Okay, so the novels of Leviathan are done. Finished! We will probably have to wait for some major change in medium (movies? comics?) to see more stories from that world.
This is sad, of course, even though we still have the Manual of Aeronautics coming out next August! The Manual will have dozens of pieces of art showing the machines, beasties, uniforms, and equipment of the world of Leviathan. And it’s all in COLOR!
In the meantime, however, I’ve noticed that a few people felt like SOMETHING was missing from the trilogy itself. Like, they needed ONE last illustration of one sort or another for the series to feel totally complete. So Keith and I have decided to create a final piece of art to satisfy your whims. (Yes, we all know that your whims are infinite and will never be satisfied. But we can PRETEND, can’t we?)
We aim to please, after all.
So you will be voting on what this image should be, Keith will be drawing it, and I shall post it here as an early Hanukwanzmas present to you all!
After extensive research into comment threads, Westerforum discussions, and random reviews of Goliath, I have identified four illustrations that the Leviathan trilogy didn’t contain, that you most want to see:
1) Deryn in a dress.
Many of you have expressed a need to see this image, for a certain kind of closure, I suppose. After all, Deryn literally starts out the series by putting on boy’s clothes, so you want to see her come first circle. I doubt she would approve, but Alek would, so we’ll put her in a dress if you want!
2) Alek in a dress.
Because you just want this. Needless to say, Alek wouldn’t approve either, but it would be pretty darn amusing. And Deryn would approve!
3) The Kiss, but a close-up.
There were many complaints that the illustration of a Certain Event at the end of Goliath was from a SLIGHTLY wide angle. Some of you clearly want that image to be shown in close-up. I doubt that either Alek or Deryn would approve of SNOOPING, of course, but it’s not like they don’t do a lot of snooping themselves.
4) Bovril in a dress, or a goatee, or just doing whatever’s funny.
Everyone approves more Bovril, I assume. Including the wee beastie itself.
Vote for the one you want in the comment thread below. Feel free to use this space to cajole, debate with, and pressure your peers! (Despite what they tell you in health class, that’s what peers are for: pressuring!)
Also, if I’m missing anything, say so below. Write-in candidates are welcome.
I’m finally catching up on my FAF backlog. There were two weeks of tour-FAF with a Halloween FAF in between, a missed week due to the Shay’s Story cover (and laziness), and of course all those weeks I missed during tour. But at long last FAF is moving forward!
Here’s one image that was given to me on tour, but was forgotten because it was handed to me on an iPhone, then emailed. (It’s made of PIXELS.) It’s from Alli, is called “NOOOO!” and is a Tesla’s-eye-view of a certain climactic event in Goliath.
Yes, the end of a tesla-sparkle-cane looks like an ouchy place to be.
I like this one of Deryn by Hillary, called “Miss Sharp.” Clearly she’s in female clothing, but this must be a bit after the Great War ends, because it’s 1920s-looking. (I think.)
Really cool clothes, actually. I think Deryn will look excellent in the ’20s, which will also be her 20s. (Alek and Deryn were both born in 1899, after all.)
I LOVE this whale-o-plane combination of Leviathan and How to Train Your Dragon by Adventaim!
It just makes me smile.
And here’s some hydrogen-sniffer love from ladygreyembyr:
I like the texture on this one. But man, hydrogen-sniffers are anxiety-making when you really look at them. That’s what I like about Keith—he’s not afraid to draw some disturbing stuff.
And for you Uglies fans whose ears just perked up, this just missed the Halloween cosplay edition. Specials!
I must say, that line never gets old. I know someone who’s getting it tattooed on their arms, so we may be seeing it here on FAF soon.
Okay, that’s only five FAs, but Friday in the US is drawing to a close, it’s done here in Sydney, and I need to make lunch!
See you early next week for a special poll. (You will enjoy it.)
Oops.
I sort of didn’t do FAF last week, because I was all excited about the Uglies manga AKA Shay’s Story cover. (And lazy. Also because I was lazy.) But here is a FAF for you all! And because I’m in Australia, it’s a day early for you North and South Americans.
This post completes the job started back on October 29, which is showing you all the art I’ve received while on tour. Next Friday (promises, promises) I’ll get back to posting the art I’ve received since tour started.
So here we go, starting with something that’s not quite fan art, but is pretty cool to look at.
One of my favorite things on tour is when people give me books to signed that are obviously well read. Like, in-the-bathtub, on-the-bus, under-the-covers read. Sometimes readers apologize for their tattered copies, but I take it as a compliment. And especially excellent are the signs of notations and post-itting.
So check this out:
This was only DAYS after Goliath came out, and already the book was festooned with post-its and notes. NOW THAT’S WHAT I CALL READING.
And in case you think this is a unique event, I got a whole set of the trilogy receiving the same treatment at my Books of Wonder event:
So yeah. That’s cool.
Here’s a painting of the Leviathan in its friendly I’m-a-whale mode.
It’s interesting how for some readers the airbeast is a big, scary monster thing, but others see it more as a friendly animal. Clearly, for some people beasties are always a win.
Here’s a happy sketch of Tazza that makes the same point:
Another type of fan art that I only see while on tour is the GREAT BIG SIGN. As in this one:
Now, you can see why I might like this sign in particular. But all signs are cool.
Also popular with me? Cookies.
The Austin Teen Book Festival folks did these cover cookies for all us authors, but I’m still counting it as fan art. (And, reader, I ate it.)
Here’s a piece of Midnighters fan art! A flame-bringer symbol rendered in clay.
That’s it for the tour fan art. I guess there’s a bit of space left here, and you didn’t get any FAF last week, so let me round up with a cool bunch of images from Lego-master Tyler, who won a prize for this series of Leviathan-inspired works.
The Stormwalker!
The Ottoman Scorpion!
The German monoplane!
The Huxley!
And finally, the Tesla cannon.
Pretty nice work, huh?
Congrats to all you NaNoWriMoers who are more than halfway home. In case you missed them, here are a set of tips that Justine and I did two Novembers ago.
Good luck for the rest of the month, and see you all next week!
Hey, everyone! I am headed to Sydney in a matter of days. DAYS!
But it’s almost Friday, so instead of packing I’ve spend the morning on this Hallowe’en FAF, starring you guys in wonderful steampunk and Uglies costumes. (Sorry if I’m missing a few names. I had a lot of these pics around.)
Let’s start with this awesome Stormwalker contraption:
That is one cool cosutme, though I fear it would be less than optimal for dancing. (Note that the kid on the right is wearing a Whoopie Cushion costume. Hmm.)
And here’s an awesome Mr. Sharp pumpkin:
I have a theory that the internets have improved pumpkin carving, because the potential audience for pumpkins is so much larger. Instead of mere dozens of people seeing your carving work, thousands will!
Here’s Dr. Barlow by Jett, complete with dog-with-streaked-fur-as-Tazza!
And now for a plethora of Deryns!
Sarah:
Lauren:
Sabrina:
Dixie:
And Lizzy:
And, because I am disorganized, another anonymous!
Julia sent me this goggle-gif:
And here’s a Deryn and Alek pair, anonymously (as in, I forgot the names) from Twitter. Wear your steampunk geekery with pride! At work!
A quartet of steampunkers from Mallory, because more is better!
And this comic from (argh, can’t find the name!, showing what Alek and Deryn dressed up like this Halloween:
The dialog is, of course, a joke about Alek’s sticky-outy ears.
Finally, a Special Tally-wa from Ally-wa, complete with hoverboard:
Don’t forget, the Show Us Your Steampunk contest is still happening over on FaceBook. Just take a picture of yourself in a steampunk outfit holding a copy of one of the Leviathan books, and you’re in. Just click here for details.
It’s Friday and time for another FAF. This is the second of three FAFs dedicated to fan art given to me during the Goliath tour.
But the concluding tour-FAF will not be next week, because next week is CosPlay FAF! This is Halloween weekend, after all, so many of you will be dressing up. If your costumes are based on any of my books, please send them here! (Click the Contact button in the right panel, way down.)
And NOW . . . some fan art. My apologies that I don’t know/remember the names of the folks who handed these to me. Tour is a memory-melting experience.
These first three pieces were given to me in Kansas City, I think.
Yes, that appears to be a Twilight reference, plus there’s a bit of Full Metal Alchemist in there too.
Half Deryn, half Dylan! I’ve seen a few of these around the interwebs. Is it that you all want to see Deryn in a dress?
This was handed to me right before I went to the airport. THE AIRPORT, WHERE THEY LOVE IT WHEN YOU BRING IN STEAMPUNK GUNS. But it was made of plastic, so I’m not blogging from Gitmo.
This next one was done by the staff of the Wild Rumpus in St. Louis.
Wild Rumpus actually has a ferret named Ferdinand. And given Leviathan‘s hero’s father’s name, I demanded a bonding session with the beastie.
It turns out if you hold ferrets this way, they think you’re their mother and go to sleep. So Ferdinand is not dead, okay? Just resting. (Pining for the moors, maybe.)
This piece is from that very visit, and was one of those artsy kids who drew it while I talked, then gave it to me.
It’s very light here, but in person the lines were very beautiful and aerodynamic.
And finally, a bit of fanfic. Well, not fiction at all, really. More in the persuasive writing category. But you can see that this young wordsmith knows the value of repetition.
Okay, that’s it for this week. early next week I’ll give you guys a more formal tour report, with lots of numbers. It might be interesting. Or maybe not.
Don’t forget to send me your costume photos! And if you’re on FaceBook, you can also take a picture of yourself with one of my books and enter the Show Us Your Steampunk contest. Win the actual aviator caps and goggles from the cover photo shoot. Click here for details, or just to look at stuff.
Hey, all. It’s time for FAF(cake), the cosmic all-kissing edition of Fan Art Friday. I think this needs no explanation, because we all love cake.
Let’s start with Alek and Deryn, shall we?
First a tiny wee gif from UniYuki:
Awwww.
And here’s an eerily similar in style, but way bigger and non-moving, image from Ridgetail95:
She looks like the surprised one here, which tells a story. (Like, he’s figured out her secret and is like, ba-BOOM, and she’s all, “Wha??”)
That’s something I’ve noticed while trawling the interweebz for Dalek lip-on-lip action: every picture tells a story. Sometimes they’ve obviously been together for a while, and are just chillin’; sometimes she’s surprising him, and sometimes it’s the other way around, like the above.
Here’s a case of them having obviously known each other’s secrets for a while, from stkidd (who seems to specialize in kissing fan art!):
Go check out all of stkidd’s art. She has a great one of Deryn snoozing with a sketch of Alek. Heh.
From DanyDiSalvo, here’s one with the ever popular title, “Engine Grease.”
Pretty intense. (And seriously, I do see the title “Engine Grease” a lot. Is THAT what the kids are calling it these days?)
Here, from Miyu999, comes a more comical approach. Clearly it’s right before a battle (“Will we ever see each other again?”), and it also proves what I learned while writing this series: all scenes that feature Bovril are fundamentally awesome.
Note that we’ve made the all-important jump to Alek being on the left side of the frame! Is it just me, or do the vast majority of Dalek kisses have Alek on the right? Is this a geographical thing, like Austria is kissing Britain?
Seriously, HAS ANYONE ELSE NOTICED THIS?
And now an even more comical, in the sense of sequential comics, take on kissing from britata348. (Note that Alek is back where he belongs, on the right!)
And here’s a fanciful image from Art-BandGeek (who we’ve seen here before, but CAKE demanded a revisit) that actually is a bit like a scene from Goliath. (only in that Deryn’s wearing wings. But this was drawn BEFORE yesterday’s art reveal. Hmm.)
And yes, Alek on the right again. Hmm.
Are we bored of Alek and Deryn yet? Never!
But let’s have a slightly different take anyway, another lovely sketch from stkidd:
As the French say: Yowza.
All you naughty shippers, Dr. Barlow is married, you know, and had had two children by 1914!
And finally, one last Dalek kiss, a sweet one from MaiaBlackWolf:
Again, I say: Awww.
That’s it for this week. Thanks for all the kisses!
(Don’t forget: I’m going on tour soon. Check out my Appearances page to see if I’m coming anywhere near you.)
Yes, this is the last one. So I thought I would make it a really good one, even though this image is maybe just a BIT spoiler-y.
So if you hate to experience even the slightest bespoilment, I suggest you turn your computer off now and set it on fire. Then go live in the forest until September 20.
Have you done that? Good. Now I can reveal the September Goliath art sneak preview!
Would you like to see it zoomable? I think that you would. Click here to do so.
That’s it. I have no comments about this image (or its alarming caption). You may interpret it as you will.
See you tomorrow for Fan Art Friday, which will include CAKE!*
_______________________
*CAKE is an acronym. Real cake not included.
I was recently asked by some cosplayers about the clothes in the world of Leviathan. Like, what color are they? After all, the illustrations are in black and white.
Now, luckily for you detail-oriented costumers, the Manual of Aeronautics will have a ton of full-color illustrations of uniforms, both Clanker and Darwinist. But I don’t want to start releasing art from that book a year ahead. Especially not with Goliath about to come out.
But when I said so to these cosplayers, they suggested the next best thing: outtakes from the cover shoot for the series. (For the new covers, obviously.) These photos, after all, show the clothes that the models were wearing in color!
So I said, Sure, what the heck.
First we have Alek:
And here’s Deryn in the same coat:
As you can see, they put both models into the same clothing. After all, there was only so much steampunk-appropriate stuff on the rack. So here they are in black leather:
Hah! Not only are they wearing the same jackets, but also the same ties! Note that the fur collar (which made it to the final) is just stuffed in there. It’s not part of the jacket, really. And the jacket’s too small for him, and too big for her.
It’s pretty weird, how much gets changed in Photoshop.
In any case, these are not by any means canonical Leviathan-world uniforms. Use them if you want, cosplayers, but for me it doesn’t count unless Keith draws it! For the real ones, you’ll have to wait till August of next year, when the Manual of Aeronautics comes out.
(Of course, these could be like the Ravenclaw tie colors that are wrong—er,um, different—in the movies. Alternate reality cosplay!)
And now for a couple of outtakes, because models are peoples too:
And this look totally didn’t work for Alek:
On that somewhat dorky note, we end this blog post. See you in a few days for Fan Art Friday (now totally weekly)!
Update:
The September 1 art reveal is tomorrow, Thursday! And it is a doozie! Don’t miss it.
Let’s start with some non-Leviathan stuff, as this site will be ALL Leviathan for the next two months or so.
First from the world of Midnighters, is Jessica Edge’s wonderful flame-bringer tattoo:
As you can see, it’s very faithful to the book. (And perhaps a bit fresh and ouchy-looking as well. Aloe vera!) That’s the second Midnighter tattoo I know of out there in the world. I wonder if there are any more . . .
And now a rare piece of The Last Days fan art. It’s Minerva, as interpreted by Spearare:
Appropriately seductive and mysterious, IS IT NOT?
And now from the Uglies world, we have a character from Extras. Nana Love as drawn by DolceCircee:
Very manga-liscious, which is entirely apt.
And another from the Uglies series, but from the absolute other end of the character spectrum, we have Dr. Cable.
WARNING: SCARY FACE!
WARNING: SCARY FACE!
WARNING: SCARY FACE!
WARNING: SCARY FACE!
WARNING: SCARY FACE!
Yes, rather intense. But great use of shading.
And finally, to recover from the scary, here’s some Alek and Deryn hanging out from Julia D (jurodo):
Heh. I’ve always suspected there’s a trunk full of dresses waiting for Deryn back in Scotland. But maybe she burned them all!
Okay, enjoy your weekend. Twenty-five days till Goliath. And only a week till the next (and final) art reveal!
Here at last are the dates for my upcoming tour for Goliath, which comes out September 20.
As always: I’m very sorry if I’m not coming to your city/town/iceberg, but rest assured that this is NOT because I don’t love you all; it’s because you outnumber me.
Here we go.
TO PREVENT CONFUSION, TOUR INFORMATION HAS BEEN MOVED FROM HERE TO MY APPEARANCES PAGE. Go there to check on dates, times, and places.
Can’t wait to see you guys.
Shay's Story, a graphic novel version of Uglies, is OUT NOW!
The Uglies series has been adapted into graphic novel form, with the events of the trilogy told from Shay's point of view in three volumes.
The first one comes out March 6, 2012!
Click here to contact Scott Westerfeld.
Jill Grinberg
Jill Grinberg Literary Management
info@grinbergliterary.com
