Rick Riordan Came to My Town and I Got Prezzies!

Rick Riordan gave a lecture this past weekend at Adelphi University.  Mr. Riordan is the genius behind the Percy Jackson series, the Kane Chronicles, the 39 Clues and the Tres Navarre series.  He shared a lot of interesting facts about his books and even gave us some spoilers for his upcoming book The Lost Hero.  But first, some fun facts!

I suck at getting non blurry pictures so this was the best

Fun Facts about Rick Riordan


- He created Percy Jackson to help his son study.  His son, like Percy, is dyslexic and has ADHD so this was a great way to teach him about Greek myths.  His son was even the one to encourage him to publish it.

- His own students were the first people to edit Percy Jackson and the Lighting Thief.

- When he first sent Percy Jackson and the Lighting Thief to publishers, he signed it as "Ransom Reese."

- His favorite Percy Jackson book is The Last Olympian.

- The big battle scene at the end of The Last Olympian was inspired by The Iliad.

- The House of Life from The Red Pyramid actually existed and was the inspiration for the Kane Chronicles.

- If he was a god, he would like to be Poseidon or Hermes but figures he would end up being Dionysus.

Found on Wikipedia

SPOILER ALERT

We got to hear a never-before read passage of The Lost Hero. You can already read the first two chapters here.  I will admit, I took crappy notes when he read this chapter.  I don't really like giving away too much, plus I was mesmerized with what I heard.

I can tell you a few things about the scene we heard.  Piper, a new character, was getting her camp tour from Annabeth.  Piper senses something is off when they walk past Hera's cabin.  When they go inside, they find a giant statue of Hera and....Rachel Elizabeth Dare.  While the three of them are talking, we learn that not only is Percy missing but the Gods themselves have stopped communicating with the world.  As this conversation continues, Rachel goes into a trance and grabs Piper.  She says in a dark tone "Free Me...."

SPOILER ALERT OVER

And then there was some more, but I didn't write it down.  But don't worry, The Lost Hero comes out on October 12!


And now for what you have been scrolling for.....Prezzies!

After the lecture, there was a book signing.  I have a copy of Percy Jackson and the Lighting Thief autographed by the man himself, Rick Riordan.  I had to brave a hoard of pre-teens to get this, so I hope you treasure it!  In order to win this, you have to go to twitter, follow us at @IGHInsider and retweet about this giveaway.  We will use a randomizer to pick the winner on October 7th.