Freaking out with vampires

By MARGIE THOMSON

With Halloween looming over us like a squawking bat, what better time to welcome a phenomenon well established in the Northern Hemisphere: children's horror fiction.

Specifically, The Saga of Darren Shan, a 10-volume (so far) chronicle following the life and sometimes gory deeds of a young vampire's assistant.

The books begin with Cirque Du Freak, in which Darren starts out as a normal teenager, makes some stupid mistakes and ends with a hell of a moral dilemma: having got his friend into trouble, he can save him only if he, Darren, will sacrifice his own life and become enslaved to a vampire.

Horror elements in this first book include a variety of circus freaks, a telepathic spider, being buried alive in a coffin, blood transfusion with a vampire but also more complex forms of horror such as dishonesty and increasing enmity between former best friends, and the grief Darren faces as he abandons his ordinary human family.

The combination of horror with difficult moral, psychological and relationship choices has proved a winning combination among both boys and girls: the books have reached the top 10 in the UK and the New York Times, and No 1 in Ireland, Japan and Hungary.

"They take their vampires very seriously in Hungary," author Darren Shan says.

That's not his real name, although that's how he's known in all publicity material: as a mysterious, spider-loving aficionado of all things dark, especially vampires.

However, the books are written by a disappointingly cheerful, ridiculously youthful-looking ["It's my vampire blood," he jokes, we assume], 31-year-old Irishman named Darren O'Shaughnessey, who studied sociology at university and is openly intrigued by the furtive themes in his horror stories, such as "it's OK to be different", the struggle of different types of beings to co-exist, and the ongoing complexities of coming-of-age, no matter what kind of creature you are.

I'd assumed that "Darren Shan" must be a kind of alter ego, a personal fantasy, but it turns out to be no more than an exercise in decency: O'Shaughnessey had already published a couple of violent novels for adults before he began Cirque Du Freak and he didn't want kids turning to those once they'd read the junior fantasies.

Shan was an early starter, beginning school at age 3, writing his first stories when he was 6, and writing seriously since he got his first typewriter at 14.

"I've written lots and lots of novels, most of which have not been published," he says, adding that his advice to would-be novelists is "keep writing". "The more you write the better you get."

Horror was his first love: he read Stephen King from the age of 11, and Salem's Lot remains his all-time favourite vampire story. Since then, he says, "It's been non-stop horror."

He's one of those strange people who love to be scared.

"It's like a rollercoaster ride - it's a different kind of being scared to being genuinely scared. It's very scary but it's also safe. No matter how scary it is or what you write about it's just a work of fiction and readers know that. They pretend it's true to enhance the fear factor but they know it's fiction."

Warner Brothers has bought the film rights for the first three books, although Shan is circumspect about the chances of the movie ever being made. "They buy lots and lots every year but only make a small number," he points out.

Who: Darren Shan aka Darren O'Shaughnessey, children's horror author

Where & When: Tomorrow at two Halloween Children's Literature Foundation/Whitcoulls events. Takapuna Library, 4-5pm; Owen Gilmour Theatre, Gate 7, Auckland College of Education auditorium, 74 Epsom Ave, Epsom, 7.30pm-8.30pm.