Scott Westerfeld's Blog, page 21

Fan Art Friday (SOPA Edition)

In celebration of the Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA) and Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) currently being considered by the US Congress, this week's Fan Art Friday will be 100% copyright compliant!

All SOPA-offending elements, such as the remixing and recasting of copyrighted characters and situations, have been censored for your viewing pleasure.

Let's start with this lovely image by CatieKay:

Pretty sweet, huh? How about those two random people having a possibly intimate moment atop an entirely generic (and thus non-copyrightable) flying whale-beast! Sure, we can't SEE what they're doing as the lightning flashes, but at least no one's interfering with my ability to generate income from this touching narrative moment.

And here's a lovely piece of fan art from Unforgiven-Unloved:

This one's very sweet, but of course it would be WRONG to let you see these characters drawn by anyone but Keith Thompson, the only registered and approved artist for the Leviathan series. The dialog is pretty cute too. But let's face it, only I may legally put words into the mouths of Deryn and Alek.

And here's some cool Xmas ornaments from AvistheArtistGeek:

Aww. Tiny Deryn and Alek getting ready to climb the ratlines of Avis's Christmas tree! Too bad that these characters belong to me, and thus her entire Xmas is non-SOPA-compliant! I just hope she takes her decorations down before my lawyers get there.

Ahem.

Most of you have probably seen that Wikipedia is dark today, and that Google's banner page is sad. In fact, a ton of sites on the interwebs are shrouded in various ways. This is, of course, to protest the SOPA and PIPA legislation being considered in the US Congress.

"But wait!" you may be asking. "Is SOPA really so evil?"

It's supporters certainly don't want you to think so. After all, the purpose of SOPA is to protect copyright laws, by which filmmakers, musicians, and novelists (and the corporations that publish them) make money from their work. And that's me!

But as you may have noticed, the internet is a place in which copyright is treated in a rough-and-ready fashion. People gank photos without attribution, create fan fiction and art based on others' work, and make lip-sync music videos without paying for the right to do so.

Gee, how horrible. All those babies dancing to "Single Ladies" FOR FREE.

The problem is that SOPA and PIPA are written only with us copyright owners in mind. The lobbyists who wrote these bills don't care about the rest of you (us, actually, because we all re-mix culture).

Here's one example: PIPA allows companies to sue websites for the crime of linking to other websites that infringe copyright. So if I link to Deviant Art, and someone on Deviant Art (say, jett-wolfe98) has ganked a photo and added Deryn and Alek to it, like so:

Then I can be sued! Not for the image of Alek and Deryn, but for the underlying photograph of the room, which is, after all, a copyrightable thing.

In other words, everyone on the web will become responsible for the behavior of all the sites they link to, always and forever. Deviant Art will be totally gone, as will everything else cool and interesting.

(By the way, if your fan art is here, don't be sad! It will return in its non-censored glory on Friday. Sorry, guys, for using your lovely work to make a point!)

These bills are, of course, absurd at a legal level, and as a practical matter they are nothing less than an attack on the structure of the web, its complex web of links and connections, and upon the content of the web, with its rich culture of re-mixing and re-purposing copyrighted works, like the fan art and fan fiction that appears on this blog. For which, under SOPA, I could sue you guys and everyone who links to you IF I WERE A COLOSSAL ASS-HAT.

But in an effort to fight ass-hattery, I'm joining in this protest today. Not by blocking my site, but by offering you the above edition of Fan Art Friday that meets SOPA's standards, with all the copyright-offending materials blacked out.*

Do you like this version of Fan Art Friday? Would you like everything on the internet to work this way? I think not.

Now, I will mention that President Obama has come out against SOPA/PIPA in its current form. That's a good thing, but it never hurts to keep the pressure on. He will be president for, at most, five more years.

And throughout your lifetime, there will always be people who try to turn spaces of sharing and collaboration into places of buying, selling, and lawsuits. Stay ready to fight them, or you will leave your kids a world where most stuff sucks.

Click here to learn more about SOPA, or to contact your representatives in congress.

Non-SOPA/sucky Fan Art Friday will return on Friday, with the art above and more, uncensored. Like the internet should be.

*Yes, the legal status of fan art and fan fictions is complicated, but if SOPA passes, we're heading toward a world where that status will probably become simpler, and not in a good way.

Alpha Taking Applications

Are you a young writer? Ever thought of going to writing boot camp?

If so, here's quick word from my pals at the Alpha Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Worship for Young Writers:

"The Alpha SF/F/H Workshop for Young Writers (ages 14-19) will be held July 18-27, 2012 in Pittsburgh, PA. At Alpha, students can meet others who share their interest in writing science fiction, fantasy, and horror. They can learn about writing and publishing from guest authors, including Tamora Pierce and Kij Johnson. Also, they will write and revise a short story during the workshop. Applications are due March 1, 2012."

Click here to learn more and apply.

"Also, alumni of the workshop are raising money for the workshop's scholarship fund, which assists Alpha students who need financial aid in order to attend. We have organized an auction, which begins today at noon, with items donated by authors and editors such as George R. R. Martin, Tamora Pierce, John Joseph Adams, Elizabeth Bear, Ellen Kushner, Theodora Goss, Karen Healey, and more. In addition, an anthology of flash fiction written and illustrated by Alpha alumni is available in return for donations of any amount. The auction will run January 13-20, with other donations welcome anytime."

Click here for more on the auction.

Belated FAF

It's Sunday afternoon here in Sydney, and late Saturday night in the US, which can only mean one thing:

Fan Art Friday!

Of course, I have an excuse for being slow, which is that I ended the week with a big reveal of Zane from Uglies: Shay's Story, the graphic novel/manga version of how Shay met the original ugly Crims. (A lot of you thought Zane was insufficiently ugly. Of course, uglies in the Tally's world aren't really ugly, just normal. That is the point of the series, by the way!)

Ever since saying I was out of fan art, I've been deluged. So I won't be posting it all here today. But don't worry, if you've sent me something, it will show up one day soon.

Let us get started. Here are a couple of cool images from gorrin, who has a lovely pastelly style.

I love seeing the Leviathan in color, and roaring!

And here's the rare pieces of fan art showing the steam-powered elephants of Istanbul! (Why aren't more of you guys drawing them?)

I like these two Dalek drawings by Shirushi-sanbusaku. The first shows our pair looking a bit sozzled and having a dance:

And the other is, you know, what happens after the dance.

Note that Shirushi-sanbusaku also did Darwinist Rock on YouTube!

Here's a piece that's not really fan art. A fan of mine was at a show by his art teacher, John W. Bartlett, and found this drawing . . .

. . . and said, "Tazza!" and took a picture to send to me. Of course, it's just your average thylacine, but we thought we'd show you it anyway. (With the permission of Mr. Bartlett, of course.) Tasmanian tigers are so distinctive, which is why so many of us wish they were still around.

Here's a very cute cartoon from Levi, showing the airship/kappa/cruiser battle from Chapters 14-15 of Goliath:

I love the expression on the face of the Kaiserin Elizabeth, the Austrian cruiser. (That was a real ship, by the way.)

And here's some more Dalek, by Carly, which shows Alek in some colorful clothes, for one. (Maybe once he's no longer a prince, he can indulge his innate love of color!)

I quite like this Dalek pairing by TheLanguidClown:

And finally, for you My Little Pony fans, here's a mix between Rainbow Dash and Deryn, by Agehachou. I'm not sure if this is a real reference to Deryn, or whether it's just generic steampunk/My Little Pony crossover. (Because that happens all the time.)

Still, check it out:

Just noticed that this week's FAF was all Leviathan. Does any Uglies fan art exist based on Steven Cumming's drawings for Shay's Story? If so, send it my way!

Okay, that's it for the moment. There is more fan art in the shed, and it will be here in a week. (Less than that, really.)

Zane Wins!

To be sure, it was really close. Zane and Tally were only about two votes apart. (I say "about," because it is boring to count these things accurately.) So let's just reveal Zane this week and Tally next.

*VERY MILD SPOILERS BELOW*

So without further ado, here is (ugly) Zane!

You may recall that the Crims were an ugly gang before they were a pretty clique, and Shay was a member way back then. The manga starts with Shay's first meeting with Zane and the Crims, which is months before she knew Tally at all.

Note also that Zane has blond hair back in his ugly days. He didn't get all black-haired and goth-y till he becomes a pretty. (In manga world, white hair more or less means blond.)

I like this bit of dialog between Zane and Shay. Plus, I HAD to show you some hoverboards.

And finally a panel that involves SLIGHTLY BIGGER SPOILERS, we learn that a dog whistle plays a major part in Shay's Story. (Okay, maybe not a major part. But enough to go "ta-da" about.)

Hope you enjoyed that. Next week we'll be back with Tally Youngblood. And Fan Art Friday will be going up on Saturday, because otherwise I'd have to post two days in a row. And it's my year off, yo.

Pre-order Shay's Story at Indie Bound, BarnesandNoble.com, or Amazon. Or buy it on February 28 at a proper bookstore.

Character Reveal Voting

As promised, I'll be revealing a character from Uglies: Shay's Story (aka the Uglies manga) every week between now and February 28, when it comes out.

I showed you a bit of Croy last week, of course. So who shall it be this time around?

Tally?

David?

Zane?

Astrix?

Ho?

Ryde?

Dr. Cable?

Shay has already been revealed, of course. Ugly Shay, anyway.

Note that we won't be revealing anyone in their pretty form (well, except Dr. Cable and some random residents of New Pretty Town) until Book 2.

Use this comments thread to vote, debate, inveigle, coerce, and otherwise pressure your peers.

You can pre-order Shay's Story at Indie Bound, BarnesandNoble.com, or Amazon. Or purchase it on February 28 at bricks-and-mortar stores everywhere.

Tesla's Letterhead

Just in case you think that my representation of Nikola Tesla in Goliath was over the top, you need to see his letterhead:

Yes. He was THAT cool.

The image in the upper right of the letterhead is one of the remote control boats with which Tesla tries to repel the German walker attack in Chapter 39 of Goliath. They were totally real!

In case you've forgotten, here's Keith Thompson's version:

Of course, the central image in the letterhead is Wardenclyffe Tower, as it was to have appeared had it ever been completed. Note that Keith and I cheated a bit to make it more spectacular:

But as you can tell from the letterhead, it was pretty awesome anyway.

So keep this image on your phone or whatever, so that if you ever get transported back to the early 1900s, you can get in touch with Tesla. (As you can see, his phone number is "8080 Bryant." I'm not sure how you dial that.)

And while we're on the subject of mad scientists, I'll take the opportunity to reveal my new author photo:

Photo from Moonie Baloonie. It no doubt took all day in Photoshop to get my eyes that red. Appreciate it!

FAF with Radio Interview

After my continent-spanning tour for Goliath, I did what's called a "radio tour" for the book. This phrase may sound mildly glamorous, but what it really means isn't so much "tour" as "sit in a room and talk on the phone to strangers at weird hours of the day."

Alas, some of these strangers will be drive-time yuck-meisters who talk in their funny radio voices EVEN WHEN NOT ON THE RADIO. It is churlish to complain about any form of publicity, but those guys hurt my brain.

Them: "So what ABOUT that World War I, huh? It was a PRETTY BIG DEAL!"

Me: "Yes. About fifteen million people were killed, and another thirty million succumbed to the Spanish flu cause by the dislocation of–"

Them: "So, are they gonna make a MOVIE?"

Rest assured, though, that many of my interviewers were articulate hosts who'd read the book and had cool questions. I thought I'd share one of the resulting interviews, from Texas Public Radio's Some Books Considered. The host is Dan Skinner.

(And yes, it DOES sound like I have a lisp. I think that's my crappy phone's fault. Well, not MY phone. I don't actually have a landline, and had to borrow one. Because, excuse me, LANDLINE? Sorry, but 1993 called and asked to have their communication protocols back, so I sent them all the twisted copper in my house.)

Click here to listen to the interview at TPR's site.

And now for some FAF.

Two weeks ago, I said that Helen Yoon's lovely piece of fan art would make a good poster for Goliath, the Musical. And someone did it . . .

Remix by is by Margaret E. Original art by Helen Yoon.

And here are two chibi pieces from Helen. Lil' Lord Alek:

And the mighty Deryn Sharp, of the Clan McSharp:

Chibi versions of a character allow us to see into the true soul of that character. Of this I approve.

And from one of my rather younger readers, Jeremiah, here's a Clanker vs. Darwinist battle!

I can't tell you how many things like this I used to draw as a kid. But it was always either World War II or aliens vs. tanks. But I never did any drawings with a bat-poo attack. No, we didn't have bat-poo warfare in my day. We used to lie awake at night, dreaming of bat-poo warfare. You kids don't know how lucky you are.

And here's a sketch from Eli, clearly inspired by the Goliath bonus chapter:

I can see there's going to be more Alek in a dress stuff. And why not?

And here's something for those of you who've been asking for more Newkirk. Here he is! On an old-school motorcycle!

And finally, this steampunk scrapbook by fanpireashley:

It is a beautiful thing.

For the first time in a year or so, my coffers are slightly low on fan art. Maybe it's because the series is *sniffs* over. But feel free to send some my way.

Please Enjoy Some Croy

Shay's Story, the manga-style graphic novel telling the Uglies story from Shay's POV, comes out February 28, 2012. Also known as 56 days from now!

During this eight-week countdown, I'll be treating you to reveals of all the characters, one per week. We will be voting each week about what character to show, but because Croy would win all the votes, we'll' just start with him.

Here are three images of the same panel, showing the pencils, inks, and toned stages that every page goes through. And yes, I get to comment at every stage. Quality control!

Without further ado, I offer you Croy on a hoverboard:

The art is by Steven Cummings, who you can follow on Twitter, or check out on Deviant art. The toning and lettering are by Yishan Li. Text by me and Devin Grayson.

You can pre-order Shay's Story at Indie Bound, BarnesandNoble.com, or Amazon. Or purchase it on February 28 at bricks-and-mortar stores everywhere.

A Musical Interlude

I have a party to plan, so there will be no FAF this week. But there will be more blogging very soon.

Happy New Year's, all.

Fan Art Friday (Xmas Edition)

Before I FAF you, let me mention two cool things.

1) There's a podcast reading of my short story "Ass-Hat Magic Spider" up at the Dunesteef Audio Fiction magazine. You should go check it out. The story starts about 4:30 in, after some yucks between the hosts.

2) Next week I'm going to be live-tweeting an old movie with various friends around the world (namely, @justinelavaworm, @readingincolor, and @gwenda). In other words, we'll all be putting the DVD in at the same time, watching it in sync, and tweeting VERY witty things. Or just crapping on about Cary Grant's amazing car, ore likely. Why are we doing this? Because it seemed like fun, and @readingincolor hadn't seen it yet.

The movie is called Topper, and is a screwball comedy about dying in a car accident and then messing with your banker as a ghost. (Seriously. People laughed at some weird stuff back then.)

If you're on the twitter machine, please feel free to join in.

Time: 8:30PM US EST

Date: Tuesday Dec 27

(Sydney Time: 12:30PM Wed Dec 28)

Hashtag: #Topper

And now for some FAF! Today's FAF will have unusually low editorial content, because I have a seven-course meal to cook the day after tomorrow. All my spreadsheets are full of recipes! Also, the fan art has been building up over the last few weeks, and I haven't always kept records of who sent what. If I haven't attributed the art, please identify yourself in the comments.

We should start with this seasonal confection from the excellent @NovelNovice's mom:

Snow airmen! Snairmen!

This is cool. I saw it on Twitter, but I can't remember who did it.

Abigail sent me this one of Deryn.

I like her smile. Deryn is more of a smiler than Alek.

This one is by AdventureIsOutThere. I think the expressions tell an interesting story. What dialog would you caption it with?

Here's some Dr. Barlow cosplay. Again I can't remember whom.

That's a great Barlow expression.

I LOVE this shot of Deryn hanging out on the ratlines. It's by Helen Yoon, and should totally be the poster for the Leviathan musical. Feel free to photoshop it into exactly that!

This next one is by Melissa, and shows Alek walking in on Deryn in a dress. (It predates the Bonus Chapter, obviously.)

Love the look of this next piece by Jesidres. Apparently Alek has held onto Tesla's walking stick. (I never exactly say what happened to it, after all.)

This next one is by Maile. Just Dalek, hanging out in Istanbul after the war. You know. No big thing.

It's nice to see them just having fun.

And this is not properly fan art at all. It's just a picture of Princess Margaret of Prussia. But it TOTALLY looks like Deryn if she had wound up marrying into the Hapsburgs. As in NOT very happy.

"Alek, you know your family are barking mad, don't you? LOOK AT WHAT THEY MADE ME WEAR TO BREAKFAST," is clearly what she's saying. With her eyes.

And penultimately, a pair of pencils pieces portraying our princely protagonist and his pugilistic protector.

Hmm. Can't seem to find who did this one either. I ADMIT TO SUCKING AT CERTAIN FORMS OF ORGANIZATION. Do not let me do your taxes.

And finally, here's another entry in a long-running competition I call, "No, it is I who mark up my books most of anyone, ever!" (Also known as America's Top Post-It Model.) This time it's the new edition of Uglies:

Sophie sent that, by the way. (Sometimes I know!)

Thanks to everyone, named and unnamed, for sending in such fabulous fan art. It's the best present a writer could ever hope for.

Have a happy Hanukwanzamas, materialistic orgy of capitalist consumption, or whatever's happening at your place. I might take some time off from blogging, so see you after the New Year.

It will be all Uglies Manga, all the time!