Non-Fiction
Gothic Charm School: An Essential Guide for Goths and Those Who Love Them by Jillian Venters
The rgz Street Team is a group of teens who bring YA reviews to our blog, led by Postergirl Miss Erin. Find out more.
opened a whole new world to me. It didn't take more than a few chapters before I felt like I was in a new universe filled with spectacular animals and monstrous machines.
On the nightstand: About 20 books, three pairs of reading glasses, water. Favorite drink while you write: Water with bubbles in it. (Just got a machine to make my own.)
Favorite bookstores: Kinokuniya in Sydney, Australia. Huge YA section, lots of manga and graphic novels as well. Half Japanese and half English.
Pets: A telescope shaped like a penguin.
Place to write: In my study on an old Chesterfield couch covered in cracked leather.
Inspiration: Human beings. We're hilarious, and often awesome.
Cure for writer's block: Blow something up (in the book).
Favorite outfit: Pajamas.
Next up: Behemoth, book 2 of Leviathan.
Website: www.scottwesterfeld.com
Planning your own Leviathan book group/get-together? Here are some party ideas from author Scott Westerfeld. Invite: Something with gears, or Victorian wallpaper.
Décor: Match the invite.
Attire: Victorian clothes: corsets, bustles, long dresses, fancy hats. Check out some pieces of steampunk jewelry and ensembles here, there, and everywhere.
Food: Anything shaped like gears.
Movies: Sherlock Holmes, The Golden Compass, Wild Wild West
Our March featured read, Leviathan, is also out in audio book! It's narrated by Alan Cumming (left), who was Fegan Floop in the Spy Kids movies and Nightcrawler in the X-Men films.
While writing Leviathan, this month's featured book, Scott Westerfeld did plenty of research on the places and time period in which the story is set. One of the nonfiction books he turned to was The 1910s Scrapbook by Robert Opie.
We had to share a piece of our March featured title Leviathan's amazing art from illustrator Keith Thompson. Author Scott Westerfeld says, "We decided to make the books look like they were published back in 1914, when almost all books (even adult) were illustrated. So Keith created a sort of 'Victorian manga' style, part steampunk and part old-fashioned biotech. We’re putting about 50 pieces of art in each book, most of them full page!"(Read Scott's full post, and see some more of the art here.)
You can buy interior art from Leviathan here, and color art from the series here, here, and here.
Check out the awesome music Scott Westerfeld has chosen for the soundtrack to Leviathan. Have a listen in the left-hand sidebar or just open up this month's issue of readergirlz and the music will start!
