Twitter Q&A Discussion

Warning! May contain Last Olympian spoilers!

 Hey hey hey! Uncle Rick did a spontaneous Twitter Q&A session a few weeks ago. If you're interested in reading it, the full transcript can be found here. Once you read that, come back here and we'll talk. :) (Well, actually, I'll type, and you can read and comment.)

 First, we can tell from a lot of Rick's answers that he's pretty good with deadlines. We're always screaming at him to write faster, but he actually writes fairly fast for an author. A book a year is pretty impressive, or at least I think it is.

 Another thing: HE LOVES TO TROLL! Seriously.

RT: @coleenmikaelson Would you give some teasers/spoilers for HOO? :) / No! (cackles maniacally) 

RT: @ThatQurlCris Do you get writers' block? /Not usually but.... ah, dang it. I was going to say something. Oh well.

 EVILLLLL! Plus, he's sassy. I don't care how much he insists that he's "cantankerous", but he's not. He's just plain sassy. Or maybe he would prefer that I call it sarcasm. Eh, whatever. It's sassiness to me... It's not like he's going to read this or anything.

 We also learned some things about House of Hades. More Nico, some Grover, no Reyna Beauregard (lol that would be crazy), no cliffhanger worse than MoA.

 SO, yeah. I'm kinda lazy today, and there really isn't too much to say or analyze about this... Bye!

Blue Popcorn!!!

I got hungry this afternoon and I found BLUE microwave popcorn in the cabinet!! :) I don't know if they still make it, because it's been in there for a veeeeeery long time, but it's made by Pop Secret. :D

New Percy-Narrated Book?

 On Saturday, Rick Riordan gave his IRA keynote address titled "Reading Myths and the Myths of Reading". It's really long, and you should read all of it if you're feeling up to the challenge. However, there is one important part that I thought I should share with you:

"I will announce this here for the first time, right now I’m working on a new book of the Greek myths, told from Percy Jackson’s point of view. My hope is to offer the original stories, but told in a modern perspective that appeals to our kids today. I decided to setaside the earlier anthologies, as much as I love them – Hamilton, D’Aulaires, Evslin, Greene – because the writing is a little dated. Instead, I’ve leapfrogged straight back to the primary sources. I’m using Ovid, Hesiod, Homer and many others, and trying to cast the entire scope of Greek mythology afresh. John Rocco, who does my covers, is illustrating, and we’re hoping to create something that’s going to be useful in your libraries and classrooms."

 YAY! This is kind of vague right now, just from this quote. He's basically saying that he'll be writing a book of traditional Greek myths, but he's going to write it in Percy's POV to make it more interesting and appealing to kids... or anyone, really. Personally, I've tried reading books of Greek myths, and I can't get through them because the prose is so boring and outdated. Hopefully this will make reading myths, instead of being told them (which is the way I prefer), more interesting to myself and others like me. Uncle Rick also made some statements about this via his Twitter account.

Rick Riordan ‏@camphalfblood32m

Ever read a collection of the original myths? Imagine that, but the way Percy would tell them. Tentative title: Percy Jackson's Greek Gods

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Rick Riordan ‏@camphalfblood43m

*But* it's not a new series, and it's not *about* Percy. He's the narrator. It doesn't tell you anything about Percy's future either way.

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Rick Riordan ‏@camphalfblood45m

True: I'm writing a new book of the original Greek myths in Percy Jackson's point of view. I'm having tons of fun with it. No pub date yet.

 I think that the tweets clarify it a little bit more. It's not about Percy, it's narrated by him. Even though we won't be following Percy's adventures, I'm still excited! Feel free to leave your opinions on this in the comments. :)

My Three Theories of Why Rick Keeps Us Hanging

Warning! Contains mega-spoilers for all books in the series up to the Mark of Athena! So just don't read this if you haven't read MoA.

 The Sea of Monsters made our jaws drop. We finished the book in awe, with wonderstruck looks spread across our faces. The Lost Hero left us pleading and begging for Percy, and also very angry, yet still afraid for Percy's fate. The Son of Neptune stopped in the middle of the awesome part. WHAT OTHER FAMILY, PERCY?! The book just ends! And The Mark of Athena... Let's not even go there. The Mark of Athena taught us what a cliffhanger REALLY is, and even gave a whole new meaning to the term. 

 But why does Rick Riordan insist on ending his books like this? There's always that feeling of suspense and anticipation that fills you up after finishing one of his books. Let's go through all of the painful endings he has given us in PJO and HoO:

• The Lightning Thief: Uhm, yeah. Luke's evil and he wants to overthrow Olympus, along with the evil titan Kronos.
• The Sea of Monsters: The daughter of Zeus pops out of a tree. Book ends abruptly and dramatically.
• The Titan's Curse: LUKE FELL OFF OF A FLIPPING CLIFF AND HE'S STILL FLIPPING ALIVE. Oh, and Grover is thisclose to finding Pan, but you gotta wait 'til the next book! Sorry!
• The Battle of the Labyrinth: "Hey Percy! Let's eat blue cake and talk about something that the readers can't know about until halfway through the next book!" :D -Nico di Angelo
• The Last Olympian: Rachel spews out a prophecy that Chiron claims is "for a whole other generation". Liar.
• The Lost Hero: Percy's at another, less welcoming camp. He doesn't know who he is, and he's probably dead. :)
• The Son of Neptune: Ends right before Percy is about to introduce the Romans to his Greek family.
• The Mark of Athena: PERCY AND ANNABETH FALL OFF OF A FLIPPING ACTUAL CLIFF INTO THE FLIPPIN' ETERNAL PIT OF HECK.

 Now that you understand the problem with this... why does he do it? I have three ideas, and I've decided to share them with you.

MY THREE THEORIES AS TO WHY RICK RIORDAN LIKES TO LEAVE US HANGING:

1. For his own personal, evil enjoyment. He has control over an entire fictional world. Why not take advantage of that? We (this fandom, including myself) let this guy control our every emotion--feels, if you will. He's kinda just living it up.
2. His publishers. They want the money and the customers, so they send a sumo-wrestler to his house while he's working. The sumo-wrestler stands over him threateningly, growling, "Wreck their feels," or, "Dangle them by their thumbs over the dark pits of Tartarus with their favorite couple." Metaphorically, of course.
3. His mom. Maybe she lives off of the money he makes from the series! Then, when he goes to visit her, she smiles and says, "Hi, Ricky! Come in for some cookies!" Ten minutes into the visit, she whispers in his ear, "Ricky, I need a new house. Richard Russell Riordan, make it good and make it hurt."

 Now, I don't know his mom, but I doubt that she's as cruel as I depicted her. I'd like to apologize for portraying you like this, Mrs. Riordan. xD It's just a little real-life head canon of mine. But there's always that small chance... Just kidding. Well, maybe.

**Note: Much of the inspiration for the bulleted portion of this post is drawn from here.

Washington D.C.

WARNING! May contain Titan's Curse spoilers!

 On Friday, I traveled to Washington D.C. for the day. I visited the National Museum of American History and (very briefly) the National Museum of Natural History. I didn't get a chance to go to the Air and Space Museum, like Percy did in the Titan's Curse. :/ (I know a few people who did, and they said it was really boring...) However, I did find some space food in the gift shop of the history museum! I would have been very prepared if a Nemean Lion would have chosen to attack me and my demigod friends. But I didn't get attacked by any monsters, so YAY!

 I also got pretty close to the Washington Monument, which is an obelisk. I'm pretty sure it made an appearance in the Kane Chronicles, but it's been awhile since I read that, so I'm not quite sure.

 Another thing that I loved about D.C. was all of the amazing architecture (I am a daughter of Athena, you know). A fair bit of it is Greek-inspired. I'm telling you, the Lincoln Memorial looks a LOT like the Parthenon from the outside. They also had a bookstore inside (which I sadly didn't get to explore)!

 I had fun. If you ever get the chance to go to Washington, GO! It's very beautiful and interesting to walk around and explore.

Character Awards - VOTING NOW OPEN

HEYHEYHEY! I finally finished making the surveys for the Character Awards. I had to make it a two-part survey (two different links) because there's a limit to the number of questions on one survey if you don't have a paid account. I was thinking of collecting and calculating the results on May 5th, then releasing them on the 7th as a little celebration for the Son of Sobek's release. So make sure that you vote by MAY 5TH!

LINKS TO THE SURVEYS:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/VMXSJN7 - Part I
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/VX2CVMR - Part II

Please make sure you do both parts, and VOTE VOTE VOTE! Spread it around to your Percy-loving friends! :)

P.S. The surveys have spoilers in them, of course. So if you haven't read all of the books, I would suggest not doing it.

Character Awards Update

Hi! I told you last week that I'd post the link to vote for the Character Awards "in a few days". Well... I sort of didn't finish it. But don't worry, I'm working! I apologize for the delay. :/

Sea of Monsters movie release moved up!

Hey! I have some great news!

 The Sea of Monsters, which was originally set to be released on August 16th, is now going to be released in theaters on August 7th. Why? Don't ask me, because I have no clue. I'm really puzzled as to why anyone would release a movie on a Wednesday. Most movies are released on Fridays. Well, let's not complain. We get the movie nine days earlier!! :D

First Annual Character Awards

 Hey there! So, if you "like" our Facebook page and pay attention to our posts, you've probably heard about the Character Awards. If you haven't, they're exactly what they sound like: awards for awesome characters that deserve to be honored!

 So, I'm going to put together a survey on SurveyMonkey which should be posted within the next few days. When I'm done, I will post the link here and on Facebook, and you can vote for your favorites! :)

I did it!!!

Yes! I made it! I finished the Sea of Monsters yesterday, before March was over. :) Did you complete it in time for April? Now on to The Titan's Curse!