Percy Jackson and the Free Essay

Until midnight on Tuesday (6/15), Smart Pop Books is offering my essay about Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson and the Olympians series for free on their website!

From my essay "Percy, I Am Your Father" in Demigods and Monsters:

Note to self: Do not become a parent in a fantasy novel. Seriously, have you ever noticed how disturbingly often parents in fantasy novels are dead, kidnapped, missing, clueless, distant, or unknown? Kind of makes me want to round up all the authors, sit them on those pleather psychiatrist couches, and say, "Now, tell me about your mother..."

On the other hand, it works very nicely as a storytelling device: Get the parents out of the way and then something interesting can happen. I think of it as the Home Alone technique. You see it in books by C. S. Lewis, Lemony Snicket, J. K. Rowling... and you definitely see it in Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. All the kids at Camp Half-Blood, including the protagonist Percy, are separated from their parents.

But are the parents really gone from the story?

Click here to read more

Mind-Rain

Team David or Team Zane?

There's a new essay anthology out from Smart Pop Books about the Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld. It's called Mind-Rain: Your Favorite Authors on Scott Westerfeld’s Uglies Series, and I have an essay in it! My essay, called Two Princes, is a lighthearted look at whether David or Zane is a better boyfriend for Tally.

It was a fun essay to write since it meant I had to read and reread all the scenes in the series with the cute boys. :)

The anthology is edited by Scott himself, and it includes essays by Jennifer Lynn Barnes, Rosemary Clement-Moore, Sarah Beth Durst (hey, that's me!), Linda Gerber, J. Fitzgerald McCurdy, Diana Peterfreund, Janette Rallison, Delia Sherman, Will Shetterly, Gail Sidonie Sobat, Robin Wasserman, and Lili Wilkinson, as well as short stories by Charles Beaumont and Ted Chiang.

You can read more about it here, as well as on the Teen Libris website.

If you haven't read the Uglies books yet, I highly recommend them. In addition to presenting a thoughtful discussion of important social issues, they also have hoverboards! And chases! And chases with hoverboards! And Tally, jumping off cliffs and falling off hoverboards! And did I mention the cute boys?

Through the Wardrobe: A Chat with Zu Vincent

A couple weeks ago, I was interviewed on Diana Peterfreund's blog about my essay in the Teen Libris anthology, Through the Wardrobe: Your Favorite Authors on C. S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia, and now it's my turn to be the interviewer! Hee-hee!

I am very pleased to welcome Zu Vincent, one of my fellow contributors to Through the Wardrobe and author of The Lucky Place. Welcome, Zu! Thanks for coming! (Okay, fine, she's not literally here. Burst my bubble, why don't you. But she did agree to answer my questions about her fabulous essay, co-written with Kiara Koenig...)

Tell us about your essay in Through the Wardrobe. What drew you to the topic?

"Minding the Gap: Are You a Susan or a Lucy?" explores how Susan and Lucy develop very different takes on life in the Chronicles of Narnia. Susan is the practical one, but she also cares about outward appearances and acting very grown up. Lucy sees through the surface, down into the core truths of life, and even to the magic. So the essay asks, which one are you? How do you really see yourself moving through life. Do you face who you are deep down, do you stand up for the hard choices against all odds, or do you tend to let your outward appearance, what others think of you, rule who you are. That's what the essay is about. And writing it seemed important because Lucy is really the central figure in the Chronicles, yet "the boys" tend to get more attention, more swag, more titles. Lucy needs some press!

Are you a Susan or a Lucy?

Don't we all have to be a little bit of both inside? Sometimes we need a Susan exterior but we should fight to keep Lucy in our hearts. The real world is sometimes easier to deal with as a Susan, after all. She meets people's expectations and knows how to handle social situations. But away from the job or the social scene, our souls need to get lost in the woods and listen to the secrets whispered in the trees. There's a lot to be said for believing the stones will speak again.

Would you prefer tea with Tumnus or lunch with the Beavers?

Tea with Tumnus, because he dances and sings, tells stories and is a bit of a gossip. He's that friend with whom you can dish for hours.

Have you ever eaten Turkish Delight? How far would you go for your favorite dessert?

Never had Turkish Delight, but what a powerful symbol. Think of all the tales in which kids are tempted by sweets. And back in the garden Eve's downfall was the sweet apple (or the pomegranate, depending). And chocolate! -- the role it played in the Mayan religion, as both doorway to visions and aphrodisiac. Who wouldn't travel the world for chocolate? In fact, there's this hot chocolate/ espresso in a cafe tucked away down an alley in the town center of Cork, Ireland....

Do you think Susan will ever be a friend of Narnia again?

Maybe, when she has children and tells them stories about Narnia.

What's your earliest Narnia memory?

It involves a crackling fire, a brick hearth, a comfy old couch and a snowy pine forest out the window. Being read to in this safe space while sinking into that other cold winter and the delight of animals speaking.

In The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Father Christmas gives the Pevensies various magical presents. If you'd been there, what gift would he have given you and what would you have done with it?

The gift of story, which is magical, and can always be re-gifted.

How have the Narnia books influenced your writing?

The Narnia books are a great influence because they tell a plain good story, with lovable characters and a landscape that becomes a character itself. And good story sweeps you up and makes you never want to leave its embrace. Look what C.S. Lewis got away with. He knew how to take Mary Poppins' spoonful of sugar and help the medicine go down. We're still digging into his tales and uncovering their themes through Susan, Lucy and the other Pevensies. It's pure sorcery.

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Zu Vincent's young adult novel The Lucky Place is just out from Front Street Press. School Library Journal calls The Lucky Place "A stunning fiction debut by an author to watch." Author Jacqueline Woodson describes it as "A quietly powerful and important story. Zu's vignettes weave a novel that, from moment to moment, takes your breath -- then gently hands it back to you again. Lovely."

Kiara Koenig (co-author of the "Minding the Gap" essay) is a poet and adjunct English faculty. She teaches creative writing and literature and holds an MFA in Creative Writing as well as an MA in Literature.

You can visit Zu online at www.zuvincent.com.

Thanks for the interview, Zu!

Demigods and Monsters Contest

Have you read the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series by Rick Riordan? It's about a kid who discovers he's the son of a Greek god, and it's brilliant. Seriously, how can you not love books with chapter titles like "I Accidentally Vaporize My Pre-Algebra Teacher", "We Meet the Dragon of Eternal Bad Breath", and "We Hail the Taxi of Eternal Torment"?

I wrote an essay about the series for the newest Teen Libris anthology from BenBella Books called Demigods and Monsters: Your Favorite Authors on Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson and the Olympians Series. It's edited by Rick Riordan himself, and it includes essays by Kathy Appelt, Rosemary Clement-Moore, Paul Collins, Cameron Dokey, Sarah Beth Durst (hey, that's me!), Jenny Han, Carolyn MacCullough, Sophie Masson, Elizabeth M. Rees, Ellen Steiber, and Elizabeth Wein.

It will be available at Borders stores starting this month, but BenBella Books was kind enough to send me a couple extra copies, so... IT'S CONTEST TIME!!!

The Challenge

Invent a Greek god.

All I need is the name and a one-line description of a brand-new Greek deity. The funnier, the better. For example:

Chocollus, god of chocolate and revelry-with-chocolate

or

Cheeriodon, god of breakfast cereals and British greetings.

The Prize

As in prior contests, two winners will be selected, one for skill and one for luck. The "skill" winner will be the person whose deity is my favorite. The "luck" winner will be chosen at random from all the entries, so the more you enter, the better your chances!

Each of the two winners will receive a free copy of Demigods and Monsters.

The Rules

Leave a comment with the name and description of your deity. (Or if you can't think of a deity but still want to be entered in the "luck" drawing, just leave a comment.) You can enter as many times as you'd like. Deadline is next Monday, May 19th, and the winners will be announced soon after.

Good luck, and have fun!

Teen Libris Interview

On a related note, I just found out that the awesome folks at BenBella have posted an interview with me on the Teen Libris website, in which I ramble on about Percy Jackson, Narnia, my books, and the Tooth Fairy! If you're interested, you can read the interview here.

Through the Wardrobe

I love, love, love the Narnia books. I love Faun Tumnus and the Beavers and Reepicheep (the brave warrior mouse) and the lone lamppost and the stone statues in the witch's castle and the dawn run with Aslan... One of my most treasured books is a copy of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe with beautiful illustrations by Michael Hague. Inside it says, "To Sarah, Merry Christmas 1983! Love, Mom and Dad." It makes me think of Christmas mornings, when my brother and I would wait in my room until it was late enough to drag my parents downstairs to see first the stockings then the tree (always in that order -- I was a tad bit obsessive compulsive about family traditions). And Uncle Bill and Aunt Julie, our close-enough-to-be-family neighbors, would come over for bacon and eggs in a breakfast feast worthy of the Beavers. And I'd help my mom set the dining room table with the china for Christmas dinner. And I'd sneak-read bits of whatever books I'd received whenever I thought no one was looking... Anyway, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is one of those books that makes me smile inside when I see it. I think I've read it at least several dozen times.

So this fall, when an editor from BenBella Books contacted my agent and asked if she had any authors who would like to write an essay for an anthology about the Narnia books, I jumped at the chance. (Or more accurately, I channeled my inner teacher's pet, stretched my hand in the air, and shouted: "Ooh, ooh, me, me, me!")

But what to write about? When adults talk about the Narnia books, there's often much discussion of religious allegory and such. And, of course, the books are clearly religious allegories. But when I was a kid, in all the times I read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, I never once had the slightest clue that there was even the tiniest bit of symbolism in there. Some kind soul finally pulled me aside (much in the way that parents through the ages have sat down with their kids to give them "The Talk") and repeated the word "Allegory, allegory, allegory!" in increasingly frustrated tones until I finally said, "Oooh, so the whole Stone Table scene..." And then they said "Yes!" and went away muttering under their breath and rolling their eyes.

So when I sat down to write my essay for the BenBella anthology, I decided to embrace my obliviousness. My essay is called "Missing the Point", and in short, it's about why it's okay to be completely clueless.

The essay anthology is called Through the Wardrobe: Your Favorite Authors on C. S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia. It was edited by Herbie Brennan, and includes essays from the following writers:

Deb Caletti
Diane Duane
Sarah Beth Durst (me!!!)
Brent Hartinger
Susan Juby
Sophie Masson
Kelly McClymer
O.R. Melling
Lisa Papademetriou
Diana Peterfreund
Susan Vaught
Zu Vincent and Kiara Koenig
Ned Vizzini
Elizabeth Wein

And check out the awesome cover:


It comes out this month (March) exclusively at Borders stores, and despite the fact that my essay includes several embarrassing personal anecdotes, I'm really excited about it. Narnia! Aslan! Faun Tumnus! YAY! Seriously, I feel honored to be included.

The very nice folks at BenBella have offered to give me a couple extra copies of Through the Wardrobe to give away on my blog. So in a week or two (once my copies arrive), I'll be hosting a contest here. I hope you'll drop by and enter!