Book two of the Zeroes series, SWARM, is out now in the US, Canada, Australia, and the UK.

YOU CAN BUY IT IN ALL THE SHOPS. (See below for help with that.)

“Fresh and original superpowered abilities.”
—School Library Journal, starred review

“Intriguing protagonists and cinematic powers.”
—Kirkus Reviews

“With action, romance, and thorny ethical questions, it’s a book with a little something for everyone.”
—Publishers Weekly

A few cool things:

I have a few more appearances coming up. Click here for event details!

You can read the first seven chapters of Zeroes on Wattpad.

Here’s a sample of the audiobook, read by the lovely and talented Amber Benson:

Here’s an interview with me, Margo, and Deb on ABC Radio National.

MTV News did an interview with me, and released the character illustration of Crash. Click here to see. (And here are the illustrations for Flicker and Scam.)

And finally, a ridiculous number of buy buttons:

HARDCOVER
IndieBound
B&N
Amazon
Books-a-Million
S&S

AUDIOBOOK
Audible
iTunes
Amazon CD
Amazon Audible

EBOOK
Amazon Kindle
Apple iBooks
B&N
Google Play
S&S

I’m still on tour! Click here for details!

And now, here’s the second of six character illustrations by Jennie Gyllblad for my latest book, Zeroes.

His real name is Ethan, but his code name is Scam:

Click here for bigness

Omnisciently Manipulative Voice
Scam isn’t very good at speaking for himself, because he’s always had the voice to speak for him. He just opens his mouth, and it starts talking, saying whatever it needs to get Scam what he wants.

Alas, it doesn’t think very far ahead.

Here’s a passage from Zeroes:

      The guy walked with a steady purpose. He had an army-green duffel bag over one shoulder. Ethan let himself drift into his way until the bag slapped against him.
      ”Hey, watch it!” he said in his own voice.
      The guy spun to face him. He was a few inches shorter than Ethan, but twice as big across the shoulders. And he had no neck. The sort of guy who could crush you with an annoyed glare. His right hand dropped into a jacket pocket, like he was ready to pull a knife.
      ”Whoa.” Ethan backed away. “My mistake. Sorry about that.”
      The guy scanned Ethan. His eyes were piercing, way too blue. Almost electric. But a moment later he smiled, eased his hand out of his pocket and gripped Ethan’s shoulder. It was like being held up by a wall.
      ”Sorry, man,” the guy said. His voice was calm and low. “Did I hit you?”
      ”No problem. You missed, actually,” Ethan sputtered, fear beating in his chest. All he wanted was to be on the same side as this guy in his next fight. He let the voice take over. “Taylor sent me over to help you out.”
      That was one of the voice’s specialties. Names.
      The big guy paused, looking him up and down. Not smiling anymore.
      ”Taylor sent you?” An edge of disbelief in the low rumble of his voice. “How’s a squirt like you gonna help?”
      Ethan hated when this happened. The voice would get him into situations that only the voice could get him out of. Then he was stuck, listening and waiting. Letting it talk.
      ”Taylor said you were bad off last night. Wasn’t sure you’d remember the way to his house.” The voice sounded like it was making a joke, so Ethan tried to smile.
      The guy stared at him another moment, then laughed. Abruptly, like that was the stupidest thing he’d ever heard. “What a dickhead. I worked off that hangover in the gym this morning. How do you know Taylor?”
      ”My sister’s in his old army unit,” Ethan heard himself say, and cringed.
      Thing was, his sister really was in the army. Stuff could go really wrong when the voice told the truth. What if the guy asked for his sister’s name? What would the voice say then?
      But the guy relaxed, like he understood everything now. “So you’re family. Taylor wants you to join the team.”
      Ethan nodded, because it seemed like the right thing to do. “He said I should learn from the best.” The voice twisted his throat, like it was imitating someone. “‘Nobody better than the Craig.'”
      A low thunder of laughter spilled out of The Craig, who reached over and took Ethan’s shoulder again. The weight of his hand almost buckled Ethan’s knees.
      ”He tell you to say that? What a dickhead.” He shoved Ethan, sending him stumbling a few steps backward. “Come on. Car’s this way.”
      The Craig headed for a side street. Ethan took a breath and followed.
      Hell, maybe he could still get a ride home out of this.

Scam’s “voiceprint” background was created with a separate layer of paper cut-outs. Then it was flattened for scanning using this hi-tech process:

Click here for more about Zeroes. It’s out in Australia and the UK, and comes out Tuesday, Sep 29 in the US.

And here are some delicious buy buttons:

HARDCOVER
IndieBound
Amazon
B&N
Books-a-Million
S&S

EBOOK
Amazon Kindle
Apple iBooks
B&N
Google Play
S&S

Hey, I’m on tour right now! Click here for a list of appearances! In the meantime:

Below is the first of six character illustrations for my new book Zeroes, written with Margo Lanagan and Deb Biancotti. The image is by Jennie Gyllblad.

Her real name is Riley, but she goes by Flicker:

Click here for bigness

Collective Optical Hijack
Flicker can’t see through her own eyes, but she can borrow those of anyone around her. in other words, in a room alone she can’t see. In a room with a few other people, she can see quite a lot. And in a huge crowd, she’s almost omniscient.

All the Zeroes’ powers work this way: the more people around, the stronger they are. Crowd-sourced superpowers!

Here’s a passage from Zeroes to give you an idea of how Flicker’s vision-hijacking works:

Flicker was in the concierge’s eyes.
      His long fingers were scrolling a touchpad screen, his gaze flitting across requests from customers arriving in the next week. The hotel was filling up, thanks to the big Fourth of July display. Everyone wanted a room with a view of the old Parker-Meridian Hotel, which was scheduled for demolition during the show.
      Every minute or so the concierge looked up, scanning the lobby in a discreet and professional way. Perfect for keeping watch.
      Flicker saw herself in her wingback chair, her bright red dress easy to spot. But as she gave herself a smile, the concierge’s gaze slipped past her and came to a rest on a huge man strolling across the lobby floor.
      The concierge stared. It was hard not to. The guy was as wide as a door, all shoulders and thighs. He wore a shiny black t-shirt made from enough silk for a parachute. Five other big guys cruised across the lobby floor with him, a formation of battleships.
      A man in a Magnifique staff uniform came up and started talking to them, and the concierge’s eyes dropped back to his computer screen.
      Flicker sent her vision into the big guy’s eyes. She couldn’t hear anything from across the lobby, but it didn’t seem like a confrontation. The two were huddled close, the big guy’s eyes moving warily from side to side.
      The hotel staffer, a short man with a shaved head, held out his empty palm, and the big guy pushed a stack of twenties into it. In return, the staffer produced a hotel keycard and slipped it into the breast pocket of the big guy’s shirt.
      This was getting interesting. Flicker unfolded her cane and stood.

What I like most about Jennie’s work is that it combines illustration with collage. As you can see here, Flicker’s background is created with yarn and watercolor. So the characters are sort of like superpowered paper dolls.

Tune in over the next couple of weeks to see the rest of the characters. Click here for more about Zeroes.

It’s out now in Australia and the UK, and on Tuesday, Sep 29 in the US.

A quick reminder: Justine and I will be at Oblong Books in Rhinebeck, NY this Sunday! (May 10, 4PM) Click here for more details.

And now, here’s the Australian version of the Zeroes cover!

Behold:

I think it’s pretty cool. The authors’ names are more balanced (Deb and Margo are Australian, after all) and it’s a little jazzier and less gritty than the US one. (Shown here for comparison.)

The UK cover will be revealed soon!

What do you guys think?

Here is the cover for Zeroes!

Click here for a description of how Zeroes came about, and what it’s about. (Superpowers! Lashings of superpowers, each one more super than the last!)

I am unusually proud of this cover, because I made more of a contribution than usual. Authors do get a say in their covers, sometimes. But it’s not like we’re graphic designers, so nobody has to listen to us.

In this case, though, I got lucky. My designer, the lovely Regina Flath, had sent us all an early version of the spray paint design. It was definitely moving in the right direction, but we wanted it to have a little bit more texture.

But what kind of texture? Concrete? Dirt? Something gritty, we knew.

So I went out for a walk to think about it, and on the way down my stairwell in Sydney, I saw a magnificent three-part crack in the concrete floor. And the two images melded in my mind, as if by magic!

So I sent Regina a photo of the crack, and the rest is history. Bonus: There actually is a crack in a wall in Zeroes, playing a small but key role in the narrative.

Also cool: The actual title will be printed in a so-called fifth color, and thus will be an eye-spanking florescent yellow.

Anyway, what do you guys think?

Zeroes comes out September 29, 2015.