Just a reminder that I’m doing a chat tonight with with Justine Larbalestier and Sarah Rees Brennan, co-authors of the upcoming book, Team Human.

Here are some ways in which the chat may be interesting:

1) Sarah and Justine wrote the novel together in secret. They didn’t even tell their agents! (Sort of like eloping.)

2) It was the first novel either of them had collaborated on.

3) They have very different writing styles. (Sarah outlines everything. Justine wings it.)

4) They live on different continents. (Sarah was in Ireland during the writing, and Justine in NYC.)

5) And finally, the book itself is a paranormal romance, but it’s not about a girl who’s in love with the vampire. It’s about her best friend . . .

Basically, Team Human is the story what happens when your best friend falls in love, and then starts ignoring you. Except when she’s telling you in endless detail how amazing her new boyfriend is, or when she comes to cry on your shoulder when things aren’t working out. In short, TH is about how friendship can suffer when love is in the air, and about how much worse the suffering gets when the new boyfriend is a gorgeous immortal bloodsucker, and wants to turn your BFF into one too.

So we’ll probably be discussing the genre of paranormals overall, and how Sarah and Justine wanted to shake the usual formula up a bit.

But when does this chat happen?

Tonight! (Sunday, July 8)
8PM Eastern US Time
5PM on the west coast and 10AM Monday in Australia.

Click here to go to the chat page. Hope to see you there.

And here’s the official trailer:

Sorry I’ve missed the last two Fridays, but at last FAF is BACK!

Okay, so Dalek Week is approaching over at Deviant Art. It runs from July 8 to 14, and is a seven-day challenge, each day with a different Deryn-and-Alek-y theme. (Click here for more details.) So I thought I’d start with a couple of entries from last year’s Dalek Week.

First here’s one from the estimable PrinceofParties, which reminds me of a certain schoolyard taunt (containing the line, “K-I-S-S-I-N-G”).

So romantic.

And here from Sorcaron, a sorta metaphorical image of Darwinist and Clanker angels:

Those wings of Alek’s have an interesting story behind them. When Keith and I were first conceptualizing the series, Keith wanted to start with portraits of Alek and Deryn. (Those portraits appear in the original Leviathan trailer, and will be in the Manual of Aeronautics, along with newer ones of Barlow and Volger.) He spent a lot of time on frames that signified the warring powers, and which began the notion of two distinct Clanker and Darwnist aesthetics. Then Sammy Yuen, the designer for the original Levaiathan cover, used Alek’s Clanker wings on the cover. Since then, that visual motif has become the symbol of the series. So it’s great to see it here in angelic-Alek form.

And here’s Deryn doing some Clanker stuff, and I have no idea whom this is from, or where it was created. Help me!

And now some Japanese fan art! Thanks to Brita O. for sending these along.

Both from Pivix.net. I don’t know who did them, because the whole site’s in Japanese. But they’re really cool.

This one’s called “Thinking”:

Link to original.

And the text here says, “There’s no way jellyfish balloons can be that cute!”

Link to original. Kawaiiii!

And now a great Deryn poster from SarahD:

And finally, here’s some rare So Yesterday fan art from Camilla. It’s called “French Revolution,” which will make sense t

Team Human is out now! (In both the US and Australia. w00T!)

Click here for more about the book. Or here to read some of the scintillating reviews.

Here’s the awesome trailer!

If you do Twitter, there will be a big tweet-up about the book AT SIX PM TODAY (US east coast time) with the co-authors, Justine Larbalestier and Sarah Rees Brennan. Here are the details:

UPDATE: The tweet-up is over now but it went splendidly, and trended WORLDWIDE!

If you missed the tweet-up, come chat with all three of us at Figment.com on Sunday:

Sunday July 8
8PM US-ET (5PM Pacific Time, 10AM Monday AUS-ET)

We’ll be discussing what it’s like to collaborate on a novel, which should be interesting. Click here to find out more.

Okay, that’s it. See you on Friday for FAF!

June was Audiobook Month, which I forgot, because it’s not like Halloween where everybody keeps reminding you it’s coming up (which seems unfair because audiobooks are at least as awesome as chocolate eggs). But allow me to make up for this with some Videos of Me.

First I go behind the scenes with Alan Cumming, audiobook narrator of the Leviathan series audiobooks and all-around awesome actor. (Floop! Nightcrawler! And now MacBeth!)

If you want to hear a sample of Alan actually reading the books, we can arrange that too. Click for the first chapters of Leviathan, Behemoth, or Goliath.

And lastly, here’s me in one of early prototype ads for Levaiathan. (You can see how much I’ve aged over the last three years. Touring does that.)

Hah, fooled you! Not actually me, but MaxSanKoll. A young YouTube talent who made this and a much weirder sequel, which gets bonus points for the Imogen Heap soundtrack,

Okay, return to your homes. FAF will return next Friday (or maybe Saturday) when I get to my dad’s house to chill out after my exhausting trip to New York. While there, I’ll be doing an online chat with Justine Larbalestier and Sarah Rees Brennan, co-authors of the upcoming book, Team Human. Mostly we’ll be discussing what it’s like to collaborate on a novel.

Figment.com Chat
Sunday July 8
8PM US-ET (5PM Pacific Time, 10AM Monday AUS-ET)
Click here to find out more.

Now go buy or check out from the library some audio books, even though it’s July.

Here are a few things I’ll be doing in the next month while in the US.

First is an online chat with Figment.com.

Sunday July 8
8PM US-ET (5PM Pacific Time, 10AM Monday AUS-ET)

I’ll be chatting with Justine Larbalestier and Sarah Rees Brennan, co-authors of the upcoming book, Team Human. Mostly we’ll be discussing what it’s like to collaborate on a novel.

Click here to find out more.

I’ll also be at San Diego Comic Con

I have three events in San Diego, two singings and a panel. The panel isn’t official yet, but will be soon, so check back here or on my Appearances page. But I do know when the signings are:

Thursday July 12
noon-1PM
Mysterious Galaxy Booth
I’ll be signing and chatting to anyone who drops by. Mysterious Galaxy will have plenty of my books for sale.

Sunday July 15th
1:30-2:30pm
Autograph area AA09 in the Sails Pavilion
Signing with me will be Nathan Bransford (Jacob Wonderbar for President of the Universe), and featuring Leigh Bardugo (Shadow and Bone), James Dashner (Maze Runner), Kami Garcia (Beautiful Creatures), Tahereh Mafi (Unravel Me), Melina Marchetta (Froi of the Exiles), Lish McBride (Hold Me Closer, Necromancer), Myra McEntire (Hourglass).

I won’t be touring this year, but I hope I get to see some of you in the next month, either online or at SDCC.

Welcome to part 3 of the Manual of Aeronautics art reveal. As you may recall, the voting for part 2 was very close between the Stormwalker and the Clanker uniforms. The Stormwalker won by a hair, but second place counts!

So rather than vote again, let’s just get with the Clanker uniforms. I know from my mail that lots of you cosplayers have been waiting for these color versions, so you’ll be pleased by that, and by the detail on these. (Of course, they’re a lot more detailed in the book. Computer screens have about 100 pixels per inch, but printed paper is between 600 and 1600 pixels per inch.)

This reveal shows what Alek and Volger would typically wear into battle.

Alek is wearing a typical walker pilot’s uniform. Above the waist, it’s based on the historical Austrian cavalry officer’s uniform, but the trousers and knee padding are special for pilots. You would bang the crap out of your knees and shins working in a walker, Keith surmised, and designed accordingly. (Also, Keith told me that the pilot’s pickelhaube helmet has a special foldy-downy spike, so he won’t poke his crewmates).

Volger’s is more of a classic cavalry uniform, because he wasn’t really in an armored unit. (He just got stuck riding around in the Stormwalker.) Note his crazy flat-topped helmet, which is called a schapska. Schapskas are typically worn by cavalry units that used lances, though by 1914 most of them would have switched to rifles and swords (especially in the Leviathan universe, with armored walkers roaming around). Volger doesn’t actually wear his schapska in the book, because he never appears in full dress uniform.

This page in the Manual itself will also show the walker crewman uniforms, such as Klopp, Hoffman, and Bauer would wear. And there’s another two-page spread with four Darwinist air-navy uniforms (sailors, riggers, officers, and midshipmen), complete with all their various patches and equipment.

Hope you like these, and keep up the costly!

You can pre-order the Manual from the usual online joints: Powell’s, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, or IndieBound. And it will be at your local bricks-and-mortar store on August 21.

Back in early April I announced the new UK Uglies covers, which look like this:

They are beautiful, are they not?

But here’s the thing, they left the best for last. Behold the incredibly beautiful new Extras cover:

Love the yellow and black together. Like bees!

Again, these are the covers in the UK, not the US. So you probably won’t be able to find them outside of the Commonwealth. But it’s not like the new US covers aren’t awesome too.

See you later this week, with the next Manual of Aeronautics art reveal: The Uniforms of Clanker-land!

It’s still Friday on the west coast of the US, so I give you Fan Art Friday, the technically not-late edition.

First, here’s a great video from Christina and Douglas, visualizing the Faceplay software from “Facing the Future” (Also known as Chapter 4 of Uglies).

Ugly to Pretty – WIP from Christina Hall on Vimeo.

Pretty cool, huh? I’ve always thought this would be a cool scene in the movie.

If my embed isn’t working for you, click here to check it out on Vimeo (and slightly bigger!).

And next, a very amusing cartoon from Soraia, riffing on the Perils of Pauline chapter in Goliath:

That whole chapter came about because I was researching William Randolph Hearst, and found out that he was behind the Perils of Pauline series of films, which began in 1914. So I decided to watch them, and discovered that in the very first one, the eponymous heroine gets blown away in a hydrogen balloon, not unlike a certain Scottish cross-dresser! So I just HAD to show Alek seeing the movie as part of his education that girls could do cool stuff.

Though I’d like to claim that I planned this symmetry between books 1 and 3 from the beginning, it’s merely a coincidence. But it proves that if you do your research, you will be rewarded. And coincidence or not, I’m super glad to see it pop up here in fan art form.

The dialog in this comic is quite funny, so click here to see it bigger and zoomable.

Here from Carly is some rare Midnighters fan art, showing Jessica at a certain climactic moment in Blue Noon.

That’s a scene that I had planned from back in book 1, as you will see if you look at chapter 4 of The Secret Hour. Sometimes I am good at first-shoeing things.

And here from MoonieBalloonie, a pensive-looking Lilit:

I always love how distinctive Lilit is, thanks to her cool Armenian attire.

And finally, from Victoria, some Dalek!

Okay, I’m headed to America soon, so I must go pack or whatever. (My only public appearance will be at Comic Con.)

Hope you all have a good weekend.

Yes, it’s time to reveal the cover of the sequel to Shay’s Story!

But first, I’m doing two appearances in the near future, one in the real world and one online.

The first will be a chat on Figment.com. I’ll be chatting with Justine Larbalestier and Sarah Rees Brennan, co-authors of the upcoming book, Team Human. We’ll be discussing collaborations in general, and what it’s like for experienced novelists to work with other writers.

I don’t have a link yet, but it will happen at 8PM US Eastern Time on Sunday, July 8.

My second set of appearances will be at Comic Con. The panels aren’t set yet, but I will have a signing on Sunday:

San Diego Comic Con
1:30-2:30pm
Sunday July 15th
Autograph area AA09 in the Sails Pavilion

Lots of other writers will be at this signing, but I’ll reveal those details later. Also, I will probably have another signing on a different day. Stay tuned.

So, without further ado, here’s the cover to Uglies: Cutters . . .

Hope you like it.

There was flu here at Casa Larbfeld South this weekend, so FAF is taking another holiday. SORRY. But you’ll get lashings of fan art this coming Friday.

I’ve never seen the Manual of Aeronautics art reveal voting so close! I might have to actually count the votes by hand, AND THIS WOULD BE HARD.

So let’s just say this: today we do the Stormwalker, and in a couple of weeks the Clanker uniforms (AKA Cosplay Color Guide). And I’ll keep the Sultan’s Elephant in the running for the next vote.

Okay? Okay.

Then here is . . . the Cyklop Stormwalker, revealed!

Image by Keith Thompson. Click here for the BIGNESS. You know you want to.

As you may know, the images for the Manual were first created as world-building exercises. In other words, they started life guides for my writing and Keith’s future illustrations, and only later became fodder for The Manual of Aeronautics.

I first saw this one very early on, about halfway through Leviathan. Until that moment I hadn’t realize how cramped the Stormwalker would have to be, especially with five people riding around in it. Seeing this cutaway changed the whole way those interior scenes were written, because it was so cramped. (No crossing of legs or waving of arms. Just constrained movements and facial expressions?)

But seriously, just imagine riding around in this thing for weeks on end. It would be super oppressive and make everyone cranky. I hope I got that across.

BONUS WRITING ADVICE: I recommend that all you aspiring novelists to create visual aids like this. Even if your book is set in a regular civilian house, making a floor plan can be incredibly useful. Even if your readers never see these plans, they’ll sense whether you know how your world is put together or not.

For example, seeing this cutaway made me add the bit where Volger sticks his head out and then prods Alek with his feet. So it was good not only for atmosphere, but also for a moment of comedy between the two.

Note that this isn’t the only image of the Stormwalker in the Manual. There will also be:

1) Two outside images, comparing Alek’s Hapsburg House Guard Stormwalker to the standard Austrian Army issue.

2) An interior image, showing how the controls work!

Okay, see you Friday, and probably before then. The cover of part 2 of the Uglies manga Cutters should be here soon.

It’s time to vote again for the next art reveal from The Manual of Aeronautics, the four-color all singing and dancing art supplement to the Leviathan series. This time we’re going Clanker!

Here are the three possibilities:

1) The Sultan’s elephant walker

2) An interior cutaway of the Stormwalker

3) And for you cosplayers, Alek’s and Count Volger’s uniforms in full color!

Use this comment thread to argue and discuss all you want, but please vote by number.

Other News

If you’re age 18 to 25 and live in Queensland, Australia, the State Library is running a Young Writers Award competition that you might be interested in. It has a first-place cash prize of $2,000, and also lots of runners-up prizes, including a 12-month youth membership to Queensland Writers Centre. Any story length of up to 2500 words is acceptable.

You can find more info by clicking here.

Vote early and often!

Because we’ve all been enjoying my Russian covers lately, I want to show you one of the paintings without any clutter, like my name and the title.

So here’s The Last Days (sequel to Peeps) from our Russian brothers, pure and unadulterated:

Not sure how YA this looks, given how much it ups the ante on the bondage-y look of the first cover. And points are subtracted because no cat, but that’s made up for by Brooklyn Bridge bonus points!

Here’s the cover with the title and stuff, which for some reason I can’t find except in low-res form.

If anyone finds a bigger version with type, please let me know.

And now, three other things:

1) If you want to check out more of my foreign covers, Michael Grimm is building a site with all the Westerfeldian foreign covers he can find. It’s not done yet, but it has a ton of covers, including ones I’ve never received copies of. (Serbia, I’m looking at you!)

Click here to check it out.

2) Team Human, the next book by my lovely wife Justine and Sarah Rees Brennan, just got it’s third starred review, this one from Publisher’s Weekly.

“This smart and entertaining novel—part Nancy Drew with vampires, part thoughtful and provocative story about assumptions—fully blooms in the second half. Themes of honest friendship and freedom of choice mix with zombies, accidental romance, a diverse and complex cast, and sharply funny dialogue to create a thoroughly enjoyable read with a core of unexpected depth.”

Here’s the rest of that review. And click here for more reviews of TH.

3) Sticking with Justine, last year she gave a Guest of Honor speech at Sirens, a fantasy lit conference in Colorado, about monsters, feminism, and Elvis. (And about being raised on an aboriginal settlement, being a fan of problematic songs, movies, and many other things.) She’s just turned it into a lengthy post on her blog, which can read by clicking here.

Okay, that’s it. No FAF this week, because we are on the fortnightly schedule at the moment. But I’ll have a new Manual of Aeronautics art reveal voting thread up soon!

A Portuguese fan named Guilherme Pires has kindly translated the post-Goliath Bonus Chapter I wrote last year. Huge thanks to him for this service. I hope that all you Portuguese-speakers out there enjoy it.

(NOTE BRAZILIANS, this is a huge spoiler, because Leviathan isn’t out yet, but will be in two months!)

Anyway, here we go . . .

– Esta situação é absurda – disse Alek.

– Pela qual apenas se pode culpar a si –?Esboçando um ligeiro sorriso, o Conde Volger recostou-se no sofá de veludo púrpura do quarto de hotel. – Avisei-o para não fazer aquela aposta.

– Era uma questão de princípio!

– Ah, jovem príncipe, ou Sr. Hohenberg, se faz tanta questão, será que nunca irá aprender que quando se trata de um julgamento por combate, não há princípios? Apenas força bruta.

Alek deixou o espelho e virou-se para lançar um olhar frio ao conde. – Um julgamento por combate? Muito engraçado – Suspirou ele. – Eu realmente não pensei que ela me pudesse derrotar.

– Miss Sharp passou vários meses a escalar às enfrechaduras. Calculo que faça maravilhas pelos músculos.

Alek assentiu, esfregando o ainda dorido bicep direito. Tinha mesmo sido uma batalha. Um verdadeiro julgamento por combate!?Num instante, ele e Deryn estavam a ter uma discussão perfeitamente razoável sobre os méritos dos dois sexos, força, resistência, tolerância à dor, e subitamente ele tinha dito algo imperdoável e Deryn estava a desafia-lo para um braço-de-ferro.

Ser derrotado por ela não teria sido assim tão mau, afinal ela era Deryn Sharp, mas Alek tinha ido demasiado longe e feito aquela aposta idiota.

Se ao menos esta festa de Final de Ano não fosse um baile de máscaras. Nunca irei entender a adoração que os britânicos têm por disfarces. Todos os funcionários da Sociedade Zoológica de Londres andaram a palrar durante vários dias sobre os disfarces que iriam usar. A maioria iria como monstrinhos, ou grandes cientistas famosos, ou caricaturas de figuras modernas como políticos ou clérigos dos Macacos Ludistas. Outros iriam ficar-se pelos disfarces mais clássicos: anjos, demónios, Grécia antiga, ou fadas do bosque.

Como novatos na Sociedade, tanto ele como Deryn tinham estado algo ansiosos quanto à escolha dos seus disfarces. (E para Alek, toda aquela coisa dos disfarces parecia-lhe francamente vulgar, mesmo agora que ele já tinha renunciado a toda a sua herança e pretensões de realeza.)

Portanto, um braço-de-ferro tinha parecido uma ideia brilhante para resolver aquele assunto, pelo menos para um deles. E tal como o Conde Volger lhe continuava a lembrar, a aposta tinha sido uma ideia inteiramente sua.

Até teria sido divertido, se ao menos ele não tivesse perdido. Então seria Deryn e não ele a usar um vestido. Ele tinha de admitir que a sua própria curiosidade o tinha precipitado para aquela aposta imprudente. Como ficaria Deryn com vestuário adequado ao seu próprio género?

Não que ele se importe de a ver de calças e blusão todos os dias. Parte do apelo da sua relação, assentava no facto de ele saber algo sobre ela que apenas mais meia dúzia de pessoas sabiam. Mas mesmo assim, ele estava tão curioso como qualquer rapaz na sua situação estaria.

– Este faux-cul está no sítio correcto?– Perguntou ele.?– Há apenas um único sitio para usar um faux-cul, Alek.

E é exactamente esse – Gracejou o conde Volger. – Não lhe parece . . . desnecessariamente grande?

– Certamente uma interrogação com a qual as mulheres se vem defrontando há décadas.

– Não seja impertinente, Conde. Eu estava a falar do faux-cul – Disse Alek enquanto endireitava os laços que se espalhavam praticamente por todo o

I have had interesting news about my work in progress this week, but it’s all super secret. It’s pretty cool, though, and you will all hear it about one day.

One day soon? MAYBE. Maybe one day somewhat less soon. But one day. I PROMISE.

Let me just say that things they are a-brewin’.

In the meantime, it’s time for FAF! Let’s do this.

We begin with some cool 3-D projects. First is a Clanker lamp from Kirsten. Here it is, both in its raw form and with the shade on:

Like I’ve often said, one of my favorite things to come out of Keith’s illustrations is the sense they give of Clanker and Darwinist physical culture. Not just machines and beasties, but simple things like desks and lamps. So thanks to Kirsten for following that vision.

And here’s Haley’s cool Leviathan-wing ring:

The wing wasn’t entirely Keith’s creation. It was something that the designer of the hardback cover of Levaithan, Sammy Yuen, put together from pieces of Keith’s art.

Speaking of wings, here’s Kaitlyn’s cool shot of Deryn using her body-kite outfit:

Nice. Love the color scheme, and the fact that it makes Deryn look a bit like the shot of Lilit from Behemoth.

And here’s another one from Kaitlyn with that always favorite theme: hangin’ on the ratlines:

And from Patricia, a blow-up of A CERTAIN CREATURE WEARING A CERTAIN COMEDY COSTUME PIECE. SEE IF YOU CAN GUESS BEFORE LOOKING.

Okay. I think you were right:

And finally some Uglies action, a cityscape of New Pretty Town from Trenton:

What I love about this is that it calls to mind the classic Saul Steinberg image of how New Yorkers see the world:

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