Hey, sorry for missing FAF last week. I was busy preparing for the release of Shay’s Story, but you guys know all about that. Hope you’re enjoying it, and sorry to those who can’t find a copy nearby. They will appear eventually.

This week I’m headed up to the Somerset Festival of Literature, where I’ll be appearing several times and giving my Leviathan speech, so I thought I’d post this FAF now.

Let’s start with a little love triangle from Miyu999:

Everyone’s expressions are great here, and I like that Alek is distracted by Bovril. (Bovril is SO distracting!)

But enough love. Here’s some Clanker hardware! Oskar created this in the game Spore, and it even has moving legs (in the game, not here, alas).

Because it’s 3D art, I think we need several views.

Pretty cool. I haven’t played Spore in a while, and it’s definitely gotten more sophisticated.

Here, from Lydia, some comic art.

I love that the biggest maternal yelling is about the haircut, not the, you know, treason and stuff.

And a couple of sketches from Carly, kissy Dalek:

And annoyed Deryn:

Angry Deryn is angry. I love that her tie is loosened, and that makes her totally ready to rumble.

And here’s another of that ever-popular lift from the book, Bovri-with-fake-mustache, from Nicole:

I love that this throwaway line in the text, about Bovril trying on the mustache, has become the signature image of Bovril. And I’m sure in an unillustrated book, most people would have skipped over that sentence and not become obsessed with it. THE POWER OF THE PICTURE.

And finally, a quirky and expressive micro-sketch of Deryn from Lauren:

I like her messy hair.

Thanks to everyone for their work this week. I’ll probably go back to Fan Art Friday Fortnightly, because I’m busy working on a New S3krit Project, which is a novel. And, of course, I’m still busy with the second Uglies manga. Also there is ANOTHER s3krit project, which is not a novel, which will be announced in the next month or so.

And of course I’ll be doing the meet-up after the Festival, which means next week. Shall we say Tuesday night, March 20, at 8PM American-East-Coast-time?

But I’ll get back into full blogging mode when we get closer to the Manual of Aeronautics coming out, which is August 21!

Since a certain manga is coming out next Tuesday, I thought it would be fun to do a monochrome version of FAF today, just to prove that you don’t need color to create a mood. There’s also a fanfic and a Scrabble board, because random is how the rolling of me occurs.

Let us begin with the fanfic, which is by Psocoptera. It’s called “Interesting Facts About the London Zoo,” and is obviously set after Goliath, in the hallowed halls of the London Zoological Society.

Click here to read it.

And now for the arts. First up is Christine K., with a drawing that asks the question, “What if Deryn Sharp was an admiral in the Royal Navy?”:

Also, check out the Napoleonic period image this was based on here.

From Deviant Art’s penut-butter-goddess, here’s a certain young prince making himself taller ny standing on a box:

MUCH taller, I’ll point out.

From Feitan, here’s a lovely charcoal-looking image of Mr. Sharp:

And from teaspoon00, a piece called “dress up,” which is possibly Bonus Chapter Canon, or maybe just something that happens post-trilogy.

And next from anderaminela, with this penciled coat of arms for the Bov-meister:

Everybody looks better with a Volger mustache, except possibly me. (I’ve tried. Believe me, I’ve tried.)

Speaking of Volger, here’s a pencil piece by Bryn showing him being ejected from the Leviathan by Deryn, who’s just had enough of his snide remarks.

I love how formally posed all of these are.

And from Aleta, this is Alek at the tailor’s in Japan. Note Deryn cleverly framed in the mirror.

I love that Bovril is also sticking its arms out. BECAUSE BOVRIL WOULD DO THAT.

And finally, from Mallory, an entire Scrabble game played with only Leviathan-related terms allowed:

Not strictly monochrome, but amusing none-the-less!

Okay, that’s it. I’ll be posting a reveal of the Smoke from Shay’s Story on Monday, and an official spoiler thread on Tuesday, when the manga comes out. Also, a real book trailer for Shay’s Story is in the works, and will be appearing soon!

Ciao for now.

Yes, it’s a Valentine’s-Day adjacent FAF, which means . . . smoochies!

But not to worry, smooch-o-phobes, there weren’t that many of them sent in this year.

In fact, let us start with a kiss-free Bovril Valentine card, from @cherryteapots:

This reminds me of my motto when writing the series: Bovril makes everything better.

I found this on Twitter, and forgot to remember who it’s by, but it’s clearly pre- or post-smooch:

But enough of this pussy-footing around! Melissa gives us for realz mid-smooch:

She explains:

Alek knew that he needed to give Deryn SOMETHING for Valentine’s Day, and, broke as he is, all he could muster was a homemade card that looks like it was made by a five year old (It can be seen flying through the air as Alek lets go of it when he gets smooched). He was afraid that Deryn would scoff at it because she could do so much better, but she loves it and surprises him with a kiss in return. Poor Bovril is hiding near the chair and covering it’s eyes because of what it is seeing.

Indeed.

Next, we have Tobulshi, with an amusing cartoon of thwarted smooching:

Here’s another funny one by Tobuishi.

And for our last entry in the smooching sweepstakes, Uglies-style, here’s a lovely Valentine featuring David and Tally:

Hope you had a good V-Day, and told all the ones you loved that you loved them!

And now back to regular FAF. I also saw this on Twitter, and I don’t remember who did it. So who did it? As you can see, it’s Gundam/Leviathan crossover!

UPDATE: It’s from ComickerGirl at DeviantArt. We’ve seen her work here before, I’m sure.

All characters from walking machine universes should meet at some point and compare notes, I think.

From Jonathan, here’s Count Volger’s special walking machine. (No doubt with a special motion-control system to reduce illness and grumpiness.)

And finally, in honor of the Dr. Cable reveal, here’s Serena Marie with some Uglies cosplay:

It’s fairly canonical, now that we know Dr. C wears a white coat.

Okay, that’s it.

Next Monday, I’ll be revealing the Rusty Ruins from Uglies: Shay’s Story, which comes out in only about 17 days. (Or 18, depending on your hemisphere.) ALSO, very soon we will see the Shay’s Story book trailer!

You can pre-order Shay’s Story at Indie Bound, BarnesandNoble.com, or Amazon. Or buy it on March 6 at a proper bookstore.