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GUIDE TO
VAMPIRES: THEY
CAN’T BE SHUT
BACK IN THE
COFFIN
When Darren
O’Shaughnessy
sat down to
write Cirque
Du Freak, it
was with the
intention of
creating the
kind of book
that he would
have enjoyed
reading as a
10-year-old. He
had liked books
that scared him,
but found his
choices limited
and often ended
up with authors
like Stephen
King, who were
hard to read. So
Cirque Du
Freak
(HarperCollins,
January 2000,
£3.99,
0006754163), his
first children’s
book, is written
for children who
really do like
to be scared.
The story is
narrated by
Darren Shan, who
is living a
fairly contented
and ordinary
life until a
visit to the
strange and
wonderful Cirque
Du Freak brings
him face to face
with a
supernatural
world. From then
onwards,
vampires and
assorted strange
beings make
regular
appearances:
parents in South
Carolina are
going to have a
field day!
However,
although Darren
finds himself
making a pact
with a vampire
and having to
decide whether
or not to become
a vampire’s
assistant, there
is very little
blood and gore
in these pages.
What really
makes Cirque
Du Freak
scary is how
completely
Darren’s world
changes when the
supernatural and
natural worlds
collide. Nasty
things cannot be
shut back into
the coffin at
the end of the
episode. For
this hero who
has foolishly
made some bad
choices –
stealing a
vampire’s spider
was never going
to be a good
move – the
supernatural
world is here to
stay.
At the start of
the story, the
narrator warns:
"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."
O’Shaughnessy
explains: "I
wanted the
readers to
really think
about what
Darren goes
through: losing
his family and
friends because
of something he
did that was
actually good.
But he is in a
situation that
is beyond his
control, and
that’s what
makes it so
frightening."
O’Shaughnessy
has little time
for the likes of
the Buffy the
Vampire Slayer
series, which
turns a scary
theme into light
entertainment.
Cirque Du
Freak is the
first of a
series, but the
author has
already written
the next eight
books and plans
to write 24
books or so in
all. Future
episodes will
follow Darren’s
progress as a
vampire’s
assistant. Agent
Christopher
Little will
handle the
author’s
children’s
titles alongside
his adult
titles.
Although the
title fits well
into it’s
fantasy list,
publishing
Cirque Du freak
is a brave move
for
HarperCollins.
This is a book
where a boy sees
his little
sister as
dinner, where a
grown man swaps
his blood with a
child, and where
circus freaks
are paraded as
entertainment.
It is also one
that, true to
O’Shaughnessy’s
intention, will
prove highly
entertaining to
girls as well as
boys. |
