Specials Cover + News!

Posted on by scott

So S&S have been promising to send me the cover photo of Specials, but haven’t yet. And lo, I find this on Amazon?

It seems to be missing a tagline.
Uglies: “In a world of extreme beauty, anyone normal is ugly.”
Pretties: “What happens when perfection isn’t good enough?”
Specials: “???”

Discuss . . .

Also: awards news from Australia!

Both Justine and I have been nominated for the Aurealis Awards! Her for Magic or Madness, and me for Uglies and Peeps!

This is wonderful news, and it’s also the first time we’ve been in direct competition for a prize. People always ask us if we get competitive about this sort of thing, and now we can finally make up some really gnarly stories of spousal conflict! (But really, no, we’re not. We’re only competitive about stuff like who can spit the farthest.)

And congrats to all the other nominees, especially our pals Cat, Sean, Rjurik, and Garth, as well as Rob for his editorial successes. w00t!

108 thoughts on “Specials Cover + News!”

  3. wait a minute it says on amazon it’s going to be in hardcover is that true? cause Uglies and Pretties weren’t in hardcover.

  4. i hope its not in hard cover….as pretty and proffesional as it looks, it also really hurts! specialy when u drop it on ur head while reading on ur bak…which of course has never happen to me*cough*:$

  5. Wow, I don’t see any old Tally left…I guess that’s the point.
    I hope its not in harcover;more expensive =p

    ^.^

  7. I’m sorry but I just don’t get the creepy gist of it. I mean I see the Specials as some people who seriously scare me but also fascinate me. I was thinking an evil he-he-he smile or something. The cover just is . . . a plain cover. I like the tattoo though a bit of color wouoldn’t hurt. And the tagline, oh it definitely needs one. I mean the other two taglines made me want to read the book. I seriously would like to see that on this cover too.

  8. i can’t say i would know what the specials cover should look like but i do like that you continued on with the whole eye thing and i like the tattoo thing. i can’t wait for it to come out and TLD also!
    ashley

  9. I like this cover. Her face isn’t so vulpine and cold that it doesn’t fit with the other books – no, she’s not what Tally describes, but then again, what Tally sees as frightening isn’t necessarily what we (a bunch of uglies :D) would see as frightening. Young Specials are still Pretties, to a certain degree.

    Uglies: “In a world of extreme beauty, anyone normal is ugly.”
    Pretties: “What happens when perfection isn’t good enough?”
    Specials: “How does it feel to be better than the best?”

    or… “What else is left when you’re better than the best?”

    Or something like that….

  10. Great cover, I especially like the tattoos. I agree with Livia, what is frightening to Tally might be different than our defintion of ‘creepy’. Her features are cold, and beautiful, like the Special’s are described.

    I agree also that there should be a tag line. What though I can’t say. Maybe a play on the word ‘special’? Like…”Can a person be too Special?” That one’s not the best, but something like that.

    Does anyone know the date Special’s is out? I can’t stand waiting much longer!

  11. Specials comes out May 23, 2006. A mere five months and 8 days away . . .

    And yeah, it will be in hardcover, looks like. It’s kind of a weird strategy, having the third book in that format after the first two were paperback. but I think the first two were more successful that they expected.

    Don’t ask me, I’m just the author.

    Keep those taglines coming. Maybe a mashup of Fi’s and Livia’s: “How does it feel to become something you hate?”

  14. Congratulations on the nomination! I think the cover looks lovely and have no idea for the tagline since I still haven’t read Pretties (bloody work). Not sure the hardback is a good idea. I’ll buy it, of course, but I’m a rich old lady, and there’s probably a huuuge difference for a cash-strapped young adult between paying 6.99 and paying 15.95. That’s 2,28 times more!

  16. FYI, there’s an interesting article in today’s NYTime’s Style Section about that face transplant, and how it may become a much more ordinary procedure in the future, allowing people to change their faces on the basis of passing whims rather than medical reasons.

  17. Hey, wait, that’s the article I was interviewed for. And I was quoted TWICE!

    Heh, heh. I am now a fake expert, the ultimate stage of sf writer.

  18. Livia, that reminds me of the woman in that Oz book who wore the same dress every day and just changed her head. Trippy stuff, Baum. So few people realize it.

    Love the cover with the tats. It’s very Maori-meets-space-age.

    I think the tagline should somehow incorporate “beyond beauty” because here we’ve stopped talking about this plastic surgery perfection face averaging thing, and gone to the point of total body modification for work-related purposes. Specials are soldiers. Skintennas and double joints and all that. How far do you go before you’re no longer human… etc.

  19. Cool picture for the cover – and hey! they spelled your name right!

    So far, the tagline that fits best is ‘How does it feel to become something you hate?’…

  20. I like the cover photo, and especially the facial tats. Looks very tribal. I haven’t read Uglies or Pretties, so I can’t comment on the tagline.

    But big conga rats to you and Justine on the Aurealis noms! That’s wonderful news.

  23. I think that the person on specials is “prettier” than the girl on the cover of Pretties. Is that weird or what?

  24. Scott, I skipped right over your quote the first time I read it- d’oh! To be honest, the photo creeped me out so much, I skimmed the article the first time around. I can’t even stand the thought of LASIK surgery for my eyes, let alone someone carving away at my face.

    Neo, “Specials” is the third book in the series.

  25. Personally, the three differant “people” have to do with the book. Uglies are exciting, just like the book…Pretties (no offense) was kind of boring, just like the Prettie in New Pretty Town… HOPEFULLY Specials will be the most exciting yet… It does sound good…

  27. awesome it comes out 4 days before my b-day!! i really like the cover and FI’s tagline ‘What happens when your something you hate?’ CAN’T WAIT!!

  28. Okay, I’m headed off to Byron Bay, and I’m not sure if I’ll have any internet access. Was going to blog about the Times article, but the taxi’s coming!

    Talk amongst yourselves . . .

  30. i really like that cover. i think it’s good how it is although i think a tag line would be very good. i think you should write a whole bunch more of those books i will be so sad May 24, 2006 after i finish reading specials b/c it’ll be the last one….i’m tearing up…sniffle sniffle…sorry i have a cold. i think the tag line should be, “how does it feel to become somthing you hate” that’s my favorite so far. oh ya, still so excited for So Yesterday the movie!!!!! heck yes.

  31. “How does it feel to become something you hate?”
    I like it, but… it might be less generic if there were something about becoming a machine as well.
    “How does it feel to become a machine?”
    Ugh. Some sort of combination of the two would work better, but I can’t figure out how to word it.

    I like the cover, by the way. The grid under the tatoo is quite cool.

  32. WOW the cover is GREAT!! not exactally what i thought the tattoo would look like tho….i thought thie lines would be thinner and more of a glowy-tydiey with lots of soft tones. Oh i wish scott would make more ugly-books tho. im gonna cry when i finish specials. i like the tag that amand put up -that hate what i am thing. i cant wait for so yesterday movie !! yay!

  33. me-again- i just read all the posts on this.(not sure why i did that after i posted) Anyways…..bailey, your tag is great!! V.v. funny!! Oh I STRONGLY hope it comes out in paper back, i dont like doing extra baby-sitting (especially for those bratty 5th grades grrrrr). ta-ta for now

  34. Congrats on the nominations.

    Tag: “When everyone around you is the same, how does it feel to be Special?”

  37. I work in a bookstore, and when I check Companion (a main distributer for the U.S.), it shows that Specials will be paperback and our sales rep also said that all three books would be paperback. 🙂

  44. No wait!
    “Who wrote ‘I heart Scott Westerfld’ on my drawing board? Cause whoever done it, YAY! Me too! See Scott, you should give us things because we heart you.”
    Sorry for gunking up your blog….

  47. hey i just realized what time it says i posted. its only 1:11 ,to be exact, not 8:00. whats is up with that? sorry scott for writing random crap on your blog.

  50. Our bookstore (Inkwood Books in Tampa, Florida) was given a chance to introduce some books on Channel Fox 13 today and we made sure that everyone out there knows about Uglies and Pretties for the holidays! They’re flying off our shelves! Great books!

  51. oh thank you laura (again)!! im glad people get to hear about good books. i hate it when i read a good book and very few people read it because its so good and they dont get to expirence it-i sound like a nerd-. but yes! i causes tears in my heart! *tear,tear* (in my heart)

  52. I am geeking out over your website. (Not really geeking, or I would be biting the heads off chickens. So I am… becoming overly excited over you website by fidgeting a lot and assultign you with this rant.)

    A tagline… After several moments of cognating I have come up with this…

    Specials; Can someone else really make you special? (How’s that?)

    And I live quite close to Bixby, and I am going as soon as winter break… breaks.

  53. cool joel !!!!! i loved midnighters so thats awsome! i was like that when i first found this website too, its ok. have fun in bixby!!

  54. Dear Mr. Westerfeld,
    One day I was just browsing through the library and saw the cover of “Uglies” It looked interesting so I checked out the book. (I read it in two days) after that I couldn’t stop thinking about what would happen to Tally. I bought “Pretties” a week later and finished that book in one day. I am so excited about specials, but the cover was not what I was expecting. The book describes the specials as scary wolf eyed creatures that don’t seem at all human. I keep trying to think of a tagline,
    “How does it feel to become something you hate?” is ok…but not great like the others
    “When everyone around you is the same, how does it feel to be Special?” I think is very very good, but I would change it to “What happends you’re better than the best…how does it feel to be Special?”

    IDK something like that…..****Mandy****

  55. I just thought of another one!!!
    the last lines of “pretties” is “Face it Tally-wa, you’re Special” (mabye a good tagline will come from that!

    also “What happens you’re better than the best…how does it feel to be Special?”
    sounds too much like Pretties: “What happens when perfection isn’t good enough?”

    HMMMMM how about
    “Searching for a cure…are you truly happy?…how does it feel to be Special?”

    What do you think of that?????????? Any ideas????****Mandy****

  56. I like the “What happens when perfection just isn’t good enough.” Although it can be applied to Pretties too, so maybe a tagline that will distinguish the specials from the pretties

  63. yeah using the end of pretties, you know branching off that. how about ” if you’re forced to be special, are you still special?” well thats sounds kinda crappy. but i tried. I’m just not cut out for making tags. oh well. but yeah

  64. mm, I love the cover! She’s so pristine and snobby and bright and harsh with sharp edges. Not necissarily snobby, but sort of like she knows she’s better than you. Everything that I thought Specials were. I’m totally in love.

  65. Wait…the fact that it’s called “Specials” is probably going to tick off some people. Why? Well, lets just say they BANNED a teddy bear here because it said “I’m crazy about you.” X_X But they probably won’t. 🙂 I tend to get a little far fetched sometimes. They really did ban that teddy bear, though.

  69. Hey I was thinking, if you look at the first two book covers tally’s eyes look alot alik, but in “Specials” the eyes are dark brown.. since we have so many new computer technologys wouldn’t you think that the eye shold be the same color eye as the first 2??? I mean when i first saw it i was like” is that suposed to be tally??” What do you think?? ****Mandy****

  71. This is very, very random (which I’ll blame on lack of sleep) but the first thing I thought when I read the “no tagline” bit was…”Special Circumstances don’t always apply.” or something along those lines…See. No idea why that came to me, but, hey, the mind’s an interesting thing…

    Still, I can’t wait for Specials, The Last Days, and Midnighter’s #3…gah. I’m obsessed.

  72. Also, a quick last note, I expected the face to be much more harsh. Where when I picked it up I was like, “Whoa.” and, then, like it always goes, just had to read it. (Even though I will, if the cover sucks or not.) So, erm, scary almost. I mean, the way you [Mr. Westerfeld] described Dr. Cable made me really interested in knowing what exactly a Special would look like, what their “razored voices” would sound like [coughamoviemaybecough], etc, etc…

    But the surge is totally bubbly.

    (Wow. Creepy.)

  75. sry that was me obove whose name says Paige:S i rote Paige when i wanted to rite Des……..wierd…. oh sry for this little inconvenience

  76. poor bear. yeah have you seen the pic from the mag scott is in (most likely you have) that would be a freaky cover. though no totally relevant (not to mention copy-ing -i cant spell that-) but it might scare people. not that it would scare me of coarse *cough, cough*

  78. OOPS ment to put feel
    “When Circumstances don’t always apply, How does it feel to be Special?”

  80. Congratulations on the nominations. ^__^ I think they’re richly deserved (although… I haven’t read Magic or Madness… or Peeps… but Uglies was so good that it has to be deserved.)

    As for a tagline:
    “What happens when perfection becomes inhuman?”
    –or something along those lines. Going brain-missing at the moment. Excellent work on Pretties! 😀 I just finished reading it today, addicting book that it is.

  81. Congrats on the nominations Scott and Justine.
    I think Special Circumstances don’t always apply sounds really good. I thought the face would be sharper though…kinda robot like, not dreamy…but I like the tattoo anyway.
    Oh, and Scott, thanks to Pretties, I’ve begun to use pretty-minded terms…like ‘whatever’-missing and bubbly….now, i’m just missing the operation….lol
    Do tell who is producing So Yesterday…pretty pretty please…..

  82. wow me too!! i thought i was like a freak that i started talking like my books. the other day i told my friend her shirt was bubbly. she looked at me like i was a vogon or some thing. i think i need to not be so into my books.

  83. yea, exactly. I told my mum she’s so missing, and she was like “huh?” lolz…gotta lay off the books awhile…dun wanna turn all pretty-minded

  84. falling off the blog train-of-thought here… Speaking of “parasite positives,” has anyone heard about the POSSIBLE connection between Toxoplasma gondii (my favorite parasite featured in Peeps) and Schizophrenia? check it out at http://cogweb.ucla.edu/ep/Schizovirus.html. Scott, you probably came across this during your research. Toxoplasma is especially interesting if you are pregnant.

  86. finished uglies and pretties. pretty much awesome (no pun intended). i think the cover for specials is cool, but not for that book. maybe something else. doesnt really fit i guess. i read the little exerpt thing for specials in the back of pretties and that says all specials have black eyes…or something. so thats why tally’s eyecolor changed i guess. dang…there was something else i was gonna say, but im having a brain fart here….alrighty. bye.

  87. I like the cover. She looks all snotty like she thinks shes special. Which she is now. (crys)

    As for the statement…

    Nah I don’t have a good one. Lack of imagination.

  88. I LOVE THE COVER. Sorry, I had to say that. I can’t think of a tag line, but I am disappointed that i’s not going to be in paperback! It’ll look so weird on my “favorite books” shelf next to two paperbacks!

  89. The cover looks good exept that (if she’s supposed to be a spiecial (sp.)) she doesn’t look “scary-pretty”. I think she needs sharp teeth.

  91. Wow I’ve never done this before, sorry I’m sort of a computer dumby. Scott your books are awesome, and I had no idea that you were married to the person who wrote Magic or Madness. I think the pretties should be made into a movie! Wouldn’t that be awesome? It would really get the message out there because it’s sad but true that more people would watch it as a movie. Okay back to the blog question. How about for the tagline:
    IF YOUR NOT WITH THEM THEY’LL GET YOU

  93. Yeah,it would be cool if it was made into a movie ,but not to be rude to anyone, you know that they would probley cast people like hilary duff or any person that would draw crowds.
    by the way I love the cover!

  95. Hey, this is my first post, but I’ve been lurking the blog since start of december– I love the trilogy so far 😉 The new cover looks kewl…in fact, if the gal’s pretty close to cold pretty, just not quite. They could have found a better person though…I’ve seen real cold-pretty people. They’re very handsome, but when they smile (very, very slowly) it seems as if they want to eat you more that be friends with you 🙂 As for the sharp teeth idea, I’m not sure that that’s what scott meant when he said scary pretty. I think he meant ppl who are beautiful, but they’re features are so…hard that they look cruel. But, then, I could be wrong, maybe scott can explain that 😉

  97. My mom is about to go buy me Pretties!!!!I LOVED Uglies and own it.Anyway I’m a little iffy about the cover for Specials. I thought they would look more “sharp” with an “icey-shiver-down-your-spine”look. Good luck with the tagline but people have some awsome ones on here!CAn’t wait till it comes out and dont worry of corse Ill buy a copy.(if im not broke which happens a little more often then i like!!)This is my first time writing but isnt the last.Your a absolutely AWSOME writer so dont stop now!!! See ya!

    P.S. I dont mean to sound creepy with the whole this is my first time writing and isnt the last.TEE-HEE!!

  98. By the way I live in the U.S. and the time change is crazy!!its only 11:47AM here. New Mexico is a desert waste land and has nothing to do so I recommend you stay in BEAUTIFUL Sydney.

  99. Hi there Again!!! I get the cover of Specials now.Im VERY close to finishing Pretties and I now know about the tattoo that … incase some havent read it.(Sadly I got the book a few days later than i thought *cough* yesterday,because the book store didnt have any!)Im loving you book and am going to go read it! The tagline could be:
    “Special Circumstances…we are the cure.”
    you wrote it in pretties (page 136 *sneeze*!)but i think it would go well on the cover and technically no one wrote it for i just reminded you!!

  100. I remember where it says “we are the cure,” but that doesn’t really tell much about the book or catch the reader’s intrest, which is what the tagline should do 😉 I wonder when scott will post again…

  101. for a tagline
    um…
    yeah i spent way too much time thinking of these… i have too much time on my hands… and with so much time I probably should have been able to come up with ones better than these but theyre what i came up with.
    “How do you beat something flawless?”
    “If ugly is normal and merely pretty is stunning then what is special?
    “Can you defeat the enemy… once/when you become one?”
    “They look and move extraordinarily, and have the potential to destroy anything”

    sorry if this is a really old post… if it is then… yeah i feel stupid

  102. on amazon it says that it’s in hardcover, what’s with that? i thought all three were going to be paperback. also, on amazon, on the picture, it says “The final volume in the highly acclaimed UGLIES trilogy.” why doesn’t it say it on the one displayed here? honestly, i dislike the angle of the shot of the person, i think the camera should’ve been positioned up a bit more and focused on the upper part of the face with the neck still visible and the nostril less visible. the bottom seems a bit too plain. somehow, i don’t find this creepy looking as i expected. i think the model should’ve had her chin up high with a nasty grin to show some authority. the model of this looks nervous with the eye looking in the right direction and the lips in an unhappy mood but trying to hide it. also, the eyebrows look choppy.

  104. i like the cover it looks really cool, but it doesnt really look the way i imagined a special to be and the girl on the cover looks way different from the girl in uglies and pretties’ cover..don’t get me wrong itz a nice cover but hopefully they can make a cover that can have a girl who looks more like tally and have a more evil look to her..or add another person in the cover just like they did in pretties..

    by the way i love ur books..and u rlly should turn the trilogy into movies..there the best**

  105. Hey, if Tally ends up not going all evil on us (hope hope) a good tag would be like “What you see isn’t always what you get…” because people see a Special and automatically run away, but inside it’s still Tally. Just an idea.

  106. Tally won’t go evil…but she’s not a saint, that’s for sure…

    I thought it was kind of mean when she rolled her eyes and insulted David’s mom b/c she (D’d mom) was angry at her. I mean, D.’s mom had a right to be angry…her husband got killed because of Tally.

  108. op! hmm so If the hardcover comes out then when will the paperback come out? I’d hate seeing 2 books paperback and then one hardcover =[

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