My sons and I enjoy reading the "Percy Jackson and the
Olympians" series by author Rick Riordan, so weeks ago, we marked
his visit to Quail Ridge Books on our calendars for 16 May. I figured
we'd better arrive a little early, since I knew Riordan had a following of
demigods eager to help him celebrate the release of The Last Olympian,
fifth book of his YA series. We arrived half an hour early and found the
parking lot packed, dozens of ecstatic kids dancing for the bookstore. Looked
to me as though Riordan's following rivaled that of Stephenie Meyer for sheer
numbers. After making one futile pass through the lot in search of a
place to park, I drove down the street and parked in the lot of a legal firm.
First time I'd ever seen the Quail Ridge Books lot full.

More surprises awaited us inside the bookstore. Over five
hundred warm bodies shuffled in chaotic lines, overwhelming the
air-conditioning system and the cashiers, all to obtain tickets. Yes, tickets.
Turns out I could have purchased a book and obtained a ticket for the
booksigning line in advance. How far in advance? January.

At 7 p.m., Riordan took the mike and talked about how years
ago, a bedtime story to his son got him started writing the series. Once upon a
time, there was a dyslexic, ADHD twelve-year-old named Percy Jackson — oh,
wait, he wasn't a normal boy. He was the son of the Greek god of the sea,
Poseidon, and as it turns out, the Greek gods and goddesses had a number of
liaisons with mortals and produced a bunch of half-bloods like Percy, so every
summer they meet at Camp Half-Blood on Long Island (that's right, New York) to
train as warriors. A movie based on the first book, The Lightning Thief,
is in production. A few days farther north, Riordan had met the actor who plays
Percy. Riordan was also jazzed about the next series he was writing, this one
about Egyptian gods and goddesses. Those gods have the heads of animals, so
maybe half-blood summer camp for that series will be located in a barnyard.

Riordan conducted Q&A for about ten minutes. I was
impressed that he tied up the loose ends of his series so well in the final
book, unlike many authors, and I asked how much of his five books he plotted in
advance. Turns out that he plots like I do. He knows the beginning, the end,
and several points in between. Then he starts writing, and his characters take
over. Spontaneity adds sheer magic. That means he probably does a bunch of
revisions, like I do.

We were at the end of the booksigning line, so that gave us
the opportunity to step outside, where it was much cooler. About two hours
later, we finally got our books signed by Riordan. Poor fellow, he looked like
he'd forgotten his own name by then and needed another double espresso. His
autograph was mostly "R (blob) R (blob)." I cannot imagine what my
hand would feel like after signing approximately four hundred books. And after
all the fans went home, Riordan would still be sitting there signing stock for
the bookstore. I wonder whether he misses the one-on-one he received from his
fans before he rocketed to the New York Times bestseller list.