my taste buds have drawn a line in the coffee bean sands, and alas it’s one I cannot bring myself to cross.
Almost uniquely for someone from Ireland, I don’t really drink tea either. I can stand the taste of tea, and have the very occasional cup, but it just doesn’t excite me. For me, the cacao bean is king. Hot chocolate is my luxurious beverage of choice. I have a cup most nights, and these days I make it using a “velvetiser” which was developed by Hotel Chocolat, a British chocolatier company, which basically does the same thing with hot chocolate that a Nespresso machine does with coffee. I pour in a very specific measurement of milk (ideally unpasteurized, as that’s so much richer), add a sachet of 70% dark chocolate, leave it for a couple of minutes or so of quiet, internalized whisking, and it’s hot chocolate heaven!
Ally: I’m really sorry you miss all the wonders of coffee, but my magic pot can prepare everything. Hot chocolate it is. Perhaps with a chaser of ice water this morning! :) While I fix our drinks, please tell readers more about yourself.
Bio:
I was born in London but have spent most of his life in Ireland, where I live with my (coffee-loving) wife, (tea-loving) son, and (yet to be determined, as she’s only one year old) daughter. I have published more than 50 books for both children and adults, and have sold over 25 million books worldwide, making bestseller charts in the USA (New York Times Top 10 on numerous occasions - Times bestselling author of Cirque Du Freak and Lord Loss.), the UK, Ireland, Hungary, Dubai, Japan, Taiwan and elsewhere.
Something unique/unusual that isn't in your regular bio: “Despite the fact that I’ve lived in Ireland for more than forty years, I have a very strong Cockney accent, from my early years in London in the UK, where I lived until I was six years old.”
Author Contacts:
website: https://www.darrenshan.com/
twitter: https://twitter.com/darrenshan
facebook: https://www.facebook.com/darrenshanverified/
I was born in London but have spent most of his life in Ireland, where I live with my (coffee-loving) wife, (tea-loving) son, and (yet to be determined, as she’s only one year old) daughter. I have published more than 50 books for both children and adults, and have sold over 25 million books worldwide, making bestseller charts in the USA (New York Times Top 10 on numerous occasions - Times bestselling author of Cirque Du Freak and Lord Loss.), the UK, Ireland, Hungary, Dubai, Japan, Taiwan and elsewhere.
Something unique/unusual that isn't in your regular bio: “Despite the fact that I’ve lived in Ireland for more than forty years, I have a very strong Cockney accent, from my early years in London in the UK, where I lived until I was six years old.”
Author Contacts:
website: https://www.darrenshan.com/
twitter: https://twitter.com/darrenshan
facebook: https://www.facebook.com/darrenshanverified/
INTERVIEW:
Ally: What inspired you to write your featured series?
DS: I was walking across a bridge in London when I saw a young woman walking towards me, and grimacing strangely. She piqued my interest and I started wondering why she was pulling those faces. I decided she was doing it to order a gateway to another dimension, and obviously, being a bit of a nosey parker, I decided to follow her through in my imagination to see what was on the other side…
Ally: When did you first know you wanted to be a writer? What influenced that decision?
DS: I wanted to be a writer since I was five or six years old. I’ve just always loved using my imagination and making up stories. It would get me into trouble in school sometimes (like the day I told everyone that I’d been to the dentist and had been told that all of my teeth needed to be extracted), but my friends thought it was cool, and I liked being able to make them laugh or cringe.
Ally: Do the people in your real life show up in your writing? In what way?
DS: They do! I name lots of my characters after people that I know, but normally don’t base the characters on those people. I do however sometimes weave in character traits of friends and family members. For instance, I have a cousin who can stick his tongue up inside his nose, and I worked that into the character of the snake boy in my Cirque Du Freak books.
Ally: If you met JK Rowling, what would you talk about?
DS: I did meet JK Rowling. Surreally, we talked about my books — she read Cirque Du Freak years ago and is a fan! But on that same night (it was after an event in New York that she did with Stephen King and John Irving) I was in the same room as Stephen King, who’s been my favourite author for more than thirty years, but I couldn’t bring myself to go up and say hello to him — I was just too shy! (Ally note: Still...what a terrific evening!)
Ally: Do you read reviews of your books? Do you respond to them? Good reviews are wonderful, but are you affected by the bad ones?
DS: I try to read every review of my books that I come across. The good ones make me smile, the bad ones make me scowl, but ultimately they never have too much of an impact on me. I read them out of curiosity, because I like to know how my stories have been received. I’ve published more than fifty books, and I’m often surprised by how they go down with readers — there are some, which wouldn’t make it onto my top 10 (or even 20) list of my work, which are firm fan favourites, and similarly there are some which I absolutely love which don’t make too many ripples. I never write with my audience in mind, but I do find it interesting to know the mind of my audience.
Ally: Do you write on a desktop, laptop or on paper? Why? Does it make a difference whether it’s a first or last draft?
DS: I write on a desktop. I bought a typewriter when I was fifteen years old and never went back to writing by hand — my handwriting is terrible, and I often struggled to read what I’ve written! I love the ease of editing on a computer. I’ll go through a book at least seven or eight times before I release it, and that’s so much easier on my PC.
Ally: If your house was burning (your family and pets are already out safe), what one thing would you try to save? Why?
DS: I have a bookmark – a small, rectangular piece of cardboard – which I’ve used in almost every physical book that I’ve read since the late 1980s. We’ve been through so many different worlds together over the decades, that I’d hate to leave it behind to burn up. So I’d go back for that.
Ally: What is your next writing project? Anticipated release date?
DS: I’m currently editing Volume 2 of the Archibald Lox series, which I’m hoping to release in the first half of 2021.
Ally: Which of the short answer questions did you choose?
DS:
Ally: What inspired you to write your featured series?
DS: I was walking across a bridge in London when I saw a young woman walking towards me, and grimacing strangely. She piqued my interest and I started wondering why she was pulling those faces. I decided she was doing it to order a gateway to another dimension, and obviously, being a bit of a nosey parker, I decided to follow her through in my imagination to see what was on the other side…
Ally: When did you first know you wanted to be a writer? What influenced that decision?
DS: I wanted to be a writer since I was five or six years old. I’ve just always loved using my imagination and making up stories. It would get me into trouble in school sometimes (like the day I told everyone that I’d been to the dentist and had been told that all of my teeth needed to be extracted), but my friends thought it was cool, and I liked being able to make them laugh or cringe.
Ally: Do the people in your real life show up in your writing? In what way?
DS: They do! I name lots of my characters after people that I know, but normally don’t base the characters on those people. I do however sometimes weave in character traits of friends and family members. For instance, I have a cousin who can stick his tongue up inside his nose, and I worked that into the character of the snake boy in my Cirque Du Freak books.
Ally: If you met JK Rowling, what would you talk about?
DS: I did meet JK Rowling. Surreally, we talked about my books — she read Cirque Du Freak years ago and is a fan! But on that same night (it was after an event in New York that she did with Stephen King and John Irving) I was in the same room as Stephen King, who’s been my favourite author for more than thirty years, but I couldn’t bring myself to go up and say hello to him — I was just too shy! (Ally note: Still...what a terrific evening!)
Ally: Do you read reviews of your books? Do you respond to them? Good reviews are wonderful, but are you affected by the bad ones?
DS: I try to read every review of my books that I come across. The good ones make me smile, the bad ones make me scowl, but ultimately they never have too much of an impact on me. I read them out of curiosity, because I like to know how my stories have been received. I’ve published more than fifty books, and I’m often surprised by how they go down with readers — there are some, which wouldn’t make it onto my top 10 (or even 20) list of my work, which are firm fan favourites, and similarly there are some which I absolutely love which don’t make too many ripples. I never write with my audience in mind, but I do find it interesting to know the mind of my audience.
Ally: Do you write on a desktop, laptop or on paper? Why? Does it make a difference whether it’s a first or last draft?
DS: I write on a desktop. I bought a typewriter when I was fifteen years old and never went back to writing by hand — my handwriting is terrible, and I often struggled to read what I’ve written! I love the ease of editing on a computer. I’ll go through a book at least seven or eight times before I release it, and that’s so much easier on my PC.
Ally: If your house was burning (your family and pets are already out safe), what one thing would you try to save? Why?
DS: I have a bookmark – a small, rectangular piece of cardboard – which I’ve used in almost every physical book that I’ve read since the late 1980s. We’ve been through so many different worlds together over the decades, that I’d hate to leave it behind to burn up. So I’d go back for that.
Ally: What is your next writing project? Anticipated release date?
DS: I’m currently editing Volume 2 of the Archibald Lox series, which I’m hoping to release in the first half of 2021.
Ally: Which of the short answer questions did you choose?
DS:
- a. book you're currently reading: Martin Chuzzlewitt by Charles Dickens. I love Dickens, but this isn’t one of his most enjoyable in my opinion. It’s taking me aaaaaages to get through!!!
- b. most watched tv show: Cheers.
- c. a movie you’ll always remember: Salem’s Lot. I saw it when I was 9 or 10 years old and it scarred me for life – but in a good way!
- d. most beloved comic book character: Judge Dredd.
- e. best place you’ve ever visited: Petra, in Jordan.
- f. favorite holiday song: On holiday in Venice years ago, I kept making up songs to the tune of In The Ghetto, but changed the refrain to Vaparetto… (that’s their public water bus)
Archibald Lox and the Bridge Between Worlds (Archibald Lox, Volume 1, Book 1)
Genre: YA fantasy
Rating: PG
There is a universe beyond our own, known as the Merge.
A young locksmith called Archibald Lox is about to cross worlds and explore it.
As he learns about these lands of wonders, he will have to face cold-blooded killers, rivers of blood, hell jackals and more...
Buy Links:
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B086LKBHD6
Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=oUjbDwAAQBAJ
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/ie/en/ebook/archibald-lox-and-the-bridge-between-worlds
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/archibald-lox-and-the-bridge-between-worlds-darren-shan/1136765169
Apple: https://books.apple.com/us/book/id1505335470
Additional books in the series:
 Archibald Lox and the Empress of Suanpan (Book 2) Archie thought he was finished with the Merge, but he was wrong. Teaming up again with Inez, they must pit their wits against the infamous Empress of Suanpan. In a city of gamblers, Archie must stake everything he owns, even his freedom... |  Archibald Lox and the Vote of Alignment (Book 3) The end of Inez's mission is in sight, but the most difficult part is still to come. Archie is determined to help save an entire realm from falling under the rule of the vicious SubMerged. But old foes stand in his way, and the greatest challenge of his life awaits... |
All Darren Shan books via Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Darren-Shan/e/B001IGODB2
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