Specials Is Shipping! (updated x 2)

Posted on by scott

Okay, this isn’t the big news, but it is big:

Specials, the final volume of the Uglies series, is shipping from Amazon right NOW!

Tell your friends! Tell your cats! Tell your friends’ cats!

It was “officially” supposed to go on sale May 9, but there’s always some gun-jumpage in the crazy world of bookselling. I’m still in Australia, so you guys have to do the in-store spotting for me. Anybody seen a copy of Specials in the wild yet? (I hope they have them in stores soon, because it’s just not fair otherwise.)

UPDATE: Copies of Specials have been spotted in stores, at least in Canada. They should be everywhere in Canada and the US soon, and in Australia in a month-ish. Just call ahead! (The UK version comes out in October, but you guys don’t even have Pretties yet.)

And yes, this is the hardback edition of Specials. I don’t know when the paperback will be out, or if hardbacks of the other two books will appear. I’m only in charge of the words! UPDATE ENDS

Also, I will be putting up a Specials Spoiler Comment Thread soon, for those of you who’ve read the book and want to divulge and discuss. BUT THIS IS NOT IT! Do not engage in spoilage here.

And in celebration, here is some fab fan art, a hoverboard-a-rific illustration by Kate:

I love the blue lines and faded math homework in the background, the true sign of fan art direct from study hall. (Um, because nobody draws in class, do they? Unless it helps you listen, of course.) The crash bracelets are bigger than I imagined, but I kind of like the hugeness of them. These look big enough to actually work, and maybe even help you guide your way through the air, sort of like wings.

Check out the rest of Kate’s work, including headshots of leather-jacketed David, slightly gothoid Zane, pretty vacant Tally, and ugly-befreckled Tally.

In the meantime, rest assure that the previously alluded to news will be announced here . . . shortly (-ish). And apologies to anybody whose fan mail I haven’t answered yet: I’ve been snowed under with work.

Now go and read.

One More Update: Specials got to 393 291 224 today on Amazon! (I know, looking at one’s Amazon rating is pretty lame, especially as independent bookstore sales are really more important. But some days it’s all we authors have got, okay?) That’s the best rating any of my books have ever achieved, even Evolution’s Darling the day it was reviewed in the NY Times way back in June of 2000, which was merely 692-ish. Let there be w00ting, and let it be loud.

102 thoughts on “Specials Is Shipping! (updated x 2)”

  1. Hey, lots of great info, ta.
    Yay Scott, your book is 393!!! Climbing the ladder.
    Btw the sketches are very cool too, though Zane looks different from what I imagined.

  2. So I just went on Amazon to see if I could swing overnight shipping (can’t, will now proceed to call every bookstore in the Chicagoland area) and I discovered that an author I really like has set a release date on her next book. Her website still say’s that there’s been no news since October of ’05. Thank you so much Scott for keeping us up to date. Seriously.

  3. Okay, so, right after I posted I tried calling up the closest bookstore and no one answered, and I was all ??? Then I looked at the clock and realized it’s not even 9 am, and no one is going to be open yet.. Ooops. See how excited this news made me, it made me forget that I should still be in bed on my day off!

  4. thanks scott…if i can’t find a used copy on ebay (i already have the american copy, i just like the aussie cover and kind of collect books) i’ll know where i can order it. yay for fun book covers!

  5. I went to that candy Peeps page, and now Amazon is dredging up every last candy Peeps book they can find to put on my Recommendations page.

    Again, I am running to my mailbox. 😀

  6. I’ve ordered my copy. After I bounced around with joy the likes of which hasn’t been seen since…ever.

  7. fabity fab fab! (okay, too many confessions of georgia nicolson, but anyway…) i went out this afternoon, and when i got home, there was a package at my front door…from amazon…i now hav SPECIALS!! woo hoo!

    so now i must read.

  10. you don’t know how long i have been waiting for the book to come out. I’ve already gone to my local Barnes and Nobles and Borders(the only ones around here:(
    Anyway, they don’t have it out yet but they have saved a space in the new book section with copies of The first book , Uglies. I want to get the paperback version to match the paperback Uglies and Pretties that i have already bought but hell NOOOO. I’m not waiting. i have seen a small bookstore around here somewhere………….
    i’ll most likely go tomorrow….
    ps: the drawings are awesome. It’s kool how she can take it from her mind and draw. i can never do that………….

  11. Yes finally the Specials. It has left me hanging to long. Everytime i go to the book store I see the midnighters and right next to it is a big section for the uglies and the pretties I might die waiting(now we dont want that to happen do we :p)

  12. I know where suppose to be talking about Specials but…. but… *gets teary eyed* I miss Melissa and the rest of the Midnighters *sniffles*

  13. Well then, I’ll be going to the bookstore tomorrow.
    I’ll go notify my cat now. And my friends.

  14. My bookstore doesn’t have it (I only have a books a million and Waldenbooks here). But my copy is supposed to get here by May 2. Which is still a week earlier than I would have gotten it anyway.

  15. oh! no spoilerage, i promise, but i just finished specials, and…oh! thanks, scott. there is much more to say, but i would never ever want to ruin anyone else’s read. 🙂 enjoy..i sure did!!

  16. SWEET! *Just ordered Specials* AND the bookstore called and they have “So Yesterday” which is awesome. Now all I need to do is find Midnighters…. SQUEEEE I’m so excited! A -few-more-days and I will have Specials! SQUEE I feel so splecial! heehee Okay I’m done XD

  17. aargh, i just recently spent my saved money on manga. But I must buy Specials….hardcover or no. I will have to wait a while, as my local Borders is slow at stocking stuff. What’s worse is that Midnighter vol 1 + 2 are on a completely different shelf from vol 3. These people haven’t heard of trilogies or alphabetical order.

  19. I love Barnes and Noble. Mine, anyway. The’ve got the most relaxed release dates ever! Yep, I just
    got Specials!!!!!

  20. I called Barnes & Nobles and ask about the book. To this the lady replied that it is coming out May 9. told her it was available online. She replied with “maybe illegally…” Since when did Amazon become illegal? I told her they had it and she wouldn’t believe me at all…

    Oh well… I ordered it off Amazon last night…

    w00t for 393 btw!

    And I am much awaiting the big news…

  21. My favorite book shop around here will sell you any book in stock, even if its not ‘technically out’ yet so I usually get all the books early. So in short I have the book, in my home. But, I can’t read it because my sister won it from me in a brutal match of rock-paper-sissors. So she gets to read it first. This sucks. Hey Scott, know any good tricks to winning rock-paper-sissors?
    -Athena

  22. I don’t get why they don’t just sell the book… A sale is a sale, right? Oh, well, don’t get me started on chain book stores…

    Rock-paper-scissors can be vicious. Paper tends to work…

  23. Three rules for winning rock-paper-scissors:

    1) Don’t have siblings.
    2) Buy two copies (heh, heh).
    3) The “stone-cutting scissors” rule.

    I hear your woes about shelvage. When my first book came out, my local B&N didn’t put it out on the shelves for two months after its release date. The box was lost, basically.

  24. pre-ordering always seems to work well for me. 😀

    off topic again for the thread about specials, but this is kind of interesting…ordering the aussie peeps from the bookstore in australia costs about $18, like you said. i searched a bunch of used bookstores and such in the us, thinking maybe it would be better to not have it shipped across six oceans or whatever. and with the isbn i found it…but it costs *at least* $10 MORE here. bizarre. so actually ordering from australia is the way to go. who knew. so..thanks for the link, scott. 🙂

  27. I hate stupid Amazon’s “business days”, like, they can’t get someone to show up on a Saturday? With our economy? Puh-lease.

  28. YEAH! I’d get mine..well today, or tomorrow, but I suppose if they absolutely MUST have business days then so be it, but I BETTER get it Monday XD. Mwahah I just finished “So Yesterday” er… yesterday… when we bought it I searched for Midnighters, but lucky-ucky me, they only had 2 and 3. You would THINK that they would have 1 as well *sigh* oh well Specials is arriving soon! Hooray for no eating or sleeping until finished reading! WOO! It only took me 8 hours for Pretties….. can’t waaiiitt.

  29. i’m going a bit amazon crazy…i just ordered so yesterday and magic or madness. 😀 i did a major major top-to-bottom “cleaning of the kitchen” this afternoon, so it was my treat to myself.

    on a completely different topic, i woke up in the middle of the night to the sight of my grey tiger cat sitting next to me, right in front of my face, staring into my eyes. then, when i woke up this morning, my snowshoe siamese was sitting on my chest, her nose almost touching mine.

    good grief.

  32. heh My cat does that. YAYYYYY SPECIALS IS HERE! Okay I got is at 4:00 and it’s Monday I am currently on page 190 and it’s 8:08 YAY! Almost done…or at least half way. *Prepares to click the spoiler zone to talk all about it* I’m so happy! Great job so far! Simply lurving all of your books! Now, though, I must read!

  35. Ha finished it at 10:37 The night it came! WOO! I love you Amazon.com! Scott you did the greates job! I think I’ll need to redo my poem from way back when though XD Thanks for making such awesome books! *enters spoiler zone*

    PS
    I loved the dedication

  36. Sorry Scott.
    Random question, and unfair, but out of the books you wrote, what was your favorite?

  39. Do you know who the models are on the covers????
    (Random, I know, but a friend and I were talking about that the other day.)

  41. hey scott i know its off topic but its too Dess like to ignore. It goes off of what Rb said on the Midnighters Spoiler Zone(its the exact comment I used there too):

    Hey rob for what u said earlier about the 43,200 seconds thing. If u divide 13 into that you get exactly : 3,323.0769230769230769230769. notice a pattern after the point:0769230. Or if you divide the total by 13 you get exactly:
    255.62130177514792899408284023669. You loose the patter. But lets see what happens when u divide that pattern by 13 : 59171.538461538461538461530461538. You get the pattern agian. But none of the numbers are divisable by 13. But lets see what happens when u break it down.
    769/13=59.153846153846153046153046153846
    you get the same pattern when u divided the original pattern by 13.

    230/13=1.5384615384615384615384615384615 (same pattern as original when divided by 13.

    So still none are divisable by 13 but you keep the pattern freaky even after all the dividing of 13’s you get the same pattern.

  42. and now looking back at it I see that in the pattern:538461. All the numbers have something to do with 12 except 5

  45. oh no this means this is the end of yet another trilogy! Please Scott I haven’t yet finished the book but please i don’t want it to end! Same with midnighters. You know what would be cool… if u re-wrote the books from another point of view.. like Shay-La of Zane-La not Tally-Wa anymore. That would be petty dizzy-making. I would be so icy.

  46. like the lingo? I have cauught myself at random times using it ever since Uglies

  47. Soo, i finally have ALL the books in the trilogy.
    I thought it wouldnt come out for weeks!
    i checked last week and it was NOWHERE in the lower mainland
    but my sister picked it up today.
    (NOT in hardcover i may add)
    happy:)

  50. OMG! Please stop saying ‘Shay-la’ and ‘Zane-la’ and ‘Tally-wa’!!! It’s rather annoying and sometimes confusing. So, asking nicely, please?
    Man how weird would my name be?
    Jess-la. *shudder*

Comments are closed.