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Rachael Lowndes
Darren Shan at Guildford Book Festival
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Rachael Lowndes
Darren Shan at The Guildford Book Festival
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Rachael Lowndes
One Tree Books at Guildford Book Festival
Best-selling young adult author Darren Shan brought ghoulish fun to the closing weekend of the Guildford Book Festival on Saturday. We joined the throng of teenage boys queuing up to hear what nightmarish antics Darren had dreamt up for his latest book, ZOM-B Baby
“It was the darkest, most wretched hour of the night when the dead came back to life. The luckier victims were slaughtered in their sleep, their skulls ripped open, their brains devoured. Brian Barry watched sickly as his mother dug through the shredded remains of her husband’s face to scoop out his brains. Mum had often joked about killing Brian’s dad, on nights when he had stumbled home from the local pub, or when he wouldn’t shut up about football.”
Not the opening gambit one typically expects from a teen writer, it has to be said! Yet Darren Shan, who counts fellow horror writer Stephen King as his idol and his Mum as his biggest inspiration, has sold millions of books all premised around the dark, ghoulish and gruesome.
Darren’s morbid imagination certainly has a captive audience judging by his staggering sales and the hoard of young teenage boys sitting with me in the auditorium of Guildford’s Electric Theatre.
Typically, my fellow spectators were a little shy in offering why exactly they are such fans of Darren’s: “I love him, I just love him,” offers one excited fan. Another tells me, “his stories are just really cool.”
Whatever the reason for their enthusiasm for the macabre, Darren's readers are certainly hooked on his 12 novel ZOM-B series, which sees a book being released every three months for the next two years.
Such a schedule seems to be a recipe for success, with the London-based writer having seen his work published in 39 countries, in 31 languages, and an excess of twenty million copies having been sold worldwide.
Back in the Electric Theatre, we get a glimpse into the storytelling that has made Darren so successful, as he animatedly reads out an extract from one the ZOM-B novels. Poor Brian Barry, the 11-year-old protagonist of this particular book, ends up being ‘mercifully’ rather than face a barbarous death at the fangs and claws of the zombies.
Darren jokes at the end of the extract: “Can you tell it’s a warm, uplifting series for five and six year olds?” Yet, he does insist that his books are not just all blood and gore, but explore social issues that he believes are relevant to youngsters today.
The Irish author believes that “a really good horror book is not just scary, but is an emotional journey.” Young Brian has to deal with an abusive father who Darren believes is, “in many ways, more monstrous” than his human-eating creations.
“I use horror to explore a deep and meaningful story,” he explains to the audience. “Issues in life aren’t always as straightforward as they are presented and I try to convey that to my young readers.”
Hmm, I think, once one has got over the graphic and intense descriptions of the human body being ripped apart. Or may be I am just a little too old and girly to understand what the fascination is all about for the boys with the gore? Probably. After all, Darren’s success does parallel the proliferation of warfare computer games, so it all seems part of fairly normal adolescent behaviour.
What is appealing however is the humour that Darren’s applies to these grisly misdemeanours and the energy he brings to his reading at the theatre is really enjoyable – even for squeamish cowards like me. The language he brings to the descriptions of the gore and repulsive sombie characters is fantastic.
Overall, it's entertaining stuff and I am glad I went. But a word of caution reader, remember to bring your sense of humour and suspend your belief when delving into a Darren Shan masterpiece!
Darren farewells us at the end of the show with his characteristic irony: "I hope you all have lovely, sweet dreams tonight!" I raise an eyebrow, I hope so too.
Visit Darren’s website, darrenshan.com to sign up to his monthly newsletter and for more information on his upcoming events.
Darren's books can be purchased through One Tree Books at onetreebooks.com
