Darren Shan Zom-B 1/30/13 Frisco

I’ll be truthful; I didn’t know what I was getting into with this one. I didn’t recognize the name of Darren Shan but I know Zombies are big and that the Frisco B&N had fairly big names.  So I went.

I had to work late but figured getting there at the start time was more than enough time.  Well, it was. Darren Shan arrived a smidge past 7PM with his Sonic milkshake in hand.  He looked unto a crowd of 50 or 60 people; mostly pre-teens and young teens.

He started talking and then he talked more. He did 2 readings and answered questions for a full hour. I am sure he thrilled every fan. For someone that started his day at 6AM, and worked late, and hadn’t eaten yet, I was not thrilled. I was cranky and tired.

He was friendly and reachable and patient. He answered all questions and sidestepped the ones he didn’t want to answer with humor and the reason why he wouldn’t answer the question.

The line was slow; which also thrilled his fans.  He chatted with every one and posed for pictures with everyone; often 2 or more photos.  The kids were thrilled. Again, I was not. 

He was averaging 1 minute and 45 seconds a person. Really.  I had enough time to figure out how to use the stopwatch feature on my phone and then do 20 laps.  I was bored. To make matters worse I was very near the end of the line. 60 people at 1.75 minutes per person…Yes, I got out of there about 9:45PM. Way past this hound’s bedtime.

Enough about me and my crankiness.

My mood brighten as I found out he wrote the Cirque du Freak books. One of which spawned a movie.  He was nice enough to sign a copy of that too.  He was more than willing to sign all the back list books you would bring.  He would only personalize the first one though.

So even though my feet hurt I’m glad I went.

AH