Alice, Michael, and Moi

Posted on by scott

Spent the morning at breakfast with Alice Walker! (Littlies: she wrote the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Color Purple back in 1982.) Me, her, and the exceedingly charming Michael Hoeye were featured at a children’s author breakfast for the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association.

Alice Walker, despite her vastly higher face rank, graciously spent much of her speech responding to what Michael and I had said. Regarding Uglies, she talked about being in South Korea recently, and being disturbed by how many women there were getting cosmetic surgery to make their eyes more western-looking.

Then she read from her new picture book, which was eloquent and beautifully illustrated. At the signing afterward, we swapped signed books!

I have proof:

Then Justine and I headed across the . . .

bridge.jpg

to San Francisco!

For a couple of earlier tour photos, check out this post on Justine’s blog, from one of our first events (in which I look like a dorky school teacher), and this one from a walk around Jack London Square (in which I look like a crazy person).

250 thoughts on “Alice, Michael, and Moi”

  2. Eee! Alice Walker! San Fransisco! You’re living the high life now, huh? ;D

    I’ve never read The Color Purple (my loss) but…geez. A literary celebrity, at least in my mind.

    Interesting regarding the plastic surgery overseas. Interesting…and hopelessly depressing.

  5. sounds like a great time!!

    I laughed so hard at the picture of you in front of the statue – it’s pretty much amazing!!!

  6. it must be fun always being able to travel to so many places! woah! number 6!! big improvement for me!

  7. San Francisco!!!! *sigh*

    I finished Extras yesterday. It was AWESOME. I will elaborate on that at some point in the future. But yeah. Awesome.

  8. “(in which I look like a dorky school teacher), and this one from a walk around Jack London Square (in which I look like a crazy person).”

    hehe, all these misleading photos 🙂

  11. WOOO!!! Love the pic of u posing in front of the statue. totally kick. hehehe. how did justine break ur toe????

    YAY!!! NO SCHOOL!!!! (i slept til nine in honor of Columbus.) 😀

  13. ummmmm……wow, thinking about this, i sound like such a loser, but i’ll soldier on
    ***WARNING—BLue NOon SPoilers COming SOon***
    **********************************************
    beware! a plague upon people who haven’t finished Midnighters 3 and read this post!
    **********************************************
    well, i took a break from my *not* tithe/ironside fanart because my colored pencils needed sharpening, and i decided to work on my *not* midnighters fanfic instead.
    and it’s working out SO awesome! i know my opinion’s biased, but it’s surprisingly easy (and fun!) to write from rex and melissa and people’s POV. but i’m not here to talk about that, because i think it’s supposed to be bad here. whatever. i DO actually have a point here. i need an anserw to a question.
    i may be betraying my lameness here, but i do not actually own a copy of Blue Noon. i read them all out of the library, and later bought paperbacks of the first two.
    so the problem is, i can’t consult it for the ending.
    so…..ENTER The Wisdom Of The Crowd.
    wat happened at the end? yes, i know the thing with jess and global midnight, ect. but, confirming here, it was REX and DESS who stayed? and JONATHAN and MELISSA (and sort of JESS) who left? that’s how i’m writing it, but it might be wrong.
    ***end spoilers***
    *********************************************
    forgive the horrible spoilers. avoid them like the plague!!!

  14. i’m afraid.
    i went over my friend’s house the other day, and she’s got a really fuzzy cat, and i was like dude, your cat looks like a Tribble.
    and she just looks at me, like, What r u talking about?
    and i look to my other friend, as in, please tell me you know what a Tribble is.
    she also looks blankly.
    i’m like, COME ON!
    STAR TREK?!?!?!??
    please! does no one know it?!
    please tell me some of you have seen/heard of/know what Tribbles are.
    that’s like, the only episode that’s ever on TV anyway.

    wow, i just unrelatedly noticed i was watching Star Trek right now. and Heroes, on my computer, at the same time.
    who says there’s such a thing as too much technology?

  15. I love Alice Walker. The Color Purple is one of my favorite books. I’m excited that she has a children’s book coming out. I’ll have to get it for my neice and spread the Walker love to a new generation.

  16. EVIL GLOBAL STUDIES TEACHER!!!!! NOT ALLOWING ME TO FLOOD SCOTT’S BLOG WITH COMMENTS FOR A FULL 5 DAYS!!!!!

    madness! there were essays, tests, lab reports, quizzes, and plain old homework!

    but now i am back, and hopefully this week my teachers will cut us some slack since it’s SPIRIT WEEK! starting tomorrow (well actually it started last friday w/ pj day but w/e)

    here are the days:
    tuesday—gender-bender day (i’m just wearing a polo and loose jeans)
    wednesday—circus freak vs. cowboy day (i’ll wear clashing clothes, but NO CLOWN WIG! lol)
    thursday—character day (it’s such a broad topic…maybe i’ll dress up as dale earnhardt jr! no one would guess scott, so i can’t do him)

  17. i wish i could visit cali…i’ve never been there *cry*

    and btw, when is the NYC appearance gonna be? i need a date/time! i’m so OCD

  18. The Brain storming for Darkling Werewolfs isn’t going to well…………… i need some ideas………..So far i have came up with dess finding a darklingwerewolf and he or she knows how to get jessica out of the midnight hour………….. And back into the real word…………… mabye what do you think…….????????

  19. actually i’m *not* writing midnighters fanfic right now. and it’s going good, but there’s no darkling werewolves here. just graduation and a way for jess to leave midnight.
    maybe i’ll leave the darkling werewolves to scott! to write as a book! a fourth midnighters book! please!

    i hate homework. i am, in fact, neglecting a huge social studies project this very moment.

    and that’s a pretty wierd spirit week, dude. encouraging cross-dressing and clown wigs??? my school never does stuff like that.

  21. How Could Dess Get out of the midnight hour??????????
    how???????????
    i am neglecting a huge paper I have to rewrite sooo……….

    how could she get out?????????

  26. That is soooo cool!!!!!!!!!! Now that is a good idea!!!!!!! but will she still be a midnighter and be able to witness the midnight hour still????????????

  28. i think they’re oblivious humans during the day, and then they turn into darkling wolf things at midnight but don’t remember in the morning, and think they’re dreams or something.
    and maybe they kill people and see em on the news, cuz there’s more people around at midnight now, and the crew has to chase around the werewolf who’s ttly oblivious.
    or something.

  29. how r they twin midnighters they would be born at different times one could be a midnighter but the other wouldnt unless they were joined

  30. ya that was how i put it………. how can ther ebe twin midnighters ifg twins arn’t born at the same time? are they simaze? or conjoined? how could they both be midnighters?

  31. but i’m seeing CHASING MIDNIGHT as a sort of Extras, with diff. protags and narrators.
    and it would be sorta freaky if jess couldn’t see midnight afterward. but i don’t know how that would work.
    and I think about this waaay too much. i need a life. nah, i like this better.

  34. i don’t know. don’t ask questions.
    and twins could be born just a few minutes apart.
    and we don’t know if you need to be born exactly AT midnight, or within like a minute before or after, or ect. so if there’s a three minute or so window, it’s possible to have twin midnighters.
    i dunno, i just think they’re cool.
    CONNOR AND TECH!!! one’s a polymath and one’s a seer.
    fan-glee!

  38. well i dunno. in mine they found some lore somewhere else and it magically sez how.
    but that’s without the darkling werewolves.
    in the darkling werewolves, maybe jess gets bitten or something or i dunno, magic.
    you know who i bet could come up with a good explination? SCOTT WESTERFELD!
    in a fourth midnighter book! that would actually be written and published! and maybe, maybe, have some sort of dedication to a certain CHASING DARKLING WEREWOLVES club…..

  44. HEY PPLZ!!1 Guess what! i hav a blog. and i want u guyses to look at it. i dovoted a post to scott and his blog. SO GO CHECK IT OUT (by clicking on my name)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 😀

  46. i feel so out of place as the only one without a blog. and i’m the kind of person who would really post on one. whatever.

    CHASING MIDNIGHT WEREWOLVES FOREVER!!!!!!!!!

  47. HeHeHe. I’m a triplet/twin. So I guess they could be born a couple seconds apart? Anyone see what I mean?
    amelia-wa

  48. sorta. like i said before, i think it all depends on how long the midnighter window is. if it’s, like, a millisecond, no. but then there wouldn’t be any midnighters because babies aren’t born that fast. so i think there’s at least a minute of time. and if it’s like, a minute on either side of midnight, that’s totally possible—some twins are only like thirty seconds apart.
    whatever. i think they’re cool characters, and it’s waaaay more improbable to have two siblings that aren’t twins born at true midnight.

  49. Ya I hope one day he will write another midnighters book!!!!!!
    Mabye i like ur ideas Serfina Zane…………… That idea about the darklingwerewolf biting jess i thought about that last night that was one of my ideas too. and mabye she will become a darkling werewolf to if she was bit………….. mabye tust mabye…….

    I Want to be in the CHASING MIDNIGHT WEREWOLFS FOREVER club!!!!!!!!!

    Cause hello i was the person two second that idea last blog!!!!!!

  50. you can be in the club if you want. it’s a sort of free-form club comittee people who bug authors thing.
    now to actually write real original fiction.
    or that social studies homework i reeeeaaaally should be finishing.

  53. ummmmm…….i dunno. me and Lizzy-wa are co-presidents. maybe we can have three co-pres-ez….or like, i dunno, staff writer or something. or whatever. or……help me oprah!….i dunno. would u be a Mindcaster, Polymath, Seer or Acrobat? you can be a staff one of those. like i’m all melissa-ish, but i like acrobat stuff, and i wear glasses.
    hmmmm….i’ll think on it. u got any ideas?

  55. i dunno how to run this sort of thing! all of you should go over to lizzy-wa’s blog and bother her there. or here.
    feel free to make up your own titles.
    maybe we can compile some sort of list or petition or whatnot. maybe i can force lizzy-wa to keep track of that.
    r u there, lizzy-wa? i’m abandoning responsibility to you.

  56. Hello you guys, hopefully you all no me my now, im mena i have been writeing very long comments for the past week to scotts blogs. dont you just love being able to talk about the books he wrote with ppl who have also read it. i love just expressing how much i love Zane and about how i dont mind david
    (i mean only because he,SPOILER,died 🙁 )
    and tally being together. How i loved the series and how i am going to read midnighters and even how i really want a, behold, 5th book. By the way i just want u guys to no i am typing this on my new laptop (ok so it mot mine but i use it, family shareings.) I hope you guys can relate with me on some things but for now all i can say is, behold, book number 5.

  57. by the way Serafina Sane and Lizzy-wa i think you guys rock, always posting stuff, i havent read midnighters but you guys encourged me to, now your mission is to make scott make more books (uglies series perhaps?) and even midnighters! you guys rock!!!

  58. ha! i love it when people mention how awesome i am. i’m modest too.
    and read midnighters, they’re great! totally different style from scott’s other books, and my favorites.
    and i was a long-time westerblog lurker before i started posting.
    hey, i’m on a laptop right now too!

  60. Ok I will Be The President Of Darkling And Midnigher Resources…..
    i Have a coolio spot……..

    ***lizzy-wa & serafina zane i am doing brain storming aout the darkling were wolfs if you want to see some of it?

    Is That spot taken??

    Chasing Midnight Werewolfs Club!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  61. ha! that’s a great office name!
    that’d be awesome man
    CHASING MIDNIGHT DARKLING WEREWOLVES ROCKS FOREVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  63. i dunno, i seem to be the only one without one. try looking at wordpress.com maybe? or through livejournal if you want. ask someone who knows more, maybe they’ll be more helpful.

  64. Np with the name mentioning thing i like it when ppl mention mine or at leat comment back on how they feel about wat i said. your lucky if u didnt have school today. by the way, im really excited about midnighters. I think its gonna be good, or at least that wats ive heard. i have never realized haw fast i type until now, man i speedy!! have you read the uglies “trilogy” Serafina Zane, jw, i mena you talk about the other books alot i was just wondering if you had read uglies thingy 3 thing. ok well get back to me on that, saty icy,and and by the way i just wanted to say, behold, book number 5, were ready anytime scott, anytime!

  67. yeah Bran-la, i have read the Uglies Trilogy, and Extras,and Peeps, and The Last Days and So Yesterday, pretty much all Scott’s books, but i just like Midnighters the most. they’re a totally different style and sooooooooo great!!!!!

    CHASING MIDNIGHT WEREWOLVES!!!!!!!!!

  68. hey, scott:
    just so u know, if i were there, id’ve done the exact same thing!!!!! u don’t really look THAT brain-missing….kay, u look SOMWHAT brain-missing, but if would’ve been me!!!
    i think that the chasing midnight thing is really cool….but i’d settle 4 just about ANY other book in the uglies or midnighters series!!! (besides; the ending of chasing midnight was totally bogus!!! B-O-G-U-S!!)
    i just finished extras….i liked how in the ending, everthing was resolved (*SPOILER* except 4 the cake thing….*SPOILER OVER*) it was SO BUBBLY!!!!!! the thing is…..when i started the series, i think all of the other books (excluding extras) had been written!!! now i have to wait for the fifth book (hint, hint!!)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    well, i think that this was much longer than i’d meant it to be…..it must sound incredibly bogus…..
    -riderchild-wa 😀
    ps: SCOTT…..WHEN R U COMING TO NEW ENGLAND?????????? I NEED 2 KNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!

  69. the club should have a website…..*too lazy to set one up*

    good usernames…hmmm….how about your fancy officer title? (which i love, btw)
    or something else midnighters-related.
    like a triple trideocalogism

  70. it was like that for me too, the only westerfeld book i waited for so far has been extras. alrhoguh i didn’t know it at the time though, but i read specials and the last days right after they came out.

  72. thats totally awsome, i want to read all his books, hes just such an amazeing writer. I love how he mixs a bunch of diffrent types of books together like action, romance(me likey0, and lots of action, but of course most famous, fantasy or not gonna happen. he created a whole nother world, icy!

  74. — Had another bomb threat my school today and we went on lockdown

    I actually think someone threatened to blow up our I.A. building and then set our main school building on fire.

    CrAZY stuff.
    Too bad we couldn’t miss school. 🙁

    — I don’t think that Scott Looks TERRIBLE.

  77. hey, u think leaving for a day and a night left you brain-missing? i did my social studies homework for two minutes and find ten new comments!
    good luck with that, lizzy-wa.
    HEY, HEROES IS ON TONIGHT!!!!!
    i love westy!!

  78. darkling and midnighter resources president blog not loading….
    one of you people should really get on that webpage thing. i’m not very intermonet inclined, but i’ll help out with writing commenting stuff.

  81. definitly. harry potter = waaaay overrated.
    they’re good, but sorry, not the best books ever written. not even the best classic ‘high’ fantasy books ever. i think that’s Sabriel.

  82. I sooooooo want to read Midnighters too
    Bran-la. It looks soo good. DO ya’ll think that Scott will make a 5th book to Uglies?Because I mean I want to know what happens to tally and david,with frizz and her and also whith the extras

  86. all you people go read midnighters!!! they’re like, the best books ever.
    scott westerfeld, but all the characters have to go to high school! and sneaking out at night! and midnight! and lucky 13! and lightning!
    come to think of it, influenced my own stuff a lot…..
    they’re just so great!
    but they’d be even better with a FOURTH BOOK. with DARKLING WEREWOLVES. you know, CHASING people, at MIDNIGHT.

  89. I read the Sabriel books.

    Nah— I am still thinking that it is either the Midnighters or the Uglies that would be the best book ever.

    Can’t decide.

  91. ZAAAAAAAAAAANE!!!!!! we mourn you.
    GO SHAUSTO!!!

  92. i no i love Zane he rocked he was just so………….so…………. bubbly! He was sweet and omg it makes me smile and just want to marry him!

  95. midnighters ttly best books ever. with city of bones. and tithe. and ironside.

    i was saying sabriel was the best traditional “classic” high fantasy bks.

    midnight werewolves site not working!

  98. sorta zombies but not really in a sorta midevil world/1920s england….with magic….and necromancers…..and awesome stuff. ans seeing the future. and well, awesome.

  99. Bran-la and Zane sittin in a tree,
    k-i-s-s-i-n-g
    first comes love
    then comes marriage
    then comes book #5
    thats not all thats not all
    then you make more for the midnighters fans

    i no that didnt ryme but it was a good try, right?

  102. niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice. but zane is MINE!! jk.

  104. website still not working lizzy-wa!!!
    now i gotta go eat chili.

  111. We need to make a name for scott:
    Vote for your Fav.

    Scott-la
    Scott-wa
    Scott-sensi
    Scott-Chan
    Scotters
    Scott
    Scottie La Matie

  112. lol funny use of EXTRA i like it! It totally pretty-makeing! The way i said that was like icy, right? Any who i gotta go surge-monkeys!

  117. k 1 vote for Scott-la o and by the way i have no clue y u had branda-wa in earlier but i prefer to be called bran-la i just like it better.

  125. Okay, so I don’t think this is spoilery enough to elicit a warning, but I’ll give one any ways. Today I was thinking about Manga Heads from Extras, basically people who have surgically altered themselves to look like Manga characters and I did a google, and look at what I’ve found.

    http://www.worth1000.com/cache/contest/contestcache.asp?start=1&end=10&contest_id=7470&display=photoshop

    there are more under “related contests”

    And this creepy site that lets you pay girls to wear an anime like mask and hang out with them.

    http://www.anigao.com/pc/movie.html

    How crazy are we as the human race?

  127. ok so it looks like
    Scott-la is a winner, did you her that Scott thtas your new name we refer to you as scott-la and no other name, we hope you like our dissision for the new name! o and it would be totall awsome if you used it in your blogs!

  128. works now.
    i use odd names, like author-folk and stuff. but scott-la sounds best, i think.

    awesome page lizzy-wa!

    DARKLING MIDNIGHT WEREWOLVES ROCK.

    now i reeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaally have to go do my homework. *regretfully closing westerblog window*

    plz post brainstorming 2morrow sophie-la!

  162. midnighters rox.everyone should read them.
    now i reeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaly need to finish my homework.

  165. why is zane awesome?
    –caffinated
    –sleep-deprived
    –rainy
    –black hair gothishness
    –cold
    –sweet
    –kissing
    –rebellious
    –crim
    –hotness incarnate!
    –*sigh*
    okay, reeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaally leaving now.

  167. ZANE IS BETTER NO MATTER WHAT YOU SAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  177. GIVE ME A Z A N E WHAT DOES THAT SPELL? ZANE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  185. ZANE ZANE ZAQNE ZANE ZANE ZANE ZANE ZANE ZANE ZANE
    ZANE 4 TALL’S BF
    ALL U VOTE ZANE OR THE OTHER GUY DAVID?

  230. David is sooooo much better

    Also, I have a question: when it says “mail”, does it mean email or real mail address?

  232. Ha, you totally look like you are doing a Nazi salute-very bad.

    and..David all the way! He’s way better. Zane is gay!

  233. ZANE ROCKS FOREVER!

    and speaking of CHANGING. Zane never liked Tally as an ugly cuz dude, he never MET her as an ugly. never had the chance.
    and unlike David, who FREAKED OUT the first time he saw Tally as a pretty, Zane was accepting of Tally when she was special. he was all cool with her icy new surge and looked BEYOND APPEARENCES because he LOVED HER FOR WHO SHE WAS.

    and zane is just so awesome, he burns up the pages. the book would catch fire if he didn’t leave.

    and i have nothing against David. He was a cool first crush-kiss. but Zane, Zane is the boy you stay with. Still, now that Zane is *weep* gone, i don’t mind if Tally ends up with David. After an appropriate 3 years of mourning, that is.

    HEROES ROX.
    is that u, LJ?

  234. ZANE IS AWESOME. i have nothing against David, but dude, you Team David people are pushing me to the edge. don’t make me start talking about how FICKLE he was because he totally went all FLAKY and DUMPED SHAY FOR TALLY, even when Tally didn’t like him that much yet. at least Zane was devoted. he stayed WITH her through two surgeries and multiple betrayals. more than can be said for wild-boy.

  237. o srry i havent gtton to atlk to steph-la ive been busy see you at scdhool o and i see ur hveing fun lol

  238. hooray for the bay bridge!
    except when theres major traffic, thats kinda lame…

    but sooooooooo excited about tomorrow!!!

    YAY!

  239. *retyping post lost in cyberspace*
    i agree with the final desicion. Zane is just better. Sorry, but Deal With It. Good Night.

  240. *cough cough* excuse me Co-Prez-la, but your wrong. when did Tally ever betray Zane? maybe when she puked when they kissed, but thats not even her fault.
    David barely hesitated when he met her PRETTY self. and he was cool with the whole SPECIAL thing two. plus, she betrayed him like five times in every book! and he STILL loves her in the end! thats love man. thats love.
    DAVID FOREVER!

    -Lizzy-wa OUT! 😛

  242. No, the arrows weren’t going to kill her. Plus, David didn’t even shoot the arrows.

    I will ask this question again: When it asks for your mail, does it mean email or real mail address?

  243. hmm not sure if you ppl will still this blog since blog on fog is up but w/e i rule my own world so im gonna post in this blog … ok srsly zane vs david you have your point with like totally flakiness towards shay it was like oo better fish to fry kinda thing, but zane was like o ive been here (pleasure gardens) alot and how do you think ive gotten the info on other pretties (and come on if you do the math zane is only a few months older than tally) o and david haas always been trying to save tally he wanted to save her (even if that meant leaving zane but i dont htink he would have minded) and when she was special he was trying tho stun tally to fix her …. o random thought in uglies jumping off of garbo mansion she is taller than standard pretty height and she is shorter than david but in pretties she is taller than david so she got even taller? hmm …. it was sad when zane died but in a way it needed to happen i mean tally needed to save the world david better match for wild than poor zane-la unless he would of got that surgery or became a cutter but w/e im done talking

  244. i think they made u taller in the operation.

    and wat r u talking about, co-prez? i didn’t say tally betrayed zane. and i do not recall any puking either.

    and i bet zane was lying to look cool when he said that stuff about the gardens and junk. that was their first date, remember.

    and here’s ttly odd—-we had a very similar david vs. zane debate in the summer, and EVERYONE was pro-zane. in fact, it wasn’t even a real debate. just sort of like, hey, everyone knows David’s better than Zane, right? and they were all like yeah.

    just come on, aknowledge it. zane is better. the zane people aren’t attacking anyone. it’s all the insecure david fans who deep down know zane is better and are fighting the inevitable.

  245. About the puking, I think she meant when Tally couldn’t stand kissing Zane when he was crippled. I don’t remember if she threw up or not.

  246. She didn’t throw up. She jumped into the ocean, after poking him the the thingys on the sneak suit, Also…

    DAVID IS SO BETTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Srry just had to say that.
    Amelia-wa

  248. I dont mind David i mean i liked him SOOO much at first but then i met Zane and I LOVE HIM HE ROCKS HES SO MUCH BETTER!

  249. i agree. david was cool in his time. but then zane came, and he just paled in comparison.

  250. Ah, yes, Zane. Because he’s GORGEOUS and has Rhett Butler-like CHARM. Then you have David. David, who did not need some type of surgery to find Tally beautiful. I prefer actual love to superficial lust. Sorry about that.

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