Wild Coaster

Posted on by scott

The roller coaster in Uglies is one of my favorite images from my own work. So I was mighty thrilled when, few months ago, a commenter named Geslepen pointed me at a Flickr set of decaying roller coaster photos:


Photo by El Rebelde

There’s something about the sinuous, elegantly mathematical lines of roller coasters mixed with the chaos of nature that’s just gorgeous. I can see Tally and Shay zipping around in there, getting whacked by tree branches and laughing it up. (Good times.)

Click here for the rest of the Flickr stream.

In other news, Terri Brown posted this interview of her by me in celebration of her debut novel. Read My Lips is about a deaf girl who is co-opted by a popular clique for her lip-reading abilities. A really interesting point-of-view character in a classic YA plot of gossip, acceptance, and what we’re willing to pay for the promise of popularity.

1,644 thoughts on “Wild Coaster”

  1. I’m a writer too. My imagine explodes in many forms(aka shoes with clay on them, stories about aliens, ect.). I wish I could stay in grade 5 forever. That is when I was at the same school as my best friend…

  2. so do I Andrea-la so do I
    you just always gotta comeback
    now have either of you ever heard of ska music like REEl BIG FISH good music

  3. I want to see the world. I have such a narrow perspective of what’s around me, of the air that I breathe, I just want to actually SEE everything. Not just the good, I want to see the bad too. All of it. So I can understand. Or at least try. Sorry, random, but it’s been building up in me for a while…

  6. See the world. I’ve seen the world. I’ve been to Egypt, I’ve been to Europe, I’ve been to Indoniesia. I still don’t feel like I can begin to understand the world around me.

  7. Well, I’m gonna go now cuz I was on the computer longer than I intended to be, and I want to finish Eagle Strike(Alex Rider book, it’s really good) so this is goodbye for now. *saluts Kenzie and Andrea-la*

  8. ska is the genre
    it uses like brass instraments look em up their cool
    their music is just a little full of profane words
    also dispatch song the general
    ah so cute

  17. the simpsons do have some inappropriate humor, but they have some really funny humor, too. most of it doesn’t make any sense, tho, but that makes it all the more funny.
    i don’t know if i’d wanna be popular. my older sister and her friends are just so…i dunno how to describe it. they’re not exactly in the popular crowd, but they’re not outcasts. my older sister really thinks that the popular crowd is just stupid.
    last night we watched fellowship of the ring and the two towers, extended version. we started at 5pm, and it ended at midnight. we’re gonna watch return of the king tonight. but i couldn’t sleep cuz of my throat thing. the results for the test came back negative, so my mom says it’s probably a virus.
    w/e. i’ll just grin and bear it………………
    //unwraps another coughdrop//
    the only coughdrops i can have are the luden’s cherry stuff…the numbing stuff, well, i’d rather throw up than have those–they taste DISGUSTING!

  20. wow, how long is your church Andrea-La? Mine’s only 45 min long. OMG!!!! I just finished New Moon yesterday. I was reading like CRAZY. We were looking at stone for our new house and i was reading during the car ride to each place. I NEED TO READ ECLIPSE!!!!!! The stupid library doesnt have it, and it’s checked out until july 13, and that doesnt count if it’s late!!!! UGH!!! And i only have enough to buy the paper back copy and the Border’s in my town only has it in hardback! Why oh why didnt i get any borders or barnes and nobles gift cards for my b-day??

  21. My church is only 1 hour, but it takes half an hour to get there. I really felt the same way when I was reading Eclipse. I was reading it on the airplane to vancuver, and I had two more chapters left when the plane landed and my mom was “put your book away”, so I read it in a random store when my mom was forcing me to go shopping.

  23. so I’m like 9 days late….but thanks so much for posting this Scott!!!! This place is actually about an hour away from me and I never would’ve known it existed, and these are such cool pictures, almost exactly what I pictured, even though it’s not metal and all, I’d love to go out to a place like this!

  24. -Lucky… getting a cool name like that.

    -That is your REAL name isn’t it??? — Isn’t it ??????

    Ok… I am maybe a LiTTLe sleep deprived.

  25. Reallllly late post on this… but I was just doing drawings of the hoverboarding on the coaster scene, and this is sort of like how I imagined it. =)

  26. but the roller coaster in uglies was steel so they could ride it with hoverboards so that picture isn’t right. 🙁

  29. well i personally thing this image is very powerful…not familiar with uglies, although i can gather from other comments its a book. i’ll look into reading that… but what i want to know is where in the world you were able to find the coaster in the picture? this shot really is quite magical and i feel there is most definately an interesting story behind it.

  30. wow…………good times, good times. I remember this….wow…..it seems like all these convos happened just yesterday, but at the same time forever ago…..wow.

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