Camp Half-Blood Austin and other news

I've been in full writing mode the last few weeks, working on the final tweaks for The Red Pyramid, first of the Kane Chronicles out May 4, and also the first draft of the Camp Half-Blood series, book one, which will come out next fall. One thing I had to blog about, however, was the incredible response to BookPeople's Camp Half-Blood.

Every year, Topher Bradfield and his crew put on an amazing camp in Austin, Texas. This coming summer, 2010, they will be holding four week-long sessions, and registration started on Saturday. Becky reminded me that morning that I should blog to remind people, because the camps tend to fill up quickly. But before I could even blog about it, Topher wrote to say that all four sessions had sold out in an hour and a half! The store opened at 9 AM. By 10:30, all spots were gone. Apparently some people had started lining up at 5 AM. Now that is dedication. No doubt there will be some disappointed half-bloods out there who missed the registration, but it goes to show you what an incredible program BookPeople has created. Amazing what a great community bookstore can do, isn't it? The camps there have created an experience those kids will always remember. And just a reminder, I can't take credit for any of this! I'm not directly involved with the camps, so if you have questions about the program, I'm not the guy to ask. All the credit, all the hard work, all the cool amazing memories -- that's all brought to you by BookPeople.

In other news, all is well at the Riordan household. In a few weeks, I'll be chaperoning a school trip to NASA in Houston with Patrick's fifth grade class. I got to do this same trip with Haley when he was in fifth grade, and I'm looking forward to it. Patrick is finishing up Syren, the latest Angie Sage book, and then plans to read the last volume of Beyond the Spiderwick Chronicles. Haley is working on writing two different novels -- the kid is so prolific he makes me feel guilty! He says one is up to 60,000 words and another is at 80,000. Hmm... think it may be time to subcontract some work to him? Becky is reading one of my all-time favorites, the Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathan Stroud. I just finished Wolf Hall, Hillary Mantel's novel about Thomas Cromwell and Henry VIII's court. Brilliant stuff, plus I'm a sucker for good historical fiction. Now I'm reading The Summer Knight in Jim Butcher's series about wizard Harry Dresden. I read several more recent books in the series first, then decided it would make sense to start at the beginning, so I'm working my way through. Poor Harry Dresden! This guy gets beat up so much it's a wonder he lives through each chapter, much less each book. Great sense of humor in the series, and Dresden is a narrator you can't help but like, and feel sorry for!

Percy Jackson news: Just last week I saw the first pages for the Lightning Thief graphic novel. They were black and white, but they already looked awesome. Once they are rendered in full color they will look stunning. The hardcover boxed set has been released and is sitting proudly on my bookshelf. It's so cool to see all five volumes together. The Lightning Thief deluxe edition with new illustrations by John Rocco will be out next month. And finally, Disney-Hyperion will be releasing Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Ultimate Guide, in February. I just got my first copy, hot off the presses, and it looks so cool! The cover has this fun holographic band of pictures that change as you move the book. Inside, there is a guide to the gods, camp, monsters, the labyrinth, and much more, all illustrated in full color. Beautiful stuff. My favorite pictures are probably the Manticore and Daedalus's Workshop.

Well, that's it for now. Back to work on the books!

The Red Pyramid

The news broke in Entertainment Weekly this weekend, and I announced it live at the Texas Book Festival on Saturday: my Egyptian mythology series will be called the Kane Chronicles, and the first book's title is The Red Pyramid. The series follows brother and sister Carter and Sadie Kane, who accidentally help unleash the Egyptian gods into the modern world, and then discover they are the only ones who can set things right. I read the first page at the Texas Book Festival, and the response was incredible! I can't wait to share more with you. The book will be released on May 4, 2010. What you see above is not the actual cover of the book. John Rocco, who designed the Percy book cover art, is hard at work on an amazing cover, but more on that will be revealed later. For now, it remains secret. What Egyptian gods will you meet? What powers do Carter and Sadie have that will allow them to combat immortal gods? You'll have to stay tuned to find out!

Texas Book Festival was great fun, as usual. I had the pleasure of sharing a stage with Peter Lerangis, fellow 39 Clues author, who gave a hilarious Powerpoint presentation. Thanks to all the kids and parents who attended and shared part of Halloween with us. And speaking of 39 Clues, today I will be participating in a live webcast with four of my fellow authors and Whoopi Goldberg. I hear that thousands of classrooms have already RSVPed to tune in. Hope you can join us!

The LT billboard goes electric?

An interesting press release just came across the wire concerning a Hollywood billboard for the Lightning Thief movie and a meet-the-cast event.

Off to Austin

Next Saturday, I'll be heading to Austin for the Texas Book Festival. It will be my last public event for 2009, and I'm looking forward to it! I'll be sharing the Paramount Theater stage with Peter Lerangis, a fellow 39 Clues author. As I mentioned, I'll be bringing something special for show-and-tell, but it's a secret until the day of the festival. If you live too far away to attend, I'll give you an update after the festival. A whole slew of great authors will be on hand, so if you are in the Austin area, definitely make plans to stop by. It's always a great party!

More News from Zeus House

Another rainy day in San Antonio! It seems to be either extreme drought or flash flooding around here. Last week San Antonio got almost six inches of rain in three hours, and the creek down the street turned into a raging river. I needed Percy Jackson to turn the tide for us, but alas he wasn’t around. Despite all the rain, it is nice to see a little cold weather rolling in.

We’re still enjoying our new house a lot. Being close to a creek, it’s fun to have more wildlife in the neighborhood. We were sitting in the pool the other evening when a great horned owl swooped right over our heads. In the last week, we’ve been visited by a mother hawk and her babies, a raccoon, black squirrels, red squirrels, toads, a checkered garter snake, a huge number of multicolored dragonflies, some giant moths, and Eric Carle’s hungry little caterpillar, which decided to take up residence on our trashcan. Our neighbor tells us he’s got armadillos rooting around in his garden, too. We haven’t seen any of those yet, but we’re waiting.

On the writing front, I’ve launched into the new Camp Half-Blood series and am having a great time with it. I get SO many emails from worried readers saying please, please, please, please (times fifty) write more Percy Jackson books, but all I can say is chill, guys. I’m putting a new twist on things but it’s not the end of Percy and friends by a long shot. You’ll see where I’m going with it winter 2010 when the first book comes out, and I think you’ll be pleased (and I hope a little shocked and amazed!) but that’s all I can say for now.

On the reading front, Becky and Patrick are both reading their way through Angie Sage’s Septimus Heap series and really loving it. Haley has been more into writing lately. He’s working on a big project that’s top secret, but he tells me he might be able to share some of it with me soon. I can’t wait to see what he’s cooking up. I just finished reading The Gone-Away World by Nick Harkaway – an adult post-apocalyptic sci fi novel which reminds me of a mix between Joseph Heller and Kurt Vonnegut, though the premise is quite original and the writing is hysterically funny. A nameless narrator chronicles his life before and after the Go Away War, in which bombs make large chunks of reality simply disappear, destroying most of the world and creating a nebulous unreality full of dream creatures, monsters, and half-humans. The human population is reduced to living in a tiny Livable Zone, clustered around the Jorgmund Pipe which pumps a strange chemical that keeps unreality at bay, but who is in charge of the Jorgmund Company, and what secrets are they hiding? I found this a challenging book to get into because the narrative style takes some getting used to, but it was very rewarding and it has several huge zinger surprises in the plot. Check it out!

My next appearance (and last appearance for 2009) will be at the Texas Book Festival on Halloween. I’ll look forward to seeing some of you there. In the meantime, happy reading!

The Boxed Set Arrives, and other news

I got a present in the mail on Friday: the first, hot-off-the-press boxed set for the Percy Jackson series. It looks so awesome! It has all five hardcover books in a special camp chest with a secret compartment inside featuring a Camp Half-Blood map and other fun goodies. The boxed set will be available in stores starting Oct. 13. The Last Olympian paperback won't come out until the spring, so a paperback boxed set of all five titles is probably still another year away, but if you're looking for a very cool collector's item, the hardcover set is awesome.

Other exciting news: Disney-Hyperion is releasing a deluxe limited edition hardcover of The Lightning Thief on Nov. 3. You can see it above in its fancy blue slipcover. This edition features brand new full-color illustrations by our gifted cover artist, John Rocco, and they are fabulous!

Looking farther down the line, Disney-Hyperion will release the Ultimate Guide to Percy Jackson in February to coincide with the Lightning Thief movie. The Ultimate Guide is a compendium of information and full-color illustrations of Percy Jackson's world, including a bestiary of Greek monsters, and scrapbook of Percy's life, a guide to life at Camp Half-Blood, a tour of the Underworld by Nico di Angelo, a trip through the Labyrinth, and much more.

Many of you have asked about a Percy Jackson graphic novel, and I'm pleased to announce it is in the works too. The tentative release date is 10/19/10. I've seen some preliminary artwork, and it looks awesome. I think you'll be pleased with how Percy's world comes to life in pictures.

Final bit of news: my Egyptian mythology book now has a release date -- May 4, 2010! I can't share the title quite yet, but that should be coming soon. John Rocco, who created the art for Percy, is busy designing a series logo and a cover for the Egyptian book right now, and I'm very excited!

Speaking of the Egyptian book, I did my first 'sneak peek' reading yesterday at the National Book Festival in Washington, D.C. It was a rainy day but we had thousands of people brave the weather. We had one hour for the signing time, which was not nearly enough to get everyone through the line, and unfortunately because of security concerns and the tight schedule of the festival, they couldn't let me stay longer to accommodate more signing. I apologize to the fans who waited and didn't get a book signed. I tried to catch as many of you as I could between the signing time and my presentation, but unfortunately I had to race to catch a plane after the presentation, and I wasn't able to get to everyone. I really appreciate everyone who showed up, though!

We had a great time during the presentation. The tent was dangerously overcrowded, but everyone was super polite and no one got hurt as far as I could tell! The kids asked great questions. I read the first page from the Egyptian book, and the response was super enthusiastic, even though the sound cut out on us at the last sentence. How dramatic! Sorry I couldn't spend more time with the thousands of fans who attended -- you were all fantastic -- but I enjoyed my brief trip to Washington. If you haven't attended the National Book Festival, I highly recommend it.

Now I'm going back into writing mode. I have cleared this school year of most travel, since I want to finish the new Camp Half-Blood book as quickly as I can. My only other appearance this fall will be at the Texas Book Festival on Halloween, Oct. 31. You can check the TBF website for details. Hopefully I'll be able to share that sneak peek at the Egyptian book, and I'm also going to bring something special for show-and-tell, but I'm keeping that a surprise.

Happy reading, everyone!

Pictures from Camp Half-Blood '09

Greetings from cool and rainy San Antonio. After three brutal months of dry heat, it’s nice to have a wet cold spell – well, in the 70s, which qualifies as fall weather for us.

Above are some pictures from BookPeople’s Camp Half-Blood Austin 2009. Thank you to Topher for sending them, and to Kyle Kurlick, who took the photos and gave us permission to post them. From all reports, the camp was amazing this year and every session was sold out. The campers went up against a nefarious group of villains known as the League of Machines and Monsters. The Austin branch shared information by Skyping with the branches in Wichita Falls and Decatur. Pretty cool! It takes a huge amount of time and energy to plan and run a camp. Once again, I raise my sword in salute to Topher and all the other counselors for doing so much to make the summer memorable for young demigods.

Above, you can get a taste of life at the camp, though these twenty pictures can only capture a small bit of its awesomeness. We have phalanx training with mock spears and shields, marching practice, and javelin throwing. The Hunters of Artemis represent! There's the swimming hole, though I don't know if those are naiads or campers in the water. The fellow with the fearsome red mohawk is Thomas, son of Apollo or Ares (Depending on who you ask). Then we have Topher leading campers through the woods, no doubt on the lookout for machines and monsters from the evil League. You can see campers working on their rock climbing, archery, and chariot skills, and of course lots of time for hanging out with friends. Thanks to everybody who participated in the camps -- Percy would be proud to call you his friends.

In other news, it’s been a busy few weeks, as I’ve started work on the next Camp Half-Blood series. Can’t give you any details yet, I’m afraid. I appreciate all the suggestions people have sent, but the series is already all planned out and the first manuscript is off to a good start. Hopefully, the book will be published next winter, 2010. Stay tuned for more details!