Rick Riordan's Magic

Riordan’s latest book had an initial press run of 1 million copies. Can you even imagine? One million in the first printing.

The man who single-handedly inspired countless kids to discover the magic of Greek mythology with his Percy Jackson series is about to do it again with his new series on Egyptian gods and monsters.

Riordan was in Atlanta recently promoting THE RED PYRAMID. Nearly 1,200 kids and their families showed up. Wait. Let me repeat that. More than 1,000 kids chose to meet an author over playing video games, watching TV, or whatever else they could’ve been doing.

The Carlos Museum at Emory University raffled off a private tour with Rick and I had the honor of tag-teaming the tour through our Greek and Egyptian galleries with him. It was a blast.

After his speech, Rick signed oh, about 800 to 1,000 books, saving a smile for each awe-struck child that approached him. Not to sound too star struck myself, but he was pretty awesome.

Meanwhile, I have a signed copy of Rick’s latest that I want to give-away as soon as I figure out how other bloggers do these things. But (in case my editor reads this) I am much too busy—yessiree—way too busy working on those edits right now to figure out the details.

So, keep an eye out for details on how you can win a free autographed copy of THE RED PYRAMID. Later. My novel is calling...

Win a Private Tour of Egyptian Galleries with Rick Riordan!

Yesterday, Rick Riordan, author of the best selling Percy Jackson/Lightning Thief series, released THE RED PYRAMID, the first book in his new series about Egyptian gods. All my favorite bad-guy monsters show up in this fun, fast-paced adventure. I particularly enjoyed the monster Shezmu, He who Squeezes your Head in a Wine Press until it Explodes (but only if you’ve been bad).

I thoroughly enjoyed the book. Just one quibble: my favorite queen, Cleopatra VII, came out looking kind of crazy and harsh. Why, I ask again, does the Last Pharaoh of Egypt always end up with some sort of bad rep?

Rick is on a whirlwind book tour and will be in Atlanta this Friday, May 7. Guess who has the honor of guiding him through the Egyptian galleries at Emory University’s Michael C. Carlos Museum? Yup, yours truly. The Museum is raffling off a private tour of its galleries with Rick before his presentation at 7:00 pm. If you’re in Atlanta, it’s not too late to sign up. Just go to the Carlos Museum website: www.carlos.emory.edu.