Hey, sorry for not blogging for a while there. There was travel, research, and lots of writing (on Behemoth) to do.
But now I am back in the blog-saddle, so it’s time for some fan art!
First, for you Midnighters fans, I present the Midnighters Fingerpuppet Five!
What’s cool is that you can tell who’s who. I could have totally used these while writing the book for, like, acting out scenes.
These were made by Chloe Wiccith, who also created this awesome mindcaster symbol pumpkin:
That’s some mighty fine carving.
And for you Uglies fans, check out this remix of Extras with a self portrait by Zheng Xiao, doing his best emo-manga-head impersonation.
Any more fan art out there that needs to see the light of day? Sent it over.
I haven’t been posting as much lately. But as you probably have noticed, Justine and I have been in Istanbul the last week or so, me doing research for the next book in the Leviathan series, and her mostly eating.
We also got to meet with some of our Turkish publishers: Epsilon, who will bring out Leviathan next year; and Artemis, who publish the Midnighters books and will soon be releasing Justine’s latest, Liar. We didn’t get to meet with Tudum, who publish the Uglies series (which apparently tanked in Turkey). But thanks to everyone for their tremendous hospitality.
Here are the Turkish covers for the first two Midnighters books:
Kind of a goth/gypsy vibe going on here. From what my editor at Artemis said, the books didn’t sell well at first, but more recently these new covers (and a post-Twilight wave of paranormal readers) have made them a hit.
And for your vicarious tourist enjoyment, here is the emperor Justinian’s amazing cistern, which supplied water to Istanbul from 352AD onward:
Pretty cool, huh? It’s a really huge and beautiful cavern, with very little signage and tourist stuff to distract from simply hanging out there. Plus, they play awesome music. Click here to read more.
And now, readers of Leviathan, please enjoy Walker Wednesday. Today’s walker is made by paper engineering genius Theo Jansen:
Here in Istanbul, researching Book 2 of Leviathan. Busy with travel, but I will say two things:
The place is beautiful (this is the Haggia Sophia) . . .
. . . and the food is amazing:
Just some weird confluences to report:
1) There’s a cool article about steampunk in Time magazine, which quotes me profusely.
2) The December 4 Word of the Day at Merriam-Webster is “Leviathan.” I haz proof.
3) Tomorrow morning, Children’s Literature Ambassador John Scska will be on CBS’s The Early Show to talk about good books. I hear that he’ll be mentioning Leviathan. Update: Turns out he didn’t! But he did recommend lots of other great books, including Candle Man, Book One: The Society of Unrelenting Vigilance by Glen Dakin, Going Bovine by Libba Bray, and Stitches: A Memoir by David Small.
That is all of the weirdness.
Oh, and Justine and I are in the Korean Air lounge at JFK airport, which is also the Aeroflot and Turkish Air lounge. Istanbul is a mere 11-hour fight away!
Wooosh.
NaNoWriMo is over, so it’s time to get back to regular posting about regular stuff. Here we go.
Thing Number One:
You guys have been asking for a Forum for a while, and when I re-jiggered the site a few months ago, we planned to have one. It took a while, but it’s been active for the last few weeks.
We were working out some bugs, so I didn’t announce it here. But people randomly found it, and various interesting conversations have started. You should go check it out.
To get there, click on the Forum button on the top-right of this page (over the message lizard) or cheat and use this link.
Thing Number Two:
RH Mondadori, my publisher in Spain, had a very cool idea. After publishing Uglies and Pretties using the American covers, they decided to go in a new direction. They held a contest, the first prize of which was to be the cover model for Especiales.
The guy who won is a total fan, which is great, and he also has a definite Special look. The designer held off on the flash tattoos on the front cover, but he has one on his cheek on the back cover. (Which I don’t have a jpg of yet.)
Anyway, here he is:
I don’t actually know his name, only that he’s 22.
Thing Number Three:
Justine and I are about to head to Istanbul (aka Constantinople). If you’ve read Leviathan, you know why this is. If you haven’t, then just ignore this blog for a week or so. (Or get reading!)
Anyway, it’s going to be wicked cool. I’ll be posting photos and such here, assuming the internets are good at our hotel.
Thing Number Four:
And now it’s time for, Walker Wednesday!
Today’s walker comes from CrabFu SteamWorks, who specialize in making steam-powered robots and other toys.
Check this out:
Yes, that smoke is REAL steam that REALLY powering the walker. That’s why Keith’s Clanker walkers are always spitting out scads of smoke.
As you can see, my website has had its first makeover in many years. This is to celebrate the fact that my first new series in years, Leviathan, comes out this autumn. (October 6, to be exact.)
Things may be wonky for a while as we play around under the hood. But I hope you enjoy the new look. Let me know what you think!
Click here to contact Scott Westerfeld.
Jill Grinberg
Jill Grinberg Literary Management
info@grinbergliterary.com
