Richard Russell Riordan, Jr., more commonly known as Rick Riordan (pronounced RICK RYE-er-din), who was born June 5, 1964, is a highly acclaimed American author from San Antonio, Texas. He currently lives in Boston, Massachusetts with his wife and two children.
Biography
Riordan is famous for his Percy Jackson and the Olympians, series. He also wrote the Tres Navarre mystery series intended for adults and helped edit Demigods and Monsters, a collection of essays on the topic of his Percy Jackson series. In addition, he published Maze of Bones for Scholastic, which is the first book in the 39 Clues series of books. His first book is called The Big Red Tequila.
He graduated from the University of Texas at Austin, where he double-majored in English and history. For fifteen years he taught in public and private schools in California and in San Antonio, Texas. As a teacher, he received inspiration for names included in his best-selling Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, like 'Jackson' (Percy's last name), Nancy Bobofit and even Luke Castellan and Paul Blofis.
Riordan is the multi-award-winning author of the Tres Navarre mystery series for adults and the #1 New York Times best-selling Percy Jackson and the Olympians and The Kane Chronicles series for children. The novels draw on Riordan's experience teaching Greek mythology and his interaction with students who have learning difficulties.
The Kane Chronicles was released in May of 2010, involving the Egyptian gods, but he hints that it relates to the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series (it is hinted in the book as well). He also wrote a second follow-up to the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, The Heroes of Olympus series. The first book, The Lost Hero, was released in October of 2010. The second book, The Son of Neptune, was released in October of 2011. The third book, The Mark of Athena, was released in October of 2012. The fourth book, The House of Hades, was released on October 8th, 2013. The fifth and final book, The Blood of Olympus, was released on October 7th, 2014.
Riordan also wrote a series of interactive stories in the app Demigods of Olympus.
Riordan released a crossover short story with Percy Jackson and the Olympians and The Kane Chronicles. Three books in total were released: "The Son of Sobek", "The Staff of Serapis," and "The Crown of Ptolemy" He also pointed out that he was going to write a book on Greek mythology called Percy Jackson's Greek Gods that came out August 19th, 2014.
Rick came out with a Percy Jackson short story called "The Singer of Apollo", which was released in September of 2013 for the anthology Guys Read: Other Worlds. To date, the story has been perhaps the only time Rick has released a short story set in the Percy Jackson/Kane Chronicles/Heroes of Olympus/Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard/Trials of Apollo shared universe that upon the first release wasn't in any way attached to a book specially made for one of any of the five series of books.
Rick also has stated that a new series based on old Norse mythology was being developed and that it would be published in 2015. In an interview with the Boston Globe, he announced that these books would take place in Boston, Massachusetts. In September 2014, during a live web stream, Rick Riordan announced the series would be called Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard. At the back of The Blood of Olympus, the new book title was revealed to be The Sword of Summer. The book was released on October 6, 2015, with amazing news of new Greek/ Roman series named The Trials of Apollo.
Following Disney's purchasing of 20th Century Fox, and with it the rights to the Percy Jackson series, Riordan was in talks discussing an adaptation of the books. He has since been attached as executive producer of a Disney+ TV show adaptation. In return, he is also writing a new Percy Jackson trilogy of books, beginning with The Chalice of the Gods.
Book Series
Camp Half-Blood series
Percy Jackson and the Olympians
- The Lightning Thief - June 28, 2005
- The Sea of Monsters - May 3, 2006
- The Titan's Curse - May 1, 2007
- The Battle of the Labyrinth - May 6, 2008
- The Last Olympian - May 5, 2009
- The Chalice of the Gods - September 26, 2023
- Wrath of the Triple Goddess - September 24, 2024
The Heroes of Olympus
- The Lost Hero - October 12, 2010
- The Son of Neptune - October 4, 2011
- The Mark of Athena - October 2, 2012
- The House of Hades - October 8, 2013
- The Blood of Olympus - October 7, 2014
The Trials of Apollo
- The Hidden Oracle - May 3, 2016
- The Dark Prophecy - May 2, 2017
- The Burning Maze - May 1, 2018
- The Tyrant's Tomb - September 24, 2019
- The Tower of Nero - October 6, 2020
The Kane Chronicles
- The Red Pyramid - May 4, 2010
- The Throne of Fire - May 3, 2011
- The Serpent's Shadow - May 1, 2012
Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard
- The Sword of Summer - October 6, 2015
- The Hammer of Thor - October 4, 2016
- The Ship of the Dead - October 3, 2017
Demigods of Olympus
- My Two-Headed Guidance Counselor - August 7, 2014
- The Library of Deadly Weapons - August 7, 2014
- My Demon Satyr Tea Party - January 22, 2015
- My Personal Zombie Apocalypse - July 24, 2015
Stand-Alone Novels
- The Sun and the Star: A Nico di Angelo Adventure (with Mark Oshiro) - May 2, 2023
Graphic Novels
Percy Jackson and the Olympians
- The Lightning Thief - October 12, 2010
- The Sea of Monsters - July 2, 2013
- The Titan's Curse - October 8, 2013
- The Battle of the Labyrinth - October 2, 2018
- The Last Olympian - August 13, 2019
The Kane Chronicles
- The Red Pyramid - October 2, 2012
- The Throne of Fire - October 6, 2015
- The Serpent's Shadow - October 3, 2017
The Heroes of Olympus
- The Lost Hero - October 7, 2014
- The Son of Neptune - February 21, 2017
- The Mark of Athena - September 26, 2023
- The House of Hades - September 24, 2024
Companion Books
- Demigods and Monsters - February 10, 2009
- The Demigod Files - February 10, 2009
- The Ultimate Guide - January 19, 2010
- The Demigod Diaries - August 14, 2012
- The Kane Chronicles: Survival Guide - March 20, 2012
- Percy Jackson's Greek Gods - August 19, 2014
- Percy Jackson's Greek Heroes - August 18, 2015
- Hotel Valhalla Guide to the Norse Worlds - August 16, 2016
- Camp Half-Blood Confidential - May 2, 2017
- Brooklyn House Magician's Manual - May 1, 2018
- 9 from the Nine Worlds - October 2, 2018
- Camp Jupiter Classified: A Probatio's Journal - May 5th, 2020
Standalone Shorts
- Percy Jackson and the Singer of Apollo - September 16, 2013
Crossover Series
- The Son of Sobek (Short Story) - May 7, 2013
- The Staff of Serapis (Short Story) - April 8, 2014
- The Crown of Ptolemy (Short Story) - May 12, 2015
- Demigods & Magicians (Above three printed as a single volume) - April 5, 2015
- Big Red Tequila - June 1997
- Widower's Two-Step - June 1998
- The Last King of Texas - January 2000
- The Devil Went Down to Austin - June 2001
- Southtown - April 2004
- Mission Road - June 2005
- Rebel Island - August 2007
Stand-Alone Novels
- Cold Springs - March 2004
- Daughter of the Deep - October 5, 2021
The 39 Clues Series
- The Maze of Bones - September 9, 2008 (First Book)
- Full List (Various Authors)
- Vespers Rising - April 5, 2011 (Riordan with Gordan Korman, Peter Lerangis and Jude Watson)
- The Black Book of Buried Secrets (introduction only)
Trivia
- In The Demigod Files, it says that Rick is the senior scribe for Camp Half-Blood, so he may be the person narrating in The Heroes of Olympus series.
- Rick originally wrote The Lightning Thief for his son, Haley Riordan, who has ADHD and dyslexia, in order to encourage him to read. The character Percy Jackson was based on him.
- Rick Riordan does not like audio book versions of his books, because he says they don't sound the way he would like them to.
- Rick Riordan never looks at fanfiction because he doesn't like that other people are writing about his characters, and he doesn't want people saying, "Hey, that was my idea though!" if he uses it in a book.
- For some of his characters in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, he used his students' names, such as Connor, Travis Stoll, Nico and Katie Gardner.
- "Riordan" means "royal poet" in Irish.
- His favorite character to write in The Heroes of Olympus was Gleeson Hedge.
- His favorite perspective to write in The Heroes of Olympus was Leo, according to "An Interview From Olympus"
- He once joked on Twitter that he had a pet Hydra named Peanut.
- According to an interview, Rick Riordan would be a demigod son of Hermes.
- He has been nicknamed "Uncle Rick" by fans.
- He is also known as a Troll, because of his insane cliffhangers.
- He is aware of this wiki.
- In Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters, the film exclusive character Riordan is named after him.
- He has a masters degree in Irish literature from the University College Cork.
- He had a cameo in “I Accidentally Vaporize My Pre-Algebra Teacher”.
External links
- Official Rick Riordan Site
- Miss Erin interview
- Teen Libris interview
- The official Kane Chronicles website
- The Official Percy Jackson Fan Kit
- Official Camp Half-Blood site
- Movie Experience
Daughter of the Deep | ||
Books: | Daughter of the Deep | |
Main Characters: | Ana Dakkar | Dev Dakkar | Ester Harding | Gemini Twain | Nelinha da Silva | |
Minor Characters: | Theodosius Hewett | Luca Barsanti | Ophelia Artemesia | Caleb South | Socrates | Jupiter | Nautilus | |
Related Content: | Rick Riordan | Daughter of the Deep (film) |
The Sun and the Star: A Nico di Angelo Adventure | |
Book: | The Sun and the Star: A Nico di Angelo Adventure |
Main Characters: | Nico di Angelo | Will Solace | Gorgyra | Small Bob |
Secondary Characters: | Screech-Bling | Hiss-Majesty | Iapetus | Chiron |
Minor Characters: | Kayla Knowles | Austin Lake | Rachel Elizabeth Dare | Percy Jackson | Annabeth Chase | Sally Jackson | Estelle Blofis | Meg McCaffrey | Epiales | Echidna | Menoetes | Amphithemis | Maria di Angelo | Bianca di Angelo | Piper McLean | Shel |
Gods: | Dionysus | Apollo | Hypnos | Nemesis | Acheron | Persephone | Hades |
Giants: | Otis | Ephialtes |
Primordial Gods: | Nyx | Tartarus | Chaos | Gaea |
Monsters and Magical Creatures: | Nymph | Cacodemon | Troglodyte | Demon | Chimera | Empousa | Stymphalian Birds | Cynocephali | Telekhine | Basilisk | Manticore | Pegasus | Aetera | Mania |
Related Content: | Rick Riordan | Mark Oshiro | The Trials of Apollo |
The Senior Year Adventures | |
Books: | The Chalice of the Gods | Wrath of the Triple Goddess |
Main Characters: | Percy Jackson | Annabeth Chase | Grover Underwood |
Secondary Characters: | Eudora | Ganymede | Mrs. O'Leary |
Minor Characters: | Sally Jackson | Paul Blofis | Naomi | Barbara | Elevator Security Guard | Blanche | Lucius | Margaret | Sparky | Li'l Killer |
Gods: | Iris | Hebe | Elisson | Poseidon | Zeus | Demeter | Hera | Hermes | Athena | Geras | Hecate |
Titans: | Rhea | Kronos |
Mythical Creatures: | Nereid | Nymph | Horned Serpent | Hellhound |
Related Content: | Rick Riordan | Percy Jackson and the Olympians |