I have a new series of books coming! (Also, some new appearances to announce, including SDCC. See below for details, but first:)

This seven-book series is called Horizon. It’s about a group of kids who are in a mysterious plane crash and “step from the wreckage to find themselves stranded, at odds, and under threat from curious and terrible creatures.” (Scholastic Newsroom)

Basically, it’s a mix of Lost, Hatchet, and Lord of the Flies. Explosions! Survival! Who will lead us home?

(The weird-colored parent of the cover is actually a separate, transparent jacket that you can take off to see the photograph in its normal state. It’s pretty cool in real life.)

This is one of Scholastic’s multi-author, multi-platform series, like 39 Clues and Spirit Animals, which means two things:

1) The book will have a big digital element, with games for computers, phones, and tablets and lots of community chat space.

2) I developed the series, have written the first novel, and have outlined all seven of the books, but six other authors will write the rest. (The second installment is by Jennifer A. Nielsen, with the other authors secret or TBD for now.)

It was really cool, coming up with seven books’ worth of stuff, whole also knowing I didn’t have to write them all. It’s kind of like juggling, except after I throw the balls up, someone else has to catch them. (Heh. Suckers.)

I’m a gamer from way back, in that I used to play D&D in the 1970s, so the game part of it has been a blast to work on. My characters are mostly members of a robotics club, a lot of whom are based on the smart, nerdy kids I first met around the gaming table.

Note that this book is middle grade, so it’s closer in age and feel to my Uglies books than, say, Zeroes.

Here’s some more about the series from Publishers Weekly.

The first book comes out Jan 17, 2017. Hope you take a look!

And now two upcoming appearances:

I will be at San Diego Comic Con next week, appearing with Ransom Riggs, Melissa de la Cruz, and James Dasher on this panel:

I READ IT BEFORE IT WAS A MOVIE
Saturday July 23, 2016 10:00am – 11:00am
Room 7AB
Each day, our newsfeeds blow up with items of more amazing sci-fi/fantasy books being optioned for film or TV, and bookstore shelves are filled with cinematic tie-in novels to geeky summer blockbusters. But what does it take to make the jump from page to screen, and back again? Authors explore the journey of stories from page (both prose and comics) to screen (multi-media) and even stage, and vice versa. Maybe this illustrious group will be able to answer the question of whether it really is better to read the book before seeing the movie! Ransom Riggs (Tales of the Peculiar), James Dashner (The Maze Runner), Melissa de la Cruz (The Isle of the Lost: A Descendants Prequel), Scott Westerfeld (Uglies, Zeroes), Ben H. Winters (Underground Airlines), and Comic-Con special guest Peter David engage in conversation with moderator Anthony Breznican of Entertainment Weekly

We will all be signing after the panel, 11:30am-12:30pm, in signing area AA09.

I’ll also have my own private signing here:
Mysterious Galaxy Booth
Booth #1119
Sunday July 24, 2016 11:00am – 12:00pm

And later this year, I’ll be at YALLfest in Charleston, SC!
November 11-12
Specific schedule TBD.

Hope to see you there!