Little Brother

Posted on by scott

Hey, all. Justine and I are fresh off the boat back from Europe. Our Atlantic crossing was wild and wonderful (force 11 winds! tuxedo wearing!), but I’m so far behind blogging-wise that tales of the sea will have to wait.

There are Zeppelin rides to blog, after all. And before I can get to that, a bunch of awesome new books are coming out that simply must be mentioned. The first of these hit the shelves yesterday, Cory Doctorow’s Little Brother . . .

As you can see from the blurb above, I called this book a “rousing tale of techno-geek rebellion.” It’s set about five minutes in the future, and follows a group of computer-savvy teens taking on Homeland Security after it seriously steps on their toes. (It’s Little Brother versus Big Brother, you see.)

But the maybe best way to describe it to you guys is this: It’s the closest thing imaginable to a rebellion like Uglies, if such a thing happened right now. That is, young people with the right combination of technology and courage and sheer cussedness pushing back against the Authorities-That-Be. And you know what? That’s a pretty cool thing to be written at this point in our nation’s history.

Plus, you’ll learn zillions of anti-surveillance tricks for use at home and school.

For more, Cory and John Scalzi (who has another cool YA novel coming in August), discuss their books here:

And you can buy Little Brother here.

Coming up next: More Zeppelin pix, a screed on seasickness and brain rewiring, and a new new novel by Maureen Johnson. Much excitement awaits.

105 thoughts on “Little Brother”

  3. yea not just fool fawesome, fexcellent, non-feculant!!!!! i could go on and on! why does scott-la have things on his blog about books he hasn’t written????? that’s weird, but also nice cause he respects other books/authors… awwwwwwwww. kay-wa, have u ever read the gatekeepers series????? they r sooooooooo good!!!!!!!!!!!! the books are: ravens gate, evil star and nightrise, all by anthony horowitz!!!! he is number 3 on my top author list (number 2 is JK Rowling, 1 is Scott Westerfeld!!!!!! gotta have my uglies (midnighters and peeps too)!!!! lol go on later!!!!

  4. That looks awsome. I have to add that to my never-ending list of books to read. It seems to keep growing, especially with amazing new stuff coming out every week.

  5. looks like a cool book… i shalll add it to my list
    do you like my new name

  9. o0o fawesome? that’s actually from a Scott Westerfeld novel, the Last Days, sequal to peeps. u should really read it, along with the gatekeepers series!

  10. That’s SO cool! I really want to get it now that I’ve heard of it!!

    When I saw the title I was like, “ZOMGDSJFLKD 1984!!!!1” and geeking out and stuff.

  17. True that, true that. When I first finished the books I used to say a prayer for Zane every night! I know how pathetic, but that’s how obsessed how I am!

  18. Awesomeness. The cover is pretty fool, i have to say. I cant wait till the day i write a great American novel….. and of course it will then become the great Uk novel and British novel but you get the point.

    How you ever said and written something and forgot that you have said or written that thing? I do that all the time. i go, when did i say that? or I wrote that? Like, duh, you did!

  20. i dont like Zane-la. i mean, i love him dearly, but when he died, i believe it gave Tally-wa the punishment she deserved for LEAVING DAVID!!! i threw a party when i read that he died. expecially cuz it was all her fault.

    -Lizzy-wa OUT! 8)

  21. That looks like such an awesome book; going to have to add that to the list of books I’ve gotta check out.

    omg, somehow the library got a copy of The Host (Stephenie Meyer) already, and my friend signed it out like a few days ago! Lucky her. Just read the teaser drafts on [Stephenie]’s official site, and it’s pretty intriguing, actually.

    And of course, I’ll have to get to Suite Scarlett, and Lock and Key by Sarah Dessen looks really interesting as well.

    Such a long list to get to, tsk tsk.

    ^^^ No no no, Zane’s death wasn’t the punishment that Tally deserved, because then did Zane really deserve to die? He didn’t do anything wrong and basically, he saved people from themselves and Zane was a totally fawesome character.

  22. how did he save people from themselves? im confuzzled…well. im not saying Zane isnt fawesome. i said “i love him dearly” after all. but Tally-wa deserved it. he didnt. she did. see? (probably not).

    -Lizzy-wa OUT! 😕

  23. OKAY WE’VE HAD THIS DEBATE LIKE INFINITY TIMES PEOPLES!!!!!
    Sorry, but it always ends in the fact that it was wrong of Tally to leave David, but she didn’t remember David so she loved Zane, so when she remembered David would it have been right of her to leave Zane, a new love, for David an old love? See, she’s stuck between a rock and a hard place. But no, I don’t think Zane deserved to die for her mistake, but there are different opinions.
    So DAVID IS FAWESOME. and ZANE IS FAWESOME.
    problem solved.
    (See, that’s what happens when you’ve got two equally fawesome guys in one story.Now in Twilight for instance it’s completely easy to choose who’s best. Edward of course. Even though werewolves rock, Jacob is a Jacka-other word for donkey. His personality just completely throws me.)

  25. okay guys, all your questions will be answered if you read Extras!!!! If you read the Extras you will know that Tally chose David (Zane is dead anyway) and they are a happy couple. Although they look odd because David is well… Uglie and Tally is still in her Special body so she has a cruel beauty!!! Get it?? If you don’t, READ THE EXTRAS!

  26. Wow, with you AND Neil Gaiman on the front cover, there’s no conceivable way for me to *not* run to Borders later today and buy it. 😀

  28. o0o nvr mind i get it!!!! LOL!!!! have u read uglies??? and scott-la doesn’t respond to this site, just a heads up! byees

  29. U SAID IT TALLY&ZANE!
    i mean, who can’t luv zane? srsly, u peeps have problems.
    and also, t&z made an excellent point–she had no way of remembering david AT ALL when she got the lesion things, and she did fall in luv w/zane, and yes, it was her fault zane-la died, but she was a complete and total bubblehead! i mean, hello? has the thing about the lesion/operation things failed not to reach u?
    sry, i just luv zane-la :mrgreen:

  30. nuh uh! zane died when she was a special cause she said she wanted him to be more like her so she wouldn’t barf when she kissed him! so technically she wasn’t a bubblehead and had a lot of control over what she said!!!!! so there

  31. We have heard the Zane vs David debate 1 millions bajillion times and we all know who the best character is so we dont have to debate anymore. Zane. And yes, Tally is a very evil person. i mean….if she just wanted to kill him…..well then theres not point! Some else should have him. Like, me!

    And….as much as i hate to admit it….David isnt that bad. Tally just shouldn’t have had any lovers! She hurt them all!

  33. Except it always seriously bugs me how whenever there’s a picture of Big Brother, he never has a friggin mustache!! Uh, I’m so OCD about character things…

    and while we’re talking about it…I agree, Tally is seriously messed up.

  34. guess what Bran-la….. Ambition came in my mail today!!! 😀 i haven’t had much time to read it yet cuz i’m buried with work/homework/and other stuff so yeah but the stuff i have read has left me starving for more. 😀

  35. Well………………….ILOVEZANEMORETHANDAVIDBUTBEFOREZANECAMEINTOTHEPICTUREIACTUALLYLIKEDDAVID. Hey! If we’re talking about messed up people right now, I must say that I think David definitely fits into that category! He left Shay for Tally! So he basically had it coming! When you look at it that way…karma baby, karma!?

  36. DUDE!!!!!!! i wanna read that so bad it looks BEAST and it most be beast if Scott’s name gets to be on it 😀

  37. awwww, the prices i pay when i sit around all afternoon and do nothing.
    well, i wasn’t doing nothing. was reading the second Squad book and percolating new story.

    any-way. i feel all special because i’d already heard about this book from the blog of the author who did the cover blurb.
    …and then forgot the title and about the book.

    any-way. i am so behind on comments here. got dragged away yesterday before i even got to the spoiler pages. and now i’ve gotta go take a shower before Lost so goodbye.

  38. The choice between Jacob and Edward isn’t all that clear as to which is the better character either.

    **SPOILERS**
    Although it was wrong of him to do what he did [in Eclipse], Edward has shortcomings as well (e.g. overly-possessive).

    Personally I like Edward better as a character too, but there are a lot of Jacob fans out there. (Some of them are intense almost scary fangirls, and they might not appreciate Jacob being called a “Jacka….” Hopefully there aren’t any Jacob-lovers about to flame you for this…)

    LOST! Another Lost fan!

  39. Wow that was like, random Issy. We were talking about Zane and David and then you come in with…twilight? Randomness……

    I just got back from dance class! Yeah! Im all stinky now….ew.

    Kay-wa! No fair!!!!!!!!! If only i had a copy too! You make me want to go and buy my own. But i have to wait!!!! I have too! Because i like gettin my from B&N. Im weird like that.

    Tomorrow at my school is what we call “Fun in the Sun” day. Basically its a field day. And its kiddish. And it sucks. And i should skip school. uh. Id rather just read the whole day!!! I like to read…..

  40. ooo i love Lost too. but i have to wait till the weekend to watch it cuz i’m stuck writing a boring report on this nation-wide recycling contest. i have like a few different sources and each one is telling me different stuff. like on the date that it started and finsished one source told me it started March 26th-April 30th, and another told me it started March 1st-May 31st, and another said it started March 26th-June 21st. ugh… i don’t know who to believe.

  41. lol. yeah. i LOVE Amazon.com! 😀 i get most all my books there cuz i don’t have a book store in my small pathetic town… isn’t that sad! yeah so it’s really good so far i’ve only read like 37 pages cuz i’m writing this stupid report and so it’s pretty much killing me that i can’t read it.

  42. Bran-la, it wasn’t really random cuz I said something about it, but yeah….I’m just saying that the way Jacob just like throws himself at Bella just makes me sick….it’s not just because Edward’s supposed to be the ultimately gorgeous vampire that I like him better, it’s more of a personality thing, ya know?

  45. Edward is weird though cause he was like stay away from me Bella and then a second later; do you wanna go with me to Seattle over the weekend. That’s a bit strange don’t ya think? Still, the books are amazing and I can’t wait till August 2nd!!!!!!!!!!! (you all know they’re making a Twilight movie right??? well, it’s true!!!!)

  46. Little Brother sounds totally sweet, I very much want to read that.

    And why are we having a Twilight Discussion in Mr. Westerfeld’s blog?

  47. Good point, Haley Rae.
    hey hey hey peeps. Haven’t been on in like 4evr… blame mom not me. hehe. Anywho, I’m currently reading the THIRD MIDNIGHTERS BOOK. Scott-la excellent work, btw. Loving every minute (correction- every MILLIMILLIMILLISECOND) of reading it 🙂
    Hopefully little brither isn’t like The Golden Compass- I’m a christian (cough hack catholic hack wheeze cough cough) and my CHURCH even told us to pray for those who see the movie and read the book, and to stay away from it. Unfortunately some evil 6th grader decided to use it as their book report- and their poster is in the hallway, where my class must go while on our way to lunch and to the classroom. -.-
    Enough about Golden Compass, Scott-la didn’t write that (thank gooseness). Hope to hear more about some stories that are by Mr. Westerfeld-wa rather than other authors… consideering this IS his blog…

  48. Cuz we are horrible fans that go off topic to the point of extremity. Yep, that’s us. Yep they’re making a movie with a craptastical cast coming out in December and Breaking Dawn is coming out in August and so…..yeah….

  52. Well, I actually think the cast is great. I mean, at least they didn’t cast Miley Cyrus and Zac Efron as Bella and Edward….ughh. I really, really, really hate Miley…BLEHHH!

  53. *which is totally mean of me because we live in the same state, same age, (almost) same school, but YUCK!

  55. seriously? I like miley….honestly ppl are giving her too much grief for making a mistake O_o I mean come on it was one of her first decisions without her parents and it was a simple portrait, without a hint of curves or meany to look bad. I’ve seen worse -.-

  58. i just wrote a whole thing anf then it didnt send it….. Technology these days. They have such bad adittudes.

  59. dude. i fell in LOVE readins scotts books! i finished one each day. my firends got so tired of me reading everywhere i go. teachers also got annoyed from me reading all the time. i LOVe them. i also was so glad when Tally and David were together. i really didnt like Zane and Tally together, but it was sad when Zane died. im glad that there are so many other people that like these books because they were AWESOME, i wanna keep reading for ever. there should be more books
    !

  60. I know how you feel paula-wa and there are more books by scott-la he has the Midnighters series which is also very good and there is peeps but i have not read that yet. Oh and welcome to the site.

  61. You know, you can talk about other books besides the fawesome books scott-la has wrote. just saying. uhem… twilight… coughcoughsneeze. oh, what, what was that I didn’t say anything, stop looking at me!!!! LOL! that was sooooooo geekish! What i really mean is you can talk about other books like twilight, which is amazingly amazing time a trillion (and even more), if you haven’t read it… well… YOU SHOULD!!!!!

  64. thanks erica-wa. i kno have to start reading all those other books. and its surprising i never even liked to read until i started to read these books.

  65. I am watching a Zoey 101 movie! it rocks! i love that show. Im a cheesy person……but it really isnt much of a little kid show.

    People get tired of me reading too but i just keep on going. It doesnt effedt me. Like, what ever! Its MY life.

    Hehehe Im hyper.

  67. hey serefina zane–i read the first book in the squad series and heard about it from the same site–waiting 4 the liberry to get the second one, or convince mom to let me buy it…hmm…which one is faster?
    it’s a cool book tho…exciting.

  68. i ya–someone said that tally was evil or something and i have 2 say: SHE WAS NOT EVIL okay? she had like all these lesions twisting the way she thought and acted and stuff–she had like no say in the matter whatsoever….i luv david and zane, not sure which is better tho…i guess whoever she’s with in whatever book i’m reading is my favorite i guess…david like saw the real tally, like minus the brain damage and beautiful faces etc. etc. so he’s cool like that. but zane, he like helped her think her way outta the bubblehead lesions and, in some way, out of the special lesions. so he’s cool like that.
    i hate it tho when some of u peeps say that zane’s a jerk or something cuz i luv him, and i hate it when someone says that david’s a jerk or something cuz i luv him too (i know i may contradict this statement in previous comments–pay them no mind plz). so u get my point??
    ZANE AND DAVID R BOTH REALLY SUPER COOL!!
    case closed. the end. and they all lived happily ever after (except zaneRIP and cable and azRIP and…u get the picture). the gavel is down…understand???
    sry it’s like 11:30 and i just am kinda tired w/alot on my mind and u shouldn’t mess with me…
    has neone seen miss congeniality?? i think she puts it well:
    “i am in a dress,
    i have gel in my hair,
    i haven’t slept all night,
    i am starved,
    and i am armed…
    don’t mess with me.”
    heehee good movie–u should really see it…heeeheeeeheeeheeeheeeheeeheeeheeeeheeeheeheeeheehheeheeeheeheeheeheeheeehehheheheheheheheheemwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeheeeeeeeeeeeeheeeeeeeeeeeheeeeeeeeeeeee
    sry i think i’m on a sugar high right now. crazy, little loopy, wierd, a little wrong in the head (wait a minute–there’s nothing out of the ordinary here…)
    well gtg for the heck of it…dunno why i gtg, but i do…
    see how crazy i am ❓ ❓

  71. lol whew everyone is goin bonkers
    i finally fit in…haha im just kidding
    i personally like Zane better…..but David is cool to 🙂

  72. Good Morning! Have you ever gone to sleep with something on and when you woke up its like choking you or something? I did that this morning. My friend made me this necklace thing and it ties close to your neck and right before i went to bed last night i tightend it up cause it was getting loose. When woke up, my neck was all sweaty under the braclet and my throat had a red line across it. Weird….

    Right now i am reading Luxe. I havent read it in a while although i need to. Its ok. I wouldnt really suggest it to people. Its all old timy and, i dont no, it doesnt really have a plot behind it. It doesnt seem like theres a reason why she wrote the book.

  74. o so very tired. yesterday i went to school, got done with school, went to work, worked overtime, came home, threw my clothes in a bag, did my hair n makeup, went to the high school, watched the play Zombie Prom, went to DQ with friends, stayed at friends house, didn’t get much sleep, and then woke up at 7:20 a.m. to go and serve breakfast at this thing for old people, and now it’s FINALLY over. and i’m EXTREMELY tired. hanging out with my friends was fun though and the play was hilarious! now i’m gonna go sleep or read. hmm… dying to read Ambition. dying to sleep. hmm.. i don’t know which i want to do more.

    i’m cheesy too Bran-la i love Zoey 101 but i forgot to record it last night. 🙁

  75. oh my gooodness its hot out
    i just tried to tan
    i was outside for like 10 minutes and then couldnt do it…but mostly becuz im no good at sitting still hehe

  76. it’s hot where u r??? it’s really rainy and cold and wet and miserable here….
    tired too, o well it’s like afternoon…need good book to read…

  78. I’m so bored, I thik I might DIE. I’m watching “The Incredibles” on TV. Even tho I have it on DVD. And wouldn’t have to watch commercials. I think I’m just too lazy to go get it and put it in and change everything.
    Wait a sec UMR-wa you should be UMR-la
    no ‘L’ in UMR.

  79. Oh, Bran-la I read Luxe too. It’s good if you like that stuff, like set in the 1800s but for me really it just depends on my mood. It’s about 80 degrees here. I can not tan either, but that’s cuz I have really light skin and I’ll just get sunburned…ick! Oh yeah, I wouldn’t suggest wearing that necklace to bed anymore…

  80. Hey peeps I just realized this is the perfect place to get some advice. Anyone can answer. It’s a friend issue O_o
    Okay, here it is-
    I have a few friends that all sit at my lunch table. There’s Lora, the perfect friend; Kevin; Varun; Robert; Becca, who is the person I have a problem with; Sarah; and Micheal, who is moving to Puerto Rico who-knows-when. Okay. Now that you know everyone, Here’s the problem-
    Varun or Becca (not sure which…) is inviting everyone to Gatti-town (which I’ll explain later) as a going-away party for Micheal. I first heard about it from Sarah, who asked me if I knew about it. Obviously I said no. The next day, Becca, who was sitting on one side of me, said to sarah, who was on the other side of me, “Hey Sarah, Varun wanted me to tell you that you’re invited to Micheal’s going-away party Sunday.” never saying anything to me about it….Or at all that lunch…
    Anywho, nobody’s said anything about the party except sarah, as I had said. This isn’t the first time Becca’s mentioned a party right in front of me- She also invited everyone (EXCEPT ME) to her house around the middle of the school year for a party for no reason. Again right in front of me. What’s worse is she doesn’t seem to like me and idk why. If it weren’t for me, Sarah probably wouldn’t have been sitting there at our table anyway. becca knows that. So does Lora, who didn’t mention it either. And everyone else. I seriously cried last night bc i cant tel if becca’s my friend or not, and whether lora’a afraid of becca. I personally think Becca may be trying to steal lora as her best friend because Lora goes over to her house all the time, and I never get to see lora outside of school. I really want to be friends with becca but she doesn’t seem to like me majority of the time. Anyone have any advice on what to do? Btw I’m moving like half hour away from my current house so not fixing it before the end of the month will mean never being friends with becca. ADVICE?!!?

  81. Gatti-town is this all-you-can-eat buffet with like pasta and pizza and salad and some dessert. You can buy cards and add points to them and play games that cost so many points. You earn tickets and buy stuff at the gatti store which has some cheap and some really good stuff. Depends on your ticket amount. There are a few dining rooms to eat, on of which plays a movie.

  83. Sounds like she’s an extremely crappy friend and all together craptastic person. If you really wanna try to be friends with her, the last thing you should do is try to suck up to her (not that I’m saying you would, just don’t do it.) but you should try talking to her, just the two of you(and don’t mention the party yet) and tell her that you don’t really feel like you two are as good of friends as you actually could be, and that it bugs you to know that, especially when you are gonna be moving soon, and you seriously want to end on a good note with her, so you were wondering if she’d like to hang out more, the whole group of you guys too, so you can remember the times that you have together while they still last.
    Hope that helps! 🙂

  84. This is so cool, because I’m skipping lunch in a week or so to go see the author of Little Brother talk about it. Normally it wouldn’t be appropriate for us to miss a class, but since we’re reading 1984 right now, we’re expected to go because it’s a) relevant and b) fun. Plus I’ll get a signed copy, and signed copies of books are just really cool in general.

  88. Emily-wa
    If you think that becca is worth the trouble go ahead and talk to her like Tally&Zane said but dont lower yourself just to be her friend it is truly not worth the effort. I’ve been throught this so many time and very rarely there is a good outcome (depends on the talk and situation though) sorry. anyway dont give her anything to hold against you either because sometime they use things you said to hurt you and take your other friends away. But anyway best of luck i really hope that things work out for the best.

  89. I just went to B&N the other day and purchased Little Brother. I’ve started it, and it’s totally awesome so far!! I even like how it’s politics-themed, however slightly. 🙂

    ~i

  90. Yea I’ve been thinking about that, Erica-wa. She’s becoming somewhat…evil…..
    Haven’t talked to her like Tally&Zane said YET, but i think that staying in a hotel room with her for two nights and on a bus with her for a total of a little more than 12 hours should bring it up 😉
    thanks for the advice, you guys!

  92. ok i am reading peeps and it is good so far hope to finish it soon

  93. Bought it. ‘Tis excellent.

    Not sure how I feel about Marcus, though. At some points I completely identify with him and where he goes with this. At others, well…..he kinda scares me as much as Homeland Security.

    But it’s good whne it’s made me forsake the other three books I’m reading, stay up all night geeking over it AND steal the laptop (which is supposed to be unseen by me for another week. Shush, don’t tell mama what oyu know!)

    ~Veronica

  94. i already finished little brother… like scott says.. it is techno-geek rebellion!there is a lot of computer type stuff in it but it is still good!

  95. Little Brother was fawesome. But not only that, it was meaningful. The computer stuff was awesome, and I loved how it was about freedom and the real spirit of America.

    ~i

  96. Hey guys. I just bought Little Brother (I was reading The Host and I HATE to read 2 things at once. I used to be able to do it, but now it’s just confuzzling…anywho…moving on.) So I’m about halfway through it already. Truly fawesome book! Now I’m a tad bit paranoid that they’re watching me… I KNOW YOU’RE OUT THERE!!!! STOP STALKING MEEEEEE!!!! Sorry, I was just talking to Homeland Security… Hey, what’s that suspicious black car pulling into my driveway? Oh, God, they’re coming for me! Heeeeelp! Tell my story to the wor…

Comments are closed.