News

Happy News for October!

Hello to my wonderful readers, and a very happy October — month of magic, mystery, and here in New England, crisp autumn air and leaves changing color! I do love this season, and it’s made ever better when I get to share fantastic news with you.

Daughter of the Deep tour is underway!

If you haven’t signed up to join us on the Daughter of the Deep tour, some events still have space, though others (like last night’s kick-off with Barnes & Noble) have sold out. I will be sharing the latest updates and answering questions from the attendees, so please join us! I’ve also heard that, despite supply chain woes, the first printing for hardcopies of Daughter of the Deep has now shipped to the retailers, including the signed editions for the events, so you should be able to get your copy shipped at least by the new official release date of Oct. 26. Phew! Thanks to Disney Publishing for working overtime and struggling against Herculean challenges to get you these books.

And thanks to my fans for embracing this new adventure, Daughter of the Deep. My first sci-fi novel, introducing hero Ana Dakkar, had pre-orders that were even higher than my previous book The Tower of Nero (and the pre-orders on that were excellent). Every time I write a book, I still half expect no one will buy it or read it, because I spent years writing in obscurity, but every time I am so grateful that so many of you continue to want to join me on this wild ride of storytelling, even beyond Percy Jackson. I hope you have as much fun reading about Ana’s adventures as I had writing them!

As I announced last night at the tour event, we are presently developing Daughter of the Deep as a feature film for Disney+. Becky and I will be producing through our company Mythomagic, and I will be co-writing the script with a wonderfully talented partner — more on that soon!

That Nico Newsblast

Entertainment Weekly broke the news exclusively last night, after I announced this project during the first Daughter of the Deep tour event: Nico and Will are invading Tartarus! Read the full details here. I will only add that it is so exciting to work with Mark Oshiro! They are an incredibly gifted author, and if you haven’t already read their books, what are you waiting for? You can also follow Mark on Twitter at @MarkDoesStuff.

I have never co-written a novel with anyone. I have never invited another writer into the Percy Jackson world to do their own take on my characters in this way. But for the Nico and Will novel, this seems incredibly important, and Mark is just the person to do it! This is not a ‘ghost-writing’ or ‘assistant writer’ situation. This is a full 50-50 partnership in which we share equal credit and an equal advance, and I can’t wait for you to see the results. Already, Mark has amazed me with their beautiful writing about our favorite guys, Nico and Will. So very excited to continue the project! We do not have a title for the book yet, nor are pre-orders available yet. The tentative publication date is 2023. As soon as I have more info, I will update you! Thank you, Mark, for accepting the invitation and bringing your talents to this crazy wonderful project!

Some of you have asked: But wait, didn’t Rick say he was done with Percy’s world? Not exactly. I said I did not anticipate doing any more massive five-book series in this world, like PJO, Heroes of Olympus, and Trials of Apollo. That is still true. But if you have read The Tower of Nero, you probably saw how I left little clues that might lead to stand-alone adventures for various characters, like this Nico-Will book. What do you think? Could you imagine further partnership projects, with me teaming up with great own-voices co-writing partners to reinterpret and put their own stamp on various demigods’ stories? I guess we will have to see what the future holds . . .

The Cursed Carnival hits the Bestseller List

The Rick Riordan Presents imprint family hit the New York Times bestseller list yesterday with The Cursed Carnival, which is a pretty amazing accomplishment for a short story anthology! All our contributors are now New York Times bestselling writers if they weren’t already, as well they should be! Congrats and sincere thanks to all the contributors. And again, thank you to all the readers who have embraced the imprint and its mission. I’m also glad you’ve enjoyed my contribution on Irish mythology, My Life as a Child Outlaw.

PJOTV

I will just say here that things are moving forward in exciting ways! All signs are positive! Come on by one of the Daughter of the Deep events, and I’ll give you the latest during Q&A!

Happy reading, all!

Rick Riordan