Rick Riordan

This article is about the American novelist. For the mayor of Los Angeles, see Richard Riordan. For the Australian politician, see Richard Riordan (Australian politician).

Rick Riordan

refer to caption

Riordan at the 2007 Texas Book Festival with advance publicity for The Battle of the Labyrinth
Born Richard Russell Riordan, Jr.
(1964-06-05) June 5, 1964
San Antonio, Texas
Occupation Novelist
Language English
Nationality United States
Alma mater University of Texas
Genre Fantasy, detective fiction, mythology
Notable works
Years active 1997–present
Website
rickriordan.com

Richard Russell "Rick" Riordan, Jr. (/ˈraɪərdən/; born June 5, 1964)[1] is an American author known for writing the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series, which is about a twelve-year-old who discovers he is the son of Poseidon. His books have been translated into 37 languages and sold more than 30 million copies in the US.[2] Twentieth Century Fox has adapted the first two books of his Percy Jackson series as part of a series of films. His books have spawned related media, such as graphic novels and short story collections.

Riordan's first full-length novel was Big Red Tequila, which became the first in a series, the Tres Navarre series. His big breakthrough was The Lightning Thief (2005), the first novel in the five-volume Percy Jackson series, which placed a group of adolescents in a Greco-Roman mythological setting. Since then, Riordan has written The Kane Chronicles trilogy and The Heroes of Olympus series. The Kane Chronicles (2010-2012) focused on Egyptian mythology; The Heroes of Olympus was the sequel to the Percy Jackson series. Riordan also helped Scholastic Press develop The 39 Clues series and its spinoffs, and penned its first book, The Maze of Bones (2008).[3] His most recent publications are two books in the Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard series, based on Norse mythology.[4][5] The first book of his The Trials of Apollo series based on Greek mythology, The Hidden Oracle, is scheduled for May 2016.

Life and career

Riordan was born and raised in San Antonio, Texas. He graduated from Alamo Heights High School, and first attended the music program at North Texas State, wanting to be a guitar player. He transferred to the University of Texas in Austin and studied English and History; he received his teaching certification in those subjects from the University of Texas in San Antonio. He taught English and Social Studies for eight years at Presidio Hill School in San Francisco.

Rick married Becky Riordan, originally from the East Coast, on June 5, 1985. Both had been born on June 5, she thirty minutes earlier.[6] They moved from San Antonio to Boston in June 2013 when their two sons were of college and high school age, in conjunction with older son Patrick starting college in Boston.[6][7] Haley Riordan inspired the Percy Jackson series as a bedtime story.[8]

Riordan has created several successful book series. Tres Navarre, an adult mystery series about a Texan private eye, won the Shamus, Anthony, and Edgar Awards.[9]

He conceived the idea for the Percy Jackson series as bedtime stories about ancient Greek heroes for his son Haley. Haley had been diagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia, inspiring Riordan to make the titular protagonist ADHD/dyslexic. Riordan published the first novel in the series, The Lightning Thief in 2005. Four sequels followed, the last, The Last Olympian in 2009. Prior to Percy Jackson, Riordan had written the Tres Navarres series, a series of mystery novels for adult readers.[10]

His Percy Jackson and the Olympians series features the titular twelve-year-old who discovers he is the modern-day son of the ancient Greek god Poseidon. Twentieth Century Fox purchased the film rights and released a feature film in 2010. Following the success of Percy Jackson, Riordan created The Kane Chronicles, which features a modern-day Egyptian pantheon and two new sibling protagonists, Sadie and Carter Kane.[11] Riordan also created a sequel series to Percy Jackson, The Heroes of Olympus.[4] Riordan also helped create the children's book series The 39 Clues; he authored several of its books, including The Maze of Bones, which topped The New York Times Best Seller list on September 28, 2008.[12] He also wrote the introduction to the Puffin Classics edition of Roger Lancelyn Green's Tales of the Greek Heroes, in which he states that the book influenced him to write his Greek mythology series.[13]

Awards

Bibliography

Tres Navarre series

  1. Big Red Tequila (1997)
  2. The Widower's Two-Step (1998)
  3. The Last King of Texas (2001)
  4. The Devil Went Down to Austin (2002)
  5. Southtown (2004)
  6. Mission Road (2005)
  7. Rebel Island (2008)

Percy Jackson & the Olympians

  1. The Lightning Thief (2005)
  2. The Sea of Monsters (2006)
  3. The Titan's Curse (2007)
  4. The Battle of the Labyrinth (2008)
  5. The Last Olympian (2009)

The Demigods of Olympus

  1. The Two Headed Guidance Counselor (2014)
  2. The Library of Deadly Weapons (2014)
  3. My Demon Satyr Tea Party (2015)
  4. My Personal Zombie Apocalypse (2015; only published in compilation)

Related books

  1. The Demigod Files (2009)
  2. The Demigod Diaries (2012)
  3. Percy Jackson and the Singer of Apollo (2013; short story published in Guys Read)
  4. Percy Jackson's Greek Gods (2014)
  5. Percy Jackson's Greek Heroes (2015)

The Heroes of Olympus

Main article: The Heroes of Olympus
  1. The Lost Hero (2010)
  2. The Son of Neptune (2011)
  3. The Mark of Athena (2012)
  4. The House of Hades (2013)
  5. The Blood of Olympus (2014)

Graphic novels

  1. The Lightning Thief Graphic Novel (2010)
  2. The Sea of Monsters Graphic Novel (2013)
  3. The Titan's Curse Graphic Novel (2013)
  4. The Lost Hero Graphic Novel (2014)
  5. The Red Pyramid Graphic Novel (2012)
  6. The Throne of Fire Graphic Novel (2015)

The Kane Chronicles

Main article: The Kane Chronicles
  1. The Red Pyramid (2010)
  2. The Throne of Fire (2011)
  3. The Serpent's Shadow (2012)

The 39 Clues series

Main article: The 39 Clues
  1. The Maze of Bones (2008)
  2. Introduction to The 39 Clues: The Black Book of Buried Secrets (2010)
  3. Vespers Rising (2011, in collaboration with Peter Lerangis, Gordon Korman, and Jude Watson)

Stand alone novels

  1. Cold Springs (2004)

Camp Half-Blood/Kane Chronicles crossover series

  1. The Son of Sobek (2013)
  2. The Staff of Serapis (2014)
  3. The Crown of Ptolemy (2015)
  4. Demigods and Magicians (Compilation, 2016)[25]

Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard

  1. The Sword of Summer (2015)[26]
  2. The Hammer of Thor (Scheduled for Oct 4, 2016)[25]

The Trials of Apollo

  1. The Hidden Oracle (2016)[25]
  2. The Dark Prophecy (Scheduled for May 2, 2017)[27]

Other

  1. Introduction to the anthology Tales of the Greek Heroes, Roger Lancelyn Green (2009)
  2. Introduction to the essay collection Demigods and Monsters (2009, 2013)

References

  1. ↑ "Rick Riordan ID Card". Puffin Books. Retrieved April 13, 2012.
  2. ↑ Lodge, Sally (August 18, 2011). "First Printing of Three Million for New Percy Jackson Book". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved August 18, 2015. There are 30 million copies in print in the U.S. of the novels in the author's three series for Disney-Hyperion: Percy Jackson & the Olympians, The Kane Chronicles, and the The Heroes of Olympus—and the books have been translated into 37 languages.
  3. ↑ Italie, Hillel (September 1, 2008). "'Potter' publisher looks to promote next big thing". Fox News Channel. Retrieved April 26, 2009.
  4. 1 2 "Read an excerpt from new Rick Riordan". June 18, 2015. Retrieved July 28, 2015.
  5. ↑ Springen, Karen (May 31, 2012). "Rick Riordan Makes His 'Mark'". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved June 3, 2012. a cruise to the Baltic and Scandinavian countries last summer provided fodder for Riordan’s upcoming Norse series
  6. 1 2 "Update from Athena House". June 12, 2013. Myth & Mystery: The official blog for author Rick Riordan (rickriordan.blogspot.in). Retrieved November 14, 2015.
  7. ↑ Riordan, Rick (January 26, 2014). "Mystery man". Boston Globe Magazine. The Boston Globe (bostonglobe.com). Retrieved February 21, 2014.
  8. ↑ Williams, Sally (February 8, 2010). "Percy Jackson: My boy's own adventure". The Guardian. Retrieved January 3, 2014.
  9. ↑ "Big Red Tequila". Powells Bookstore. Retrieved April 26, 2009.
  10. ↑ "About the Author". powells.com. Retrieved November 12, 2009.
  11. ↑ Minzesheimer, Bob; Craig Wilson (January 13, 2011). "Book Buzz: Riordan's 'Fire' ignites May 3 and a big week for e-books". USA Today. Retrieved January 22, 2012.
  12. ↑ "Children's Books". The New York Times. September 28, 2008. Retrieved April 26, 2009.
  13. ↑ Lancelyn Green, Roger (1958). Tales of the Greek Heroes (3rd ed.). Puffin. pp. v–vi. ISBN 9780141325286.
  14. ↑ "Shamus Award Winners". The Private Eye Writers of America. Retrieved September 7, 2015.
  15. ↑ "Anthony Award Nominees and Winners". Bouchercon. Retrieved September 7, 2015.
  16. ↑ "Category List – Best Paperback Original". Edgars Database. Mystery Writers of America. Retrieved September 7, 2015.
  17. ↑ "Edgar Allan Poe Awards". book.consumerhelpweb.com. Retrieved April 26, 2009.
  18. 1 2 "Mark Twain Award Previous Winners". Missouri Association of School Librarians. Retrieved January 21, 2012.
  19. ↑ Riordan, Rick. "2009 Rebecca Caudill Award - Acceptance Letter from Rick Riordan" (PDF). Rebecca Caudill Young Readers' Book Award. Retrieved January 21, 2012.
  20. ↑ Jones, Trevelyn; Luann Toth; Marlene Charnizon; Daryl Grabarek; Joy Fleishhacker (December 1, 2010). "Best Books 2010". School Library Journal. Archived from the original on January 1, 2011. Retrieved January 22, 2012.
  21. 1 2 "Children's Choice Book Awards Winners Announced!". Children’s Book Council. May 3, 2011. Archived from the original on September 29, 2011. Retrieved October 19, 2012.
  22. ↑ "Soaring Eagle Book Award - Nominated Authors 1986 - 2014 Nominees" (PDF). Campbell County Public Library System. p. 5. Retrieved February 21, 2014.
  23. ↑ "Previous Winners". The Milner Award. Retrieved June 4, 2012.
  24. ↑ "Indian Paintbrush Book Award by Author Name 1986 - 2014 Nominees" (PDF). Campbell County Public Library System. p. 8. Retrieved February 21, 2014.
  25. 1 2 3 "Rick Riordan announces ‘Trials of Apollo’ series set in Percy Jackson’s world". Hypable. Retrieved 2015-10-07.
  26. ↑ "The Sword of Summer". ReadRiordan.com. Disney-Hyperion. Retrieved July 28, 2015.
  27. ↑ "The Trials of Apollo – Rick Riordan". rickriordan.com. Retrieved 2016-05-05.

Further reading

External links

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