River Pix

Posted on by scott

We just got back to Sydney, and I have some more Thailand pix to post.

But first . . . a bit of news for those of you in and around NYC. There’s a completely awesome reading tomorrow (Tuesday) at Books of Wonder. It includes this stunning cast:

Coe Booth
I haven’t read her debut novel Tyrrel yet, but it’s been getting screamingly good reviews. Plus she’s a terrific performer, not to be missed.

John Green
I just finished An Abundance of Katherines, which is very funny and will be loved by Dess fans, because it’s full of mathy goodness. And anagrams. And footnotes.

David Levithan
Recently flew through David’s novel Wide Awake, about a political movement that springs to life after a contested election. An immensely appealing political fantasy, full of hope and that lovely feeling that us regular folks can change things . . . plus a road trip!

E. Lockhart
Haven’t yet read her new one, The Boy Book: A Study of Habits and Behaviors, Plus Techniques for Taming Them, but Justine says it’s great. E. is always funny, and BB also has footnotes! (Plus a great title.)

Maureen Johnson
Earlier this year I read Devlish, Maureen’s hilarious demon-posing-as-a-Catholic-schoolgirl novel. Totally enjoyed it, as I blogged here.

I hear from David that they have secret and amusing plans for a bit of performance art. So you should go if you can.

Books of Wonder
18 W 18th St (between 5th & 6th)
Tuesday, December 5
starting at 5pm, wrapped up by 7pm

And now, some photos from Thailand! We spent a lot of time on the Phraya River, which carries tons of cargo and millions of commuters through the Bangkok area.

First, the mighty longboats, tuk-tuks of the waterways!

The coolest thing about longboats is their HUGE engines. Which shows how much weight you can move around with proper leverage:

Note the engine-person ratio. Like gondeliers, but with V-8s.

And now a more zen view of the river:

You see Buddhist monks everywhere in Bangkok. They wear saffron (orange) robes, and generally look pretty, um, chill. I’m on a crowded commuter boat here at rush hour, and the monks are standing under a sign that says, “SAVE THIS SPACE FOR MONKS.”

So I did.

The architecture in Bangkok is so beautiful that I didn’t take many pictures of it. I leave the photographing of actual beauty to the experts (and mostly take pix of funny stuff). But here . . .

The moody light and gray weather were really elegant. Plus, everything is more mystical when you see it from the water.

So do any of you have Halloween pictures of yourselves as Westerfeldian characters? That might be fun.

Tuk-Tuk!

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Okay, I have found my new favorite way to get around. Ever. (Well, until hoverboards are invented.)

Behold the humble tuk-tuk!

As Wikipedia defines the term:

The tuk-tuk (ตุ๊กตุ๊ก or ตุ๊กๆ in Thai) is the Southeast Asian version of a vehicle known elsewhere as an auto rickshaw or cabin cycle. It is a widely used form of urban transport in Bangkok and other Thai cities, as well as other major Southeast Asian and South Asian cities.

How I define it is: Three-wheeled, hoverboard-like hellion of the traffic-choked fleshpot!

But yeah, it’s kinda like a motorized rickshaw too. The driver sits in front and one or two farang adults or three somewhat skinnier Thai adults, or up to (we-swear-to-Cthulu-saw-this-today) five schoolkids sit in back. The tiny gas-powered motor putters to life and pulls the whole contraption into traffic.

It is, as you might guess, awesome.

Let’s go on a tuk-tuk ride together, shall we?

First there is the measured buildup, sidling along just faster than the various pedestrians.

The other tuk-tuks swarm about us, waving and smiling.

Notice how the metal filigree between driver and passngers looks exactly like a bedframe? That’s just one part of what gives the experience its Hey-I-just-put-a-motor-on-my-couch-want-to-go-for-a-ride? feel.

Fun Fact: the tuk-tuk’s name is onomatopoetic. It’s tiny two-stroke engine sounds just like—

But look! A tuk-tuk-size opening in the traffic . . .

The sudden acceleration (or “dash of death”) between other, much larger vehicles begins! Any of them could crush us without a second thought! It’s like riding a poodle into a stampede of t-rexes!

But then a stretch of open road is spotted . . . and we make the jump to tuk-tuk hyperspace!

The dizzying crescendo! Your teeth are rattling like a pearl necklace in a blender!

And then, suddenly, the screech of brakes and blinding glare of brake-lights!

Ahhh, we are at our destination. And, um, why are the brake lights inside the passenger cabin? That’s just odd.

But there’s no time to ask. It’s time to pay the man the negotiated fare. (Crap, forgot to bargain again! Guileless, childlike farang.)

Goodbye, little tuk-tuk! We shall meet again, like the next time I need a medium-length ride in motorized transport and don’t have luggage.

More about Thailand soon!

Update: Here’s what we did today, as recounted by Justine.

YouTube Extravaganza

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Yes, I may be in Thailand, but I’m working terribly, terribly hard on my next book.

No, really. So it wasn’t me who found these videos on YouTube, I swear. I’m working way too hard.

But here they are:

This video for So Yesterday has lots of cool split-screen energy.

And a smooth one for Midnighters. Check out the casting.

And this one, although it’s not really about Uglies, does give you some idea how much work goes into making people in magazine ads into pretties. (In some ways, Photoshopping inspired the trilogy more than cosmetic surgery.)

And here’s another really creepy one about extreme retouching. A must watch. It’s like the operation unfolding before your eyes.

And finally, I mentioned this excellent video review of Uglies in a previous post, but include it here for completeness.

Can you guys find any more? (One link per post, please, or my spam filter has a whole bag of zap with your name on it!)

Bwah-ha-ha-ha-ha!

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I finally got a scan of the Times interview mentioned in my previous post. Here’s what it looked like in hard copy, including a suitably diabolical photo:

See, it’s much better with Han Lee de Boer’s photo included. I love me a photographer who shows up with surgical gloves and a scalpel. It was a great way to finish off the interview (so to speak).

Plus that pull-quote: “If I can save just one nose . . . ” Hah! (I slay me.)

Actually, Han and I liked a slightly different shot better. Maybe this cropped version should be my next author photo:


credit: Han Lee de Boer

Or better yet, I can use it for when I teach creative writing classes . . .

*Bwah-ha-ha-ha-cough-cough.*

Hey, and you can go see more of Han Lee de Boer’s work here. His subjects include many much famouser (and prettier, and closer shaven) people than me.

And for those of you who missed it, here’s the text of the interview with Amanda Craig.

London Reviews

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So back when we were in London, which seems years ago now, I did a bunch of interviews. They’re starting to leak out this weekend, so I thought I’d give you guys a heads up.

Note to US and Australian readers: my YA books only appeared in the UK this year, so it’s all “new, new, new” to them.

First, here’s a profile by Amanda Craig, the YA and children’s reviewer for The Times—paper sometimes known as “The London Times” to us clueless USians.

Amanda’s a huge Uglies fan, so her profile is pretty cool. (And by the way, here’s her review of Uglies from earlier this year.)

There was also a great photoshoot for the article, in which I posed with a scalpel, surgical gloves, and an evil leer. Sort of the-author-as-Dr.-Cable. The photo isn’t online yet, but I’ll try to track it down. I’m dying to see it.

Secondly, I sat down with Meet The Author, a video series in which authors discuss their books. They have a whole siteful of cool interviews.


I’m trying to sound non-stupid. Can’t you tell?

It’s an interesting format: The author, which would be me, sits and talks straight to a camera for a minute or so. It’s all one continuous take, no editing, so it’s sort of raw and stumbly, but real. And highly unnerving for those of us who are used to rewriting our words a few dozen times before anyone see them.

Here are the results for The Last Days, Midnighters, and Peeps.

Note that for the moment, Peeps is called Parasite Positive in the UK. Apparently the slang word “peeps” has different connotations there, or something. (Trusty British readers, can you verify?)

(Hey, you can download these as audio from the iTunes store! Search on “Meet the Author,” then open up the “Meet the Author UK Podcast.”)

And finally, an amusement unrelated to the London trip: The Wikipedia entry for Samhain now lists Midnighters as a “Modern Popular Culture” reference.

One small wiki-woot for me, one giant step for Darkling-kind.

Update: This wiki-factoid was pointed out to me by Lyra!

Local Customs

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So here we are in Thailand, and I didn’t get around to blogging any of our trip to Britain!

In my defense, the schedule was insanely busy. Four school visits, three interviews, three “Meet the Author” videos, one stage appearance, three lunches and two dinners with booksellers, librarians, editors, and scouts. Two hotels, four trains, a zillion cabs. One flu (Justine’s) and one almost flu (mine).

More about all this later. But for the moment, huge thanks to the two publicists who shepherded me around the country (this means you, Kat and Elisa!) and to all the way-cool British teachers, librarians, and fans I met.

But here’s my current concern: The UK trip was so busy that I didn’t get a chance to read up about Thailand before we got here. I don’t even know how to say “thankyou,” which is just about unforgivable. Justine has been here before and knows how to say some stuff. But women and men have different sentence endings in the Thai language, so I can’t even imitate her! Argh.

And it gets worse. About half an hour from landing in Bangkok, I was reading a guide to Thai etiquette, and came across these rules . . .

Show respect for the monarchy, Buddhism, and the monkhood. Criticism causes universal offence and may be heavily penalised.

Stand for the King’s anthem.

The head is the highest part of the body spiritually and must not be touched or pointed at, particularly by the feet, the lowest part of the body. So never use the feet to move, shut or point at things, nor step on coins or banknotes (they bear the king’s head).

Treat Buddha images with respect. Don’t point at them (especially with feet).

Step over, not on, door thresholds.

Don’t lose your temper. Anger is viewed (and avoided) as temporary insanity and prevents resolution of problems.
—Time Out Bangkok

Okay, now most of this is easy. I rarely give in to temporary insanity, except with printers, MS Word, and the occasional grammar issue. I’ve got my own head of state to diss, so I’m down with respecting the king. (And come on, monks are always cool.)

But the not-pointing part is tricky. I’m a tourist, after all! It’s my job to point at stuff in a charming, slack-jawed way. In fact, a mere hour after reading the rules above, we were cruising down the airport highway, and all these cool Buddhas were planted along the roadside, welcoming us to Thailand.

And I immediately pointed at them. Bad farang!*


Don’t point at the Buddha, dude!

Also, I’m going to have trouble not doing things with my feet. You know, like shutting doors and moving stuff around. What can I say? I played soccer as a kid.

But I’m sure they’ll cut me some slack until the jetlag goes away.

So what, you may ask, are we doing in Thailand? Mostly, we’re getting a chance to stop touring and get some work done. Our six weeks here are like our own little NaNoWriMo!

Speaking of which, are any of you writing a novel in November? It’s what all the cool kids are doing. Plus, it’s fun to say “NaNoWriMo.”

Okay, must start writing, um . . . now. More on the UK later, after I practice not pointing.

*Farang is Thai for “foreigner.” And that’s me.

PS It’s 32C (90 Fahrenheit) here. Woo-hoo!

One School, One Cake

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Can you identify this object?

Yes, it’s a cake. And if you look closely, you’ll realize that it’s a cake shaped like a copy of Uglies!

How did such a thing come to exist, you ask?

Well, early this year I got a call from a South Central High School in Indiana. They wanted to start a One School/One Book project, and they wanted to use Uglies as their guinea pig.

I said that was awesome (as I usually do to people who want to buy 500 copies of one of my books), and said I’d be willing to come for a visit as well.

So last Thursday Justine and I flew down to visit friends in Kentucky, then early on Friday morning crossed the river to Indiana.

Now it’s one thing to see what effect my books have on one person or a group of friends. But a whole school? That’s a different order of magnitude altogether.

The students had made Uglies games:

And art projects:

And even built hoverboards:

Okay, the hoverboards didn’t fly, but they were tricked-out in ways that made them feel more real than the hoverboards in Uglies. They had great personal touches, like band stickers and sports-team logos, and one Hello-Kitty color scheme. (Pink is the new hover, I guess.)

That’s how the whole day was: Cool stuff all over the walls, kids asking smart questions, all the results of a school-wide conversation about one book.

It’s a great idea, and no doubt took a lot of hard work. (And a grant from the Harrison County Community Foundation.) I hope that South Central keeps doing it in years to come, experimenting with all sort of books, and that other schools try out the idea as well.

It was really cool, and I feel honored to be chosen, and grateful to everyone who helped it come into being. (And thanks for Gwenda and Christopher for letting us crash.)

Plus, there was cake.

So here’s a question: If your school did a one-book project, what would you want everyone to read? And let’s focus on books other than mine, because obviously anyone reading this probably already likes me.

So what would be cool for a whole school to read? What book would most change the way everyone saw their high school?

I nominate Lois Lowry’s The Giver and S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders.

What about you guys?

Halloween Plans?

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Hey, we’re headed out of town in an hour, and blogging may be sketchy, but to keep you guys entertained . . .

Is anyone planning any Westerfeldian Halloween costumes? Specials? Pretties? Midnighters? Peeps? Or just plain old zombies?

Let me know, and maybe we can put together a photo gallery in early November.

And to fill your swag bags with more than teeth-ruining candy, Penguin is running a bookclub sweepstakes! Enter to win up to ten copies of six books, including my latest, The Last Days. Basically, that’s one copy of each book for all of your bookclub members!

Spread the word.

Ciao till next week!

Back at Last!

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Sorry it’s been so long since my last post, but traveling is tiring. Except, of course, the part where I get to see you guys! You always bring much energy and fabulousness, which makes all the horrible flying totally worth it.

So here’s how the trip was:

We spent Wednesday and Thursday last week at the Archer School for Girls, which was tons of fun. There were many questions asked about how Justine and I write in the same house (and a few about how we met), all which were very amusing to answer.

Our hotel was close to the Getty Center, and so we tried to walk there. Oh, foolish New Yorkers, set a-stumbling across the blasted hellscape that is LA’s pedestrian margins. To make a long story short, we nearly died, then were rescued by a nice man in a car.

But the Getty’s incredible architecture, which was extra dramatic with the sun breaking through the pollution-fog, made it all worthwhile . . .

On Friday I did two presentations at WLMA up in Seattle, talking about my history as a science fiction reader and how I think sf readers are different from the reg’lar kind. Nothing beats an audience full of thoughtful librarians, let me say. Except maybe Courtney and Jordan, the two Applegate students who so charmingly introduced me.

Then on Saturday was the famous library event. Thanks to Topaz and Captain Cockateil for demanding it, and to Dawn, who lent me her library on short notice! It was great meeting all you Seattlite fans. I read from The Last Days and took questions for an hour, then had a whole hour of signing!

Here’s photographic proof!

On Sunday we flew home, then Monday night did a reading together at the Park Slope B&N. Thanks to Maria and Anjulee, and all the fexcellent Brooklyn fans who showed up!

As if this weren’t enough, we’re back in Manhattan tomorrow, reading at Kips Bay:

Borders Bookstore
Wednesday, October 18, 7:00PM
576 2nd Ave (at 32nd Street)

And that’s it! NO MORE! (Well, except for a secret trip to Indiana, and those ten days in London. Argh.)

Sorry if we’ve missed your town or ‘burb or city; it’s not that we don’t love you, just that you outnumber us.

Command Performance

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In response to your many requests and pleadings, I will be doing a reading and signing in Seattle. Do you see the power of the Internets!

Here is when:

Saturday, October 14
3:00PM

And here is where:

Lake Hills Library
15228 Lake Hills Blvd.
Bellevue, WA 98007
425-747-3350

Now, I’m sure some of you in non-Seattle places will use this comment thread to plead for non-Seattle readings. Alas, that will not be possible in the forseeable future. Justine and I are traveling like MAD for the next few months (London! Thailand! Sydney!) and need our writing time.

But thanks for asking.

Also: If you’re coming, please post and say so! I need to see if we have enough people to interest a bookseller.

And tell your friends. Your Seattlite friends, anyway.

Thanks again for asking, and see (some of you) next Saturday.