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A year ago, Cal Thompson was a college freshman more interested in meeting girls and partying than in attending biology class. Now, after a fateful encounter with a mysterious woman named Morgan, biology has become, literally, Cal's life.
Cal was infected by a parasite that has a truly horrifying effect on its host. Cal himself is a carrier, unchanged by the parasite, but he's infected the girlfriends he's had since Morgan. All three have turned into the ravening ghouls Cal calls Peeps. The rest of us know them as vampires. It's Cal's job to hunt them down before they can create more of their kind. . . .
Bursting with the sharp intelligence and sly humor that are fast becoming his trademark, Scott Westerfeld's novel is an utterly original take on an archetype of horror.
Scott Westerfeld lives in New York, New York and Sydney, Australia.
\ \ What made you decide to write a vampire novel? Was there a particular story or event that sparked your interest?
\ \ Whenever I see a movie with no fantasy elements, I always imagine what it would be like if they threw some vampires in. And in pretty much every case, I think it would be better.
\ \ When it came to writing my own book, M.T. Anderson's Thirsty was a real eye-opener. The kid who's turning into a vamp has such an interesting and different point of view, it made me want to borrow some of Anderson's ideas about what it's like to be . . . thirsty.
\ \ But the real inspiration was the non-fiction research I was doing about parasites and rats. The natural world is so fascinating and icky . . . real life predators and parasites are really much scarier and more disturbing than any vampires in fiction. So I kind of wanted to bring back the icky.
\ \ How much research was required before you could begin writing?
\ \ Not too much before I started-I usually do my research while I write. It's more exciting to be discovering the subject at the same time as your characters. Mostly, I was reading Carl Zimmer's Parasite Rex, which is a book about how a single species of parasite can manipulate an entire ecosystem to support themselves.
\ \ Parasites are like the puppet-masters of biology. Once they get into your head (so to speak) it's easy to see the whole natural world as a bunch of robots doing their bidding. That got me thinking about what it would be like if all of humanity was just a cog in that kind of system, and we didn't even know it . . .
\ \ There is an equal balance of humor and horror in Peeps. Was this difficult to achieve? Was this balance necessary to make the story work?
\ \ I think that horror and humor go together naturally. Comedy is one of the ways that humans let ourselves relax when we're anxious or scared or grossed out, so it's pretty easy to get someone to laugh once you've made them uncomfortable. That's the trick: Start with the scary, then let them off the hook with a joke.
\ \ I've noticed that almost every horror movie has funny moments, and if the filmmakers aren't smart enough to put them in, the audience just decides that the movie is funny (by deciding that it's lame). So rather than have my readers laugh at me, I figured it was a good idea to go for comedy, so they can laugh with me.
\ \ Rats, parasite positives, maggots... there are pages that absolutely make your skin crawl, especially if you live in New York City. As a resident were you freaked out by what you learned about rats?
\ \ As I wrote Peeps, I was also reading Robert Sullivan's book called Rats, which is a history of rats in New York City. I wound up going to some of the spots mentioned in the book, small alleyways that seethe with tiny scurrying forms. That was definitely creepy.
\ \ But the fact of rats doesn't bother me. They've been hanging around humans since Egyptian times (that's why they had cat statues in their temples). And I think it's kind of cool that there's a whole other world under our feet here in this city, with abandoned tunnels and ruins and even buried graveyards. And of course, that world has its own inhabitants who have adapted to it. That's the way nature works.
\ \ But when I moved to New York, I did bring my cat, just so that that world and mine wouldn't, you know, collide too much.
\ \ What adjectives would you use to describe your latest book?
\ \ "Icky." "Intense." "Fast-paced." And whatever adjective describes that feeling you get when someone is talking about bugs, and then you feel imaginary ones on your skin. (Oh, yeah, that's "icky" again.)
\ \ What's on your iPod?
\ \ The Kills, Imogen Heap, King Sunny Ade, Shonen Knife, Dave Brubeck, DJ Shadow, Morcheeba, PM Dawn, PJ Harvey, Jimmy Little, Metric.
\ \ Of course, it's an iShuffle, so next time it might be different.
\ \ What are you reading now?
\ \ I recently finished a non-fiction book, The Emperor of Scent, which is about scientists figuring out how smell works. Much more interesting than it sounds, and very useful for writing. It's hard to describe smells, but if you can, it's a great way to put your reader into a place and mood.
\ \ At this very moment I'm reading page proofs for Magic Lessons, my wife's next book and the sequel to Magic or Madness. Six months ago, I read it as a first draft, but I haven't seen it since. It's changed a lot in all that time, and I'm really enjoying seeing how all those rewrites, edits, and new stuff makes the book stronger and deeper. (Yay, Justine!)
\ \ Next I'll read Dreamhunter, by New Zealander Elizabeth Knox, which everyone says is great.
\ \ What would be if you weren't a writer?
\ \ Probably a game designer. I used to design software for kids, and my favorite part was making up games. Maybe one day I'll take all my money and start a game company.
\ \ Either that or a rock star, of course.
\ \ Have you started working on your next book? Can you give us a sneak peak?
\ \ Right now I'm writing Specials, the last book in the Uglies trilogy. I'm at the point where it's driving me crazy, so no sneak peeks. Well, maybe the first sentence: "The six hoverboards slipped among the trees with the lightning grace of playing cards thrown flat and spinning." I like that sentence.
\ \ The next book I'll be starting on is going to take place in the Peeps universe, but with different characters. It's also set in New York City, but in the music scene. I used to compose music, and I've been wanting to write something about a band for a while.
\ \ Writing about music is like writing about smells: It's hard, but if you can pull it off, it really sets a great mood. Plus, it gives me an excuse to go to some clubs, which will probably be more fun than all those rat-infested alleys.
troutperson_13
Posted Sat Jun 25 00:00:00 EDT 2011
Peeps. Thus far, it is the only work of Vampire Fiction I've been able to find that approaches the phenomenon from a scientific perspective. And really, that's something I'm aching for; in this last decade, where vampires have broken out like a plague and spawned hundreds of thousands of novels (starting out with that-which-shall-not-be-named which features terribly bland heroines and sparkly vampires), and each and every one of them centering around some cobbled-together cheesy romance, there hasn't been the imagination nor the interest in a more realistic view to the blood-suckers.
I happen to liken this book to the Zombie Survival Guide, by Max Brooks - giving life and realism to another part of the horror genre. Bringing it down to actual factual possibilities (while, of course, keeping it engrossed in the world of fiction) and branching a story from that starting point.
There are only a few problems that I have with Peeps, and none of them are very large; the token female says 'Dude' so much you actually hope you'll get a nickel every time she says it (by the end of the book, you'd be filthy-stinkin' rich); the great big evil at the end is kind of a let down (giant worms, anybody? C'mon.); the whole done-before secret agency (for VAMPIRES. ooh, spooky.);and the main character himself was kinda boring ('what's he like?' 'well, he's from Texas.' 'anything else?' 'not a d**m thing.').
The positives, however, largely outweigh the negatives: the plot is fascinating, the vamparasitic explanations amazingly real, the pace is well-done, style beautiful, wit is just sly enough to be charming. The parasite-filler-chapters are just icing on an already very tasty cake. The way Westerfeld weaves together biology, historic illnesses, and myths dating all the way back to the Egyptians in order to bring his vampires to life is nothing short of astounding.
Five out of five, definately a keeper.
5 out of 5 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.willman2121
Posted Fri Sep 11 00:00:00 EDT 2009
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Peeps was a very interesting book. It takes place in New York City which is the perfect setting due to the fact that rats are a major part of this book. The rats are infected with a parasite which can infect people, and New York City is full of people. Cal, the protagonist goes through a series of problems that he must solve in order to save the human race from being 100% infected. Scott Westerfeld did a great job connecting the problems of the characters to real life dilemmas.
3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.I finished this book in about 2 days and it was pretty good. At first its kind of hard to keep up but once you get the hang of it you will love it. It was really interesting and surprising because well here's 2 things about me 1- I hate Science and 2- I hate rats, but this book actually got me interested in Science (rats are another story)! I know weird right, but it is pretty interesting. This gives you a new perpective about vampires (a more believable one). I actually found this a very good book even when at first you know I was disgusted by the details about parasites and skin mites etc. But then you know I found it very interesting and could actually see this happening I mean it's not like I'm entertained by the end of the world or diseases but this made me realize how exposed to disaster our society is. I really recomend this book even when it will gross you out at first but then you understand the cycles explained here and you are actually entertained by the weird situations. I saw lots of similarities with twilight (and I'm not talking about how they're both about vampires)- the inner conflict between Cal and himself is similar to the one Edward has and also how Cal wishes he were normal so he could be good enough for Lacey is how Edward feels about himself. But even non vampire fans will like this one cause it very different from other books (more believable). Makes you think if there really could be a disease like this going around.
3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.This book is so amazing. It kept me interested the whole way through. Scott Westerfeld has a way of writing so nothing is boring. The chapters about parasites, which I thought would leave me bored, only left me wanting to know more. I only wish he would write a book fully of parasites. Not to say the story its self is not amazing. The characters are very lovable. I love this book.
2 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.aznlily95
Posted Mon Jan 19 00:00:00 EST 2009
I Also Recommend:
This book is UNFORGETABLE!!! It makes me laugh cuz I sorta have a thing for freeky, shiver when its like 90 degrees and laugh at the irony tht I find the book funny. PLUS, Westerfeld is one of my favorite arthors and the narrative was INCREDIBLE and sarcastic and funny and real to life and he seems like someone I would LOVE to meet in real life!!!
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted Wed Nov 26 00:00:00 EST 2008
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I chose the book, Peeps by Scott Westerfeld, because my best friend read it for her English class, and she told me it was very interesting. I also like a few of Scott Westerfeld¿s other books, so I thought I¿d see what this one was about. Peeps is basically about a guy named Cal who was infected with a parasite that makes its host somewhat cannibal-like. Since Cal is only a carrier of the disease he doesn¿t go around killing people, but he has to capture the ones who do. I liked this book because it has humor, keeps the reader interested, and I learned some interesting facts about different parasites. <BR/> What I really noticed about Peeps was the structure of its chapters. It was almost like when you watch a movie on TV; there¿s the actual movie and every once in a while it cuts to a commercial. In the book the main story was in segments, and there were brief chapters in between in which Cal, the narrator, tells about some particular parasite. These brief little chapters were good because they tell you things about parasites that you may not have known before, and they can help your mind settle down after a dramatic event in the story. Overall this was a pretty good book and Scott Westerfeld wrote a sequel to it that I have yet to read. I would recommend this book to anyone who has any interest in science fiction or parasitology, and who would like to have something to read just for the enjoyment of reading.<BR/><BR/> -Jasmine E.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted Wed Apr 17 00:00:00 EDT 2013
This actualy a reslly good book. At firdt i thought it was gonna suck cuz my teacher assinged it to me but it turned out to be the kind of book i would read.
~Teensge book nerd
Anonymous
Posted Tue Feb 05 00:00:00 EST 2013
Loved it
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted Thu Jan 10 00:00:00 EST 2013
Peeps, is about a boy named Cal that goes to New York. He decides to go out to the bar for a little while and he finds a girl named Morgan. They start talking and then he goes to her house after they leave the bar. Then, Cal finds out that he was infected with the vampirism disease. As the story goes on he meets a girl named Lace and they become very close, and Cal finds out who he gets the disease from.
I think the story is very exciting and believable because there are a lot of things that happen in the book that could happen in real life and you can relate to it very well. The book is very easy to get involved in if you are up for mystery and like to learn about diseases. I found that the characters in the book were very realistic, and you get involved with each new character because you want to learn more about them. You can picture the characters in your head because it gives you a good description on what they look like. The story takes place in Manhattan.
The science content in the story is presented very accurately and you learn a lot about the different parasites in every other chapter of the book. The book made me want to learn more about the different parasites and what they can do to your body or animals. When you start reading the book, you can’t put it down because you want to know more about what happens to the characters. I would recommend the book to some of my friends because it was a very interesting book. I think middle schoolers/high schoolers would enjoy this book the most especially girls. I would give this book a 4 stars because I really enjoyed it and I think it is written really well.
Anonymous
Posted Sat Dec 29 00:00:00 EST 2012
It's actually supposed to be a 4.5 but Nook wouldn't let me do it. Drastically different from the Uglies series. The plot was straightforward, but somehow also kind of confusing. The characters were like dolls, not quite realistic. The conflict was ok, but was confusing just like plot.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted Mon Oct 15 00:00:00 EDT 2012
A good read
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted Mon Jul 30 00:00:00 EDT 2012
This books gave a big change to the whole storys that human beings have been saiding about ......vampires..after all .it gave it more an scince thing u know i live a long time aand see some humans come up with this anwers you could said .i really want i dont know.....more actions i was about to give up but then lace got me and knew she was going to be a geat deal that follows the next book
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted Fri Jun 22 00:00:00 EDT 2012
I was so excited by the twist to vampirism this book had at the beginning. It had the potention to be a really amazing series. However, instead of developing into an intricate conspiracy theory, it went dumb. Just like that, the great story and educational insights into parasites were wasted. Disappointed.
0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.AshleyAndersonAA
Posted Thu May 31 00:00:00 EDT 2012
This book is about a man named Cal Thompson who is infected with a disease known as "peeps." One night he meets Sarah, a girl that tries to (and succeeds in) seduce Cal. However, he doesn't know she has the disease. She infects him, and although he is only a carrier, a symptom of being a carrier makes him "horny" all the time, which results in them passing it on to other people and so on and so forth. Since he has infected Sarah he sets out to find her. When he finds her, it's apparent that she actually knows more about this disease than he does. All through this book Cal meets several people, Lace being the most important. They get to talking, and Cal tells her what the disease is. He ends up infecting her, too but she doesn't care; she wants to be with Cal through everything because they're in love. Cal goes to Sarah's house and he sees that she and a friend have two men over, and they are trying to seduce them, too. It is discovered that a new "strain" has been found, or a new way for the peeps virus to spread. Turns out that Sarah had over those men so that she could infect them and they could help fight the strain. It seems as though the peeps are actually on our side. I think this book was good. It was definitely a page turner. I read many different books because I like reading, and I enjoyed this book. This book was very interesting, and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys a drama, a suspense, a thriller, or just an overall good read. You should start reading the book from the beginning, but ever chapter is so interesting and thrilling that if you start in the middle of the book, you'll want to keep reading, even if you don't know what's going on. Better yet, it'll make you want to start from the beginning if you read a random passage or chapter. Every chapter is a page turner, and it'll make you want to keep writing more.
0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted Mon May 14 00:00:00 EDT 2012
Peeps was a good mix of fiction (vampire part) and non fiction (parasite parts). The vampire disease known as peeps in this book, is spread like a parasite or and STD. Cal becomes a carrier for this disease and is forced to live with it for the rest of his life. He is faced with a series of events that will put him to the test. These events test his strength, smarts and even his ability to avoid sexual relations with a girl he meets. While this story is going on, the in between chapters are full of stories about different parasites. It's very educating and interesting. You learn a lot of vocabulary and many facts. This book is interesting and connects real life dilemmas to the characters.
0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.raquelrandall
Posted Fri Apr 13 00:00:00 EDT 2012
This book is about a boy named Cal Thompson who is infected with a disease. One night he meets a mysterious girl who seduces him, but what he didn't know is that she has the "peeps" disease. He is only a carrier though, but a symptom of being a carrier makes him horny all the time so that he wants to spread the disease to other girls, so they can pass it on and so on. He has infected his first lover so he sets out to find her because he knows that she has the disease. When he finds her, she knows more about the disease then he does. Throughout this book Cal meets a girl named Lace and a few other people. Lace is most important though. She helps him with his journey and he eventually tells her what the peeps disease is all about, and in the end, ends up infecting her. She doesn't mind though, she wants to be with Cal every step of the way because they're in love. In the end Cal goes to Sarah's house (his first lover who is infected) and sees that she and a friend (who is also infected) have 2 men at her house, who again she is trying to seduce. Cal ends up meeting up with her a few days after and questions her about it. A new "strain" has been discovered, which is a new way for the peeps virus to spread. In the end Sarah tells Cal that she had those men over so that she could create more peeps to help fight off the strain, and the book ends by telling us that peeps are on our side. Which means that once the peep population gets good enough, the peeps were created to help fight off the strain so it doesn't spread even further. I think this is a very good book. I don’t read many books because I don’t like reading, but I actually enjoyed this book and looked forward to reading everyday so I could read more of it. This book was very interesting and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good, interesting book. I would say that if you read a part of the book anywhere it would make you want to read more. Every chapter gets more interesting and as you go on it’ll help you explain the questions you have earlier in the book but in the end you’ll get it all figured out.
0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.kaylic
Posted Mon Mar 26 00:00:00 EDT 2012
pretty good and worth reading and the money
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted Thu Mar 08 00:00:00 EST 2012
This was a good book for teens in my opinion. It has a great plot but im probably being biased. But i recomend it!
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.I was going to say this is one of Scott Westerfeld's earlier novels, but they all seem to have come onto the scene around 2005. Instead I'll say this, it's one that's set in New York City.
So, here's a reason to advocate abstinence only sex education: You can turn into a vampire if you exchange saliva with the wrong person. Cal, unfortunately, misses out on this lesson--so after a drunken one night stand he ends up as a vampire. As you might have guessed, these are not your grandmother's vampires. Sure, the legends are the same, but that's about it. Because in Westerfeld's story, vampirism is a disease spread by a little parasite called Toxoplasma. So, instead of being called vampires, Cal and others who have been infected (or are carriers) are called "Parasite Positives" or "Peeps" for short.
The upshot is that Cal is recruited by a secret government organization to hunt peeps and especially to capture those that he infected. Then he has to find the girl who made him a carrier. Sounds simple, right? Think again. As Cal gets closer to tracking down his progenitor things keep getting more complicated until everything Cal thought he knew to be true is thrown into question.
Let me also say that you will never look at rats, or cats, the same way after reading this novel. There is something about a cat with a vampiric parasite that is just so much more appealing than a normal one.
The even numbered chapters of this book don't directly relate to the action-packed plot described above. Instead, chapter by chapter, Cal acquaints us with the world of parasitology (you might want to keep the Purel handy for certain segments). Some readers might find these narrative "interruptions" to be a bit annoying and unecessary, I'd politely disagree saying that the information is interesting and, well, cool. Even if you skip all the others, read chapter four. It's relevant (I also saw Scott Westerfeld at a reading where he read this section of the book and it was ah-may-zing).
So, while the parasite information might be icky, the book is awesome. The story is really fast-paced and has a lot of action and suspense. Lots of chapters end on cliff hangers that make you want to read that much faster. Even more exciting, the book is just as enjoyable for male and female readers (not too gory, not too mushy--a happy medium). Cal is a likable narrator as well as a reliable one--readers know everything that he does.
My only issue with the novel comes at the last thirty some odd pages because it got confusing. At this point, Call learns a lot of new information which, of course, the readers also have to digest. Combined with the fast pace, it got a little hard to follow everything. In fact, I had to reread the last couple of chapters to be sure I knew what was going on.
Confusion aside, the story was awesome. I love Scott Westerfeld unconditionally, but this book was lots of fun to read. The set up and early chapters prepare you for one kind of book, but by the end it's something entirely different. If you want a new take on an old monster, Peeps is your book.
Anonymous
Posted Mon Jan 02 00:00:00 EST 2012
God who thougt STDs could bite this GOOD!and stil make u want more...
Scott westerfield is a great writer.
Overview
A year ago, Cal Thompson was a college freshman more interested in meeting girls and partying than in attending biology class. Now, after a fateful encounter with a mysterious woman named Morgan, biology has become, literally, Cal's life.
Cal was infected by a parasite that has a truly horrifying effect on its host. Cal himself is a carrier, unchanged by the parasite, but he's infected the girlfriends he's had since Morgan. All three have turned into the ravening ghouls Cal ...