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….

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