Scott Westerfeld's Blog, page 43

Disquisitions on Alternate History

Back at BookExpo America in May, Cassie Claire, Holly Black and I were on an Alternate History panel together. I was talking about Leviathan, of course; Cassie was talking about her followup to the Shadow Hunter books, called Clockwork Princess: The Infernal Devices #1; and Holly Black was talking about her 2010 book White Cat.

We managed to say some clever things about what it's like to write alternate histories, why people read them, how researching is a pain, and why antibiotics are good. The

Lindy Hopping: I Haz Proof!

Those of you who follow my wife Justine's blog know that two months ago she was challenged by various no-goodnicks to learn to Lindy hop. This bizarre challenge came about because she's writing a novel set in the 1930s, when Lindy hopping (an early form of swing dance) was all the rage. Justine proclaimed that she'd only do it if her fans raised $5,000 for the New York Public Library. Which they did!

So we took lessons.

Justine doesn't like being video'd, so I had to take secret footage. Heh, heh.

Various Stuff!

This is a quick post to keep all you non-Twitterers up to date.

1) Alan Cumming is performing the audiobook version of Leviathan! For those of you who don't know, he's a broadway actor who became famous starring in Cabaret. He's also known to X-Men fans as Nightcrawler, and he was Fegan Floop (AKA the bad guy) in Spy Kids.

But I was a fan of his way back when he was unknown on these USian shores, and doing a BBC2 show called The High Life, which he co-wrote as well as starring in. It's about two f

More Leviathan Art

It's the beginning of the month, so it's time to post another delicious piece of Keith's art for Leviathan! So here, direct from Chapter 4, is "Ascending."

[image error]

Illustration by Keith Thompson

In case you missed it, here's the first piece of art I revealed, also from Chapter 4. And here's the cover.

So what is this picture? Well, that would be spoiling, so you'll have to wait until October 6 to find out.

Enjoy!

And don't forget, you can pre-order Leviathan from pretty much anywhere!

Update on the Uglies Movie

As I mentioned in my last post, I spent part of Friday afternoon on the phone with the Uglies movie production team. It was great to go into that conversation armed with all the suggestions you guys have been making, both here and on my Twitter feed.

So thanks for all your input. Now here’s what’s going on:

Uglies is currently optioned to be a movie, or possibly a series of movies if the first one does well. To “option” a book is Hollywood-speak for buying the exclusive right to make a movie based

Uglies Movie

Do I have your attention now? Good.

Okay, so let’s say you were going to talk on the phone tomorrow with the producers of the Uglies movie. What would you most want to tell them?

Don’t get into specific casting suggestions or anything like that, because you are a mere author, and they are powerful and wise in the ways of Hollywood. But what one key thing—big or small—should they never forget while working on the film(s)?

Comment away. You have until 3PM Wednesday, New York time.

Time Change

Dear Commenters, please note that I have set the local time on this blog to UMT +3:30, the time zone of Tehran, Iran. Normally I’m set to Sydney time, which confuses you guys all the, um, time. So I doubt it will make your comment time-stamps any messier than usual.

Here’s the reason for this change: Censors in Iran are currently searching for blogs with Tehran local settings as a way of finding and shutting down sites that are protesting Iran’s recent (probably stolen) election. The more blogs i

The Importance of Titles

If judging a book by a cover is bad, then judging a book by its title must surely be worse. After all, covers are pictures, pictures are worth a thousand words, and titles are usually a mere phrase.

But it’s not that simple. Titles name a book, and names are important. A good name can make or break you.

Take, for example, the case of Ziz. Poor sad Ziz, of whom you have NEVER heard.

You see, there was once this trio of awesome creatures. All three were in the Bible, rocking out with special dispens

Bronx Zoo Rox

Justine and I went to the Bronx Zoo yesterday. As you may know, Leviathan has tons of animals in it, so I was up for some face-to-face contact. This kind of research is important, because reading about an animal doesn’t tell you how it moves, how it smells, or how it reacts to a sudden shrieking noise that I call “El Banshee.” It just ain’t the same.

We were shown around by an old friend of mine, a wildlife conservator who has an office at the zoo, but usually works in places like Afghanistan, Ir

I haz a Twitter

For those of you who’ve ever wondered what my novels would be like if they were only 140 characters long, I’ve decided to engage in a strict program of twittering once every, um . . . fourteen hours or so. Because that’s what all the cool kids are doing.

To follow my tiny meanderings, go here:

https://twitter.com/scottwesterfeld

[image error]

So how many of you guys twitter, anyway?