I get a lot of fan mail that asks, “Will we ever see Tally again . . . ?”

Well, the answer is now official: yes.

Yes. Yes. Yes!

The book I’m writing at this very moment is called Extras. It’s set in the same future world as the Uglies trilogy. It’s Uglies Book 4, so to speak.

But trilogies only have three books, the pedants among you declare!

Okay, fine. Extras really isn’t the fourth book in the Uglies trilogy. And the Uglies trilogy isn’t actually a tetralogy—or quartet, if you prefer real words in English.

No, the Uglies trilogy is totally a trilogy.

Uglies, Pretties, and Specials are one story, the coming of age of Tally Youngblood. Or, as I half-jokingly refer to it, “The Making of an Eco-Terrorist!” And that story is done.

So what’s Extras? Is it just . . . extra?

Well, no. It’s not just extra, it’s more.

Warning: Mild spoilers begin here, and they’re non-mild if you haven’t read Specials yet.

Extras is set a couple of years after the “mind-rain,” a few earth-shattering months in which the whole world woke up. The cure has spread from city to city, and the pretty regime that kept humanity in a state of bubbleheadedness has ended. Boundless human creativity, new technologies, and old dangers* have been unleashed upon the world.

Culture is splintering, the cities becoming radically different from each other as each makes its own way into this strange and unpredictable future . . .

It’s Diego times a planet, and it’s a pretty interesting time to be fifteen.

That’s how old my protagonist is. That’s right, Tally Youngblood is not the viewpoint character of Extras! Deal with it. Sometimes one needs new fish to fry.

But will Tally be making a guest appearance? Well, it’s not like she retired at the end of Specials. But maybe I should let her answer:

Be careful with the world, or the next time we meet, it might get ugly.

Heh, heh.

Spoilers end here.

Extras comes out October 2007 from Simon & Schuster.

More later.

*See “Rusties, end of.”