Congrats to Rick Riordan

I remember - not that many years ago - when Rick Riordan published his first book. He lived in San Antonio and was a member of the Heart of Texas Sisters in Crime group. As a new member, I was in awe of him and some of the other authors, like Susan Rogers Cooper, Barbara Burnett Smith, Susan Wittig Albert, Nancy Bell, Jeff Abbott, and Mary Willis Walker, who would stand and announce their successes since the last meeting - they’d gotten an agent, or signed a book contract, or heard back from an agent asking for more pages. I kept thinking, these are ordinary people - if they can do it, so can I.

All of those authors have gone onto be successful -- perhaps none more so than Rick Riordan. In yesterday’s San Antonio Business Journal, there was an announcement that made me cheer.

First off, the release date for the first movie based on Riordan’s first book in his Percy Jackson and The Olympians series (The Lightning Thief) is set to premiere on February 12, 2010. It’s being directed by Chris Columbus (he directed the first two Harry Potter films). According to the SA Business Journal, Riordan’s Percy Jackson series “has sold more than 7 million copies to date in the United States and has been printed in 32 different languages.”

I knew about the movie, but didn’t know that Rick is writing a new series and the first in this series will be released through Disney Book Group’s Disney-Hyperion imprint.

The Kane Chronicles, Book One: The Red Pyramid is a new fantasy book that brings ancient Egyptian mythology to life in a modern-day setting. Disney-Hyperion has scheduled a release date for the book on May 4, 2010, in both print and audio editions.

This series is aimed at kids 10 and up.

So, I wanted to say congratulations to Rick Riordan. I also wanted to tell you about Rick because I still see him and other authors as inspirations. The news lately has been mostly how publishers are cutting back on picking up new authors and how mid-list authors are being dropped. Rick got his start back when publishers were more likely to sign new authors and nurture them. Even so, I still remember when he was just a neophyte like the rest of us, hoping to get published and so excited to be able to announce his good news. Most likely, he never even thought about what an inspiration he was to the rest in the group. Even now, in these hard times for writers, I still see him as an inspiration.