Rick Riordan – Book Event

Sunday was the book deal for Rick Riordan in Boulder Colorado. It wasn’t even a book signing. It was him on stage talking. It was sold out. Unfortunately for me, I was unable to get tickets. I even called American Express and asked the concierge if they could get me tickets.  No go. It was a sign from the Universe that it wasn’t meant to happen. A friend of mine suggested I buy several books showing my support so I would have more face time with him and I could give him my book. I could give them as gifts. I honestly haven’t read this series, so I had no idea what was even going on in this book. But as gifts, I could do that. $60 USD saved plus the cost of the tickets.

So if you didn’t know, Rick is the New York Times best selling author of the Percy Jackson series. He sold hundreds of millions of copies worldwide making him a millionaire and pretty famous. I read up on him and his story and he and I mirror each other quite a bit.

For starters, we both were teachers. He was high school English, I was a college professor teaching human resources.  He wrote about Greek Gods, I wrote about God. He wrote about the half sons of God, I wrote about all of the sons and daughters of God. His characters have to save to fight and defend the world, my characters fight and defend the Universe. He wanted to write something good for his son, I wanted to write something good for all of God’s children.

Since I have read several of his books and there are many things that I liked but many things I didn’t like. For starters, he frequently leaves out who is talking. If you get distracted and have to look away for a second, if you lose your place you have no idea who is talking or what they are saying.  This drives me up the wall when an author does this. I promise you I will never do that in my books. You will always know who is saying what, where they are saying it, or if they are thinking it.

As a fellow author I always read what readers say about their new favorite — or not so favorite book — in the Amazon.com reviews. There will always be supporters that sugar coat things and tell it like it is through rose colored glasses, and then there are those who won’t hold back for anything and really let the author have it. In Rick’s book, the final in the book series, he left out the two main characters, Percy and Annabeth and left the climax of the book series to a measly 3 paragraphs leaving readers disappointed. For the end of a book AND the series, I think this was a huge let down. From what I gather, no more books from Rick either. If you read his official website he is kind of snotty. Saying things like, “Don’t even think of emailing my agent or publisher asking for a signed copy because you won’t get one. I don’t do school talks either so don’t bother asking about that either.” For a school teacher now celebrity that isn’t very nice. There is a way to gently let people down nicely. At least I will be that way.

I would imagine that is my cue to enter stage left and tell the world about about a new writer who is not go to disappoint. Unlike Rick, I enlist readers while the book is being created, during the edit process and finally until the very end.  Hang on friends, just a little over a month and Angel Academy will be available everywhere fine books are sold.

Have a great week guys & gals! Love ya! Namaste.