Scott Westerfeld's Blog, page 35
May 5, 2010
Let There Be Cake!
No, not the theoretical fifth book in the Uglies series, but Cinco de Mayo birthday cake! For me! Because it is my birthday!
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by Baby Cakes and Confections
Rather more steampunk than Cinco de Mayo, but that's how I rofl.
I'm taking off today, of course, but I'll be joining whoever wants to chat in the next Forum Meet-Up:
Saturday May 8th
7PM US EST
Midnight in London
9AM (May 9) Australia Eastern
Here at the WesterForum.
And now I'm off to party on the bottom of the sea. Seriously.
Ciao for now ...
April 29, 2010
Why Pants Are Legal in Kansas
While writing Leviathan, I did a fair amount of research on women who passed as men to serve in the armed forces. I also checked out the laws about women wearing men's clothing, to find out what would happen if Deryn were ever caught in her deception. Armed with this knowledge, I can inform you that this is a very important day . . .
It's the hundredth anniversary of the Explicit Legalization of Pants in Kansas! (Otherwise known as ELPK Day.)
As you can see, the word "Explicit" is very...
April 21, 2010
Chicago and IRA
Back in the US for two measly weeks, and already I'm getting back on a plane. To Chicago!
On Monday night I have a public event at Anderson's Bookshop in Napierville with D. J. MacHale, author of the Pendragon series.
Here are the details:
Monday, April 26
7:00PM – 8:30PM
Scott Westerfeld & D. J. MacHale Joint Event
Anderson's Bookshop
123 W. Jefferson • Naperville, IL 60540
Then on Tuesday I'm headed to the International Reading Association's annual do, where I'll be speaking on a panel and...
April 11, 2010
From Russia with Covers
A Russian fan recently directed me to this site, which gives a full accounting of books by my Russian alter-ego, Скотт Вестерфельд. (Technically, Скотт is not an alter-ego, given that he is, in fact, me. But I prefer to imagine him as an actual other person, reading this post and chuckling as he consumes champagne and caviar, surrounded by all the author's copies that my Russian publishers never bother to send me.)
I've always enjoyed Скотт's covers, which have a pulpish fabulosity that...
March 31, 2010
The Moon Is Mine
I just got a new telescope. It's happily snoozing in the guest room at the moment, and doesn't wish to be photographed, but here's a picture of the moon I took with it last night. This was with my iPhone camera held up to the eyepiece, so you'd think it would suck. But my telescope makes even this silly procedure AWESOME.
Observe:
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That's a tiny bit of the moon, because from now on I am magnified. Must now learn the names of all the craters and snack bars on the moon.
Here are Four Other Things ...
March 24, 2010
Ada Lovelace Day!
I sort of missed it, but yesterday was Ada Lovelace Day!
Ada Lovelace, of course, is the patron saint of Dess, the hypernumerate character from my Midnighters series. She's also one of the towering figures in the history of computing, given that she wrote the world's first computer program . . . back in 1843. This achievement is as amazing as it sounds, given that the computer didn't exist back then, except in theory. But that didn't stop Ada.
It's stories like this that make me realize that...
March 20, 2010
Support Alpha!
The Alpha Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror Workshop for Young Writers is an annual retreat for twenty young writers (ages 14-19) who spend ten days working with professionals to improve their craft. It's an awesome workshop, especially this year, because Holly Black and Tamora Pierce are two of the tutors.
Now, you may be thinking, I'd like to do that some day! Indeed you can, but not this year, because applications are already closed. However, you can support those who have been accepted this y...
March 15, 2010
Chat on Wednesday (Thursday in Oz)
All times USian. In Australia, we're talking Thursday, noon Sydney, 9am Perth.
And don't forget I'll be hanging out at Readergirlz all month.
In other news, check out the cover of Uglies in its Brazilian Portuguese version.
March 4, 2010
Fan Art Friday Fandango!
I missed a couple of walker Wednesdays there, so here's a lovely bit of Lego fan art. It's one of the German scout walkers from Chapter 18 of Leviathan:
Cool, huh? It's by Jonathen Haney.
It makes me stupidly happy that this piece is roughly the same scale as the Lego Stormwalker I showed you here back in January, because they both use the same-size little Lego peoples! So they could, like, fight each other.
I have much more Leviathan fan art waiting to get shown, so here are a couple of bonus p...
February 28, 2010
Leviathan on Readergirlz
Starting today and for all of March, Leviathan will be the featured book on Readergirlz.
For those of you who don't know the site, Readergirlz is a YA and middle-grade book reviews, chats, and inside scoops. Read their manifesta page for more.
For the whole month the site will have features about me and Leviathan, and I'll be doing a chat there on March 17 (US time):
Hope you get a chance to check it out.
In other news, Leviathan has been short-listed for the Andre Norton Award for outstanding y...
