As you voted for, it’s a top-down image of the Leviathan‘s bridge, showing the controls, the aviary, the coding table, and the message lizard tubes. I was also surprised when I got this from Keith the first time, and saw that amazing pattern on the bridge floor. Very Edwardian, like something you’d see on the Titanic.

Click here to see it bigger, and of course it will be EVEN BIGGER in the Manual of Aeronautics!

You can pre-order it (the Manual, not an actual bridge) now 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.

Also, thanks to everyone who came to my and Justine‘s Sydney Writers’ Festival event. You were an incredibly attentive standing-room-only crowd, and we had a great time. Thanks to SWF for having us, and for treating us so well.

Ciao till later this week, when there will be more Russian covers! (And Fan Art Friday, naturally.)

HAH!

So yes, I’ve sent off to Keith, and it should be here soon. In the meantime, please enjoy the Russian cover of Behemoth:

That’s pretty bad-ass. I love the giant Sahmeran sneaking up on Alek from behind.

Okay the BRIDGE ART WILL BE HERE SOON.

Also, don’t forget that tomorrow is my thing at the Sydney Writers Festival:

A Neverending Story: Fantasy Worlds
Sunday, May 20
11:30AM-12:30PM
Scott Westerfeld, Isobelle Carmody, Justine Larbalestier, and Joy Lawn (facilitator)
Sydney Dance 4, Pier 4/5, Hickson Road, Walsh Bay

Here are the details.

In keeping with tradition, let’s have us a vote. I’ve chosen three possible pieces of art to reveal, so choose wisely.

Which would you rather see in glorious color?

1) The bridge of the Leviathan

2) A Sultan’s elephant walker

3) A fléchette bat!

Use the comments thread below to vote (by number makes it easier), or simply to cajole, convince and coerce your fellow commenters about how they should vote.

Sydneysiders! Don’t forget that Justine, Isobelle Carmody and I will be at the Sydney Writers Festival this Sunday. Come see us talk. It’s free!

A Neverending Story: Fantasy Worlds
Sunday, May 20
11:30AM-12:30PM
Scott Westerfeld, Isobelle Carmody, Justine Larbalestier, and Joy Lawn (facilitator)
Sydney Dance 4, Pier 4/5, Hickson Road, Walsh Bay

From steampunk to the supernatural, from urban fantasies to dystopian futures, our love affair with speculative fiction is all-consuming.

Three authors who create imagined worlds explore our enduring fascination with fantasy and unpick the complexities of the genre. Isobelle Carmody, Scott Westerfeld and Justine Larbalestier talk to Joy Lawn.

Here are the online details for this event.

Let’s start with the art that was handed to me at my Free Comic Book Day event at Kinokuniya in Sydney. Thanks again to everyone who came and said nice things to me on my birthday, and especially to those who handed me art and cake.

First there was some Midnighters art from (appropriately) Melissa:

Yes, that’s Rex looking pretty cool, and I like how Melissa seems a bit annoyed at having to pose for the drawing.

And from Christina, a triptych of Tallys:

The hot air balloons are a cool touch, as are the necklace, interface cuff, and knife for each Tallyversion.

And finally, from Meshell, I got Alek and Deryn as lovebirds:

It’s cool that I got fan art from every trilogy at that event. You’re all doing a good job of coordinating! Plus: OBLIGATORY LORIS WITH MUSTACHE.

And now return to the regular mode of art delivery, these were all sent to me via the internets.

Here from Laura is a bit of Darwinist fashion design!

One of the coolest thing about Keith’s art is how it hints that there would be a whole different Darwinist culture out there, with clothes, furniture, and whatnot all influenced by the Victorian biotechnology at the base of Darwinist society. This hat is a great example of what all that might look like, complete with bee and nautilus-shell motifs.

And here’s a very a spunky-looking Deryn from Lilly.

I like her haircut, and the way she’s leaning forward, ready to go.

And briefly leaving the monochrome, here’s some Deryn cosplay from Alexa, showing before and after:

Pretty amazing difference. According to Alexa, this transformation required “two rolls of athletic tape, half a can of hairspray, and many uncountable bobby pins.” Just remember that the next time you’re cross-dressing: Never say die!

And finally, here’s a lovely still life in the stack-of-books mode, which for some reason I have lost all attribution to except the letter “g”:

Please identify yourself, G!

And now for the NEWS . . .

Given that the Manual of Aeronautics, the all-color large-format guide to the world of Leviathan, will be appearing on August 21, it’s almost time to start THE OBLIGATORY ART REVEALS. I’ve decided to do one twice a month, on the 1st and 15th. (I hope that’s not too much for you guys.)

May 15 will be the first of these, or maybe that’s when we’ll do some voting for the first reveal. BUT SOON.

And finally, Sydneysiders can see me tonight at:

The Aurealis Awards
Saturday, May 12
7:30 for an 8PM start
Independent Theatre
269 Miller Street
North Sydney NSW 2060

The Aurealis Awards celebrate the achievements of Australian science fiction, fantasy and horror writers every year. Kate Forsyth with be mistress of ceremonies, and I’ll be presenting the award for Best Illustrated Book or Graphic Novel.

You can get tickets here.

“When will this novel be out?” you may ask.

Indeed, you may. But I don’t know yet. Maybe autumn of 2013, maybe a year after that. I know, that’s a long time. But novels are long things, and publishing timelines are even longer things, and I can tell you that this novel is probably going to be FAT. (Like, longer than any of my other books.)

As for all the other possible questions you might have, they must wait for another day. This particular s3krit project is still too fragile to be interrogated and explicated.

Also, it’s time for FAF! Since mentioning the unnamed-loris-with-mustache thread last time, I’ve gotten a lot of loris/Bovril/Moggle art. So really this is all about the sidekicks.

The first one is from Adam, and it’s a shot of the kraken scene in Leviathan.

It’s great to see that encounter from a distance.

I’ve also been getting some Shay’s Story fan art trickling in, which is totally cool. Keep it coming. Here’s a notebook doodle of Shay from Daliz:

I like that the Uglies character have manga versions now, whether with pigtails up or down.

The rest of today’s FAF is all lorises and Moggle in many different media! Thanks to everyone for sticking with a theme.

First, some Bovril/Moggle crossover from Phrancie:

They are clearly going to conquer the world together. Or run into a lamppost, maybe.

Next is the highly anticipated Moggle-with-a-mustache, again from Oskar and his Spore software:

Undercover Moggle is undercover. And jaunty.

And we also have photoshopped Bovril, or quasi-Bovril creature, from Rebecca:

If you’re going to wear a mustache, you should probably get a top hat. It’s funny because it’s true.

And in case you’ve forgotten what the real Bovril looks like, Alex offer this book-style rendering of the Bovril birth scene:

He totally gets Keith’s composition right. It’s cool how Bovril in that scene isn’t cute yet, more kind of new-born and weird. But then gets cuter and cuter as the series progresses.

Okay, that’s it. I’ll be back in two weeks with more FAF. And probably before then I’ll post something interesting, though I don’t know what.

Sydneysiders, don’t forget that net Saturday I’ll be at Free Comics Book Day at Kinokuniya! Here’s the FaceBook page for the event, and here are the details:

Kinokuniya Bookstore
Lvl 2, The Galeries, 500 George Street
Sydney, NSW 2000
Saturday, May 5, 2012
10AM-7PM (I’ll be there from 11AM-4PM-ish.)

Hope to see you there.

Food blogging may well commence in the near future.

But enough of my excuses. Here are the fan arts of today’s Fan Art Friday!

First we have a Darwinist/Clanker wristband by McKenna:

I love how the tag line of the Leviathan trailer came to define the series, even though “Do you oil your war machines, or feed them?” doesn’t appear in the books. This wristband above, of course, uses a variation on the “war machines” line, but that kind of reinforces my point: everyone knows what it’s a reference too. (Well, not EVERYONE IN THE WORLD, but you know what I mean.)

Here’s a great triptych of Bovril from Alyssa:

This is a very snow-adapted Bovril, which is cool. A great thing about Leviathan having black and white illustrations is that the fan art winds up with lots of different color schemes, Bovril especially. Of course, once the Manual of Aeronautics comes out in August, we’ll have canon to contend with. But I’m sure the other color interpretations will live on, because of the internets and stuff.

Next is an interesting counterfactual from Libby: a portrait of Alek’s sister. This sister, of course, doesn’t exist in my books, but in real life Franz and Sophie had a daughter who was named after her mother. Libby calls her “Princess Sophie, Alek’s sort of, actually-existed sister.”

Libby has clearly done her research, because this portrait looks a LOT like the real Sophie in 1914, whom you can see here.

(Did you know that this Sophie was fictionalized in The Young Indiana Jones? I just found out that she was Indiana’s first kiss!)

And now, because I must BY INTERNATIONAL LAW have an image of Bovril with a mustache in every FAF, here’s an image from Melissa that makes ingenious use of graph paper.

Digital Bovril is digital.

UPDATE:
A few of you have pointed out in this and other threads that it’s NOT BOVRIL IN A MUSTACHE. It’s Dr. Barlow’s nameless loris, who has different coloring and everything. Sorry to keep making that mistake. But it’s not like I’m some kind of expert on all this stuff. (Ahem.)

And to round out our Leviathan FAF, a couple of pencil works from Lauren and Tabitha:

It’s amazing how these two simple pencil drawings, which are in very different styles, both get Deryn’s expression exactly right.

And now for some Uglies FAF! First we have a drawing of Shay, based on the interpretation from Shay’s Story:

Manga pig-tails for the win!

When I wrote Uglies, I had no idea that there was such a thing as manga pigtails, and I certainly didn’t realize that a manga version would ever come out from Shay’s POV. But I’m so glad that I gave Shay canonical pigtails, so that she would have her own distinctive look in her own story.

And finally, here’s another piece of Spore-generated art from Oskar, who this time gives us Moggle:

There’s not enough Moggle fan art. I think my big mistake with Moggle was never having it wear a mustache.

From now on, all the sidekicks will wear mustaches.

There’s lots of exciting news coming up this week, some about Shay’s Story and some about the Uglies series in general. No it’s NOT movie-related news. You will know when that happens. You will FEEL it in your bones. But it’s still pretty cool.

In the meantime, here’s one of my oldest theories about fan art: We writers rob our characters of downtime. We don’t let them have all those moments in life that don’t involve fleeing from the Germans or swinging from the ratlines. We may start a chapter with character just kicking back and talking, but a page or two in, the Zeppelins attack!

This is because we want to write exciting stories, and we are all taught as tiny writers to jump straight into the action. But readers also regard characters as friends, and downtime is an important part of friendship. So a lot of fan art imagines those relaxing moments that are excised from canon, but which are surely a part of the characters’ in-between-the-chapters life.

For example, McL-Jessie’s vision of Dalek at home, presumably post-series. You know, just hanging on the couch:

Or checking out the tools of another culture, as per pockynightmare:

Or transforming into My Little Pony characters, as sue9000 envisions such a thing:

Okay, that was a stretch. But it’s an unwritten rule of authorship that if someone sends you MLP crossover fan art, you must post it.

The same also applies to cyborg pandas!

(You had to have been at the WesterForum meet-up to understand this. And even then, I’m not sure if it’s understandable. It’s just a thing that happened.)

From Deviant’s Firanda we are reminded that naptime is also downtime, especially if it’s non-canonically cuddly.

And finally, from SkyHawkC, there’s my favorite lazy activity, having a snack:

Okay, that’s the climax of Behemoth, but for the Behemoth itself it probably wasn’t that big a deal. You know, “Whassup?” “Nuthin. Eating a dreadnought is all.”

That’s it for today’s FAF! Stay tuned for interesting posts all this week.

This week I’m headed up to the Somerset Festival of Literature, where I’ll be appearing several times and giving my Leviathan speech, so I thought I’d post this FAF now.

Let’s start with a little love triangle from Miyu999:

Everyone’s expressions are great here, and I like that Alek is distracted by Bovril. (Bovril is SO distracting!)

But enough love. Here’s some Clanker hardware! Oskar created this in the game Spore, and it even has moving legs (in the game, not here, alas).

Because it’s 3D art, I think we need several views.

Pretty cool. I haven’t played Spore in a while, and it’s definitely gotten more sophisticated.

Here, from Lydia, some comic art.

I love that the biggest maternal yelling is about the haircut, not the, you know, treason and stuff.

And a couple of sketches from Carly, kissy Dalek:

And annoyed Deryn:

Angry Deryn is angry. I love that her tie is loosened, and that makes her totally ready to rumble.

And here’s another of that ever-popular lift from the book, Bovri-with-fake-mustache, from Nicole:

I love that this throwaway line in the text, about Bovril trying on the mustache, has become the signature image of Bovril. And I’m sure in an unillustrated book, most people would have skipped over that sentence and not become obsessed with it. THE POWER OF THE PICTURE.

And finally, a quirky and expressive micro-sketch of Deryn from Lauren:

I like her messy hair.

Thanks to everyone for their work this week. I’ll probably go back to Fan Art Friday Fortnightly, because I’m busy working on a New S3krit Project, which is a novel. And, of course, I’m still busy with the second Uglies manga. Also there is ANOTHER s3krit project, which is not a novel, which will be announced in the next month or so.

And of course I’ll be doing the meet-up after the Festival, which means next week. Shall we say Tuesday night, March 20, at 8PM American-East-Coast-time?

But I’ll get back into full blogging mode when we get closer to the Manual of Aeronautics coming out, which is August 21!

Let us begin with the fanfic, which is by Psocoptera. It’s called “Interesting Facts About the London Zoo,” and is obviously set after Goliath, in the hallowed halls of the London Zoological Society.

Click here to read it.

And now for the arts. First up is Christine K., with a drawing that asks the question, “What if Deryn Sharp was an admiral in the Royal Navy?”:

Also, check out the Napoleonic period image this was based on here.

From Deviant Art’s penut-butter-goddess, here’s a certain young prince making himself taller ny standing on a box:

MUCH taller, I’ll point out.

From Feitan, here’s a lovely charcoal-looking image of Mr. Sharp:

And from teaspoon00, a piece called “dress up,” which is possibly Bonus Chapter Canon, or maybe just something that happens post-trilogy.

And next from anderaminela, with this penciled coat of arms for the Bov-meister:

Everybody looks better with a Volger mustache, except possibly me. (I’ve tried. Believe me, I’ve tried.)

Speaking of Volger, here’s a pencil piece by Bryn showing him being ejected from the Leviathan by Deryn, who’s just had enough of his snide remarks.

I love how formally posed all of these are.

And from Aleta, this is Alek at the tailor’s in Japan. Note Deryn cleverly framed in the mirror.

I love that Bovril is also sticking its arms out. BECAUSE BOVRIL WOULD DO THAT.

And finally, from Mallory, an entire Scrabble game played with only Leviathan-related terms allowed:

Not strictly monochrome, but amusing none-the-less!

Okay, that’s it. I’ll be posting a reveal of the Smoke from Shay’s Story on Monday, and an official spoiler thread on Tuesday, when the manga comes out. Also, a real book trailer for Shay’s Story is in the works, and will be appearing soon!

Ciao for now.

This is that thing:

You can also watch it bigger on YouTube!

Sorry about no FAF last week. But there will be FAF this week! And more THINGS of this nature.

You can pre-order Shay’s Story at Indie Bound, BarnesandNoble.com, or Amazon. Or buy it on March 6 at a proper bookstore or comics shop!