The Hungarian edition of Leviathan is totally interesting. It seems to be a huge propaganda poster of Alek steaming along under its own power.
This image is mysterious to me, but cool also. I want to become a Hungarian teenager for, like, ten minutes, just to briefly feel what this means.
So how was your weekend?
Such a cool cover!
And I got my permit this weekend (after being hit by a school bus while parked on during my first driving lesson… yeah… stuff like that happens to me), thanks for asking!
Oh! And first comment! Again! Woo!
That is REALLY a weird cover….
@1-Congrats! 🙂 I have four more years till I can drive…I don’t want a car, I want a TARDIS!!!!
@2- Thank you! I’ve been looking for a TARDIS and can’t find any TARDIS dealership! I’m gonna have to resort to “borrowing” one from somewhere!
That is an amazing cover. It is like propaganda, but support for the World Wars was heavily in propaganda mode.
Im getting ny permit in four months. Hopefully.
The cover is pretty great, though it feels a little “Big Brother” to me. Or am I thinking of a sort of Chairman Mao reference? At any rate, it has a historic feel to it. Very cool!
I love the gigantic wings in the background. That gears-with-wings logo is my favorite motif that you guys used throughout the series. Something about those sharp metallic wings felt so amazing to me.
I’ve been good, thanks for asking. How’ve you been?
I love the wings, too, but I want Keith to come up with the Darwinist equivilient, so I can balance out all the doodles I do when I’m supposed to be taking notes.
Also, that cover is awesome and cool and some-what creepy. It seems very militaristic, facist, and really overbearing (all words that school taught me at least four years after I had been using them successfully).
Plus, when someone manages to hack UNIT and finds TARDIS blueprints, call me. Or, you know, just when somebody finds out where I can get one.
Awesome cover! 😀
Hey Scott! You said you’d come to mine and Bagpipeheadache’s wedding if we named our first child Deryn, right….
Well this weekend, after becoming the mommy of a cantankerous 3 week old kitty (That we’ve named Bovril), I’ve decided I don’t want kids. 😛
Will you still come to our wedding?
Like the cover… Don’t really understand it though…
My weekend was excellent. Planning on building a Tardis bookshelf! So Excited! (F.Y.I. A Tardis is a time machine that looks like a phonebox)
Anyways… How was YOUR weekend?
woah woah woah
YOU GUYS ARE OLD ENOUGH TO DRIVE?!?!
How was my weekend? Well, I had allergies, and was sick with a runny nose, and then more allergies, and now I have an ear infection, and am half deaf.
But on the bright side, I got to pick an essay topic for my AP Comp class and it was your YA books, Scott. XD …All of which I’ve read except for The Last Days. I’m currently writing about the Leviathan universe and WWI, and for once I can’t wait until my next essay. XD
How was your weekend?
Whoa….I am totally confused and intrigued by that cover….
And guess what? I got Scrivener!!!!! Yay!!! And my weekend was filled with homework of extraordinary quantities. My life will be forever filled with homework, it seems. Don’t you just hate it when teachers give you schedules for the homework for the next month? They think they’re doing us a favor, but I just feel like I’m drowning….in a water-walker off the coast of New York….
My library has Leviathan finally! I read a bit of it everyday….It has an awesome cover “Alek and His Stormwalker” I believe it’s called. Or that’s what I call it in my head. But the paper and ink is slightly different, so the illustrations are not as beautiful….BUT IT’S STILL AWESOME. <3
Oh, that cover. 🙂 I saw it yesterday on the publisher’s FB page… I fell in love and I can barely wait for Christmas – this is sooo gonna be my present, no matter what. 🙂
My weekend was slow and boring and I should study instead of surfing on the Internet.
The cover looks….umm….weird……but otherwise really cool! Your books get the best cover designs, Scott!
Well, My weekend was sort of uneventful. Mostly I just worked on school stuff that isn’t due until two weeks from now, so now I have no homework. Yay!!
Wish something cool happened to me. Like getting a Tardis. Anybody sees one, let me know.
Interesting, yet weird, cover. I had a very nice weekend.
really cool cover but deryn’s not on it! and my weekend was great thanks
My weekend? Spent about 10 hours at a swim meet (split between two days) tired as heck and school isn’t helping. Thanks for asking.
it is a very cool cover- it reminds me of nazi propoganda. it sort of makes me wonder if the people who designed it (who does design all these covers, anyways?) know that the book is about WW1 not WW2.
totally cool! so, maybe i’ve missed something big, but what’s TARDIS? is it still science fiction or does it actually exist? nothing relevant happened in my weekend, thanks for asking though.
and Scott, could you please post updates as frequently as physically possible, because Westerblog is a good place to spend time doing stuff other than homework 😀
@10-I LOOOOVE YOUR NAME I iz super dr who fan!!!!!!
@20-TARDIS stands for “Time and Relative Dimensions in Space”. It’s a Dr.Who thing. :3
That is a really cool cover. I like it better than the American one. Actually, I liked the very first cover the best, the one that only had all the gears and stuff, but then it kind of got ruined when they put that kid at the top…
And god I feel old…I drive, like, all by myself with no restrictions…..
@23 and whoever else mentioned TARDIS: i guess i need to keep up with stuff more. @11 and 24, if this makes you feel any better, i’m not of the common age here, either. that makes three of us.
@25 then which end of the spectrum are you? 🙂
@19 – You’re right. Propaganda played a huge role in WW2, but it shared a major role in WW1, too.
@26, this is where we differ. compared to most of you here, i’m very teeny-tiny. i guess Joo Dee and i will have to be little children together. sorry.
Congratulations on getting the Iowa Teen Book Award Mr. Westerfeld. Leviathan deserved it.
OH that cover… just… *explodes from awesomeness overload*
AND as for the subject of driving, I get my permit in like 6 months (hopefully).
I hadn’t really thought about it but that really snaps things into perspective…
jeez…
TARDIS!!!!! YEAH!!!!
pppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppp;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;””””””””””””””
Oops, sorry about that. I spilled yogurt on my keyboard and somehow my process of cleaning it got posted.
Speaking of yogurt, there is a frozen yogurt place in my town called YOLO… yeah…
The first time I heard the phrase ‘You Only Live Once’ in popular culture was on a Dr. who episode. Figured I should mention that.
Why is everyone talking about driving? I don’t even want to get my permit because it depresses me that I won’t be piloting a walker. There’s so many places I would like to go, too, but my mind can’t even comprehend ‘plane’ anymore. [No airships? :(] AND I KNOW WHAT A TARDIS IS!!! Because I watched, like, the first two episodes of Dr. Who. XD It’s so odd.
Also, why are so many people caught up on the Hindenburg? It kept coming up today. It’s like the Titanic of airships, only people still use ships, don’t they? Why not AIRships? sehivhjsklvnsdlkvnlks This world….
(It came up because in English class we had an assignment to draw some sort of contrasting settings. I chose the air and Darwinist vs. Clanker flight. I used the most awesome Manual as a reference. Was I allowed to do that? I gave full credit where it belonged!)
@35- Watch more Doctor Who. It gets better as it goes on.
OK this whole age thing is kind of embarrassing so I’ll get off…but in my defense, I started reading Scott’s books (and following this blog) in middle school.
It’s my sister’s birthday today.
@28-I’m only twelve! I’m (compared to most people here) a little kid too!
@37- No it’s fine! We don’t mind! That was not ment to sort of ryme.
@39- I’m 13. Hurray for “little kids”! Weird I don’t mind that here but when my parents call me that I get really angry. Hmm…
MY SISTER IS SOOOOO LUCKY….for her birthday she got an “I heart Dr.Who” T-shirt, a sonic screwdriver, and a plush adipose….SO F*CKING JEALOUS
@39-so am i
but i look (maybe act? idk) like a 16 year old
Everyone’s talking about age now….I’ll just say I’m Deryn and Alek’s age? Ja? People understand? I don’t want to turn a year older because then I’ll be older than them….Even though they’re born in 1899*….And this was the awesome magical age of me cutting my hair like Deryn’s. (Sort of; mine is curly XD)
*Actually Alek could be born in 1898 depending on if his birthday is in the end of the year or the beginning because in Leviathan I believe it was once said that he was almost sixteen around June 28th. I wish Scott would actually say when their birthdays are. (HINTHINT) Please?
@37 same! of course that means 1 year ago i found out about the cool books and website… yep, in 7th grade now.
@45- I’m Deryn and Alek’s age too! I also tried to cut my hair like Deryn’s but it didn’t really work.
Not to be critical, but isn’t the flying thingy to the mid-left not appear until the second book? Why is it on this cover?
@45, yeah, I know how that feels, not wanting to be older. I still remember the day I realized I was probably too old to play Tally. Very sad-making, indeed.
@48, i think you’re right. looks like the Sultan’s Air Balloon-thingy is headed straight for Alek’s nose… or maybe it’s escorting it… never mind that last bit.
well my weekend was just fine. but it seems as though i am about a week late for this, becuase its friday right now…
Yeah, finally published in Hungarian! (Yes, I am from Hungary:D) Can’t wait to read it 🙂 I think the cover is good although I haven’t read the book yet. I wanted to read it in English but I thought I would wait until it comes out 🙂
I like the metal crown on top of the propaganda-machine thing. It really captures the Clanker/Austro-Hungarian theme of the picture. I notice a lot of people were commenting about there drivers license. Well, I hope that someone invents hover boards by the time it get my license, because cars are kind of environment-killing.
@ 41 – I’m only thirteen as well, but here’s my thinking:
If Deryn was born in 1899, than that means she is or may be exactly one hundred years older than those born in 1999.
Twelve/Thirteen year olds FTW.
@54- We f*ck the world? Huh?
@54- Well, I guess that’s true. Only I’m from ’98 🙂
Anyway, you’re right! 12/13 are really good ages(at least for me).
All this age talk got me thinking too: isn’t it weird how saying “I’m 12 years old” still sounds like you’re a little kid and when you say “I’m 13” you feel all older and cooler and stuff? That’s kind of weird for me.
Oh, and also what you said about Deryn being 100 or something years old, I sort of can’t imagine her like that. For me she’ll always be a 15 year old scottish girl dressed as a boy!
@55- WATCH YOUR LANGUAGE
and its for the win
@54: Does being twelve/thirteen a few years ago make me a FTWer? I don’t believe your language was totally necessary, but I admit being almost exactly one hundred years apart from Deryn would be pretty epic.
@56: I personally hate the teenage years, what with all the random mood swings and such annoyances. So being a teenager does not make me feel cooler at all. But I also think of Deryn as a fictional but awesome 15 year old, not an old buried person.
@58, that’s a good idea. but this’s my age question to think about: why are all the good Sci-Fi/ Fantasy/ Steampunk books about teenagers? all the authors seem to think that the 11-13 crowd hasn’t even discovered themselves yet, and somewhere in the middle to end of the book they finally realize that there’s a bit more to life. then, the characters really swan-dive in at 14+, whereas from all the commenters here we see that there’s a more diverse range of ages that experience what is set aside for writing about teenagers. sorry if that was too complicated or philosophical, it just really gets on my nerves. >:0
@55& 57- yeah I didn’t get that in the “for the win” way either. You and me, Middy Joe, can always be trusted to think of things in the worst way possible.
You know it’s been a long time since I was on the blog at the exact same time as somebody else. Does anyone else remeber the time last April when tjere were like 5 people on the blog at the same time all racing to get the 500th comment (which I got, btw)? It’s been awhile since something like that has happened.
@59: I agree. (If I understood that right.) Most people I know have their personalities consolidated once they’re eleven. So unless there’s some drastic change
(Above comment accidentally sent.) Redo: @59: I agree. (If I understood that right.) Most people I know have their personalities consolidated once they’re eleven. So unless there’s some drastic change in their lives, many people never change at all after before they’re teenagers.
@61: That’s true, and yes, I remember that. It has been a while. 🙁
@63, i think you mostly got what i was saying. i wasn’t really getting at personality changes so much as in this modern world, anyone under 15 isn’t considered adult or qualified for adventures, and so all the authors trying to relate to even 13-year-olds is all about the real world FINALLY dawning on them and their perfect little childish lives are suddenly ruined by social pyramids and first boyfriends, when really that’s just not how it works for all of us. so anything good, like what Mr. Scott Westerfeld does, is about teenagers.
oops, I meant teenagers instead of also 12 year olds.
well high fives to all 12-13- year olds. and i guess we can high-five the eleven year olds too, because thats close enough to being 100 years away from Deryn.
although im not entirely sure all that math matches up…. WHATEVER ITS COOL!!
oh and anyone else, no hard feelings. im sure your age is cool too.
@66- Oh no my friend. My age is NOT cool. There is far too much melodrama going on for any part of it to be cool. Just in case you guys didn’t get his the first time I HATE my new, public high school.
oh great why must older people get so…serious and philosophical fish whatever
@67
well the good thing is your only your age once, so its not like you have to revisit this supposedly awful number.
annnd
ARE YOU A DOCTOR WHO FAN? BECAUSE IM A DOCTOR WHO FAN!!!! tardis all the way.
annnnd
IS ANYONE EXCITED FOR THE MARK OF ATHENA TO COME OUT?? Rick Riordan fan anyone? i read the percy jackson series 8 times when i was twelve, and its been like two years but i still love him just becuse i liked him so much then, and i always get his new books the day they come out.
annnd
who thinks we should have scott arrange a time when we alll come on this blog and have a really cool conversation about his books or something? that would be cool.
@69- Yes to all of that.
@Middy Joe- I know you told is the stuff about your sister’s birthday awhile ago but now I have something relevant to say. Yesterday In went to Batnes and Noble and got a little Adipose toy thing!
@71- *I
*Barnes
@68, sorry if i got philosophical, but you do know that i’m your age right? we’re 12 year olds together… sometimes i just get scientific or about philosophy like that. if no one likes it i’ll stop.
@73- oll, its ok, i’m talking about other people
showing a hidden edge of philosophy is what makes us 12 year olds so awesome
woot woot
Hey so who wants to hear about my massive fail of the day?
(no one does, PWH, please spare us)
So I was calling my mum to tell her where I was but I used a friend’s phone because mine was dead. Since I’m lazy and I haven’t really memorized my mum’s number I took a risk and dialed what I thought was her number. When the person on the other end picked up the phone, I said “Hi, it’s me, the random creep that has secretly been living in your house for a decade and a half.” Then there was this long pause and the person on the other end said “I think you may have the wrong number,” and hung up. *facepalm*
@77
1) AHHAHAHAHAH!!!!!
2) wait what? where did that even come from? THAT SOUNDED LIKE SOMETHING SOMEONE WOULD MEMORIZE!!
3) YOU DONT KNOW OUR OWN MOTHERS PHONE NUMBER!?!??!?!
so lets just go with the overall wow.
*YOUR
your your your
not our
awk.
@74, so i have special privledges. yay!
@77, that’s a bit strange, although something like that happened to me a year ago. i don’t remember exact details so it isn’t as funny, but here goes:
I’m on the very unreliable yellow bus going home, when I realize it’s about 45 minutes late. I didn’t have my phone, so I borrow a friend’s. Luckily I know my Mom’s number, but she didn’t know the friend’s. so when Mom answers, she sounds… almost suspicious, a little questioning. I finally get it across to her that it’s ME, her child, calling to assure her I’m coming home and not kidnapped or something. — In the end I was able to contact my Mom, but she thought I was some creepo or something who got her number. that’s a bit scary to think that your Mom might suddenly not recognize you…
@77- yeah, that happens to me too. I don’t have a cellphone so I’m always having to call my parents with a friend’s. My mom is kind of used to it but when I call mu dad it’s akward because he starts talking as if I’m a call from a foreign businessman…..but it’s just me 🙂
Also, this got me wondering, has it ever happened to someone that you dialed a wrong number and the person on the other end thinks they recognize you?
@57-Sorry, I just have NO IDEA what FTW means…
If I have a huuuuuuuge crush on a gay dude, does that mean A.I’m really weird or B.There is no hope for me????
sorry that was really off topic
@69-I already said this before but since I like to brag about it….
I WAS LIKE ONE OF THE FIRST PEOPLE IN THE WHOLE WORLD TO SEE THE COVER FOR THE MARK OF ATHENA!!!!!! AHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!
@82, don’t feel wierd! we like who we like, that’s that. you just might have no hope, is all.
@82- Is it a person you actually know or just some internet someone? Sorry if that didn’t make sense… I’m just curious.
@86-He’s a guy I actually know. And he is freaking HOT.
*&%# 13 MINUTES I MISSED PWH BY #@$*^!& THIRTEEN MINUTES
I think I need to stop swearing….
ok this is really getting crazy
driving, ages, and now GAY PEOPLE?!?!
i’m leaving
@84-Due to the fact that you’re twelve, and he’s..ah..GAY…you should just be friends with him.
@90-As in forever or just for now?
just until my curiosity overwhelms me
so…hi! i’m back! (that doesn’t mean i’ve forgiven all of you…oll)
I’m sick….does anybody care?
i care! hope you get better soon! wait, that’s weird–Scott was sick, and now just a little while later you are. > ignore that.
wait, what happened? my awesome idea was erased. so, what i meant was maybe it’s a new kind of bug that can spread by human contact AND through the internet…creepy.
We’re quite good at that, aren’t we?
Oh sorry, I meant @88
@91- Agreed
@90- Oh, don’t leave!
@94- Me too.
I just got the new software update for my iPod and it’s FREAKING BEAUTIFUL! Am I the only one who thinks technology can be beautiful? Screw you PC lovers out there. APPLE PREVAILS.
@96-And then the bug will spread to our oil and all our cars will break down and uglies will become REAL!!!! MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
102-I got it too and it is beautiful!
Oh yeah, about the bug thing, everyone on IMVU (online chatting thing) is sick! EVERYONE!! So maybe you’re right…
wow. just wow
YOU USE IMVU?!
I feel that I know people on here too much
aso, i’m kinda sick too
oh yea!!! I’M DOING SPECIALS FOR MY BOOK REPORT
And in twenty to thirty years, their will be an actual bug that is spread through the Internet, and it will be because someone here was inspired to create it.
And we will all have you to blame for the destruction of our civilization.
My apologies for my tone in comment #58. I didn’t realize there were multiple meanings of FTW, and only knew the version in #55. I obviously didn’t process the comment preceding 58 *facepalm*. Sorry if I offended anyone. Oh and what’s IMVU?
MWWAHAHAHAHA!!! *lightning flashes in background* and i am actually interested in Bio-Engineering. but maybe being a little 12-year-old was to make you think i was innocent when i’m really a crazy old scientist and joining this site was just to spread my evil Bug to all of you and then proclaim my discovery and use it to suppress everyone and i shall rule the world!!! sadly, i’m not there yet. IF there even IS a computer Bug, i’m simply noticing it and taking credit for it. just realized i’m following the exact mind-path of Tesla in Goliath.
bored and reading comments. @67 i pretty much know how you feel, actually. get this–there are now over the top melodramatic 7th grade girls who act like they’re already juniors or seniors or something like that. not that i do that, but it’s not just your age.
110- No, they’re not acting like juniors and seniors, they’re acting the way that they THINK juniors and seniors act. In reality, juniors and seniors act nothing like that.
Trust me, I know about this sorta thing. 😉
I was just doing my homework and listening to Pandora when this ad came on that said exactly the following:
“Oh dear, it’s past 7 o’clock and you’re still at work listening to Pandora. Looks like you’re going to miss dinner with the family. Luckily craft makes home-style macaroni and cheese so you can have home-cooked meals anytime, anywhere…”
First off, they shouldn’t make assumptions like that because I’d already eaten with my family at home. Secondly, can you imagine how awful it’d be to hear that ad just after your family died in a tragic accident and you’d recently become unemployed?
*Kraft
jeez, I’m tired.
@111, i suppose i’ll trust you, but this is a mixed school–it’s 7th thru 12th. and yeah, advertisers assume a lot.
I want to strangle my english teacher, shoot my math teacher, behead my SS teacher, and stab my principal.
Just saying.
…..I don’t actually want to do that but I’m really pissed at all of them. The only teacher I actually like right now is my reading teacher.
OHMIGOD Have any of you guys BEEN on Keith’s blog???? He is just super amazing and talented!!!! My favorite picture is of this scribe-automaton-thingy that is like just AWESOME! Keith, if you’re reading this, I WANT TO FOLLOW IN YOUR FOOTSTEPS!!!!!! YOU ARE MY HERO!!!!!!
I have an oral book report due tomorrow on specials! xD
but i’m barely done with it…
@116, could you post a link? unless it’s something obvious like kieththompson.com.
@115- I can relate to that feeling. Except I’m only happy with my english teacher right now. The others, I feel like hitting them on the head until they realize we are not 3 year-olds! (I’m in 8th grade)
But something happened yesterday to my math teacher, she said she was with her son doing homework and noticed how he didn’t go out to play, watched TV, or even slept much because of homework. So she didn’t leave us any! I wish all the other teachers would get that same revelation.
Since I’m too tired to read through all the preceding comments right now, I’ll just skip over that and get to what I want to say.
I HAVE POSTED CHAPTER 32.
CLICK ON MY NAME.
DO IT.
Since I’m so jealous: Why is the cover art for the not-English versions of the Leviathan series so much cooler than the English cover art? I would’ve picked the book out so much sooner if it had better cover art! (Because yes, I DO judge books by their covers unless I started reading it over someone’s shoulder.) But if this is the publishers’ fault, then I really can’t complain.
Also: How does a grown man such as yourself, adopt teen culture, speech, and spelling? Does your audience have anything to do with that?
Hi Scott, I am a 7th grade and I have read Leviathan and So Yesterday. They were my favorite books I have ever read. I am now going to read Midnighters for a book report! I would be flattered if you emailed back at this email adress: ponderboury@yahoo.com. Thankyou so much for your time.