Edited more of the fourth book of my 4 book series. I should finish work on it on Friday or over the weekend. I'm taking a bit more time on these books than I normally would -- I'd hoped to fit in a first draft of a new book over the summer, before I went to Edinburgh, but time has run away from me and I've had to push that back by a few months, meaning I've got an extra week or so to play with. That means there's no rush with these, so I'm moseying along at a nice, but not a frantic pace, enjoying the journey into darkness.

Saw Flags of Our Fathers today, which tied in quite neatly with the blog I posted yesterday, about fighting for a "greater good". The movie was at heart an expose of heroism. It was true story about soldiers who put up a flag on an island during World War II, got snapped by a photographer, and ended up being treated as heroes by a public desperate to have heroes to believe in. There was a line near the end of the film to the effect that the soldiers had fought for their friends, the men who were dying all around them, not for the millions of people back home; they couldn't afford to have any loftier notions, not when their friends were relying on them, not when bullets and bombs were exploding all around them; the world became a small, violent place, in which they fought for one another, to survive and pull through.

It's a theme I explore myself in The Demonata, particularly books 9 and 10. As the stakes mount, and my small band of "heroes" are made aware of the enormity of their task, one of them says that he doesn't care about the universe, that he can't think that big -- he's just fighting for those he knows and loves. My books are all about demons and vampires on the surface, but like any fantasist worth his or her salt, I try to explore the real world within the realms of my fantasy novels. My books are reflections of the times I live in, the thoughts I have about life in the early 21st century, explorations of the way I feel about politics and warfare and everything else. My vampire books were in a large part influenced by events in Northern Ireland and the Middle East. My demon books (and particularly the one-off fantasy book that I hope to release when The Demonata finishes) are to a cetain extent my way of looking at the "war on terror" (but is Lord Loss meant to stand in for Saddam Hussein or George Bush?!? That's one I'm not even sure of myself!!!!). I'm not saying the books are thinly veiled political studies -- for me, the story of each novel must come first, and I'm more interested in the pace and impact of my tales than I am in my real-world explorations; I want the books to entertain, not educate. But the politics ARE there, for those who care to look for them. I don't often have answers, but I try to draw attention to some of the questions which I think we should be addressing (such as what makes a hero, and does the world need them). And I think, if any of you are hoping to eke out careers of your own in the world of fantasy, horror or whatever, it's something you should be considering too. Good fantasy doesn't simply let us escape from the world we live it -- it should help us try to make sense of it too.

Finished editing the third book of my 4 book series, and started editing the fourth. This one touches on the subject of fascism, the Nazis in particular, something that has fascinated me for a long time. I'm always interested in power and how it's won and wielded. It's easy to just react to the Nazis with horror, to shake your head and mildly wonder at how such monsters ever rose to prominence. But if you put the monstrosities aside and look at them neutrally, you can trace their rise, the way they pulled a war-ravaged nation back together, gave people jobs and hope and a purpose. You can see why the German public backed them in the early days, and how they betrayed the faith of those people, how they seized power and used it to take the country down a dark, twisted route. But I think it's important to acknowledge the positives along with the negatives, to understand the Nazis, to realise where they came from and how and why they came to power -- and to arm ourselves with that knowledge and apply it to the present. It would be easy to believe the horrors of the Nazis are long behind us, and that the world will never face such nightmares again. Except that's a bigger fairy tale than any I've ever written. The atrocities have continued, on a smaller scale, all across the globe in the decades since. Genocide hasn't gone out of fashion. Leaders still lie to their voters. Powerful politicians still manipulate the public and wreak havoc out of the spotlight. Major companies cash in on warfare and death. We live in a scary, two-faced world, where power-hungry men and women happily sacrifice other people's lives in the pursuit of their goals.

I think one of the attractive things about the vampires in my Saga of Darren Shan series was that most of them abhorred the political games that so many humans love to play. My vampires tried to escape the pettiness of governments and armies and beauraucracies. I think a lot of us would like to get away from the messy machinations of the real world, and the clan appealed to our ecapist halves. But at the same time I didn't want to make my vampires some kind of utopian hippy commune, and that's what I think makes them so fascinating. In many ways my vampires are fascists, living by a strict code of conduct, no time for the elderly or weak, blindly following their leaders, cracking down hard on any in the clan who break the laws. I wanted to show that we always have to be vigilant, that no matter what sort of system we adopt, there will always be people looking to abuse it. There's no such thing as perfection in this great, big, scary world of ours, and it's important that we constantly examine our culture, our beliefs, our system of government. I think, as humans, we shouldn't be looking to create a perfect society, because I doubt that's feasible -- we should settle for trying to see the cracks in what's there, strive to fix them up as best we can, then look out for more cracks, because fresh ones are always going to appear. Villains and manipulators and people in power who simply make good-intentioned mistakes are always going to be with us. In a way I think they're essential -- if we have nothing to rise above, we have no opportunity to choose right over wrong, good over evil.

This blog was sparked by a number of things. One was the book, as I mentioned above, which goes back to re-explore some of the fascist themese I touched on in The Saga. Another was the movie, Downfall, which I saw today, a gripping German film about the last few days of Adolf Hitler and the Third Reich -- a highly recommended, albeit frightening look into the minds of a man and a nation who had come seriously unstuck. I was also put into this thoughtful mode by the following email from a lady called Sherrie, who lives in Dubai:

Dear Mr. Shan, i just wanted to say that your books are full of surprises and unexpected events (which is the aspect that I value most about your books), they are also very rich in as far as moral and spiritual fields are concerned. There's one thing you keep mentioning in your books about the "greater good": that some people should die in order for humanity to survive. I'm not sure that I agree with that. For instance, all those brave soldiers who fought and died for their people during world war 2 (in my point of view) were much more worthy of living than the cowards who failed to attend the battle-field. I just wanted to know if you agree with me (to some degree at least) or not. I have no expectations of your reply (I understand you have more important things to attend to) but if you judge that my inquiry deserves a response, kindly mention why or why not. Thank you so much for your time.

I got this a few days ago, and have been thinking about it ever since. It's a hard one to call. Firstly, I don't think there were too many "cowards" in the second world war. As far as I'm aware, the majority of those fit to fight, did so. There were people who fled the war zones, of course, and others who profited from it, but for the most part I think it was a war of heroes, of people who fought for a valid reason, against a truly monstrous regime. But the question about a "greater good" is intriguing. It's something I return to a lot in my novels, though I usually have my "heroes" risking their lives for a small group of family or friends, rather than for humanity on the whole (Beranabus was an exception). In principle, I think that yes, we need a "greater good" in life, something we hold dearer than our own well-being, something we would risk all to protect. It can be a parent, a child, a friend ... even a pet!! And I don't think the recipient's qualities matter, i.e. I don't think it matters if the one you're prepared to risk all for is a coward, or a thief, or a liar. What matter most is the love you feel for them, the responsibility you feel towards them. That willingness to lay down one's life for a loved one is, I believe, at the very heart of what makes us human. You could be cynical and saw it's just our nature, that we're obeying our instincts, the same way an animal will fight to protect its young. But I think it goes beyond that. As sentient beings, we have the ability to choose, to love and respect as we please. We make a choice when we put the welfare of others before our own, and if we have souls of one kind of another, I think we have them because of that choice, and if they are affected by anything within our control, then they're afected by the choices we make.

On the other hand, I think the "greater good" can be manipulated and used by people in pursuit of power. Love of a political party can be dangerous. Love of a country can be dangerous. Love of a god can be dangerous. They shouldn't be, but they are. People argue and fight because of personal loves, but wars are fought because of politics, nationalities and religion. In those situations, the "greater good" can become a source of hatred, envy, destruction. I think there has to be a VERY good reason to lay your life down because of love of a country or god, and those reasons don't come along too often. I think we should all be wary of people who sanction wars, who claim a love of god and country as their justifications. I don't think anyone should have a greater love than the love he or she bears for the people closest to them, and I'm damn suspicious of anyone who says they're acting in a certain way for the larger "greater good".

Hmmm... Not sure if all that makes sense!! That's the trouble with big issues like this -- they often defy simple explanations. But that's a good thing -- life shouldn't be so simple that we can sum up all our beliefs in a few cute, bite-sized quotations. It's good that we struggle to make sense of the world and our understanding of it, that we seek to learn, rather than act as if we know all the answers. But I'm done struggling and seeking for one night -- this has turned out into a mammoth blog, which I rather suspected it would when I read through Sherrie's email and started formulating a response! I'm off to bed -- night all!!! And don't forget -- keep a close eye on anyone who seems more concerned about YOUR "greater good" than they do about the "greater good" of their own circle of loved ones and friends...

Started editing the third book of my four book series again on Saturday, having spent Friday unpacking some art which I'd ordered recently and doing other bits and pieces around the office and house. This is the second edit of the book, the third draft in total. At this stage I'm looking for any errors, tightening it up a bit, getting it ready to be submitted to my publisher, so that they can have a look at it early in the game. There's still a lot of work to be done on it, but I'm happy with how it's shaping up overall.

Went to see one of favourite local bands, We Should Be Dead, on Saturday night. I've seen them a couple of times before, and I love their punk, rocky sound. They also put on a great live show, and I thoroughly enjoyed the gig last night. I'm going to add their latest single to my MySpace home page once I finish blogging, so you'll be able to check it out. They also have a MySpace page, with other songs and lots of info, so check it out!!!

I got up late today, did some stuff around the house that's needed doing for quite a while, including putting in a new ground peg for our washing line -- oh, the glamourous life of a writer!!! Our neighbour's dog, Goldie, has spent the last few days at our place -- his owners are away on holiday, and he's lonely, so he's been hanging out with us most of the time. I love dogs. I'd really like to get one of my own, but I travel so much, it's just not practical at the moment. But one day, hopefully, I'll be able to give some lucky mutt a welcome home...

If any of you entered the Waterstones Name A Demon competition a few months back, you might be interested to know that the winners have been chosen. You can find the name of the overall winner, as well as those of the nine runners-up, in the NEWS forum on my Message Board, accessible from my home page: www.darrenshan.com

Went to see a new production of The Wizard of Oz at the Royal Festival Hall on Wednesday. It was the first night of previews. I know some people don't like going to see a show that early, as the cast are still perfecting their performances and some mistakes are to be expected, but I quite like getting in early! Like most people, I LOVE the movie, and watch it every few years or so. I wasn't sure what it would play like on stage -- when I've gone to see adaptations of movies in the past, many have suffered, since they merely repeat what was already on film, only without the sets, effects, big-name actors, etc. But this version rocked!!! As soon as it began, a big smile spread across my face and stayed there for most of the show. They adapted it cleverly, keeping in most of what made the movie work, but adding some nice little bits of their own, so that it didn't feel too redundant. The only real disappointment was the scene when Dorothy and Co. first meet the Wizard. Instead of trying to recreate the giant head that appeared in the movie, they made what I felt was a huge mistake, and had NOTHING!!! Just a big, booming voice, lots of smoke, and light effects. I can see what they were aiming for -- let people's imaginations fill in the blanks -- but it just felt lame. They needed SOMETHING there, in my opinion, and having nothing jarred for me, and nudged me out of the magical daze I'd surrendered to up until that point. It recovered nicely after that, though I didn't like the way they gave the Wicked Witch some "funny" lines -- they softened her a bit too much for my liking. And it went on a bit too long (as most family plays in the West End do!). But, all those gripes aside, it was WAY better than I thought it would be, and is definitely worth seeing if you're in London and any tickets are still available. I just hope it transfers -- it's only scheduled to run for 6 weeks, and that's far too short a run for a play this polished and involving.

Bas and I returned to Ireland this afternoon. Lots of post to catch up with, and bits and pieces to sort. I got through most of it, then watched The Mist. Good, creepy, pitch-black horror, not quite as impressive as some reviews had led me to hope, but certainly one of the stronger films of recent times, with an ending that would feel gloomy even in a Darren Shan novel!!!!

The party on Saturday was fun. I hadn't met most of Bas's extended family before this, so it was a chance to meet cousins and close friends who she often talks about but who I couldn't put a face to before this. I'm not the best socialiser in the world (you wouldn't guess it from my show when I do public events, but I'm actually quite a shy kind of guy in private), but I found myself chatting away fairly normally and the day passed nice and swiftly -- always the sign that you're having a good time!!

On Sunday we visited more family, but this time my side. We went to see my brother and his wife first, then a grand-aunt of mine, then an uncle and his family. Phew -- after so many familiar faces, I can't wait to go mingle with strangers again!!!!  While I was in the neighbourhood, I also passed by the house where my grandparents used to live, and where I stayed for three years when I was at uni. Lots of nice memories came flooding back. It's always interesting to visit places where you lived, especially if you haven't been there for a while. I had a big smile as I thought back to my uni days, how little money I had back then, how I was beavering away at writing in my spare time, how I used to go to triple bills of Ingmar Bergman films in independent cinemas, how I used to scour second-hand book stores for bargains ... I wouldn't want to go back and re-live those times (I'm much happier now than I was then), but it was fun to look back on them from this perspective. That's one of the great fascinations of life -- looking back on the past, on days we're glad to have left behind, and on days we'd like to have again if we could. I think the trick to happiness in the present, though, is to accept the fact that those days are lost forever, and not to fixate on them. A little bit of nostalgia is good for the soul. Too much can turn us into walking ghosts.

We spent much of Monday doing bits and pieces around our flat, things we've needed to do for a while, but kept putting off. e.g. looking into installing a fold-out bed for our living room (guests have had to sleep on a blow-up bed thus far). Later we went to the Cortauld Museum on the Strand, which has a lovely collection of impressionist paintings, including the best Manet I've ever seen, a seminal Van Gogh, and a couple of amazing Cezannes. It's not an especially big museum, but there's enough on display so that you don't feel like you've been shortchanged (indeed, it's free from 10.00 to 14.00 on Mondays). Recommended for any art buffs who find themselves in the area. After a big meal at a nearby Gaucho restaurant (Argentinian beef -- yum!!!), we wandered down Middle Temple Lane on our way back to our flat. It's an incredibly beautiful, peaceful, old-style part of London, slap in the centre of one of the busiest, most modern sections -- perfect if you want to forget for a while that you're in the middle of one of the world's most cosmopolitan cities.

We went to a new adaptation of Pygmalion at the Old Vic on Monday night. It was wonderful!! The cast was first-rate, especially the actress playing Eliza Dolittle, and it was perfectly pitched and staged. I've seen it before, on stage and film, but this stood out. Highly recommended! This morning we went out to West Sussex and Arundel to see some sculptures by Philip Jackson, one of my favourite sculptors around. When we got back, we went to see Afterlife at the National. It's a new play by Michael Frayn, who's normally a top-notch writer. But this one left us both feeling very unimpressed, and we walked out during the midway interval!!! I don't do that often, but on this occasion I felt it was deserved, and I felt no guilt whatsoever. You don't sit all the way through a terrible film, so why should you endure the entirety of a play you don't like?!? I'm sure many theatre-goers would consider that the opinion of an uncouth neanderthal, but am I bothered?!?!?

Actually, I'm starting to think Bas and I might be uncouth neanderthals!!! When we were driving out in the countryside earlier today, we went past a sign for a church called (I kid you not!) Cocking Church. I wanted to point it out to Bas and laugh uproariously, but since we were with company, I didn't. Later, on the train back, I mentioned it to Bas, and with a burst of laughter, she said that she's seen it too, and had also wanted to point it out and guffaw!!! As I remarked, once we'd stopped giggling, "We can act like decent, sensible, sensitive, civilized human beings when we have to, but we ain't ever gonna BE decent, sensible, sensitive , civilized human beings!!!!!"

And that's the way, uh-huh, uh-huh, I like it, uh-huh, uh-huh!!!!!!

Flew over to London for a short visit on Wednesday. Went to see Hairspray up the West End that night. A good, fun musical, bright and airy, but with something good to say too. Only criticism is that, like many musicals aimed at families, it goes on WAY too long!!! Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Mary Poppins and The Lion King were the same -- perfect in almost every way, except they lasted an eternity!!! Families go to see them anyway, and kids sit as patiently through them as they can, but this current fad for making family musicals that last close to 3 hours utterly flummoxes me. With some very rare exception, NO play or musical should run more than 2 and a quarter hours in my opinion, especially if it's aimed at younger patrons. The brain boxes who organise West End shows obviously see things differently, but I wish they'd take running times into consideration -- my bum is sometimes numb at the end of a lot of the current shows!!!

On Thursday we went to see a sculptor at his studio -- it's a guy whose work I really like, and I'm thinking about maybe buying some of his pieces. It's fascinating to see where an artist or sculptor actually works, as it's usually a very chaotic place -- a very different experience to seeing their pieces in a carefully maintained gallery or museum! Later we met with one of Bas's friends and went to see The Feeling playing at Somerset House on the Strand. Even though we'd only seen them 4 days earlier, we didn't mind seeing them again, mainly because we were really keen to see a gig in Somerset House! It's a lovely venue, and it worked perfectly. The band also put on a damn fine show, and a wonderful night was had by all!!!

On Friday I went to see some more sculptures, this time by another artist and in a gallery. Then we went to see Brief Encounter at the cinema on Haymarket. It's a wonderful re-imagining of the famous old film, very cleverly staged. I'm wary of film adaptations, as they often disappoint by simply trying to recreate what the film already achieved. But this added music and lots of its own touches, so it worked excellently. I also liked the fact that it was staged in a cinema theatre -- it made for a very different experience to the normal theatre-going event. HIGHLY recommended!!!!

Today we're heading over to Bas's parents's place -- it's their 40th wedding anniversary and they're having a party to celebrate. Good times!!!!!

Spent today returning to normal. I still feel a bit tired, but a lot perkier than I was yesterday!! Answered some emails and did various other bits and pieces about the office. We're close to finalising the details for my October tour of Ireland and the UK, so hopefully I'll be able to put them up in the next issue of the Shanville Monthly, at the start of August. I don't want to give anything away before the itinerary is ready to be officially announced, but I can definitely say that I'll be covering a lot more ground than on my June tour!! That one was cushy for me -- I stayed fairly close to London most of the time. Not so in October -- I'm going to be all over the place!! Bad news for my tired old legs -- good news for those of you living in more out-of-the-way places!!!!!!

I managed to find a download of most of the R.E.M. set from Oxegen (I'm listening to it while I'm typing this -- Orange Crush is the song playing at the moment). It's missing the first 7 songs, and I'm Gonna DJ, but runs for nearly 50 minutes regardless, and the sound quality is excellent!! If you want to see why I was raving about them in my last post, click on the following link and download the set -- it should take about half an hour or so if you have broadband. CLICK HERE

Went in to see my Grandad again this afternoon -- he's much better and will hopefully be back home by the end of the week. Also popped into see my friend Kenny. Back home I watched a movie, went for a walk, then answered lots of fan mail. Now I'm off to watch some TV and probably try and get an early night.

Got back from my first ever music festival last night, and all I can say is: "Phew -- I'm getting old!!!" Seriously, I really enjoyed my trip to Oxegen. I was a bit nervous, going to my first festival at the ripe old age of 36. I ended up enjoying it more than I thought I would, but probably not as much as I would have if I'd gone 10 or 15 years ago!

We got there on Friday afternoon, managed to get a parking space, and went to the Green Site -- the "posh" bit of the camping sites, where most of the people were in their 30s, with a bit more money to burn than the majority of the audience, who were in their late teens or early 20s. We had a podpad, a little hut with blow-up beds, a solar-panelled light and a shelf -- oh, the joys of luxury camping!! But compared with what we saw in the main camp sites, it WAS a luxury -- at least we didn't have to step out into mud when we arose, and there was a bit of space to breathe and stretch our legs. Rudimentary camping is fine if you're young and full of life, but if you're over 30, podpads and their like are the only way to go!!!!

We got settled in, then wandered through to catch some music. Being newbies, we probably did far more than we should have, and ended up seeing bits of 14 (yes, fourteen) bands!!! In less than 7 hours!! Now, we didn't see any full sets. And in some cases we only stayed for a song or two, when it was clear that we had no interest in the performers. But I still think that's pretty impressive! We managed to cover most of the stages and get a feel for the site, which was great. The only downside was that we walked about a LOT, and I think that sapped us of quite a bit of our energy, and tiredness caught up with us later in the weekend. We didn't see anything fab on Friday, but we caught some good stuff from bands we'd never heard of, such as Dirty Epics - a female-fronted band from Dublin - and The Metros - a south-east London band. We also rocked out to the Saw Doctors, a band I never planned on going to see -- but as I quickly found out, plans are best forgotten about at festivals, and you're better off just going with the flow. The big 3 bands that night were Editors, Interpol and Kings of Leon, and I'd listened to albums by all of them in recent weeks to get ready for their sets -- but we ended up not seeing much of any of them!! The thing is, I love getting up close to the stage at concerts. I can't enjoy live music if I'm so far back that I have to look at a big screen to see the performers. I'd rather watch a band on TV than from the back of a crowd. We lined up during the Editors show, to try and get into the front for the last 2. I half-watched them on the monitors, but having seen them in Dolans in Limerick a few years ago, when I was able to get as close to the front as I liked, I wasn't too bothered. When it became clear that we weren't going to get in for Interpol, we wandered elsewhere and just watched a bit of their act from far back later in the night. The same with Kings of Leon. If you'd said to me in advance that I wouldn't have got up close to see those 3, I'd have been very disappointed -- but being there, I quite liked the chaos and just moseying about the place, catching bits of other acts, so I went to bed (well, sleeping bag) more than happy with how the evening had gone.

On Saturday we didn't see quite as many bands, but we saw several full sets. We were going to check out some unknown bands at the start, but then I had a thought as we circled around the main stage. Often at concerts we head to the left of the stage. Audiences have a tendency to group to the right, and we can often get close to the front (sometimes all the way to the front), even if we arrive late, just by heading left. The most obvious entrance to the front pit was to the right of the large main stage. But was there, I wondered, an entrance to the left as well??? It turned out there was. It also turned out that hardly anyone knew about it, so we were able to get into any set we wanted after that, without having to wait in line very long. So heed uncle Darren's advice, young festival goers, and always take a left turn if you want to avoid the crowds and get quickly into the thick of the action!!

We saw a punkish band called Bowling For Soup first -- good fun, though their music was aimed at people a good decade or more younger than us. Then we saw Scouting For Girls -- Bas likes them, and if you go with your partner to a festival like this, you have to be fair and make it a mix of bands if you have different tastes. I actually thought it was quite a good set -- although I wasn't expecting the rowdy audience reaction! I figured this would be one of the quieter sets of the day, but we had to scarper for our lives at one stage when a group of moshers got out of hand!!! A bit later Bas was loving The Wombats, but they left me feeling VERY unimpressed, so I cut out and went to catch the end of the Ting Tings set -- it was raining, and they were playing indoors, so I figured I'd pop in, slip up to the front and chuckle along with anyone else who turned up when they played "That's not my name". Did I figure wrong!!! The tent was packed!!! I managed to squeeze in, but only by going left!!! And I had to stay near the back. I only caught a few songs, but I wish I'd heard more -- to my astonishment, they were really good!!! Very rocky, good interaction with the crowd, songs that sounded pretty nifty in a live environment! I never thought I'd be coming away from a festival and saying the Ting Tings were one of my highlights, but there you have it -- festivals are strange, bizarre places, where anything can happen!!!

We watched the Hoosiers after that (another of Bas's bands), and they were fun. I keep giving her grief about how they rip off other songs without giving them credit (and they DO), but they performed pretty well live, so I'm willing to overlook their blatant theft. I won't be listening to their albums, but I wouldn't go out of my way to avoid them if they were playing at another festival again. After a break to recuperate, we went to see Alphabeat, and they were FAB!!!! Pure, unadulterated, unapologetic pop, and I loved it!!!!! One of the great things about getting older is that you don't have to be precious about what you like. I take my music fairly seriously, and I like good, strong, intelligent bands, either with something to say, or a really cool way of creating great sounds. I love Radiohead, the Smiths, the Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd -- innovators, rock giants, bands who changed the world of music. But I've always like a good, catchy tune too, and bands like the Pet Shop Boys, Simon & Garfunkel, Abba. When I was younger, I would rarely admit to that. Music was primarily a statement for me, and I didn't want to admit to liking pop, as that ran counter to the seriousness or indieness of most of the bands I was heavily into. But now I'm 30-something, I couldn't care less what my friends think of my tastes, so if I like something, I own up to it, and I'm much happier that way!!! Alphabeat were just joyous! Their rallying cry when they came on -- "We're called Alphabeat. We're from Denmark. We play POP music!!!" -- make me laugh out loud, and I didn't stop smiling all the way through their set. They performed energetically but professionally, and got the crowd going BIG-time. A band I definitely hope to catch again soon!!

Not long after Alphbeat, we returned to the main stage, cut to the left, and went in to see probably -- no, DEFINITELY my all-time favourite live band. I've seen many great performers over the years, the Stones, U2, David Byrne, Nick Cave, the Who. But the first concert I ever went to was in 1989, in Dublin. The Go-Between were playing support, and they were the main reason I went -- I loved them (and still do) and was determined to see them live, even if they were only the support act. They played a great short set that night, but when the main band came on, they blew me away, and although I liked them before that, it was on that night that I became a full-fledged fan. That band is R.E.M. They're just amazing live. That first show stands out as one of my favourite ever, but I saw them again 3 years ago, and they were just as brilliant then. And on Saturday they were incredible too, even though it was a shorter set than usual, because they were part of a festival. Great songs, some stretching back more than 20 years, performed by a band who seem to be defying the march of time. If you only ever catch one band live before you die, go see R.E.M.!!!!

We'd planned to watch the Manic Street Preachers or the Prodigy after R.E.M., but we were both exhausted, so we headed back to our podpad. When I woke on Sunday, I was still really tired, and Bas was too, so we decided to come back home on Sunday evening, instead of staying another night. We packed up and took our bags to the car, then returned for our last few bands. We saw bits of a few performers, then caught the whole of The Feeling set. We went to see them in Birmingham just a few months ago, and are actually seeing them again in London this coming Thursday, but we like them a lot, so what the hell!! They're another pure pop band, a guilty pleasure maybe, but a pleasure nonetheless! After bopping about to their anthemic tunes for 45 minutes, we were absolutely wrecked, and although we stayed on for another few hours, we should probably have come away at that stage -- we were too tired to appreciate anything after that point! We struggled through the Kooks (I quite like their albums, but they're fairly boring live) and Kate Nash (I don't much like her material, but she was alright live), then headed for home. That meant we had to miss out on the Fratellis and the Kaiser Chiefs, who were two of the bands we had our hearts set on seeing before we went, but hey-ho -- that's life!!! We'll just have to try and catch them another time. You can't see everyone you want at a big music festival, especially if you're the wrong side of 30 like us!!! Still we had a great time overall, and I certainly think we'll be sampling festival life again somewhere further down the line ...

Today we recovered and went to visit my Grandad in hospital (he's had some trouble with an infection in his legs, but it doesn't look like it's anything serious). I caught up on emails and post. And now it's back to normal life. Blimey -- a whole 3 days before we go to see our next band! How will we pass the time?!?!?

I finished my latest edit of the second book of my four book series. It was a marathon session -- I got through 100 pages, and only just finished work at 8.15pm -- but I wanted to wrap it up before I headed off to the Oxegen festival. There's still lots of work to do on it over the coming couple of years, but I'm very pleased with how it's shaping up. This one features one of my darkest ever finales (yes, folks, there's always room for things to get bleaker in the twisted worlds of Darren Shan!!!). I get a shiver down my spine every time I come to it! In fact, it was this scene that prompted me to write the series. I'd been playing around with ideas for it for several years, but it was only when I considered this part of the story that I knew I HAD to write it!! The scene takes us on a descent into madness and bloodshed which is all the more shocking because the perpetrator is a character I think most of us will feel very close to. It will be a bit like going on a long journey with someone you love and have known for a very long time, only to discover at a pivotal moment that you're holding hands with someone cut from the same cloth as the likes of Dracula and Hannibal Lecter...

The number of my MySpace Friends passed the 9,000 mark today -- hurrah!!! Of course quite a few of those nine thousand are spammers or people who've moved on from the time they joined, but it's still great to see that I'm drawing new fans all these years later. I'd like to extend a warm greeting to anyone who's recently joined, and chuck out a great big "Cheers!!" to those of you who've been keeping me company here for quite a while. You're all freaks of high standing in my eyes!!!!

As I said above, I'm heading off to Oxegen this weekend. That's Ireland's biggest music festival, our version of Glastonbury. Three days of live music, junk food and mud!!! I'll be staying in a Podpad as opposed to a tent, which should protect me from the worst of the elements at night, but I'm going to be out pogoing to my favourite bands all day, so I'll be at the mercy of the sky along with everyone else! I'm keeping my fingers crossed for fine weather, but I'm not feeling too optimistic -- this has been an especially wet and dreary summer, even by Irish standards!!! Oh well, it should be worth it for the likes of REM, Interpol, Kaiser Chiefs and many, many more cool bands. Although this is the first festival I've ever been to, so I'm a bit nervous!! I know I should have done this sort of thing in my teens or early twenties, but I've always lagged a bit behind when it comes to stuff like this! Still, better late than never!!! I always tell my more mature fans that you're never too old to be a Shanster, and I'm hoping the same rule applies to being a festival newbie!!!!! Keep an eye out for me if you're going to Oxegen, and if not, I'll hopefully be reporting back on it after the weekend -- assuming I don't fall in love with the world of music festivals and take off into the sunset as a roadie ...

Oh -- I almost forgot to mention!! I'm absolutely delighted to be able to announce that Procession of the Dead has been bought by Grand Central Publishing, for publication in the good ole U.S. of A.!!! More details will follow over the coming months, but the coolio news for now is that my adult books ARE going to be made available in America, and sooner rather than later -- hurrah!!!!

I finished writing the new material for the first book of my four books series today -- phew!!! As I said before, I hate having to write new material at the editing stage, so I was very relieve to get the last word down! From this point on I'll hopefully be free to simply edit and tighten and tweak away to my heart's content -- happy days!!

I received an email from a fan called Laura today:

I'm thinking of writing a book, well sort of got an idea, and have written some stuff down, but it's not exactly brilliant. However, because i'm only 15, i was wondering, if i got the idea sorted and into a book before i turn 16, would any publishers actually accept the book, if it was good enough, or would they have to refuse because of my age? Right now, my book isn't exactly anywhere close to being finished, but there's quite a while before i do actually turn 16, and i have actually got 4 chapters written down, so i was wondering if i would just be wasting time trying to contact some publishers if they couldn't accept it because of my age. Also, how do you exactly contact publishers? On the internet or postage or something?

I get asked this a lot, and the simple answer is, if you're good enough, you're old enough! There's no legal reason for a publisher not to publish a book by a teenager. In fact, most publishers would probably love to publish a book by a teen, since it's a good publicity angle for them -- the media loves an unusual story!!! The problem isn't age -- it's one of experience. Most 15 and 16 year olds simply aren't equipped to write a book up to the standards of publication. What you have to remember is that people have to pay to buy books, and they will expect quality regardless of the background of the person who wrote it. There are exceptions -- I did a TV show with an other Irish writer called Ruth Gilligan last week, and she was 18 when her first novel was published, having written the first draft when she was 15 -- but they're VERY rare. Writing is much more difficult thatn, say, acting or composing or singing songs. It's possible for talented actors and composers/singers to make an early breakthrough, but hardly any writers ever get a book in print before their early 20s -- indeed, most are in their late 20s, early 30s or later before they really get going!! Writing is HARD!!!!! It's more like becoming a doctor -- no matter how talented you might be, nobody's going to want you poking around inside them until you're properly trained! Similarly, very few people want to spend a lot of time reading a book that's written by someone who hasn't yet learnt the rules of how to entertain.

But, as I said, there ARE exceptions, and there's no harm in believeing that YOU can be one of them. I was 17 when I finished my first book (having started it when I was 16), and I was convinced while writing it that it would make me famous. When I finished it, I knew it was a LONG way off being a good book, so I went ahead and wrote another. And another. And many more before I finally created a book that I felt was up to scratch, at the age of 21 (that was Ayuamarca, which did indeed become my first published book 5 years and a lot of re-writes later). Each time I hoped that this would be the one to launch my career -- but when it turned out not to be, I didn't lose heart, just accepted it as a valuable learning experience, and moved on.

I know we live in a world where we're pressured to want EVERYTHING, IMMEDIATELY!!! Reality TV shows push the concept of overnight stars, child stars, stars who are famous for no reason other than being famous. We're all tempted to buy into this fairytale nonsense, to want success without having to work and struggle in anonymity for it. But as I've said many times before, I think that's false success, that true happiness and success only comes when you've had to pour your heart into your work, when you've faced the loneliness and hardships that success in any field normally entails, whether it's long nights studying medical textbooks by yourself, long days swimming or running by yourself, or long days writing in a room by yourself. The struggle is what makes the ahievement worthwhile.

I think young authors need to be wary of publishers in some ways. As I said above, publishers are always looking for a good media story, and I always fear for teenagers who get published -- there's an element of "freakishness" about their success, and it's not GOOD freakishness, like in the Cirque Du Freak!! Ideally a book needs to be judged on its own terms. When the author is publicised more than the book -- "Read this because it's written by a 16 year old!" "Read this because it's written by a woman who was stranded in a jungle for 5 years and survived by feeding on worm larvae!!" -- I think it turns the author into a sideshow exhibit. They become a story, and that's fine while the story's hot, but when the story stops -- when they're 18, 20, 22, 24 ... what then??? If your only selling point is your youth, what do you do when you're no longer young??

You need to experiment a lot if you're to prove yourself as a long-term writer, if you want to write lots of books that will sell over a long period of time and provide you with a career rather than a flash in the pan. Experimenting normally means failing, and learning, and slowly improving. It's easier if you can do that out of the public limelight -- if nobody knows about you, nobody can make fun of your failures or weaknesses. I think early success can be a double-edged sword, and writers who break through in their teens can end up catching a lot of flak. If you're prepared for that, then go for it. If you're aware of the hard work still to come, but you manage to get published young, enjoy the success, ride the wave -- just ignore the ciriticism which will probably come your way, and don't lose track of what's truly important -- the stories you tell, and learning to tell them the best way you can.

As for learning more about the actual publication process, how to submit your work, who to submit it to, etc... In the UK and Ireland, check out The Writers And Artists Yearbook. In the USA, check out Writer's Market.