Too Funny...

Great blog in PW Shelftalker about the (horrifyingly bad) idea of adding advertisements to e-books on the Kindle. The title "Kindle at Poseidon's Gate" naturally got my attention. I love Kenny Brechner's suggestions for hyper-linked text from the classics. Virginia Woolf promoting Nordstrom's, E.R. Eddison selling Pottery Barn, Homer pushing Pearl Vision -- too funny. It may be meant as satire, but I think he's onto the Next Big Thing. I mean, if we can do Pride & Prejudice w/ Zombies, why not? Full disclosure: I have a Kindle and I love it, but a) it will never take the place of good old-fashioned books, and b) I don't want to read advertisements with my Charles Dickens, thank you very much.

National Book Festival

As just announced, the National Book Festival in Washington, D.C. will be held Sept. 26, and I will be one of the many authors attending. 2009-2010 will be a 'no event' school year for me because of my writing deadlines, but I decided to make an exception for this since I've never done it before. If you live in the D.C. area, come on by. I understand it's quite an event. No further details have been released, but as soon as event times are posted, I will add them to my web calendar.

News from Zeus House

Happy July! Here in San Antonio, we're going on four straight weeks of 100+ temperatures and two months without rain, so I hope it's cooler where you are.

The Riordan family just spent its first week in our new house, which has come to be called Zeus House because we painted it in Sherwin-Williams 'Zeus' color, and also, of course, because of Percy and friends. When we first moved in, we found a metal silhouette of a Greek goddess in the atrium, so we knew we were meant to be here. We're keeping cool by spending a lot of time at the pool. Never had a swimming pool before, and the boys are loving it. We're also near a creek, so there is a lot more wildlife -- ducks, hawks, raccoons, bats, toads, pelicans (weird but true) and a group of vultures who sit on the roof of the house next door and look an awful lot like harpies. We've named the leader Steve.

The move, as you can imagine, has kept us very busy, but most of my time has been spent buried in the manuscript of my new book. The boys are getting impatient, because they know I'm near the end and they'll get to hear the story first. I announced the subject matter when I was on tour. If you haven't heard, the book is a modern-day fantasy about Egyptian mythology, and I am having so much fun with it! I can't give out any more details yet, but it is completely separate from the Camp Half-Blood series (the Greeks and Egyptians wouldn't play well together). Never fear, I'm still working on the next Camp Half-Blood series for release in late 2010, but the Egyptian book is an idea I've wanted to do for a long time. It will be released next spring, assuming all goes according to plan.

I'm under a time crunch too, because I want to finish the manuscript before we leave for the Mythology Bee trip to meet the grand prize winner Julia and her family in Greece. The Riordans will be making a short stop in London, then on to a Mediterranean cruise. Yeah, I know. Life is tough. I've never been to Greece before, so it seems ironic that I finally get to do it now that the Percy series has concluded. We'll sail into Athens for a day and spend the afternoon touring the Parthenon with Julia's family. They told me I don't have to be the tour guide, which is good, since I would probably lead us off a cliff or something. I will try to blog during the trip and let you know how things are going.

Despite all that's happening, I have had some time to read. Some of my favorite recent finds:

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, by Alan Bradley. This is an adult mystery which David at Murder by the Book in Houston recommended. When David recommends something, I take notice. At first I wasn't sure what to make of the title. It sounded like something Oprah and Alexander McCall Smith would come up with over tea. But the book is just fabulous. Set in England in the 1950s, it evokes the time and place with eerie precision -- if you've seen Mad Men on AMC, that's the sort of precise recreation I mean. The main character is eleven-year-old Flavia de Luce, who is so precocious she makes Mozart look like a slow learner. Flavia delights in studying the chemistry of poisons and torturing her older sisters (who of course torture her back). When Flavia finds a dying man in her garden, she pronounces it the most wonderful thing that has ever happened at Buckshaw Manor. She predicts, rightly, that it is the beginning of a fascinating mystery, which of course only Flavia can solve. She is an absolutely wonderful first person narrator with a strong will, a contrary streak, and a wicked sense of humor. This is one of those books where you know from chapter one you are in the hands of a master writer. You can sit back, relax, and enjoy the marvelous ride. I highly recommend it, and I hope we'll see more of Flavia in the future.

The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey, by Trenton Lee Stewart. I usually only get to read the first book in a series, but I'm glad I had a chance to read the second volume of the Benedict Society's adventures. It was every bit as good as the first. This is a kinder, gentler sort of adventure novel which relies less on explosions and action and more on intrigue and puzzle-solving, and it works very well. I enjoyed the way the characters developed, especially Constance, and I'll be looking forward to their next adventure.

Un Lun Dun, by China Mieville. Okay, so it's another title that tripped me up, but the premise intrigued me. Un Lun Dun is another spelling for UnLondon, a shadowy mirror image of London. Zanna and Deeba fall into this alternate world, only to find that Zanna is the Schwazzy (the chosen one) and will save unLondon, according to a prophecy. Yes, I know, at this point you are rolling your eyes and thinking this sounds like every children's fantasy you've ever read, but keep reading. Mieville quickly turns the plot on its head and defies your expectations. Mieville's brand of fantasy has been described as "weird fiction," and certainly he is a literary descendant of Lewis Carroll. Un Lun Dun is every bit as fantastical, odd, and unpredictable as "Through the Looking Glass." The wonders almost become mind-numbing after a while, but Mieville keeps his wild menagerie of creations under control and creates a world I would love to visit. My favorite characters: Margarita the Extreme Librarian (has Mieville been visiting the Texas Library Association, perhaps?), Obaday Fing, who tailors suits out of books, and Curdle the friendly milk carton. This is Mieville's first book for young readers, and I'll definitely be checking out his adult work.

Well, that's it from Zeus House. Now it's back to the world of Egypt. When we last left our heroes . . . oh wait, can't tell you yet. Wait for spring 2010!

Another Great Picture

Thanks to several people who alerted me to this picture from last week's news story about the Obamas doing community service. As I mentioned in my previous post, the First Family was helping load 15,000 backpacks with back-t0-school goodies (including The Lightning Thief) for the children of military families. In this picture, you can actually tell it's The Lightning Thief that President Obama and Malia are putting in the backpack. Woohoo! Okay, I'll stop acting like a fanboy now. Back to writing...

Demigods of the Week

Thanks to Ms. Cartwright's class at M C Williams Elementary in Wilmington, NC, for sending me the photo above. Earlier in the spring I'd sent them a Percy poster as part of a contest. Before their end-of-grade testing, they held a "Camp Half Blood Day" to train for the tests. They held a pentathlon with arts and crafts, made their own T-shirts, and selected the cabins that they thought they belonged in. Cool idea!

How Cool is This?

My day was made yesterday with this news piece about the Obamas doing community service. They were helping to fill 15,000 backpacks for children of military families, and the goodies included two books: The Penderwicks and The Lightning Thief. That's President Obama and Sasha in front of a stack of Lightning Thief. How cool! I'm sorry I didn't know about the project or I would've autographed the books. What an honor to have Percy given out to so many military families. I hope the kids enjoy the book, and thanks to the First Family!

39 Clues in Japan

It's so fun to see how artists in different countries visualize a story. The 39 Clues is getting ready to launch in Japan, and the Japanese publisher was kind enough to let me share some of their sketches for the characters. Recognize them? All images are Copyright 2009 MEDIA FACTORY, INC. All Rights Reserved. Thank you to Scholastic Books and Media Factory for letting me post this sneak peek!

Your Barista Today is Hades

Heading home from Phoenix after a fun signing last night at the Mesa Barnes & Noble. The event was part of the B&N Summer Reading program, and the store staff did a fantastic job organizing. Many of them dressed in costume. We had Demeter working crowd control, Hera helping put names on sticky notes, and Ares stood on my right all night as my bodyguard. Needless to say, we had no security problems. My favorite, though, was Hades in full armor working the cafe espresso machine. Ever try to order a venti latte from a guy wearing the Helmet of Terror? It isn't easy.

Donna the community relations manager estimated we had about 1800 people come through. Holy Schmokes! The weather cooperated beautifully. It was unseasonably cool and overcast. Everyone was very patient and enthusiastic, and although the signing line took a little over three hours, that was actually very fast for the size crowd we had. Thanks to Donna and the staff for running things so well.

My favorite comments: "What would a camper do if they needed a prophecy during the school year and Rachel wasn't there?" Good question. Probably wait! Another: "What does Olympus look like now that Annabeth has redesigned it?" Ah, you'll have to wait for the next series!

A special shout out to Wayne, a very dedicated dad who waited in line for his daughter, who was out of town. Becky happened across Wayne's blog of the event here, and you can see his videos, comments, etc. And for that conversation we didn't get to have, Wayne: That is so cool about your kids getting into the Percy series! The movie will just cover the Lightning Thief. It will not combine the books. I agree it's pretty cool to see such a big crowd of kids come out for an event about reading. Hope you have a great summer and get rested up for next school year. And thanks for waiting so long to get Sofia's book signed. You deserve a wonderful Father's Day!

Now I'm heading home to get back to work on writing! Thanks, Phoenix demigods, for a wonderful visit.