SUPER IMPORTANT PERCY JACKSON NEWS!!!

Apr 21, 20135 min read

Deviation Actions

madymadison

Published: Apr 21, 2013

8.9K Views

HOLY MOTHER OF GODS UNCLE RICK ANNOUNCED THAT HE IS WRITING A NEW PERCY JACKSON SERIES!!!! OMG I THINK I JUST DIED

An excerpt: And I will announce this here for the first time, right now I'm working on a new book of the Greek myths, told from Percy Jackson's point of view. My hope is to offer the original stories, but told in a modern perspective that appeals to our kids today. I decided to set aside the earlier anthologies, as much as I love them – Hamilton, D'Aulaires, Evslin, Greene – because the writing is a little dated. Instead, I've leapfrogged straight back to the primary sources. I'm using Ovid, Hesiod, Homer and many others, and trying to cast the entire scope of Greek mythology afresh. John Rocco, who does my covers, is illustrating, and we're hoping to create something that's going to be useful in your libraries and classrooms.

Anyway, one of my goals is to include lesser-known myths along with the ones kids often hear. Most anthologies only offer a taste of what's available in the primary sources. While researching for the book, I came across one particular myth I'd never heard before, the story of Erisikhthon and Demeter's sacred grove. Erisikhthon tries to cut down Demeter's sacred trees and is cursed with eternal hunger.

As I was writing down this story, and it struck me: this is a myth about addiction. It perfectly captures the obsession and heartbreak of someone who devotes his life to chasing a need that can't be satisfied. Erisikhthon loses his possessions, his pride, his house just to buy food that can never fill him. Finally he's even willing to sell his own daughter to serve his need. It's absolutely tragic, and it's absolutely timely. Why are we not reading this myth with our middle school and high school kids? The story certainly struck me in a very personal way. Addiction is something I have seen in my friends, my family, and certainly in the lives of my students. And here it is, captured in a myth that is three thousand years old.

MY SOUL JUST RESURFACED FROM THE DEPTHS OF TARTARUS