Last week, I got to meet Scott Westerfeld when he spoke at a local library about his latest book, Behemoth.
Behemoth, which is the sequel to Leviathan, is an alternative history of World War I.
It blends Steampunk and fantasy to create a world where “Clankers” use steam-powered walking machines to battle Darwinist creatures fabricated by Great Britain.
Westerfeld talked about how he wanted to include illustrations in these novels to give the look and feel of an early 20th-century novel.
Behemoth is punctuated by illustrations like this, depicting an elephantine machine walking through the streets of Istanbul.
Westerfeld talked about how he would give the illustrator, Keith Thompson, an idea (or model, haha)…
…and Thompson would turn it into something like this.
Isn’t that cool?
Some illustrations were based on actual machines developed in the early 1900s, like this weird walking motorcycle thingy.
At the end of the night, I asked him to sign some copies of Leviathan, Behemoth and Zombies vs. Unicorns.
He agreed to take a photo with me, too!
This was one of the most interesting author events I’ve attended and I’m so glad I got to meet him!
Thanks for looking!
Scott Westerfeld reeks of…awesome. You're so lucky you got to meet him! He looks so thrilled to have that camera pointed his way. Are all those post-its yours? 😛 I kid. Anyway, I'm really jealous of people who get to meet authors, and especially just people who live in the US.
The only author-related big event here in Australia is an author conference in Melbourne, so…
SO. COOL. I looove Scott Westerfeld! I read Uglies a couple years ago and have been wanting to read Leviathan, but haven't gotten around to it yet. After seeing all these awesome illustrations, it's totally moving up my TBR list! That's so cool that he wanted to give it an early 19th century feel! I'm reading a lot of Dickens right now and those drawings totally remind me of the ones in his novels! This signing sounds so fun!! I think I need to move to Texas…you guys get all the cool events. =)
Ah, total nerdgasm. I love Scott Westerfeld. I love Leviathan. I'm totally green with envy right now.
So awesome! I am glad you go to go. Thanks for sharing! I can't wait to read Behemoth.
Okay, first I wanna say that's awesome you got to meet Scott Westerfeld!! It looks like it was an awesome event to go to! 😀
And second, I just wanted to let you know that you've won an award over at my blog, Burning.x.Impossibly.x.Bright. Congrats!! 😀
♪♫ Ambur
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