Darren Shan
Darren Shan
Darren O'Shaughnessy, who commonly writes under the pen name Darren Shan, is an Irish author. Darren Shan is the main character in Shan's The Saga of Darren Shan young-adult fiction series, also known as the Cirque Du Freak series. He followed that up with The Demonata series and the stand-alone books, Koyasan and The Thin Executioner. Then came The Saga of Larten Crepsley which is a prequel to The Saga of Darren Shan. He has most recently finished a 12...
NationalityIrish
ProfessionYoung Adult Author
Date of Birth2 July 1972
CountryIreland
The thing about real life is, when you do something stupid, it normally costs you.
Real life's nasty. It's cruel. It doesn't care about heroes and happy endings and the way things should be. In real life, bad things happen. People die. Fights are lost. Evil often wins.
I don't think anyone ever remembers what they were really like as kids. Adults think they do, but they don't. Photos and videos don't capture the real you, or bring back to life the person you used to be. You have to return to the past to do that.
Your spikes have gone floppy,
One of the things is that in times of severe disorder, you can't worry about the dead, only the living.
I'm starting to understand that fear is like cancer - you can beat it back, but if it returns, it can be worse than ever.
I'd like to do something to help the worst afflicted, but I can't. It's not possible to save everybody. Even heroes have their all-too-human limits.
Man wasn't made to share the universe with gods. Their ways are not meant for the humble likes of us. But we've decoded some of their secrets regardless. Like worms, we've grabbed on to the talons of eagles and learned some small truths and means of flight. But we can never really fly. We try, and succeed to a certain extent, but the fall is always - will always be - there.
So easy to take it for granted, but this is something no normal human was made to see. The world of magic has blessed me with wonders and it's only right to stop every now and then to appreciate it.
Better to die for my people in my own land than rule in another and suffer a lifetime of cowardly guilt.
But in life we don't usually get to choose the time of our defining moments. We just have to stand and face them when they come, no matter what sort of a state we're in.
Students never appreciate their teachers while they are learning. It is only later, when they know more of the world, that they understand how indebted they are to those who instructed them. Good teachers expect no praise or love from the young. They wait for it, and in time, it comes.
But the universe isn't fair. Things don't work out neatly, pain, hardship and challenges divided equally among those best equipped to deal with them. Sometimes individuals have to be Atlases and carry the weight of the world alone. It shouldn't happen that way, but it does.