Author: scott

Fan Art Friday Fortnightly on Saturday

Posted on by scott

Okay, it’s time for FAN ART FRIDAY.

Technically it is a bit past time for FAF, because it’s Saturday and everything. Apologies, but Leaky-Con was rather exhausting. There were many panels and signings and such, and then a trip to Disney World with Maureen Johnson.

I haz proof:

Ah, the fun we had in the hat shop.

Leaky-Con was really great. The Harry Potter fans, especially those at Lit Day, were just incredible. A nicer bunch of people you will never meet.

Here’s proof of that fact, in the form of a pressie that Potter-fan Maya gave me:

See? Even when they’re expressing scary sentiments, it’s all beautifully cross-stitched!

Anyway, thanks to all the volunteers and staff and organizers of Leaky-Con and Lit Day. You were all awesome. Too much fun was had.

Oh, and thanks to Cassie-la for letting me borrow her hipster wizard sign:

It’s the tree that makes it funny.

And now it’s time for Fan Art Friday! Long awaited, but never abated!

We begin with “I Wish I Were a Man,” from Awesome O’clock:

What makes this particularly cool is that it’s based on a real US propaganda poster from 1917:

Nice work, Awesome O’clock. (Or may I just call you Awesome?)

And for some more of Deryn looking soldierly, check out this piece from Delinquent Unicorn:

This picture has what you call directionality!

And now for some Deryn and Alek action, starting with this delightful sketch from Shenli, called “Wandering Hands”:

Awkward moment is awkward. It’s amazing how many people have done fan art based on that one short fencing scene.

Perhaps you would like some kissing? If so, here’s “Airmanship” by teaspoon00:

And for more kissing, how about “Engine Grease” by theprinceofparties?

Some of you may want some cool Leviathan desktops. If so, check out Art-Bandgeek’s work. Here’s an example:

But there are many more, featuring all the big characters.

Okay, so that’s all I’ve got time to post right now, but there are many more pieces of fan art ready to go. I’ve just been a bit overwhelmed. Last week was Leaky-Con, and next is the infinitely more exhausting Comic Con, and then Justine and I are headed to Hawaii for some rest before the touring season starts.

What I’ll do, however, is set up some auto-posts of Fan Art, so that you will all survive. And hopefully I’ll get up some pix of cool stuff from Comic Con, both here and on twitter, where I’m @scottwesterfeld

And of course, there will be the August 1 art reveal, which will be hosted by io9.com this month. (I’ll remind you here.)

See you at Comic Con, I hope!

Update
I’ll be doing a video interview with Suvudu.com while at Comic Con. If you want them to ask me a question, leave it for them right here.

My Comic Con Schedule

Posted on by scott

Update!
I’ve added my signing times below. I’ll be signing three times during Comic Con. Sorry I forgot!

I’m headed to Leaky-Con tomorrow, and will be on panels all of YA Lit Day, also known as Wednesday. That schedule is right here. (It’s been sold out for ages.)

Next week, July 20-25, I’ll be at Comic Con in San Diego! (Also sold out.) For those of you coming, here’s what I’m doing:

Thursday, July 21
4:30-5:30 Comics for Teens— Comics creators Cecil Castelluci (Plain Janes), Hope Larson (Mercury), Nate Powell (Swallow Me Whole), and Gene Luen Yang (Level Up) come together for a discussion of what makes a comic fit a teen audience. Do books for teens have something special that books for kids and adults don’t have? Moderated by Scott Westerfeld (New York Times bestselling teen author). Room 26AB

Saturday, July 23
1:00 – 1:50 Saturday, July 23
Signing at the Mysterious Galaxy booth, #1119.

Sunday, July 24
11:15-12:15 Building the World of Leviathan, an Illustrated Steampunk Series— Bestselling YA author and Comic-Con special guest Scott Westerfeld (Uglies, Midnighters) discusses how illustrated adventure novels disappeared in the early 20th century and how he worked with artist Keith Thompson to create one for the 21st, Leviathan, a steampunk reimagining of WWI. Lots of visuals (and some secret news about Uglies). Room 6DE

Signing after Scott Westerfeld Spotlight
Smart Pop will be handing out free copies of Mind-Rain at this signing.
Comic-Con Autograph Area
AA18 12:45 p.m. – 1:45 p.m.

2:45-3:45 High School Bites— Let’s face it: High school sucks enough without having to add a constant thirst for blood, going all furry under a full moon, or being hunted by all of the above. But for these YA authors, going back to high school was the best decision they ever made. Scott Westerfeld (The Uglies series), Laini Taylor (Daughter of Smoke and Bone), Margaret Stohl and Kami Garcia (Beautiful Creatures, Beautiful Darkness), Debbie Viguie (Once Upon a Time series), Anna Carey (Eve), and Heather Brewer (The Vlad Tod series) discuss their characters’ formative years with moderator Maryelizabeth Hart of Mysterious Galaxy. Room 5AB

Signing after High School Bites
Comic-Con Autograph Area
AA3 4:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Also you might want to check this out:

Thursday, July 21
7:00-8:00 The Scoop at Simon & Schuster!— Get the inside word on Simon & Schuster’s upcoming books and the chance to win exclusive prizes! Lucille Rettino (marketing director), Elke Villa (senior marketing manager), Carolyn Swerdloff (associate marketing manager), and Anna McKean (publicity manager) give you the scoop on upcoming books from exciting authors, including Cassandra Clare, Scott Westerfeld, Orson Scott Card, and Becca Fitzpatrick. Hear what is going on with S&S’s hot properties — Star Trek and The Smurfs — and get a chance to win exclusive giveaways. All attendees will receive a limited edition T-shirt for Cassandra Clare’s Clockwork Prince. Room 9

That’s it. I hope I get to see some of you while I’m on the road the next two weeks!

(I will be getting Fan Art Friday up this week, though, even if I’m not at home.)

Think of the Parents

Posted on by scott

I spent yesterday morning listening to the indefatigable Maureen Johnson. She was on the radio with a Wall Street Journal writer best known for decrying the state of young adult lit. You know the drill: “YA is too dark, too depressing, and is bad for the kidz!”

I am not here to argue against fact-free trend pieces, however. Maureen and the internet have already done that and done it well. And, you know, haters gonna hate, and shoddy journalists gonna shod. There’s no way to stop that. Here’s the problem I would like to address instead:

When these issues arise, we writers, librarians, booksellers, teachers, and editors know that the media is overblown and out of touch. We know that the huge boom in YA is helping young readers, because we see it in our in-boxes, our libraries, our stores, and our twitter feeds every day.

Sure, some books aren’t right for some kids. But it’s not like that challenge has recently grown insurmountable. In fact, connecting the right book with the right reader has never been easier. There are more specialist teen librarians than ever before, teenage readers are relentlessly networked, and book reviews from all perspectives are more plentiful than at any other time in human history. (Thank you, the internet.)

But someone has to think of the parents. Especially those who randomly turn on the radio or read the WSJ and are exposed to this alarmism. They may not know how to check out all those amazing stories tweeted on #YASaves. They probably don’t follow comment threads on blogs like this one, where bookish teens prove hourly how smart, supportive, and savvy they are. Many parents don’t know what “DFTBA” means, and thus may not realize how awesome their kids are not forgetting to be.

And the other side in this debate sounds perfectly reasonable. “We just want a conversation! We just want parents to be aware!” And they couch everything in that scary questioning tone: “These books MAY be turning your kids into cutters.” Like when local news promos ask, “Are your cleaning fluids making you hate America? Story at eleven!”

Here’s my problem with this brand of “reasonableness”: Conversations have contexts, and awareness is always flavored by its catalyst. Let’s take two examples . . .

A parent goes into a teenager’s room and says, “I just heard from the wise people at the Wall Street Journal that the books you kids read these days are mostly dark and horrible and will make you cut yourself and take drugs. Let me check your books so I can make sure this is not true!”

Seriously. How do you think that conversation’s going to go?

Eyes will be rolled, tempers will rise, and more than likely this parent will be made to feel dreadfully foolish. (Teenagers are good at this last bit.) Frankly, being easily manipulated by alarmists in the media is not a good look for anyone.

But let’s say a parent goes into that same kid’s room and says . . .

“Hey, I just heard that young adult lit sales have grown by double digits every year for the last decade. You teens read so much that it’s the only profitable part of publishing! And now Hollywood wants to make everything you read into movies, and more adults than ever before are reading YA! And I heard that huge crowds show up at bookstores and rented venues when popular YA writers are in town! And that many YA writers have tens of thousands of followers on the Twitter machine, if not hundreds of thousands! And that every November countless teenagers support each other in WRITING THEIR OWN NOVELS! Holy crap, we didn’t do that in my benighted day of juvenile sloth. It’s just awesome how dedicated you and your peers are to reading. Can you please lend me some of these great books?”

My guess is that this conversation will go rather better. And, unlike the Wall Street Journal, this opening gambit is full of verifiable facts!

Make no mistake, we writers want parents to talk to their kids about books. But don’t do it because some newspaper uses fear to generate web hits. Do it because reading is awesome and your kids are awesome.

There’s a problem here, though. The parents who are reading this post (on a YA writer’s blog) probably don’t need this advice. They can see through the malarky without my help. They’ve already noticed that the only “science” referred to in the WSJ‘s articles was a study of 1970s anti-drug public service announcements. (Because nothing is more relevant to 21st-century young adult literature than 40-year-old TV ads.)

But how do we reach those other parents, the ones whose innocent minds might be corrupted by these fact-missing anxiety-mechants? Parents can’t be expected to protect themselves these days. A recent study of hair cream ads from the 1920s proved that the media’s coverage of YA has gotten 37% darker in the last year alone!

Now, I’m not advocating banning the Wall Street Journal. It has many fine articles in it I’m sure, some of which no doubt cite actual facts instead of the vague impressions of random people wandering YA sections. There are always exceptions, after all, even in newspapers named after the street that recently stole $700 billion of our money.

All I’m asking is that teenagers take an active role in discussing young adult lit with their parents.

Kids, you don’t want your parents’ first exposure to YA to be in the dingy recesses of a fear-mongering financial newspaper. It’s your job to help them understand how twitter hashtags work, what NaNoWriMo stands for, and how to do the nerdfighter hand signal. It’s your duty to introduce them gently to the lighter sides of fan fic, before they stumble across a cache of Snape dub-con Mpreg epic poetry. (Um, maybe just wait till your parents are older before tackling fan fic.)

In many cases, of course, your gentle persuasion may not be enough. Some parents are too easily influenced by frightening images of teenage culture gone awry. Darkness sells, after all. For these, a simple call to the Wall Street Journal will cancel your subscription, saving both money and heartache for your beloved parent. Be sure not to leave an empty space in their lives, however. Ease them over to something more wholesome, like, say, the School Library Journal. They’ll hardly notice the difference.

My main point is this: you understand young adult lit. You get how much it’s grown, how much it means to you. Make sure that your parents understand that too, and they’ll be ear-plugged against the profiteering panic-peddlers wailing like sirens on the rocky shoals of our culture.

Thank you for listening.

Goliath Art Reveal! (July)

Posted on by scott

Okay, I only counted the first 150 votes, then skipped ahead to see if anyone else did, because counting is slow and annoying. So I’m using Ren W.’s count at comment 250:

Number 1 – 26
Number 2 – 18
Number 3 – 47
Number 4 – 123

These are more or less accurate, I’m sure, and I think we all know who won.

NUM-BER-FOUR! NUM-BER-FOUR!

So here it is in all its unredacted glory . . . “Kappa Surfacing”!


Keith Thompson

Click here for a GIGANTIC version, that will BLOW YOUR MIND when you zoom on it.

As you Pokémon fans have already pointed out, kappa are Japanese beasties. But they go back to before the Pokémon fad, of course, as part of Shinto folklore.

When I was your age, people often called Shinto “the national religion of Japan,” but these days it’s more common to call it “the indigenous spirituality of Japan.” The thing is, Shinto is a set of practices that come out of folklore and myths rather than a structured religion. There’s no single sacred text or founder figure, no Quran or Buddha or Bible, but it does have priests (male and female). It’s part of everyday Japanese life, both as a link to the traditional past and to nature and the divine.

So I figured that Japanese boffins would take their inspiration from creatures like kappa (who are water spirits), even if they were using the life threads of real creatures to make them.

What’s also interesting is that most people who practice Shinto are also Buddhists, Christians, or whatever. This Japanese readiness to mix outside cultural practices into their own (and to put an unexpected spin on them, as anyone who’s ever read manga can attest) is why I decided Japan had to be both a Darwinist AND a Clanker power.

(Yes, everyone in the modern world mixes up all sorts of stuff from outside cultures, but it seems like the Japanese are particularly awesome at it, and have been since at least the 1860s.)

Anyway, that was my thinking behind the kappa, and about how Japanese boffins would approach fabrication overall. Also, the Japanese Navy was bad-ass back then, so they had to look pretty scary too. And Keith is good at scary.

Keith News
If I haven’t mentioned it here before, Keith has an art blog now as well as his usual site.

There, you can buy big prints of two pieces from Goliath already! Both “Secrets in the Rookery” and “Crashing a Bash” are available.

July Art Reveal (Voting)

Posted on by scott

It’s almost July 1, and time for another art reveal! As usual, YOU get to decide which piece of Goliath art shall be unveiled.

This time we have no less than four pieces of art to vote on. Three are the former defeated contestants, just in case you’ve changed your minds about them, but the last is all new.

So will it be the high angle shot from the June reveal, Number 1?

Or the threatening weather vista, also from June, Number 2?

Or the also-ran from way back in March, Number 3?

ch01_full

Or finally, there’s this new one that you MIGHT find intriguing . . . Number 4.

Leave your votes in the comment thread below. And use this space to wheedle, coax, and inveigle your fellow fans to your cause. Because democracy is good.

I shall close the polls after 250 votes.

Forum Meet-Up Transcript

Posted on by scott

Yesterday at 2PM, me and a hundred-ish fans from the WesterForum hung out for about an hour and a half, and I answered many questions. For those of you who weren’t able to attend, I’ have compiled them into this blog post, typos and all! (So. Many. Typos.)

Enjoy:

“What kind of juice do you like?”

There are many juices I love. Mango! Pear! (Especially pear cider.) Apple!

“So Scott there’s been a rivalry going on (on the forum obviously) , based on the question : If the crew of the Leviathan got in a fight with Special Circumstances who would win? What’s your opinion?”

I think in a close-quarters fight the Specials would win, because they’re too quick. But in a proper battle, the Leviathan could mess them up with strafing hawks or bat-poo without ever being in danger.

“WHATS GOING ON WITH CROY?! CAN YOU GIVE US ANY INFO ON HIM?! ”

That info will be released at Leaky Con and Comic Con. THAT’S ONLY A FEW WEEKS. But I can’t tell you anything now, except maybe . . . you will SEE HIM.

“Did you use the same models on the cover of Goliath that you used on Leviathan and Behemoth?”

Yes. Same models, same photo shoot on the same day. Sometime I’ll show you guys the unaltered photos.

“At any point in Behemoth, does Dr. Barlow know that Deyrn is a girl? It has been a topic of great debate.”

Hah! Not saying now, but you WILL learn the answer to that in Goliath.

“Have you ever met someone in real life who reminds you of your characters?
Or vice versa.”

Hmm, not really. Although sometimes I see someone and say, ‘Whoa, he/she’s a total pretty!’

“Nice to meet you, btw. (and tell hi to Justine (Mrs. Larbaleister (sp?)) for me, please!)”

It’s Dr. Larbalestier, in fact.

“Can Justine cook?”

She’s a great cook of Thai food, and she wants me to add that she’s a good boxer too. (She’s been taking lessons.)

“What TV shows do you watch?”

Game of Thrones, Treme, just finished Vampire Diaries,

“This isn’t really a question, just a comment. I thought you’d like to know that I used to like history, and Leviathan made me love it again. I might even try writing something historical-ish myself. ”

Yay!

“Is Lilit lesbian/bi? (Please say yes.)”

They didn’t really have those categories for women back then, but she would be if she was alive today. (Strange but true fact: Male homosexuality was illegal in England back then, but female homosexuality wasn’t because lawmakers REFUSED TO BELIEVE IT EXISTED.)

“In Uglies, there are many messages, some obvious, some not so much. What messages/lessons do you want readers to take away from Leviathan?”

Hmm. I think that the big theme is about how different sides of a conflict (war or just ideological/technological) see each other, and how that can change when people are forced to work together.

“What kind of music do you like? (Do you like Florence+and the machine?)”

I like minimalism and trip-hop, and I don’t know of this Florence person.

“What is your opinion on the Hunger Games? (Will you see the movie?)”

Want to see the movie. Liked the first book, but didn’t read the others.

“When will you go on tour?”

September 17. DON’T KNOW WHERE YET! NOT MY CHOICE WHERE.

“Would you like to join my band of Ninjas?”

I have already infiltrated your band of ninjas!

“Do you like writing about diseases? Peeps was about parasites, Innoculata had to do with a virus and in So Yesterday the main characters dad is a Epidimiologist (I think).”

I love all kinds of biology, like beasties too. Studied philosophy of biology in college. (Yes, that’s a real thing.)

“Scott-la, in the Uglies series who was the most interesting character to create?”

Hmm, maybe Mr. Simpson Smith, because he talked funny and had a very different view of the world from everyone else.

“Is there a ball, wedding, or some other formal scene in Goliath?”

Yes!

“Will we ever see Deryn in a dress in the final book?
I need some hope..

Fan Art Friday

Posted on by scott

At last! Here is another edition of Fan Art Friday for your art-viewing pleasure.

But first . . . it’s time for another meet-up on the Forum. For those of you who don’t hang out there, the Forum is roughly 99% of this site. It has over 30,000 members and about half a million posts. And once every couple of months, I hang out there and answer ALL the questions.

So let’s do one next Saturday, June 25, at 2PM, US-EST. (Sorry, I know that’s the middle of the night for Australia.) Come one, come all, and I shall try as always to answer as many of your questions as humanly possible.

And now to the fan arts . . .

As previously moaned about, I have read a bajillion fan fics, and it’s really too hard to choose just a few, because so many are so good. But I will choose just ONE, because it was quite off-center and unexpected. Even original.

It’s set many years before Alek or Deryn were born, when the Archduke Ferdinand and his wife-to-be Sophie first met. Now because there are historical characters, this might not have been a Leviathan fan fic at all. But there is a big WALKER at the beginning, so it totally counts.

Check it out, “Prague”, by fanfiction.net’s Cardboard Edward.

And while we’re talking fan fic, here’s some fic-related art, a cover created by LinnetLove for a piece of fan fic by Victorian Bombshell (Hah, I got two fics in there):

From Brazil, here is Irwin Dias’ dyptich of disturbing delight, featuring Dr. Cable and Special Tally:

Scary Special teeth are scary!

And now for a big bunch of pencil pieces. First, from Mercedes Amanda, here’s a picture from the ever-popular (and complicated) theme of The Lilit Triangle!

A cool split personality Deryn from Michelle, The Clanker, and color pencil sketch by her:

From Angel Sun, a CUTE manga-style Deryn and Bovril:

And finally from Ellyn, here’s a pre-crossdressing Deryn, looking discontent in her non-uniform!

It’s actually kind of weird to think of Deryn in a dress, isn’t it? And that’s the way it should be, too.

Enjoy your weekends!

Various Cons and Walker Wednesday

Posted on by scott

Hey, all. Sorry I haven’t been posting much, but I’ve been acclimatizing to New York and getting rested for a summer (and fall) of travel and appearances! The Goliath tour will start a few days before September 20, when the book comes out. I DON’T KNOW YET where I’ll be going on tour, but I’ll post here when I do, and in the meantime I’ll be doing a few events on my own.

Event 1

I’ll be at Comic Con in San Diego, July 20-25! As always, it is sold out. But for those of you coming, here’s what I’m doing:

Sunday, July 24
11:15-12:15AM Building the World of Leviathan, an Illustrated Steampunk Series. Bestselling YA author Scott Westerfeld (Uglies, Midnighters) discusses how illustrated adventure novels disappeared in the early 20th Century, and how he worked with artist Keith Thompson to create one for the 21st, Leviathan, a steampunk re-imaging of WWI. Lots of visuals (and some secret news about Uglies).

There’s another panel about teen comics that I’ll be in, but it’s not confirmed yet. It will probably be Thursday, July 21, 4:30-5:30.

Event 2

I’ll also be at Leakycon in Orlando FL, from July 13-17. I’ll be appearing there for Lit Day, July 13, a YA-fest run by the tireless Maureen Johnson.

Sorry, but Lit Day also appears to be sold out! For those of you who are coming, here are the bits with me:

All Wednesday, July 13
10:00-10:50AM
Let’s Talk about Vampires: Let’s just do it. Let’s just talk about vampires. Why do people love these toothy freaks? Is there any new territory? Will they ever go away? Do we really want them to? We’re just going to talk about vampires, because someone has to. (GT I)
With: John Green, Scott Westerfeld, Robin Wasserman, Barry Goldblatt, Jennifer Laughran Moderator: Maureen Johnson

11:00-11:50AM
The Scott Westerfeld Experience: Scott Westerfeld discusses working with an artist to create his illustrated steampunk series, Leviathan. He reveals hitherto unseen artwork from the final book in the series, Goliath, and from his latest top secret project. (AT I)

12:30-1:20PM
Love and Romance: What’s the deal here? Common wisdom says girls demand these things in their books and boys dislike them… but is that true? How do authors decide how to handle the squishy bits of life? How is LGBTQ literature bringing a fresh perspective? How far can scenes go? Is there really a difference between a love story and a romance novel? This panel wants to be in a relationship with you on Facebook, so you know it is serious. (GT II)
With: Ally Carter, John Green, Kate Schafer-Testerman, Scott Westerfeld, Stephanie Perkins, David Levithan Moderator: Robin Wasserman

1:30-2:20PM
I Was a Teenage Author: Think all published authors start out writing works of pure, undiluted genius? Think your work is terrible and you’ll never get anywhere, ever? Be prepared to be amazed. Authors read actual works from their tortured teenage years, giving you hope and inspiration to keep going. (TT IV)
With: Scott Westerfeld, David Levithan, Libba Bray, John Green, Robin Wasserman, Stephanie Perkins Moderator: Maureen Johnson

And at 2:30 I’ll be signing. (Dude, Maureen is a harsh taskmistress. WHY ARE THERE NO BREAKS?)

And finally, it’s time for another Walker Wednesday, the extremely infrequent feature on this blog where I share images of Clanker-ish or not walking machines. This one is from Japan’s Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, and has the lovely name “HRP-4C humanoid.”

And it walks kinda like this:


(via io9)

Hmm. Not quite Uncanny Valley, and not quite human-like. Just sort of . . . disturbingly careful.

There’s a weird thing about walkers, whether they have a face or not. Because they walk, like us humans do, we see their walking in human terms. Their movements look angry, or jaunty, or drunken to us, in a way that cars (or anything else with wheels) never quite do. And as a novelist, that expressiveness makes walkers more interesting to me than other kinds of machines.

Not that you can’t write an evil car, like Steven King’s Christine, but it’s still very different, dramatically and novelistically speaking, when a machine stands up.

I think the world will get much more weird when more of our devices start to walk around.

June Art Reveal

Posted on by scott

Here is the Goliath art reveal for June, based on your voting!

I was going to wait until 300 votes had come in, but by vote number 222 one of the illustrations had achieved an unassailable lead! Here’s what I mean:

Illustration One: 125 votes
Illustration Two: 17 votes
Illustration Three: 29 votes

With 78 votes left to be counted, even if Illustration three got all of them, number one was still going to win. SO I STOPPED COUNTING, which I’m sure would be cool with the Supreme Court, who are all, like, whatever about this stuff.

So here we have it, Illustration One!

Click the image for a bigger, zoomable version.

Now, some of you may have noticed that it is time for Fan Art Fortnightly, but I have cleverly stomped on it with this art reveal. Why? Is it because I hate fan art?

NO. I LOVES ME SOME FAN ART. But I had foolishly promised to do a Fan Fic Fan Art Fortnightly (AKA FFFAF) and it’s been impossible to choose from among the bajillion weird and wonderful fan fics out there. So why don’t you guys help me out?

Use this comment thread to suggest to each other any awesome fan fictions you’ve found, from any of my books.

And in a week or two I’ll put up some more drawings, because that’s easier.

New Update

Leviathan just sold in Japan! So we’ll be seeing the Japanese version in a year or so. Cool, huh?

Art Reveal Democracy

Posted on by scott

It’s June 1, time for another art reveal! And it’s time to decide which of the fifty-something pieces of art in Goliath should be unveiled next. Which will have the perfect mix of mystery and appetite-whetting spoileriness?

It is up to you, the readers, to decide . . .

Will it be the enigmatic interior of illustration Number 1?

The extreme high angle of image Number 2?

Or the threatening weather vista of Number 3?

Leave your votes in the comment thread below. And don’t just vote. Debate! Squabble! Cajole! Enjoin others to your cause!

And enjoy.

Also check out this fanmade countdown timer to the Goliath release! (Man, that’s a long time from now.)

Update!

The splendid librarians of Seattle have launched Steampunk Summer, which means they’ve hidden copies of both Leviathan and Cherie Priest’s awesome Boneshaker in s3krit locations around the city. If you live in Seattle, check out the comments thread here for clues on how to find them!

Then read the book, initial the back, and pass it to a friend or re-hide it.

Then go back to the Steampunk Summer comments thread and leave clues where you hid the book (and where you found it, what you thought of it, etc.).

Then claim a free book at the Library as your prize!

This sounds like fun.

Update 2!

As usual, you have all voted early and often. I will close the balloting at 300, and then the art shall be revealed!