Last Reveal: The Smoke!

Posted on by scott

Shay’s Story is already out, of course. But I had promised one more reveal. The Smoke!

Here’s Shay’s first view of it as she and her fellow runaways arrive:

Click here for a bigger version.

Of course, the smoke had to be smokey! After all, that’s the first thing Tally notices about it in the books. It’s the first thing any city kid would notice, so chimney smoke had to dominate this shot. (Also, look at David standing there looking back at the runaways. He’s all “tada!”)

One of the key themes of the Uglies series is the balance between the city and the wild. And one of the reasons I wanted to work with Steven Cummings was that he can render both architecture and nature as dramatic elements on the page.

The Smoke is a mix of nature and proto-city, and of futuristic and traditional technologies. So I like this shot of a work detail below, that has hoverboards and powerjacks juxtaposed with giant and imposing trees. The high technology is cool, but it’s literally in the shadow of nature.

Click here for the big version.

Anyway, I won’t show you any more, because as of today you can just go out and buy Uglies: Shay’s Story!

I just found out that there are two electronic versions available. Nook users can buy it at B&N.com. For iPad owners, here’s the Shay’s Story page on iTunes is right here. (It says you can read it on your iPhone, but you’d better have pretty good eyes, because it’s fixed width format. iPad is way better.)

And you can get physical copies at bookstores and comics store, of course, or online at Indie Bound, BarnesandNoble.com, or Amazon. Australians wishing to shop online can get it pretty cheap from Fishpond.

Hope you enjoy it! I’ll put up the official spoiler thread tomorrow.

30 thoughts on “Last Reveal: The Smoke!”

  1. The Smoke looks awesome! I kinda wish I could buy the book on kindle though… I’m currently stuck waiting for someone to take me to the bookstore.

  3. I had my mom go out and buy the book for me today while I was in school and I just finished reading it, and immediately came on here to post about how much I love it. Especially seeing some of the concept stuff at the end, I just love reading about how the process all comes together (especially some of your criticisms Scott! haha)

    Overall, fantastic, and I can’t wait for the next one.

  4. I just finished the book, and I just have to say, it completely surpassed my expectations. It was absolutely amazing. The artwork was awesome, and the story was just fantastic. I loved seeing that side of Shay and seeing everything from her point of view was insanely epic. Definitely looking forward to the next one!

  9. I love it. When I first saw it in the book I just sat there for a second taking in the Smokey-ness of it.

  10. I like the smoke!
    I’m disappointed…I pre-ordered my book back in early Januray, and it hasn’t shipped to the bookstore yet. (Or atleast they haven’t notified me that it’s come yet).

  11. Spoiler thread, y u no up yet!?

    but seriously, the book was amazing. I couldn’t stop looking at alot of the pictures even after I read it twice. Everyone who worked on this, Scott, Steven, Devin- you have THREE thumbs up from me… the third one I drew

  13. I sob softly while looking at this, the LAST reveal? Please tell me you’ll do reveals for Pretties Shay’s story too!
    I’m still mad that my birthday isn’t until 5 MORE DAYS Then I can get it…. hope I like it. (I’m sure I will, but, you just never know…)

  14. i know this is really belated but I’m kind of disappointed with the design of the hover boards. I always imagined them sleeker looking, almost like skateboards, but without the wheels, of course.

  18. @15: It’s the same way in both pictures, actually. (Kinda creepy, if you ask me…)

  19. Now the message lizard should say “The Manual of Aeronautics comes out August 21, 2012”! Go LBG+MoA!

  20. If I could drive to the book store I would already have it, I don’t suppose my mom would let me walk…

  22. The art work is great, but I’m not a graphic novel fan… I prefer to imagine everything, which is the beauty of regular books. Will a regular book of “Uglies: Shay’s Story”, without pictures, be available anywhere in the future?

  23. Is this going to come out in France ? Cause I really really want to read it… But if I have no choice I’ll just buy it in english ahah 🙂

  25. I read Pretties all day yesterday and Specials all day today! (Well, not ALL day, but whatever.)

  26. Now Extras and then Shay’s Story! (And then the Manual of Aeronautics after a while.) 🙂

  28. I finally got it!!!! Even though I’m not a huge manga fan I loved it! Shay-la is my second favorite of Scott-la’s characters(behind Deryn). I am really glad to know why Shay and Zane didn’t go in the first place I’mglad Zane didn’t just chicken out, he’s too brave for that. I never really liked David and this just proves it. I’ll have to show it to my Dally shipper friend.

  29. Will there be a triology of Shay’s story too!?? I hope so and I finished reading this book in one day because it was so good I could’nt even put it down. Just seeing the pictures and how it looked was so amazing and cool. Oh, I also heard there was suppose to be a movie coming out about the original Uglies series, is that true?

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