Rick Riordan's Blog, page 6

At last, the third Magnus Chase book, The Ship is the Dead, is available! I hope you all enjoy it. I am off on a two-week US tour to meet fans and promote the book. I hope I see some of you at the events!

THIS JUST IN:

Entertainment Weekly online

has exclusively revealed the cover and an excerpt from

ARU SHAH AND THE END OF TIME

by New York Times bestselling author Roshani Chokshi .

The piece also quoted Rick Riordan’s foreword.

Click here to read the full feature.

This is the inaugural title to publish under the Rick Riordan Presents imprint,

and is the first of four books in the Pandava series.

    ARU SHAH AND THE END OF TIME

by Roshani Chokshi

Rick Riordan Presents | On Sale: 3/27/18 | Ages: 8-12

Hardcover ISBN: 9781368012355

$16.99 US | $17.99 CAN

One of the most interesting things I’ve found out about my family history: My great great grandfather, Michael Patrick Riordan, was a professor of writing at the Jacques Cartier Normal School (pictured above) in Montreal during the 1870s-1890s. He emigrated from Cork, Ireland about 1860, and made his home in the Province of Quebec for the rest of his life. In fact, he owned a house right across the street from the school at 12 Rue de Champlain. He was interred in the Notre-Dame-de-Neiges Cemetery in 1903.

Recently I came across a front page article by MP Riordan in the Province of Quebec’s Journal of Education on the subject of writing, based on a lecture he had given to his colleagues. If you wish, you can see the original document and read the whole thing here: Journal of Education full edition 1875.

The speech must have gone well. A review, in French, from the Journal of Public Instruction, says: “Mr. Riordan was very interested in his audience. His word, easy and animated, often assumes the forms of poetry, from which it borrows harmony and brilliance.”

What an electric charge it was to hear the words of an ancestor I never knew, talking about the important of writing and teaching, and referencing the Ancient Greeks and Romans as part of his speech. It seems like writing and teaching are in the Riordan blood, and go back much farther than I realized.

Some of my favorite quotes from Michael Patrick Riordan:

On teaching:

“Whatever method is pursued, the teacher should engage in his work earnestly, zealously and with a genuine love for the children in his charge, and with a determination to permit no personal consideration of time or trouble to stand in the way of their interests.”

On writing:

“If writing be fairly viewed, it must rank side by side, with all the high and noble arts which have adorned the world, and which have contributed so greatly to the pure and intellectual refinement of man : for he who loves nature and admires all that is truly beautiful will always find in the art of writing something to enlarge and develop the highest faculties of his mind.”

Well said, great-great grandfather!

He also waxed poetic about how much he missed his native Ireland, and took pride in how Ireland had contributed to the history of writing:

“Be our lot ever so happy in the land of our adoption, still, still it can never be to us like the land of our birth, when the days of our youth lie smiling behind us in that spring time freshness, where every scene around our childhood’s home as a precious picture hung up within the picture gallery of the mind called memory. Yet other and more tender ties bind us to our native land.”

Of course, he also taught penmanship, and warned against the vices of poor posture and poor cursive.

“Carelessness, when allowed, is not only detrimental to good penmanship, but if long continued in, I here state that I believe it is injurious to good health also. I may here mention a few of these bad positions such as crossing the legs, bending the back, neck and head until they are quite crooked, bringing the chin in as close proximity to the hands as the hands are to the paper, crooking the fingers and pinching the pen with a vice like grasp, and finally opening the mouth and making the jaws and tongue keep time with the movement of the pen and hand.”

Whoops! Michael Patrick would not have approved of my bad posture and my chicken-scratch handwriting! Thank goodness for word processing.

Below is MP Riordan’s signature, which is much better than mine:

It’s been quite a while since I’ve updated you guys on what I’m reading. I have some catching up to do! It’s been a busy summer, writing and traveling, but I’ve gotten quite a lot of reading done as well. My usual caveat: I read very eclectically, so not all these books will appeal to every reader. Also, if it looks like I love everything I read and am generous with five-star reviews, that’s only because I don’t mention the books I didn’t like. I discard many books without finishing them if I can’t get into them or simply find they aren’t for me. I figure we have enough negative book reviews out there without me adding mine. The books, below, however, I definitely enjoyed.

Adult horror.

Note to self: This was probably not the right book to read before I went on that scuba diving trip. Cutter delivers a super-creepy tale about a research lab at the bottom of the Marianas Trench, which may be humanity’s only hope for finding a cure for the ‘Gets, a new Alzheimer’s-like plague that has decimated the world population. Unfortunately, the deep-sea station goes silent, then begins sending up strange garbled communications. Then one of the researchers resurfaces in a mini-sub, except he has died in a horrible, inexplicable way, and has scrawled a strange message inside the sub in his own blood. Sound gruesome enough yet? The authorities on the surface see no option but to send a two-person recon group down to the bottom to see what’s going on. One of these brave explorers is the brother of the main researcher, and plunging into the trench will also send him back into his darkest childhood memories.  This is a quick read, with plenty of chilling, shocking passages. Some of the flashbacks slowed the pace for me, but it was still a terrific summer scare-fest. Just one warning: (SPOILER) If you like things that turn out wonderful in the end, er . . . you may want to adjust your expectations.

American history, nonfiction.

I devoured Ian Toll’s first two books about the naval war in the Pacific during World War II, so I thought I’d try his earlier book about the earliest days of the United States Navy. I don’t know if you have any interest in early American history or in naval warfare, but if you do, this is a great read. Toll is one of those historians who can bring history to life like a good novel, and that is no easy task. He covers the era made famous by the musical Hamilton, but adds some layers to the story that the musical missed. (There are, for instance, zero cabinet rap battles). He also covers the early naval war against the Barbary pirates and several thrilling accounts of early naval battles against the French and the British. What I found most interesting and helpful was the early and vicious rancor between the political parties of the day, Federalists and Republicans (not related to today’s Republicans). We live in such a polarized time right now, we tend to think that surely it has never been this bad. Wrong! Party politics has been threatening to tear our country apart since its inception, and has done so on at least one occasion (the Civil War, obvs.) Adams, Jefferson and Madison faced every bit as much bitter in-fighting, partisan hyperbole, and talk of certain doom as we see today. Fist fists in Congress. Duels. Name-calling. Cries of fake news. They had it all. I guess that’s . . . reassuring? Either that, or it just makes me wonder how we ever made it this far as a nation. At any rate, this is a fascinating look at how the U.S. Navy started from very humble beginnings — just six frigates, one of which is docked right down the street from my house in Boston: the U.S.S. Constitution. And now I know all about her story!

Children’s Literature, elementary grade and up.

This is one of those books that haunts you long after you read it. The premise is simple enough: A mysterious island with exactly nine inhabitants, all children. Every year or so, a self-piloting boat appears out of the strange fog that encircles the island. The boat drops off a new young child — so young he/she only has the vaguest idea of where he/she comes from — and the oldest child in the group gets in the boat and sails away forever, going to . . . whatever is beyond the mist. The second-oldest child then becomes the elder, responsible for mentoring the new young arrival, and life goes on. At least, unless our protagonist Jinny starts having second thoughts about how things work.

The island is a paradise. Nothing will kill you. The snakes won’t bite. The fruits are all edible. You can’t even hurt yourself jumping off the cliffs because the winds will push you back to safety. The children live in a collection of huts built by . . . well, they have no idea. They spend their days fishing or gathering food, playing games, telling stories, or reading books from the library, which was collected by a girl from the past that none of them ever knew. None of the kids know where they came from, or what awaits them when they leave, or why the island works the way it does. They just know a simple warning handed down from child to child over the years: If more than nine kids ever live on the island at the same time, the sky will fall.

Jinny becomes the elder when her friend Deen gets in the boat and sails off to his mysterious future. Jinny tries to be a good elder, but she chafes against her new responsibilities and can’t stop thinking about Deen. Eventually, she decides to rebel. She will not leave when the boat comes for her. And that’s when their paradise begins to unravel.

The book is, of course, a metaphorical look at childhood, and what it means to become an adult. On that level, it is thought-provoking and magical. I would add a couple of caveats to put you in the right frame of mind before starting this story, however: First, Jinny can be a very annoying heroine. This is by design. It makes perfect sense she would be this way. But sometimes I wanted to strangle her for her selfishness. Secondly (SPOILER ALERT) if you read this like I did, expecting it to be like a dystopian novel where eventually we find out the grand secret of the island, why it is there, how it works, and what sort of society would set up such a system for testing its young . . . you will not get those answers. That’s not what the story is trying to do. You have to accept the mystery/metaphor. It’s a book to be talked about and thought about. It’s a book to explore character and what makes us adults, or children, or family. But once that boat sails into the mist, you will not go with it. As Dread Pirate Roberts would say, “Get used to disappointment!”

British history, nonfiction.

I found this really interesting, but I’m a history nut. After Wolf Hall, I wanted to find out about Henry VII, the lesser-studied father of Henry VIII, who founded the Tudor Dynasty. The author does a good job drawing on his sources and bringing the characters to life while staying true to the history, but the subject matter is just not inherently as ‘sexy’ as Henry VIII’s or Elizabeth I’s reigns. Henry VII comes across as a talented micromanager and financier. He made huge gobs of money binding his subjects to him with loyalty bonds. For him, it was never about glory and battle. He had enough of that getting himself to the throne. For Henry VII, it was all about the money and stability. He spent his entire reign fixated on eliminating or disarming his enemies, and stabilizing England after the bloody, seemingly endless War of the Roses. In that, he was quite successful, but he was neither loved nor admired. He was a ruler to be feared, a ruler to be paid. Reading this, I got a much better understanding of where Henry VIII came from, and why he was destined to be the colorful ruler he became, as an antidote to his own father. An easy read? No. But definitely rewarding!

Children’s Literature, elementary grade and up. (Read in Italian)

This was a challenge and a treat — reading the original story of Pinocchio in Italian! It’s been a long time since I saw the Disney movie, but it was obvious to me that Disney, er, Disney-fied the story quite a bit. The original tale is a lot darker and a lot funnier. I loved the fight with Gepetto and the woodcutter at the beginning, where they are tearing off each other’s wigs. Pinocchio is indeed a rascal, a scamp, and all the other things they call him. I think I would have throw him in the fire a long time ago. I was also shocked to laughter when we meet Grillo-Parlante, the Talking Cricket who becomes Jiminy Cricket in the movie, and Pinocchio immediately gets tired of his advice, throws a hammer at the cricket, and smashes him flat against the wall, killing the poor insect instantly. I must say, I had the same urge when Jiminy Cricket started to sing in the movie. Talking animals, ridiculous incidents and escapes — I loved it! Would have been an easy read in English, but even in Italian it didn’t take me very long. Well worth checking out.

Nonfiction memoir.

I read this because it is often recommended for those seeking to understand why so many disaffected rural whites would vote for the Current Occupant of the White House. (COOTWH.)  Vance gives a poignant depiction of his upbringing in Ohio, with frequent trips to visit family in Appalachia. He does a good job presenting the desperate circumstances he grew up in, and makes clear how badly the odds were stacked against him in breaking the cycle of poverty and lack of education. He paints a grim picture of hollowed-out Middle America. What stuck with me most was the lack of self-awareness he describes in many of those he grew up with. They can rail against the unfairness of life and how hard it is to get a good job, but then fail to show up to work, or disdain the work that is available, and take umbrage if life doesn’t hand them what they want. This, of course, is endemic to human nature. It is not solely an Appalachian problem. And maybe that’s the best takeaway — that we have to try to understand our similar problems, our similar weaknesses and prejudices. It is SO easy to resort to tribalism and blame ‘the other’ for all our problems. This was why I picked up this book — to understand a point of view I detest, and try to understand why any rational person could hold it. I don’t claim to feel any less disgusted with the rise of the alt-right, but I do understand that this rise is fueled by the fact that a lot of people are hurting and angry — as was the case in Germany in the 1930s — and we, as a society, need to address root causes while rejecting the false and ugly solutions put forward by hatemongers. A worthwhile read of a very personal, very human struggle.

Historical nonfiction.

A fascinating story of a time I knew little about — the 1920s in Osage territory, Oklahoma, when the Osage became suddenly and tremendously wealthy thanks to the oil rights they retained on tribal property. During this time, Osage Indians started being murdered in mysterious ways. It soon became apparent the deaths were linked, but was it a serial killer? Multiple killers? As one can imagine, justice for Native Americans was not a high priority for white authorities, locally, statewide or nationally, until J. Edgar Hoover decided to use the Osage murders as a test of his new federal agency, which would later become the FBI. Grann brings that era to life with colorful descriptions and photos of many of the major players. Grann takes us through the investigation, which was headline news in the 20s, and even when we find out the results, Grann lays bare a deeper darker truth behind the murders that is even more chilling than what the contemporary investigators uncovered. No matter how much you think you know about the mistreatment of Native Americans throughout U.S. history, this story is cause for fresh outrage at just how badly the Osage were used, while at the same time affirming how resilient they were to survive it all. This is still living memory for the Osage people, even if most of the world has forgotten. A riveting true story.

Cherokee Folklore.

I read this book as I prepared once again to write about my half-Cherokee demigod character Piper McLean. Before, I had drawn most of the Cherokee tales that Piper relates in the Heroes of Olympus series from James Mooney’s ethnographic studies from the 1890s, when Mooney, a white researcher from what would become the Smithsonian, lived among the Cherokee and recorded their stories, fearing that they would some day die out. Mooney’s transcripts are still frequently referenced by Cherokee storytellers (and outsiders, of course) but I was grateful to author Daniel Heath Justice for recommending this anthology, put together by contemporary Cherokee storytellers themselves, and offering a more authentic, living context for the lore of the Cherokee people. It was fascinating “sitting in” while the various members of the Liar’s Club took turns recounting stories that had been passed down to them, and newer stories that were from their own family histories. The book conveys the Cherokees’ dry sense of humor, their strong sense of community, and their understanding of man’s place in nature much better than any other book of Cherokee tales could do with just stories recorded in isolation. You will come away with the feeling that you were invited to sit on the porch with these storytellers and spent some time getting to know them and their lives. It is time well spent!

Adult sci fi.

Not to be confused with the sci fi TV show “Dark Matter,” this is the chilling story of a man who switches places with himself. Jason Dessen has a good life with his wife and son in Chicago, but he has regrets and ‘what ifs’. He gave up a potentially brilliant career in cutting-edge science research to be a father and husband. Now he teaches physics at a community college. His wife, similarly, gave up a promising art career. On balance, that’s okay with Jason, but one day he is abducted but a masked man who sounds oddly familiar. Jason is drugged and driven to warehouse in the woods. When he wakes up, he is in a laboratory. Everyone knows him, but there is something very wrong about his situation. He is no longer married to his wife. His son doesn’t exist. Everyone thinks he is a brilliant scientist who has invented a way to travel between parallel dimensions. In short, Jason has been forced to switch places with a different Jason, who wants our Jason’s quiet, happy domestic life. Now, our Jason has to find his way back, but how can he possibly do that faced with an infinite number of alternate dimensions? The idea of a man being removed from his family by an imposter upset me so much I almost couldn’t continue reading the book. I had to put it down halfway for several months. But I’m glad I went back to it. Alternate universes are standard fare in sci fi, but Crouch mines the idea in a refreshing way and delivers a gripping story.

Contemporary young adult.

Heartbreaking, uplifting, genuine and beautiful — those are the first words that come to mind about The Serpent King. The story revolves around three very different friends growing up in Forrestville, Tennessee. (Or Forestville, as our female protagonist insists on calling it, since the town was named after Klan founder Nathan Bedford Forrest, so ‘the extra r stands for racist.’) Lydia has the most functional family in our trio of heroes. Her folks are comfortably well-off. They support and love her. She isn’t popular at school, but she has another life on-line as a high-profile blogger on fashion and pop culture. Because of all this, and because of her strong self-confidence, her opportunities after high school seem limitless. She wants to go to NYU. She has already connected with high-powered fashion industry people there, and she looks forward to getting out of Tennessee for good.

Dill Early, on the other hand, is hopelessly mired in his family’s past. His father, a charismatic preacher who shares Dill’s name, is presently in jail for child porn. People in their small town either think Dill Jr. is a pervert like his father, or they blame him for letting Dill Sr. go to jail, since Dill Jr.’s testimony is what put his dad away. Dill has talent and dreams of being a musician, but his parents would never allow it, and he is expected to start working full time at the grocery store once he graduates high school to help pay the family’s huge debts. Worst of all: Dill is secretly in love with his longtime friend Lydia, who is about to move away forever and leave him stuck in his dismal life. What’s a guy to do?

Travis, the third member of our trio, is a sword-and-sorcery reader who is obsessed with a ‘Game of Thrones’ type series. Travis even carries his own ‘wizarding staff’ around with him wherever he goes. He’s a big guy, and his abusive drunk father wants him to play on the football team, but Travis has no interest in this. He would rather hang out with his two friends, work in the lumber mill, and spend the rest of his time in his worlds of fantasy. But how will the end of high school affect him, especially with Dill and Lydia’s lives changing too?

This book is the story of their senior year, which takes a horrible turn with a life-shattering act of violence. And of course . . . I can’t tell you what that is. You’ll have to read the book! Trust me, though — you will love these characters. You will relate to them no matter where you live. If you’ve ever felt stuck, confused, anxious . . . if you’ve ever struggled with your feelings and your dreams for the future, you can’t help but forge deep connections to Dill, Lydia, and Travis. One last bonus: the dialogue just sparkles. It’s punchy, smart and authentically teen. Or at least, it’s how we wished we might have sounded  at our best in high school.

Cherokee/U.S. history, nonfiction.

Part of my research for getting ready to write about my character Piper McLean again, I figured I would read the history of the Cherokee Nation as written by Conley, a Cherokee author. This is the only such book endorsed by the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma, and it was truly an eye-opener. If casual readers of U.S. history know anything about the Cherokee, it’s probably the Trails of Tears, the heartrending expulsion of the Cherokee from their traditional homes in the Southeast and their forced march across the west to Oklahoma. But of course, there is a lot more to the story, and Conley gives us the full tale from the Cherokee perspective. He takes us from the origins of the nation, as passed down through oral history over the generations, through the early encounters with Europeans, through the American Revolution and the rapacious expansion of white settlers, right to the present day. I had no idea about a lot of the later history, and I’m grateful to have read it. The book moves along quickly. Conley has a wry sense of humor and a good eye for character. (You can tell he is a novelist by trade.) I finished the book in a couple of days. If you want to know more about this amazing and resilient people, I highly recommend reading their history as they would want you to hear it.

Science, nonfiction.

Ah, yes. Nothing like an astrophysics book for beginners to remind me why I’m not an astrophysicist! Even at the basic level, with Tyson’s clear, funny and accessible writing, I found a lot of these concepts WAY over my head. Nevertheless, it is fascinating stuff. My big takeaway was humility: just how small humans are in the grand scheme of things, and there is something freeing about that. It reminded me of a fake headline on The Onion news satire site that made me chuckle: Obama Reassures Americans: ‘The future, and I’m talking three billion years from now, is still bright.”

The amount we don’t know about the universe is staggering. Dark matter, dark energy . . . how can we be completely unaware of forces that make up the bulk of our universe? But also, how amazing is it that we can find this stuff out from our little speck of a planet in the suburbs of Nowheresville, Milky Way Galaxy? This is a short book, perfect, as the title says, for people in a hurry. If you would like your mind exploded by science, and get a few chuckles out of the deal, check it out!

Adult fiction.

Winslow is such an awesome writer. He’s one of those people who makes storytelling look easy, even for other storytellers like me, who know very well that it is NOT easy. The amount of research he did for this book must have been staggering. It is a fictionalized telling of the recent drug wars in Mexico and beyond, with all the gore and horror that I remember from the headlines when I was still living in South Texas. It felt so real, so true to what happened, that I started fearing for the author’s safety. It seemed like he was getting dangerously close to telling things exactly as they happened. On the other hand, Winslow finds sympathy and humanity in all his characters, even the most hardened narcos who commit the most heinous atrocities. At heart, this is a story of a friendship gone bad between Art Keller, DEA agent, and Adan Barrera, scion of the most powerful drug cartel family in Sinaloa. Once friends, the two men are now bitterest of enemies, and the book follows them both as they try to outwit one another. Only one man can come out of these drug wars alive. It is not at all clear who will success, or even who is the hero and who is the villain. If you don’t mind grisly violence pulled right out of the news, you will find this a fascinating window into the world of narco trafficking.

Sci fi (zombie fiction)

You’d think by now we would have reached ‘peak zombie,’ right? I mean, there’s only so much you can do with a genre. But Carey mines the territory for new gold and finds it. The Girl with All the Gifts opens in the strangest classroom ever. (And as a teacher, I’ve seen some pretty strange classrooms.) After the zombie apocalypse in England, some infected children have, for reasons unknown, been turned into zombies but have also retained their human intelligence. Melanie is the research lab’s star pupil. Along with her classmates, who are all strapped in their chairs to keep them from, you know, eating the human teacher, they go through lessons and read stories, so the scientists can try to understand what makes these bright young zombies tick.  Melanie is not really aware of what she is, or why she is there. This ‘school’ is the only life she’s ever known. But she is aware that once in a while her classmates disappear into the lab and never come back. She fears she may be called to leave sooner or later, and she doesn’t want to part with her beloved teacher.

Then one day, Melanie’s world changes. Class is dismissed forever. Melanie will have to decide where she stands. Is she one of the humans? Or are the humans her food? The book does a great (terrifying) job describing the sort of fungal infection that could plausibly mutate into a zombie-type disease. The characters are great. The death count is high, like worse than Walking Dead high, and the ending is both terrifying and beautiful. Like zombies? Check it out!

British history, nonfiction.

This book was both fascinating and difficult. The Norman Conquest was such a pivotal turning point in history, I wanted to try to understand how it happened. Morris does an excellent job sifting through the sources and trying to make sense of all sides of the drama. Unfortunately, as Morris points out, our sources are slim and biased. You can’t get a very good sense of the major players as living people. We can only speculate on their motives and feelings. We can’t even be sure what happened or when. For these reasons, I’d only recommend the subject matter if you have a deep and abiding geek obsession with history, as I do. But if you want to know about the Norman Conquest of Britain, this is the most accessible book I’ve found.

Speculative fiction.

I was sold on this novella as soon as I read the premise. Based on an actual idea that was never executed by U.S. government, this book postulates a Wild West-era America in which hippos were introduced to the Mississippi River to be raised as a source of food. Unfortunately, some of these hippos have now gone feral, which means, Houston, we have a hippo problem. The government hires a crack team of hippo wranglers (who also have varied talents as demolition experts, assassins, con women and pistoleers) to clear a large area of the Delta of their mean, man-eating hippo swarms. Alas, as vicious as the hippos are, humans are even worse, and our heroes will encounter lots of opposition on their way to realizing their goal. I like to describe this book as The Magnificent Seven with hippos. It is a rip-roaring read with humor, violence, passion, revenge and a plausible alternate reality, all packed into a very compact story. Bonus points: The cast is wonderfully and refreshingly non-heteronormative, and nobody in this alternate Nineteenth Century blinks an eye. Of course, with man-eating hippos in the water, I guess they have more pressing things to worry about!

I was honored to attend the Stonewall Award ceremony today at the American Library Association meeting in Chicago. Magnus Chase 2: The Hammer of Thor, won the children’s book award for “exceptional merit relating to the gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender experience” because of the character of Alex Fierro. I had such a great time meeting young folks, librarians and other award-winning and honor-winning authors!

If you would like to read my acceptance speech, it is below:

Thank you for inviting me here today. As I told the Stonewall Award Committee, this is an honor both humbling and unexpected.

So, what is an old cis straight white male doing up here? Where did I get the nerve to write Alex Fierro, a transgender, gender fluid child of Loki in The Hammer of Thor, and why should I get cookies for that?

These are all fair and valid questions, which I have been asking myself a lot.

I think, to support young LGBTQ readers, the most important thing publishing can do is to publish and promote more stories by LGBTQ authors, authentic experiences by authentic voices. We have to keep pushing for this. The Stonewall committee’s work is a critical part of that effort. I can only accept the Stonewall Award in the sense that I accept a call to action – firstly, to do more myself to read and promote books by LGBTQ authors.

But also, it’s a call to do better in my own writing. As one of my genderqueer readers told me recently, “Hey, thanks for Alex. You didn’t do a terrible job!” I thought: Yes! Not doing a terrible job was my goal!

As important as it is to offer authentic voices and empower authors and role models from within LGBTQ community, it’s is also important that LGBTQ kids see themselves reflected and valued in the larger world of mass media, including my books. I know this because my non-heteronormative readers tell me so. They actively lobby to see characters like themselves in my books. They like the universe I’ve created. They want to be part of it. They deserve that opportunity. It’s important that I, as a mainstream author, say, “I see you. You matter. Your life experience may not be like mine, but it is no less valid and no less real. I will do whatever I can to understand and accurately include you in my stories, in my world. I will not erase you.”

People all over the political spectrum often ask me, “Why can’t you just stay silent on these issues? Just don’t include LGBTQ material and everybody will be happy.” This assumes that silence is the natural neutral position. But silence is not neutral. It’s an active choice. Silence is great when you are listening. Silence is not so great when you are using it to ignore or exclude.

But that’s all macro, ‘big picture’ stuff. Yes, I think the principles are important. Yes, in the abstract, I feel an obligation to write the world as I see it: beautiful because of its variations. Where I can’t draw on personal experience, I listen, I read a lot – in particular I want to credit Beyond Magenta and Gender Outlaws for helping me understand more about the perspective of my character Alex Fierro – and I trust that much of the human experience is universal. You can’t go too far wrong if you use empathy as your lens. But the reason I wrote Alex Fierro, or Nico di Angelo, or any of my characters, is much more personal.

I was a teacher for many years, in public and private school, California and Texas. During those years, I taught all kinds of kids. I want them all to know that I see them. They matter. I write characters to honor my students, and to make up for what I wished I could have done for them in the classroom.

I think about my former student Adrian (a pseudonym), back in the 90s in San Francisco. Adrian used the pronouns he and him, so I will call him that, but I suspect Adrian might have had more freedom and more options as to how he self-identified in school were he growing up today. His peers, his teachers, his family all understood that Adrian was female, despite his birth designation. Since kindergarten, he had self-selected to be among the girls – socially, athletically, academically. He was one of our girls. And although he got support and acceptance at the school, I don’t know that I helped him as much as I could, or that I tried to understand his needs and his journey. At that time in my life, I didn’t have the experience, the vocabulary, or frankly the emotional capacity to have that conversation. When we broke into social skills groups, for instance, boys apart from girls, he came into my group with the boys, I think because he felt it was required, but I feel like I missed the opportunity to sit with him and ask him what he wanted. And to assure him it was okay, whichever choice he made. I learned more from Adrian than I taught him. Twenty years later, Alex Fierro is for Adrian.

I think about Jane (pseudonym), another one of my students who was a straight cis-female with two fantastic moms. Again, for LGBTQ families, San Francisco was a pretty good place to live in the 90s, but as we know, prejudice has no geographical border. You cannot build a wall high enough to keep it out. I know Jane got flack about her family. I did what I could to support her, but I don’t think I did enough. I remember the day Jane’s drama class was happening in my classroom. The teacher was new – our first African American male teacher, which we were all really excited about – and this was only his third week. I was sitting at my desk, grading papers, while the teacher did a free association exercise. One of his examples was ‘fruit – gay.’ I think he did it because he thought it would be funny to middle schoolers. After the class, I asked to see the teacher one on one. I asked him to be aware of what he was saying and how that might be hurtful. I know. Me, a white guy, lecturing this Black teacher about hurtful words. He got defensive and quit, because he said he could not promise to not use that language again. At the time, I felt like I needed to do something, to stand up especially for Jane and her family. But did I make things better handling it as I did? I think I missed an opportunity to open a dialogue about how different people experience hurtful labels. Emmie and Josephine and their daughter Georgina, the family I introduce in The Dark Prophecy, are for Jane.

I think about Amy, and Mark, and Nicholas . . . All former students who have come out as gay since I taught them in middle school. All have gone on to have successful careers and happy families. When I taught them, I knew they were different. Their struggles were greater, their perspectives more divergent than some of my other students. I tried to provide a safe space for them, to model respect, but in retrospect I don’t think I supported them as well as I could have, or reached out as much as they might have needed. I was too busy preparing lessons on Shakespeare or adjectives, and not focusing enough on my students’ emotional health. Adjectives were a lot easier for me to reconcile than feelings. Would they have felt comfortable coming out earlier than college or high school if they had found more support in middle school? Would they have wanted to? I don’t know. But I don’t think they felt it was a safe option, which leaves me thinking that I did not do enough for them at that critical middle school time. I do not want any kid to feel alone, invisible, misunderstood. Nico di Angelo is for Amy, and Mark and Nicholas.

I am trying to do more. Percy Jackson started as a way to empower kids, in particular my son, who had learning differences. As my platform grew, I felt obliged to use it to empower all kids who are struggling through middle school for whatever reason. I don’t always do enough. I don’t always get it right. Good intentions are wonderful things, but at the end of a manuscript, the text has to stand on its own. What I meant ceases to matter. Kids just see what I wrote. But I have to keep trying. My kids are counting on me.

So thank you, above all, to my former students who taught me. Alex Fierro is for you.

To you, I pledge myself to do better – to apologize when I screw up, to learn from my mistakes, to be there for LGBTQ youth and make sure they know that in my books, they are included. They matter. I am going to stop talking now, but I promise you I won’t stop listening.

I am pleased to announce my tour dates for Magnus Chase 3: The Ship of the Dead, which comes out in October. If I’m coming to a city near you, I hope to see you!

This tour marks my first ever public events in the Tampa, FL area, Wichita, KS, Milwaukee, WI, and Rochester, NY. The other stops are all places I haven’t been in a long time: Washington, D.C., Raleigh, NC, New Orleans, LA, and Portland, OR!

I will post more details as I have them. Check with the sponsoring library or bookstore of your local event for full information.

Tuesday 10/3/17 – Washington, DC – Library of Congress Young Reader’s Center

Library of Congress Young Reader’s Center

Thomas Jefferson Bldg.

10 First Street So

Washington, DC

202-707-1950

https://www.loc.gov/visit/maps-and-floor-plans/young-readers-center/

Wednesday 10/4/17 – Raleigh, NC – Quail Ridge Books

Quail Ridge Books & Music

4209-100 Lassiter Mill Road

Raleigh, NC 27609

Store: 919-828-1588

http://www.quailridgebooks.com

Thursday 10/5/17 – Brandon, FL (Tampa) – Books-A-Million

Books-A-Million

839 Brandon Town Center Drive

Brandon, FL 33511

813-571-2062

https://www.facebook.com/pg/booksamillion/events/

Friday 10/6/17 – New Orleans, LA – Octavia Books

Octavia Books

513 Octavia Street

New Orleans, LA 70115

504-899-7323

http://www.octaviabooks.com

Saturday 10/7/17 – Wichita, KS – Watermark Books & Cafe

Watermark Books & Café

4701 E. Douglas Avenue

Wichita, KS 67218

316-682-1181

www.watermarkbooks.com

Sunday 10/8/17 – Milwaukee, WI – Boswell Book Company

Boswell Book Company

2559 N. Downer Avenue

Milwaukee WI 53211

(414) 332-1181

http://www.boswellbooks.com

Monday 10/9/17 – Clackamas, OR (Portland) – Barnes & Noble

Barnes & Noble #2262

12000 SE 82nd Avenue

Portland, OR 97266

503-786-3464 store

https://stores.barnesandnoble.com/store/2262

Wednesday 10/11/17 – Fairport, NY (Rochester) – Fairport Public Library

Fairport Public Library

1 Fairport Village Landing

Fairport, New York 14450

585-223-9091

http://www.fairportlibrary.org

I am a very lucky guy. Not only do I love my job, but I get to take cool vacations from time to time and explore new places, which often end up in my books later! Travel is a great way to recharge my creative batteries while spending time with the family.

Last year, I was working on my Apollo series while vacationing in Norway. This year, while working on my Norse series, I flipped things around and headed with my family to the Mediterranean. When you read Magnus Chase 3: The Ship of the Dead, it will have been revised in a combination of wonderful cities we visited: Paris, Nice, Monte Carlo, Pisa, Sorrento, and Barcelona.

Want a peek at the cool stuff we did and saw? Read on!

We started our journey in Paris, teleporting into the Fourteenth Nome via the Egyptian obelisk in the Place de la Concorde. You can see the top lit up pretty brightly from all that magic power!  (Um . . . actually we just flew to Paris. There is no such thing as magic. And that would bypass customs, which we would never do. Ahem. Moving on.)

Once there, our friends in the Fourteenth Nome gave us a tour of the Egyptian artifacts in the Louvre.

Our old friend Horus said hello.

And Bast, of course!

Khufu the baboon was sad we forgot to bring Cheerios for him.

We found a new (very old) khopesh for Carter Kane.

And an impressive collection of Ancient Egyptian ping pong paddles! (Okay, actually they were mirrors.)

Here is a scene from that famous Egyptian children’s book Make Way For Ibises.

A collection of Egyptian dice! Here we have just enough to roll 8d6 to generate the effects of a fireball spell. The pharaohs were huge D&D gamers.

Their collection of ancient Monopoly tokens was also amazing! Would you like to be the djed, the wadjet, or the shoe?

Here is an entire family of Hathors.

And of course, our popular friend Bes, the god of dwarves, was everywhere. You decide: Which Bes wore it best?

The Louvre is an amazing place, but it is HUGE. Just the Egyptian collection went on forever and took us an entire afternoon. The museum was built up over the centuries, various palaces connected to one another, each room more ornate than the last. Even without any of the displays, it is jaw-dropping. You can certainly imagine how a secret school for magicians could be hidden in the complex . . . er, not that there is one, of course.

This was our first time in Paris. Being a contrarian, I went in with the attitude that if so many people gushed about the city, it must be overrated. Well, I was wrong. It really is as beautiful and enchanting as people say. As the kids said, Paris has stunning architecture the way Norway has waterfalls — they’re everywhere.

Here is your obligatory photo of the Arc de Triomphe, which stands in the middle of the world’s busiest traffic circle. (Traffic not pictured.)

One of our favorite places was the garden courtyard in the Palais Royal. Beautiful roses, fountains, cafes. And that sunset wasn’t bad, either.

Our hotel room had a terrace, so this was my view while I wrote for a view days. Pity me.

And at sunset. Seriously, it was tough trying to work in these conditions.

Every evening, the Eiffel Tower put on a light show for us, which we could see from said terrace.

While in Paris, we ate all the things, including enough soufflés to inflate a zeppelin blimp. (Which was kind of how we felt at the end of the trip.)

We visited lots of museums. Here is Patrick in front of Monet’s Water Lillies at L’Orangerie. This is as close as you may ever get to seeing Patrick’s face.

And here is me saying, “Hey, look, I found a thing.”

And I just so happened to see this fabulous window display at WHSmith for The Dark Prophecy:

The art at the D’Orsay Museum was really impressive. Check out our favorite finds:

That is high culture right there!

Becky and I also took a morning walk down to Notre Dame Cathedral, which is beautiful from any angle but a lot quieter and more interesting from the back:

We had breakfast and looked around the famous English-language bookstore Shakespeare & Company, which reminded me a lot of City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco. Great place to hang out!

And as always, those Greek & Roman motifs were everywhere.

The pegasi on this bridge were extra shiny!

We even found a satyr stepping on a snake in front of the reptile house at Le Menagerie, the Paris Zoo. Why he was stepping on the snake, I do not know.

The Paris Zoo, by the way, is a great place — small but fun, with beautiful botanical gardens and cool displays.

My favorite were the caracals:

They made us miss our cats at home. Those ears!!

Eventually we made our way back to the Louvre the check out the Greek and Roman exhibits. Venus de Milo, Winged Victory, yes, sure. Those were cool. But I liked a lot of the less high-profile stuff, too.

Like this fashionable gladiator helmet, perfect for a day strolling through the Jardin des Tuileries!

Or  this lamp with a frog on top for absolutely no discernible reason!

Not to mention these Roman action figures — lead figurines from tabletop D&D, because Caesar became a massive player once Cleopatra introduced him to the game.

Oh, no, it’s a level eight troll!

I will attack it with my foot-stomping stone giant!

We also found a statue of Artemis:

And Uncle Ferdinand:

The statue below is entitled “Dude, Stop Pulling My Hair.”

And this one is “Boy Strangling a Goose.” No, seriously, that’s the title. Why is the kid strangling a goose? No idea. Maybe it’s Hera in disguise?

Finally, there’s the famous statue of Hermaphroditus, who looks female from the back but male from the front. Even after all these centuries, the art challenges your assumptions about gender!

Finally, having eaten every croissant in the Greater Metropolitan Area and having caught 22+ Mr. Mimes, we bid a tearful goodbye to Paris and waddled our way to Nice to begin a cruise around the Mediterranean.

This is the view of the harbor in Nice:

Nice flag you got there, Nice. Get it?

We sailed to Monaco, a country roughly the size of our old driveway in Texas, though much prettier:

Above was the view from the balcony of our stateroom while we were docked in Monte Carlo. We just missed the Gran Prix by one day, which is probably just as well since the city was nice and quiet!

Haley decided Monaco was his favorite place on the trip. Here he is, declaring, “I HAVE FOUND MY PEOPLE!”

Our favorite stop was the Aquarium/Oceanography Museum, which sits on top of a huge cliff near the Old City and the prince’s palace.

Inside the impressive mansion, we found OH MY GODS WHAT IS THAT?

Oh, it’s an early diving suit! I’m telling you, if Percy saw that thing underwater, he would attack.

We also found an actual submarine from the American Revolution. I used to teach about “The Turtle,” but I’d never actually seen it in real life!

The kids encouraged me to climb aboard, but I did not want to get arrested in Monaco so I resisted the urge.

At the top of the museum we also met Coco, the local seagull personality who was rescued by a cook at the cafe as a hatchling and has stuck around ever since:

From Monaco, we sailed down the coast of Italy, eating the countryside clean of gelato and pizza like the Goth invaders of old.

First stop, Pisa. (Insert your favorite Pisa/pizza joke here.)

Sometimes, famous buildings are underwhelming when you see them up close, but I have to say, the Leaning Tower is a lot more impressive in person.  The whole town of Pisa was very pretty, including this nice statue of Lupa with Romulus and Remus:

They also had some interesting souvenirs. Here are statues of your favorite gods for sale — Hera! Jesus! Zeus!

Wait . . . What?

We moved on to Civitavecchia, the port of Rome, where I got to go diving in the Mediterranean. No pictures, but it was a lot of fun. Also, the Mediterranean is COLD!

We next visited Sorrento, a cliffside resort town across the bay from Naples. That’s our cruise ship parked with Mount Vesuvius in the background. The volcano obligingly did not erupt while we were there. Thanks, Vesuvius!

In Taormina, Sicily, we visited the Greek theater, where they were setting up for a concert. Apollo once played here, back when . . . you know, he was a god. (That sound you hear in the distance is Lester Papadopoulos sobbing.)

From Sicily, we bid farewell to Italy and sailed across the sea to Spain, our first visit there!

We discovered that Barcelona is an AWESOME place. So awesome, that I failed to get any pictures, because I was just walking around going “Whoa” and enjoying the view. I ate paella, and it was good. VENI, VIDI, PAELLA, as I think Julius Caesar once said.

While in Barcelona, I finished my revisions for The Ship of the Dead. Hooray! Then we sailed back to Nice, and back to Paris for a few last days before heading home.

I tell you: Being in all these great places over three weeks gave me a new appreciation for the size of the Roman Empire. We traveled for days, over so many cities and countries, and we never left Roman territory. It also deepened my appreciation for the people of France, Italy and Spain, because they were so welcoming to us. They forgave me my stumbling Italian and Spanish and my even more stumbling French. They fed us well. They made it a wonderful trip. Grazie. Gracias. Merci!

Now I am back home in Boston and diving into my next project, which is of course THE BURNING MAZE. I have lots of inspiration to work with! Look out, Lester. Here we go!

I hope you all have a great summer. And whether you stay home or travel, I hope you find time to read some good books!

There are lots of ways to be a great mother, but moms rarely get the credit and appreciation they deserve.  They support their children, they nurture them and listen to them, they hold the family together with unconditional love and countless sacrifices.  That, at least, is something I have come to understand about my wife Becky in the thirty-six years we’ve been together. She is the strongest, most caring, most resilient and giving person I know, but she is not comfortable being in the limelight. She makes everything possible for me and my two sons. Without her, I would not be who I am. I would not have had a successful career. I would not have two sons of whom I am so incredibly proud. Becky has built this family. Usually, she prefers to be off stage, but I hope for today, at least, she’ll forgive me if I put the spotlight on her, the most important person in my life and the best mom ever.

Thirty-six years being with someone is a long time!

How does a great mom get her start? By being a great young woman.

 Becky in 1979, around the first time I ever saw her. I noticed her at the ticket booth for our church’s pancake supper. I knew this was one pancake supper I needed to go to. In case you’re wondering, we are exactly the same age. Like, exactly the same age. Both born June 5, 1964. She is thirty minutes older than me. We wouldn’t find out that until much later.

Becky a year or two later, in high school, about the time we started dating. She was a force in the high school art club. I was a band nerd who composed bad songs on my guitar in my spare time. She friend-zoned me for many months, but finally . . .

I broke up with her a couple of times, which are two of the stupidest things I’ve ever done, but it was a little frightening for a sixteen year-old guy to realize he’d found his soulmate so early in life. I quickly came back to my senses. In college, we were married on our mutual 21st birthday.

Why she wanted to marry this long-haired guy with a cheesy mustache, I’m not sure. Her family wasn’t sure about me. Fortunately, Becky said yes.

Our wedding cake was a birthday cake, of course.

We graduated from UT Austin together, Becky with a degree in fine art, me with a degree in English and history. She supported me while I got my teacher’s certificate and convinced me that I could be a success in the classroom, even when I definitely did not feel like it.

Becky at our house on the West Side of San Antonio, around 1986. Looking beautiful with the 80s hair!

This is one of the first Christmases we celebrated together, way before we had kids.

And this is me and my baby at the Frio River, around the same time.

After I had been teaching in San Antonio and New Braunfels for a couple of years, Becky and I decided to do something brave and move to the San Francisco Bay Area, just because we were ready for new adventures.

On our scouting trip, we visited Golden Gate Park.

We discovered llamas in Sonoma Country.

But we really feel in love with Berkeley and Oakland in the East Bay, and that’s where we ended up moving in 1989. We would live there for most of the 90s.

While I taught middle school, Becky was a blue-collar worker, doing interior landscaping for a plant company in San Francisco. She had always been good with plants, but she became a real pro during those years. Here she is on the job, talking to a robot. Of course we had robots in the 90s!

And then the most life-changing thing happened. We got pregnant. Becky was determined to be a good mom as soon as she found out we would have a kid. She read every book she could get her hand on. We talked about Dr. Sears and attachment parenting. We baby-proofed our little apartment. Becky worked at her job, climbing ladders, hauling plants, and driving a work van around downtown San Francisco, into her third trimester. She was a boss. I was a mess. But somehow, we got through the experience together and decided to name our little boy Haley, which is my mother’s surname, and an Irish boys’ name meaning ‘ingenious.’

It was not an easy pregnancy. I was freaking out the entire time she was in labor, and I wasn’t even the one in pain. Becky, as always, got through it with toughness and calmness. After a long labor and a caesarian, little Haley Michael Riordan joined us. The year was 1994, and we were both 30. We’d already been married for nine years at this point, which was a huge plus. We already had the relationship well underway, and we knew who we were as a couple before we introduced kids into the mix. I’m not saying it was easy. It wasn’t! But Becky was a pro.

 Great moms laugh with their kids.

 They sleep and cuddle with their kids. Heck, they sleep whenever they can, which is rarely!

 They share meals with their kids.

 They use cutting-edge technology to keep in touch with the grandparents.

They teach their children that ice cream is really, really good.

They learn to love what their kids love, like choo-choo trains!

 They enjoy the great outdoors together.

They somehow look chic, even when they are pushing a stroller.

 But they also know when to get comfy.

 They share a love of science and learning.

They model wonder and excitement.

 And they somehow look amazing while doing it. Haley was not an easy kid. He demanded constant attention and interaction, but Becky was always there for him. She made the tough decision to become a full-time mom, even though we knew it was going to be hard living on a single teacher’s salary. She was adamant, though, that Haley needed her. And she was right.

In 1998, our second son Patrick John Riordan came along, and that was a tough pregnancy for a different reason. Becky got toxic shock from the procedure and almost died. I have never been so terrified. You can’t tell how sick she was feeling in the picture below, but it was bad.

 Becky recovered, and Patrick got to discover just what a great mom he had. Soon, we moved back to San Antonio, our hometown, where we could live on a more modest budget and be closer to the kids’ grandparents.

 Great moms also support their kids’ choices in headwear.

 They throw you super birthday parties with more great headgear and Teletubby cake!

They keep you cool in those hot Texas summers.

They introduce you to the wonderful world of choo-choo trains.

 And living history. (Here is Becky with Patrick in Williamsburg, VA.)

Throughout it all, while I was teaching and Becky was being a full-time mom, she supported my efforts to become a writer. She encouraged me to take my first mystery-writing class at UC Berkeley, and she was at my side in New York in 1999 when I won the Edgar Award for my second novel, The Widower’s Two-Step.

When Haley was diagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia around age seven, she took the lead in getting him testing and support at school and at home. When I told Haley the very first version of Percy Jackson’s story, The Lightning Thief, Becky encouraged me to write it down and gave me the time and space to do it. Without all those field trips she took with the kids — to the zoo, the the countryside, to Target, to the museums, I would not have had the time to write that novel.

And two years later, when I sold the Percy Jackson series to Disney, she was at my side again when my colleagues threw me a going-away party at Saint Mary’s Hall. I had made the terrifying decision to become a full-time writer. Without Becky’s encouragement, I never would have done it.

Even after The Lightning Thief was published, it was a long hard slog before I started seeing success. I spent five years relentlessly promoting the books, travel the US and the UK doing school visits. Finally, it began to pay off, but during those years, Becky was the only thing holding me together and keeping the family on an even keel. Percy Jackson, and all the books that came after it, are not just mine. They are the product of teamwork, Becky and me working together toward a goal. Without her being a super mom, an amazing wife, and a career coach and guide for me, I would not be where I am.

 The other thing about being a great mom: You keep being a great mom, no matter how old your kids get. Here’s Becky with Patrick and Haley a couple of years ago in Greece. (You will notice the boys are going through a long-hair phase, just like their dad did!)

 The family at the Colosseum in Rome. Patrick is just starting his college career and making straight A’s. Haley just graduated college with a degree in philosophy — this is the kid with ADHD and dyslexia who would cry when he had reading homework in elementary school! What was the secret to his success? A mom who never gave up, always loved him for who he was, and always gave him the support he needed. (Just like she did with me!)

And I swear, Becky just gets more beautiful and wonderful every year, whether she’s in Norway.

Or Las Vegas.

 Or New York.

Getting ready to go out on the town with her crazy husband, whom she has stuck by all these years.

 So a big thank you to the love of my life, the best mom ever. Becky, Happy Mother’s Day. You continue to amaze and inspire me every day.

Some more pictures for you!

I am so excited to announce more details about my new imprint with Disney – Rick Riordan Presents! In 2018, we will be publishing three fantastic books by three wonderful authors, but if you’re a little confused about what this imprint business is all about, read on! I will do my best to explain.

If you missed it, here’s the original announcement from Publishers Weekly about why I decided to make an imprint at Disney.

And here’s the follow-up with Publishers Weekly talking about the three authors who we’ll be featuring in our first year.

Basically, our goal is to publish great books by middle grade authors from underrepresented cultures and backgrounds, to let them tell their own stories inspired by the mythology and folklore of their own heritage. Over the years, I’ve gotten so many questions from my fans: “Will you ever write about Hindu mythology? What about Native American? What about Chinese?” I saw that there was a lot of interest in reading fantasy adventures based on different world mythologies, but I also knew I wasn’t the best person to write them. Much better, I thought, to use my experience and my platform at Disney to put the spotlight on other great writers who are actually from those cultures and know the mythologies better than I do. Let them tell their own stories, and I would do whatever I could to help those books find a wide audience.

So let’s go through some questions you might have!

What IS an imprint?

An imprint is like a brand, a subdivision within a publishing company that usually specialized in one particular kind of book. If we were talking about movie studios, for instance, you could describe Disney as the publisher, with various “imprints” under their umbrella – Marvel, Star Wars, Pixar, Disney Animation, etc., each making a different kind of film, but all part of Disney.

With publishing, Disney Worldwide Publishing is the main company I work with. They have published all my various mythology-based books. Rick Riordan Presents will be a small branch of that very large publishing house. Our hope is to eventually publish about four books a year under the Rick Riordan Presents imprint, two books every fall and two every spring. All these will be books that my editor Steph Lurie and I feel will appeal to kids who like my books. In other words, they will probably be some type of fantasy, with lots of humor and action, and probably draw on myth or folklore in some way.

Are you writing all these books for the imprint?

No! My job is to help edit the books where it seems appropriate, to offer advice and guidance where I can, and to promote the great books we will publish, but I am not writing the books and I don’t tell the authors what to write. This is not like using a ghost writer or ‘assistant writer’ to write my ideas. These are original stories generated by the authors – their intellectual property, told their way, with their characters and their sense of humor. The worlds they create are their own. They are not extensions of Percy Jackson’s world.

The authors (and their agents) who choose to submit their works to the imprint negotiate a publishing deal with Disney the same as they would with any publisher. I’m not directly involved in those negotiations. Steph Lurie just shows me samples of the different works that are submitted and I let her know which ones I’m the most excited about. The three books we will publish in 2018 are the first batch, and I am stoked about each of them!

*Suspicious Sideways Glance* So what’s in it for you?

Disney is paying me a nominal fee to write an introduction for each book, help edit and promote it, etc., but that’s the limit of my monetary involvement. As I said above, the authors own their own intellectual property and negotiate contracts with Disney as they would with any publishing deal. I am not doing this for money.

Honestly, for me this is a way to give back for my success. I’ve been very lucky in my career. I want to use my platform to help other writers get a wider audience. I also want to help kids have a wider variety of great books to choose from, especially those that deal with world mythology.

Will you keep writing your own books, though?

Oh, yes! The imprint won’t affect my own projects at all. I’ll keep writing my own books. Not to worry.

So how do you choose which books to publish for Rick Riordan Presents?

My editor and I look for books that I could enthusiastically recommend to my own fans. If you like Percy Jackson, if you like Magnus Chase and all my other stuff, then I believe you will probably like these books too. That’s not to say the imprint’s titles are exactly like my stuff. These authors all have their own unique voices, senses of humor, plots, characters, etc. But the books are all great, highly accessible reads with lots of fun fantasy and mythology elements. And, as I said, we try to pick books about cultures you don’t hear enough about in middle grade books, by authors who know their mythology and folklore from the inside in a way I never could.

Okay, tell me about the first three titles, then.

I’m so glad you asked!

First up, in spring 2018, is Aru Shah and the End of Time, by Roshani Chokshi. (The author goes by ‘Rosh,’ and her first name is pronounced ‘Roshni.’ The ‘a’ is silent.)

Roshani Chokshi

You guys have been asking about a Percy Jackson-esque take on Hindu mythology, and let me tell you, Rosh does it better than I ever could. Aru Shah is a smart and salty middle school girl who just wants to impress her snooty private school friends. She takes them on a tour of the Indian-American Museum her mom curates, where her friends dare her to do the one thing she is forbidden to do: light an ancient lamp that will supposedly start the end of the world.

Aru takes the bet. You can guess what happens from there. All of Hindu mythology comes crashing down on her. Aru finds out the secret of her ancestry. She is plunged into new worlds. She meets new friends, lots of enemies, and a host of gods and demons on her quest to stop the chaos she’s unleashed. Oh, and there’s a talking pigeon and a ping-pong ball that shoots lightning. What else could you want? The book has been described as Percy Jackson meets Sailor Moon. Yup. This is going to be great!

Rosh is a rising star, for sure, but she is no stranger to publishing. She’s the New York Times bestselling author of young adult fantasies The Star-Touched Queen and A Crown of Wishes.

Here’s her website: http://www.roshanichokshi.com

And follow her on Twitter! @NotRashKnee

Next up, in spring 2018, are two more great titles!

Storm Runner by Jennifer Cervantes.

Zane is a lonely 13-year-old boy in New Mexico whose physical disability makes him feel even more like everyone at his middle school is watching him. But as he soon learns, his physical differences are merely the first clue to a family history that connects him to the Mayan gods–and puts him in mortal danger. As an ancient Mayan prophecy begins to unravel, Zane has to find the hero within himself.

Great premise, wonderful main character, and some seriously awesome mythology!

Jennifer’s first book was the middle grade novel The Tortilla Sun, which racked up multiple starred reviews and awards.

Here’s her website: http://www.jennifercervantes.com/home...

And follow her on Twitter! @jencerv

Dragon Pearl by Yoon Ha Lee.

 Yoon Ha Lee

Yoon Ha Lee’s debut novel was an adult sci fi book called Ninefox Gambit, which I absolutely loved. You can read my review here. A few weeks after I finished it, my editor Steph wrote me and said, ‘Hey, this author named Yoon Ha Lee would like to do a book for our imprint –”

And I said, “YES!” Then I read the proposal. And then I said, “YES!” again.

My elevator pitch for the book is simple: Korean fox spirits in space! (Echo: space, space, space.)  It’s a mix of sci fi opera and Korean mythology. This is not something you’re going to see every day, and no one could pull it off like Yoon Ha Lee does.

Our main character is Min, a teenaged fox spirit whose brother disappears, supposedly deserting the Thousand Worlds Space Forces to search for the legendary artifact the Dragon Pearl, which may have the power to save their struggling home colony.

Yoon Ha Lee has already been nominated for the Hugo and Nebula Awards, and I anticipate he will be seeing a lot more accolades when people get to read Dragon Pearl next spring!

Here’s his website: http://www.yoonhalee.com

And follow him on Twitter! @motomaratai ‏

When Disney Publishing first told me they wanted to do a Percy Jackson coloring book, I thought, Uh, why? Nothing against coloring, mind you. I used to let my students color pictures of Greek art while they listened to Greek myths. For some kids, it’s a helpful way of focusing, and it’s fun. I just didn’t understand how you could turn Percy’s story into a coloring experience.

Now that I have actually seen the page proofs for the coloring book, I get it. This is going to be AWESOME! The coloring book tells the entire story from the Lightning Thief in beautiful line art. It’s worth getting even if you never break out the crayons or colored pencils. I was blown away by the quality of the depictions!

The book comes out Aug. 15 of this year, in honor of Percy’s birthday (which is actually the 18th, but books always come out on Tuesdays, for reasons I don’t pretend to know, and the 15th is the closest Tuesday). To give you a sneak peek at what you’ll be getting, here is the scene with Percy fighting Ares!