Spill Zone

Posted on by scott

Exciting news: I have a graphic novel coming out in May 2017, but you can start reading it now!

It’s called Spill Zone. It’s set in the aftermath of an unexplained event that destroyed a small city in upstate New York. It follows a pair of sisters orphaned by the Spill.

The oldest, Addison, is a young adult providing for her little sister by sneaking into the Zone and taking photographs of the strange phenomena there—the ultimate outsider art.

addison_spill_zone

Her little sister, Lexa, hasn’t spoken since the Spill, but has an eerie connection with the doll she carried out from the wreckage of their hometown.

lexa_spill_zone

The question is, what really happened that night? And what connection does the doll Vespertine have with the Spill?

The cool thing is, you can start read the comic NOW online. It’s not all up yet, but we’re adding six pages every Wednesday.

Go to thespillzone.com or click here to start reading.
Or click here to pre-order the actual printed book!

By the way, the art is by the amazing Alex Puvilland, with colors by the wondrous Hilary Sycamore.

monster_spill_zone

Rest of the Tour

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I still have a few more events this year for the second book of the Zeroes trilogy, Swarm!

Swarm cover 150

I’ll be at Colorado Teen Con October 15, at The Strand Oct 20, and at YALLFest November 11-12.

Here are the details:

COLORADO TEEN BOOK CON

This book con is in Denver, and is run by the wonderful tattered Cover bookstore. I’m giving the closing keynote. The rest of my schedule is TBD.
More details here.

THE STRAND
Thursday, October 20
7:00PM
Strand Bookstore
828 Broadway
@ 12th Street, NYC

I’ll be celebrating the release of David Levithan and Rachel Cohn’s The Twelve Days of Dash and Lily, along with fellow authors Melina Marchetta (Tell the Truth, Shame the Devil), Justine Larbalestier (Razorhurst and the forthcoming My Sister Rosa), and Paul Griffin (When Friendship Followed Me Home).
More details here.

YALLFEST

This yearly event will have many YA authors. It’s in Charleston, SC, November 11-12. Specific schedule TBD. More details here.

That’s it! Hope to see you at one of these events.

Swarm Tour!

Posted on by scott

The second book of the Zeroes trilogy, Swarm, is almost out!

Swarm cover 150

As per my autumn tradition, I will be on tour, hitting the San Francisco/Bay Area (Menlo Park, Santa Rosa, and SF) the Phoenix/Tempe area, Chicago, Princeton NJ, and New York City.

I’ll also be at New York Comic Con in early October. See the end of this post for details.

Here are the dates. Hope to see you somewhere!

Note: the time for the Wednesday event at Book Passage was incorrectly listed previously as 7 PM. It takes place at 6 PM.

    SAN FRANCISCO/BAY AREA

Monday, September 26
7PM
KEPLER’S BOOKS
1010 El Camino Real
Menlo Park, CA  94025

Tuesday, September 27
7PM
COPPERFIELD’S BOOKS
Montgomery Village Shopping Center
775 Village Ct.
Santa Rosa, CA 95405

Wednesday, September 28
6PM – Please note: this was incorrectly listed as 7PM previously
BOOK PASSAGE
1 Sausalito – San Francisco Ferry Bldg #42,
San Francisco, CA 94111

    LOS ANGELES

Thursday, September 29
7PM
BARNES AND NOBLE
189 Grove Drive
Los Angeles, CA  90036

    PHOENIX

Friday, September 30
7PM
CHANGING HANDS
6428 So. McClintock
Tempe, AZ  85283

    CHICAGO

Monday, October 3
7PM
ANDERSON’S BOOKSHOP
5112 Main St
Downers Grove, Il  60515

    NEW YORK/NEW JERSEY

Tuesday, October 4
7PM
BARNES & NOBLE
3535 US Route 1
Princeton, NJ  08540

Wednesday, October 5
6PM
BOOKS OF WONDER
18 W. 18th Street
New York, NY  10011
This appearance will be with Krystal Sutherland, a fellow Australian and author of Our Chemical Hearts. I’m really excited for you to meet her!

    NEW YORK COMIC CON

Friday, October 7
12:30PM
Let’s Get Lost Panel
Hudson Mercantile Bldg.
500 W 36th St
New York, NY 10018
It’s been said that a good book can take you places…and no one knows that quite as well as readers of fantasy and science fiction. In this panel, travel to new (and occasionally familiar) worlds with MG & YA fantasy and sci-fi authors as they discuss the challenges of crafting an entire world out of thin air. Featuring me, Delia Sherman, Danielle Paige, James Dasher, Cristina Arreola, Jeff Giles.
You need a Bookcon ticket to attend this event.

After-Panel Signing
1:45 – 2:45pm
Location: same as above.
Notes: wristbanded, 150-person maximum signing. I’ll be giving away and signing posters as well as any books you bring!

Friday, October 7
4:00PM
Scott Westerfeld Poster Signing!
Location: First Second Booth in Javits Center
I’ll be signing and giving away Spill Zone posters and 25 Spill Zone galleys! (You need an NYCC ticket, of course.)

Sunday, October 9
12:15PM
First Second 10th Anniversary
Javits Center
Room 1B03
2016 marks graphic novel First Second Books’ tenth anniversary. Publishing books like American Born Chinese, This One Summer, and The Sculptor, First Second has taken graphic novels to a new level — and to new readers. Join publisher :01 in this tenth anniversary celebration! Featuring me, Mark Seigel, Penelope Bagieu, Box Brown.
You need an NYCC ticket to attend this event.

In November, I’ll be at YALLfest in Charleston, SC!
November 11-12
Specific schedule TBD.

That’s it for now. If I’m missing your city, town, or local iceberg, I apologize. I love you all, but you outnumber me.

Horizon! (new series announcement)

Posted on by scott

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?

HORIZON-small
(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!

Uglies Quote

Posted on by scott

I love this window at the Library Center in Springfield, Missouri:

UgliesQuote

Also, you should go take this twitter poll:

NY Teen Author Festival

Posted on by scott

The New York Teen Author Festival is here, and I am in it.

cropped-Untitled-11

For the next ten days, over a hundred authors will be appearing at a dozen venues across New York City. Come join us for a cavalcade of signings, discussions, and readings. (And one rock band.)

Click here for the full schedule!

These are the bits I’m in:

Thursday, March 17
SPINE OUT
Dixon Place, 161 Christie Street
7PM

NYCTAF is proud to be a part of a new series, SPINE OUT, where novelists read personal essays. David Arnold, Jessica Brody, VC Chickering, Emmy Laybourne, David Levithan, Scott Westerfeld. Hosted by Emmy Laybourne.

(Note: All other events are free, but Spine Out is ticketed. $13 exclusively for the festival attendees! Use code “NYTAF” at Dixonplace.org.)

Saturday, March 19
What Can YA Do About It?
42nd Street NYPL
Barton Forum
1:10-1:40PM

Kicking off the NYTAF Symposium, a discussion of how YA literature (and literature in general) can help social change, and the role this plays in works across a variety of genres. Michael Buckley, Donna Freitas, IW Gregorio, Brendan Kiely, Daniel José Older, Marie Rutkoski, Scott Westerfeld. Moderator: David Levithan

Sunday, March 20
No-Foolin’ Mega-Signing
Books of Wonder
18 W. 18th St. NY, NY 10011
1-4pm

I’ll be signing at the 1PM segment, but look at everyone else who’s showing up. Just look at them!

1:00-1:30
Jeff Zentner (The Serpent King, RH)
Allen Zadoff (I Am the Traitor, LB)
Nicola Yoon (Everything, Everything, RH)
Liza Wiemer (Hello?, Spencer Hill)
Alecia Whitaker (The Road to You, LB)
Scott Westerfeld (Zeroes, S&S)
Sandra Waugh (Silver Eve, RH)
Will Walton (Anything Could Happen, Scholastic)
Len Vlahos (Scar Girl, Bloomsbury)
Amalie Howard (The Fallen Prince, Sky Pony)
Andrea Cremer (The Conjurer’s Riddle, Penguin)
Sharon Cameron (Rook, Scholastic)

1:30-2:00
Tommy Wallach (Thanks for the Trouble, S&S)
Sharon Biggs Waller (The Forbidden Orchid, Penguin)
Jessica Spotswood (Tyranny of Petticoats, Candlewick)
Sarvenaz Tash (Three Day Summer, S&S)
Lindsay Smith (Dreamstrider, Macmillan)
Natasha Sinel (The Fix, Sky Pony)
Adam Silvera (More Happy Than Not, Soho)
Tiffany Schmidt (Hold Me Like a Breath, Bloomsbury)
Gavriel Savit (Anna and the swallow Man, RH)
Lance Rubin (Denton Little’s Death Date, RH)

2:00-2:30
Emily Ross (Half in Love with Death, Merit)
Sharon Huss Roat (Between the Notes, HC)
Randy Ribay (An Infinite Number of Parallel Universes, Merit)
Rajdeep Paulus (Soaring Through Stars, Birch House)
Suzanne Myers (I’m from Nowhere, Soho)
Hannah Moskowitz (A History of Glitter and Blood, Chronicle)
Kass Morgan (The 100: Homecoming, LB)
Meredith Moore (I Am Her Revenge, Penguin)
Goldy Moldavsky (Kill the Boy Band, Scholastic)
Lisa Maxwell (Unhooked, S&S)

2:30-3:00
Carolyn Mackler (Infinite In Between, HC)
Barry Lyga (After the Red Rain, LB)
Sarah Darer Littman (Backlash, Scholastic)
David Levithan (Another Day, RH)
Kerry Kletter (The First Time She Drowned, Penguin)
Brendan Kiely (All-American Boys, HC)
Kody Keplinger (Lying Out Loud, Scholastic)
Beth Kephart (This is the Story of You, Chronicle)
Lee Kelly (A Criminal Magic, S&S)
AR Kahler (Shades of Darkness, S&S)

3:00-3:30
Cordelia Jensen (Skyscraping, Penguin)
IW Gregorio (None of the Above, HC)
Lauren Gibaldi (The Night We Said Yes, HC)
Amy Ewing (The White Rose, HC)
Robin Epstein (H.E.A.R., Soho)
Jaclyn Dolamore (Glittering Shadows, Hyperion)
Katelyn Detweiler (Immaculate, Penguin)
Tara Crowl (Eden’s Wish, Hyperion)

3:30-4:00
Zoraida Cordova (Vast and Brutal Sea, Sourcebooks)
Susane Colasanti (City Love, HC)
Sona Charaipotra (Tiny Pretty Things, HC)
Selene Castrovilla (Signs of Life, Last Syllable)
Jessica Brody (Unchanged, Macmillan)
Martina Boone (Persuasion, S&S)
Patty Blount (Nothing Left to Burn, Sourcebooks)
Lisa Amowitz (Until Beth, Spencer Hill)
Ami Allen-Vath (Liars and Losers Like Us, Sky Pony)

Cover for Zeroes 2: Swarm

Posted on by scott

As most of you know, my latest series is Zeroes, a trilogy about teens with superpowers, which I cowrote with Margo Lanagan and Deb Biancotti.

You can read the first seven chapters here, and find reviews and buy buttons here.

Today I’m happy to share with you the awesome US cover of book 2, which is called Swarm! (Out in Sep/Oct 2016.)

Swarm cover small

Pretty cool, huh? I like the way it doubles down on the lurid color scheme of the first cover.

Here’s the (slightly spoilery) book description:

They thought they’d already faced their toughest fight. But there’s no relaxing for the reunited Zeroes.

These six teens with unique abilities have taken on bank robbers, drug dealers and mobsters. Now they’re trying to lay low so they can get their new illegal nightclub off the ground.

But the quiet doesn’t last long when two strangers come to town, bringing with them a whole different kind of crowd-based chaos. And hot on their tails is a crowd-power even more dangerous and sinister.

Up against these new enemies, every Zero is under threat. Mob is crippled by the killing-crowd buzz—is she really evil at her core? Flicker is forced to watch the worst things a crowd can do. Crash’s conscience—and her heart—get a workout. Anon and Scam must both put family loyalties on the line for the sake of survival. And Bellwether’s glorious-leader mojo deserts him.

Who’s left to lead the Zeroes into battle against a new, murderous army?

NaNoWriMo

Posted on by scott

Turns out I’m doing NaNoWriMo this year.

Of course, I recently wrote a book in which a young Wrimo gets published, Afterworlds, and I’ve been close to the NaNo organization for a while. (I’m on their Writers Board, and here’s a pep talk I did for them.) But I’ve never technically done NaNo itself—writing the first draft of a novel in November.

But now I have this secret project due in early December, and I see that it’s a few days before Halloween. It’s all coming together! So I’ll be posting my word count and chugging along with the rest of you.

If you want to know more about the concept and the organization, click here.

Need some inspiration in telling your own story? Here’s NaNo’s Sarah Mackey speaking at NerdCon about why stories matter:

ZEROES

Posted on by scott

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.)

Zeroes cover band

“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

Zeroes – Scam

Posted on by scott

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:

Zeroes_Scam_600

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:

scamcollag2

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