adventure

The Making of Middle School Robots

Welcome! This post is part of my The Making of… series. The Making of… is an in-depth look at each book I write. I’ll examine one book per blog post. I’ll examine characters, story, the concept, individual scenes, and maybe more all in an attempt to give more information than is available anywhere else on how that book came to be. This post will cover Middle School Robots.

By the way, my name is Carl and I’m the author of several books, both epic fantasy and children’s science fiction.

Last month I published my third novel…called Middle School Robots. It’s a book I’ve had in my head for almost 4 years now, and it started as a TV script.

For anyone who follows me on social media, you might have heard that story. But I also want to tell the story here on my blog.

And I’ll include a little more detail here.

And by the way, the TV pilot was first called Ordinary Robots, so I might refer to it as that, or Office Robots, which I called it at some point after Ordinary Robots but before Middle School Robots.

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I wrote it in 2016.

From 2015-2016 I lived in Los Angeles for 10 months. Middle School Robots was written towards the tail end of that, in June.

The sequence of events that led to writing it, however, started in May of 2016, when I got really sick.

I don’t know exactly what I had, but it seemed like the flu. My body hurt all over and I had a 103-degree fever. I got better after about a week of rest, though immediately after the flu I got a UTI.

And as soon as I got over the UTI, I got another issue. The worst back pain of my life.

At the time, I had been driving Uber and working as a freelance Production Assistant on film sets to make money. After the back pain came, I couldn’t do either of those things. I went to urgent care three or four times, and they couldn’t get rid of the pain for me.

It lasted like two months.

And in those two months, I couldn’t drive Uber anymore. I tried once, and after two hours the pain was so bad I had to stop. I also didn’t trust myself to take a PA (Production Assistant) job. I was scared that if I did, I’d have to leave in the middle of it, or I’d hurt myself worse. A lot of the PA’s duties involve manual labor.

And so the only real work I could do was write.

I was working on another project the day I wrote Ordinary Robots, but having trouble finding inspiration.

And I didn’t want to spend time writing anything that didn’t inspire me. Not when my back hurt like it did.

So I wrote something else.

I wrote Middle School Robots.

And I think, looking back on it, I just wanted to create a world I could escape into. I wanted to get away from the pain I had.

I wrote the TV pilot in just one day. I didn’t do any outlining or any character work before writing it. I just wrote it using what I knew about how to craft good stories and my own imagination.

Later I submitted it to some contests. It scored quarter-finalist honors in two contests – Scriptapalooza and Fresh Voices in 2017. It was also nominated for the Courage & Fortitude Award for Fresh Voices.

And then in 2019, I started adapting it into a children’s novel.

But once again, I didn’t go into adapting it with the intention to.

Actually, I was trying to write another book. It was a young adult sci-fi novel, about superheroes. It was based around a Jean Gray type superhero who could control the molecular bonds between elements, thereby creating and destroying anything at will.

I still like the idea of that character. But honestly, she needed more to her character than that power.

And I realized, a couple chapters into writing it, that I didn’t understand who she was beyond a superhero with that really cool power.

And that left me feeling frantic.

Because I couldn’t write the story until I knew.

This was June of 2019.

I wanted to write something, to get another book in line to be published, but suddenly I knew that the book I had planned to write wasn’t something I could write.

And so this caused me to search around for other ideas.

And I had a couple, but the ones I did have were not ready to be written yet.

They were still ideas, and still needed more work. They needed to sit with me longer before they’d feel formed enough to start on.

And then, I realized that what I needed was a story that I had already written in the past.

I had written a few TV pilots. But the one that came to mind immediately was Ordinary Robots, since renamed Office Robots.

In just a few days, I realized that the script was perfect because it was like The Time Twins. It was the same genre, sure the TV pilot wasn’t kid-friendly, but the book could be.

Now here’s the part where I admit to you a dirty little secret. So if you’re a parent reading this to your kids you might want to skip this part.

But Colossal Time, the crazy smartwatch robot in the book, was originally an alcoholic.

It was a TV pilot meant for Adult Swim!

But I changed it so that he was a sugar addict instead for the book.

Ok, kids can start reading again here.

I also changed a few other things. In the TV pilot, there was no mouse. The robots snuck out the front door.

Also in the TV pilot Joe never got separated from Thomas and Alexa. Instead, all three of them encountered the school teachers, who were office workers instead, and then all three of them just went back to the office.

I made Joe get separated to add more danger, excitement, and another layer of stuff to think about to the book. And out of it came some good stuff, I think. The idea of swarms of kids holding smartphones, the tidbit about Alzheimer’s disease.

The other major change I mad was the ending. Originally, Alexa tore up the constitution. But when writing the book I realized that couldn’t be the ending.

When I was writing the TV pilot, I just thought it was funny. But actually, the ending needs to be serious. Because the matter of the robots overcoming oppression is serious, even if there’s a lot of humor at other points in the book.

Overall, I wrote the book over the course of a month, in June alone, using the TV pilot as a template and stealing almost every line from it, then adding a few new ones.

Then, I didn’t touch the book again until late October, when I read it over and made some structural changes I thought needed to be done.

In November again I took a break for another book I was writing, and in December I made the last changes to the book, over the course of three weeks.

I thought I was done with it after that but I did end up making a few slight edits in January before publishing in February.

And, that’s it! After that I published it and now it’s done.

If you read and enjoyed Middle School Robots, I invite you to check out The Time Twins next. It was my first book, and you’ll probably like it too! It has a robot and a smartphone with a time travel app.

December, Technology, and Books

Do you say Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays?

Welcome! This is an update on my author blog. If you find yourself here, unsure who I am, let me introduce myself. My name is Carl and I’m an author from Portland, OR. I write epic fantasy and children’s science fiction.

I’m never really sure which to say around this time of year. Usually I go with Happy Holidays. But of course Christmas has become as much a secular holiday as a Christian one, so I suppose saying Merry Christmas is fine too. I think the main point is that you wish people well, as with all things in life I suppose.

This month I’ve been going some through some technological mishaps which is kind of an interesting coincidence because the book I’ve been working on, School Robots, makes use of heavy amounts of technology.

In total my car door got dented when someone hit me in a parking lot, my phone shut off in the middle of the day and decided it was never going to turn back on, and then I had a near scare when my check engine light went on in my car (and then the next morning it mysteriously went off). Hopefully it stays off.

On the plus side, I got a Google Pixel 3a. It’s been a pretty good phone so far, and I’m getting an Otterbox Defender case for it in the mail soon (the best type of case, imho).

I’ve also somehow managed to find vestiges of time to work on Middle School Robots, and I’m still roughly on track to wrap up editing on it by January (those on my list will get a free ARC!). I’m getting to the phase of editing now where I focus on all the specific minute details to the robots, and since they are essentially smartphones, computers, printers, and other real world devices, kids are going to be able to learn a lot by reading the book!

In addition, I’ve been thinking about dragons, and soaking in Avatar: The Last Airbender stuff. I know those are two very different things, but my mind feeds off different things and looks for unique ways to combine them. That’s kind of what I did with Sand and Smoke–I combined westerns and dragon-rider fantasy.

In a little over a week I’ll be heading to Chicago to spend Christmas and the holidays. Currently my aunt, uncle, grandmother, and cousins live there, and my dad and sisters will also be flying in. My family is spread out all over America, so it’s the normal for us to fly pretty regularly.

So far as I know, we have planned for the trip a gift exchange and a movie-going adventure to see Star Wars Episode IX. So I’m definitely looking forward to the latter half of December. Though what I like most as always is just seeing family and friends and spending more time with them.

Thanks for reading! And if you like receiving updates from me, please don’t forget to subscribe to my mailing list. You’ll also get cool perks like notifications when I host a giveaway or notifications when I discount one of my books.

The Six Most Interesting Questions I Missed

For each of my previous posts, I primarily answered questions from Quora.com. I’m getting daily requests for new questions to answer, and I haven’t been able to keep up with them all. So, for this blog post, I’m going to make it my goal to address some of those questions…the most interesting ones, that is.

Welcome! This post is part of my Most Interesting Questions series, which means I’ll be answering the most interesting questions I can find or think of. This time, I’m not covering a specific book, film, or TV show. Rather, I’m covering a bunch of them that I’ve covered before, and I’m answering questions that I missed. Some of the franchises I’ll be covering in this post include Percy Jackson, Harry Potter, Divergent, and Avatar: The Last Airbender.

By the way, if you’re wondering about who I am, I’m an author from Portland, OR. I write epic fantasy for young adults and I have dabbled in children’s science fiction.

Q #1: In Harry Potter, what do you think would happen if a young wizard couldn’t afford a wand?

A: They would probably be provided for. Remember how Harry got his wand? Olivander went about, trying each and every wand to see exactly which one was the best fit. There was no discussion of cost. For a wizard, a wand is so important that I don’t think cost would be taken into account, and Hogwarts wouldn’t have anyone attending who didn’t get the best wand for their needs, or at least have the opportunity to get the best wand for their needs.

Q #2: A lot of dystopian books have the world splitting up into factions (Divergent), districts (The Hunger Games), or something similar in the future. How likely is this to actually happen far in the future?

A: I would say there’s two parts to this question. First, we have to consider whether it’s likely that the world will be ruled by one government in the future. If there’s not a single ruling entity, the whole world could not be split up into factions/districts. Second, we have to consider whether it’s likely that this one government would create a system of factions/districts. I think that it’s not particularly likely that the world would be ruled by one government in the future, so I don’t think we can even get to the second part of this question. The reason being is that in all of history the world has never been ruled by one government. Powerful countries have risen, like Rome, but they always fall, and never conquer the whole world. Plus, there is much more communication throughout the world nowadays, and more of an effort to keep super-countries from forming. Imperialism has even largely died out. If anything, there will be more countries in the far future, as people venture into and colonize space. However, it could still be that perhaps these factions/districts will form in a single country, and not the rest of the world. If this happens, that single country would have to either be aware of other countries where the districts/factions did not exist, or else they would have to be living a life with technology way behind their time, since I do not think the other countries could be hidden from that world with the technology we have nowadays, there is simply too much communication. I would say that one country developing the faction/district system is a much more likely scenario than the world adopting it, since there is such a wide array of ways a country could be run, though I think it unlikely the country running themselves this way could keep the rest of the world a secret.

Q #3: What is the Avatar the Last Airbender Live action show going to be about?

A: As far as I’m aware, it’s just going to be a retelling of the animated show.

Q #4: Who would win in a fight Percy Jackson or Optimus Prime?

A: I think it depends on where they’re fighting. On land or in the sky, Optimus Prime wins. In or near the water so that Percy can force the fight to the sea, he’d win.

Q #5: What 3 unrelated books would make a weird but workable trilogy?

A: Fun question! I think my theme for answering this question will be riches-to-rags. So for the first book we have The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, because obviously Arthur Dent has to find a cool planet for the trilogy to take place on. Once he’s there, he’ll inevitably screw things up, and that’s how we get to Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson. The second book takes place about 1000 years after the first, and Arthur Dent is probably The Chosen One talked about so much in that book. Finally, after Mistborn, book three would be Holes by Louis Sachar, since by this time I imagine that’s what the day-to-day life on this planet would be like.

Q #6: Why can only portraits in Harry Potter speak? Why not photographs?

A: Because of the way that wizarding magic works. I suspect there’s some sort of magic used to give portraits life, whereas with photographs that type of magic is not generally used. There are probably portraits that can’t speak, especially in muggle homes, it’s just that the ones we do see can speak. Photographs, likewise, I suspect could speak, if the witch or wizard who created them wanted them to, but the creator elects not to give them that power most of the time, so they don’t have the ability to speak. It all comes down to what magic is used.

Thanks for reading! Now I invite you to check out more MIQ posts below, or my book Sand and Smoke, which also is fantasy, like most of the franchises in this post, with lots of action and lovable characters. If you enjoyed reading Percy Jackson, Harry Potter, or watching Avatar: The Last Airbender, you’d probably enjoy it, because it has a similar feel to all of that stuff!

Three Quick Questions about Eragon

Christopher Paolini’s new book is called The Fork, the Witch, and the Worm, and it’s set in the same world as Eragon was, Alagaesia.

Welcome! This post is part of my Most Interesting Questions series, which means I’ll be answering the most interesting questions I can find or think of on Eragon. The Eragon series was written by Christopher Paolini and stretches four books long. Paolini also recently released a collection of short stories called The Fork, the Witch, and the Worm. Eragon was also made into a movie, though it’s a movie I’m sure we’d all like to forget. In my opinion, the Eragon film wasn’t very good. The Eragon books, however, were a different story. The first book was definitely my favorite, and in fact was my biggest inspiration for wanting to become an author. Paolini was only 15 when he wrote it. The characters in Eragon are great, and the villain, Galbatorix, is really scary.

By the way, if you’re wondering about who I am, I’m an author from Portland, OR. I write epic fantasy and I have dabbled in children’s science fiction too.

Now here are the most interesting questions about Eragon.

Eragons

Q #1: What if Eragon fought Gandalf?

A: If Eragon fought Gandalf, I believe he would lose. As awesome and powerful as Eragon is (he has powerful magic, Sapphira, his sword), he doesn’t have anywhere near the amount of experience that Gandalf does. Gandalf’s experience would give him the edge in my opinion.

Q #2: What book would you recommend to someone who loves Eragon?

A: I’m going to recommend some non-dragon books. I believe the Pendragon series by D.J. MacHale would appeal to the same demographic as Eragon does. If the reader is a bit older, I would recommend Brandon Sanderson. Mistborn is a great place to start. The Ranger’s Apprentice series is also pretty good. I’m also an author, and was inspired a lot by Eragon. My debut fantasy novel, Sand and Smoke, features a girl and a dragon. It also puts a new twist on the genre, by mixing the wild west with dragons.

Q #3: How can I download The Fork, the Witch, and the Worm: Tales from Alagaesia by Christopher Paolini?

Christopher Paolini’s new book is called The Fork, the Witch, and the Worm, and it’s set in the same world as Eragon was, Alagaesia. You can purchase it on Amazon, here’s a link. You can also probably purchase it from many bookstores and online. Here’s a link to the book on Paolini’s website: link. In my opinion it’s best to pay for these things if you can, to support all the work that goes into them!

Thanks for reading! Now I invite you to check out more MIQ posts below, or my book Sand and Smoke, which also is epic fantasy, and has lots of dragons in it! My book actually features two breeds of dragons, eastern and western dragons, called Sun dragons and Wesech dragons. Eastern dragons are interesting, mythologically speaking, because they are quite a bit different than western dragons, with some crazy powers like being able to change size at will. I loved exploring their differences while writing Sand and Smoke.

Eight Most Interesting Questions about Avatar: The Last Airbender and Legend of Korra

The idea of the four elements is something that goes back to alchemy. Before chemistry existed, people used to believe there were four elements, but when chemistry came along we discovered the whole periodic table. I’d love to see a series that throws everything on its head by revealing that there are more than just four elements.

Welcome! This post is part of my Most Interesting Questions series, which means I’ll be answering the most interesting questions I can find or think of on Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra. There are three seasons in The Last Airbender and four in The Legend of Korra. There was also an Avatar: The Last Airbender movie, which I’m sure most would like to forget, and there is an upcoming Avatar: The Last Airbender Netflix TV show, which I just hope will be better than the movie. In the cartoon, anyway, there are a lot of great episodes. Both The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra are now on Netflix, at the time of writing this. The Legend of Korra, in particular, features a great cast in my opinion. But really, all of the Last Airbender characters and Legend of Korra characters are great.

Q #1: Who is the best villain of both Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra?

A: There are so many good villains it’s hard to choose. Haha. You know, I’d say Azula is probably the best villain. She’s certainly the most talked about villain, maybe even more talked about than Fire Lord Ozai. Combustion Man was pretty hot too though. And in Legend of Korra, you’ve got Amon, the season one villain, and Zaheer, the season three villain who’s a first of his kind. Those are some of my favorite villains; there are lots of good villains though.

Q #2: Is Iroh the best character in Avatar, the Last Airbender?

A: It’s debatable whether he’s the best. But he’s certainly one of the best. He’s very kindhearted, and funny, and I think that’s what makes him so lovable. Aang is also very kindhearted, and funny. I think Zuko might be my favorite character, though. He has a terrific character arc.

Q #3: Is the new Netflix show The Dragon Prince a rip-off of Avatar?

A: No, absolutely not. It’s made by some of the same people behind Avatar: The Last Airbender and Legend of Korra, and it has a similar feel to those shows, but it’s unique and very different. The show is set in a completely different world, with elves, dragons, and a medieval feel. It does feature strange creatures, such as the glow toad, but I don’t think there are enough similarities to even consider it a rip-off. A lot of fantasy, after the popularity of The Last Airbender and Legend of Korra, takes inspiration from it and that’s not a crime. I’m actually an author, and my book Sand and Smoke takes some inspiration, especially in the action scenes and with the fact that one of the main characters can control the wind. But my main character is not an air bender, he’s something different.

Q #4: Who would win Princess Azula Firebending Master Lightning generation from Avatar The Last Airbender or Fire Lord Zuko Dancing Dragon Firebending Lightning redirection from Avatar The Last Airbender?

A: This is a hard one! First off, it might depend on whether Azula is still alive in Fire Lord Zuko’s time, and if so, how her skills have grown. I think that Azula can beat Zuko at the ages and the time of when they were both in The Last Airbender series. By Legend of Korra, Zuko’s skills have obviously grown. I’d say he is probably powerful enough in Legend of Korra to defeat Azula as she was in The Last Airbender, but if he’s fighting Azula as an older, more skilled warrior in his own time during The Legend of Korra, I think she might be able to beat him, depending on if she got more powerful.

Q #5: What is your review of each season of Legend of Korra? I thought season one was amazing.

A: Season one was amazing. Season two wasn’t so great for me. Mainly, I didn’t like the changes to Bolin’s character, he seemed to get really stupid in season two. The villain of season two wasn’t very good either. There were a lot of plotholes, and it didn’t make sense why Korra could become a giant energy monster. I’m watching season three right now and it’s great so far. Can’t comment past that.

Q #6: If they did another sequel to Avatar The Last Airbender what would your idea be?

A: There are a lot of ways they could go with it. Personally, I think a sequel that focuses on a secondary or tertiary character could be really good. For example, Suki was a really great character, I think it’d be great to see a show with her as the main character. Or, it might be interesting to see a show with Tenzin as a little kid. Another thing they could do is make a prequel series. I actually really liked the story in The Legend of Korra about how the benders got their abilities. I’d love to see more from that point in time. Another thing is that the Avatar shows all focus on the Avatar’s journey as they learn to master all four elements. I’d love to see a show set in a time when the Avatar has already mastered all of the elements, and everything related to being the Avatar, yet that’s not enough and they have to overcome other obstacles, just to mix things up. This could have an older Avatar too, on their last legs, that’d be cool to see. Also, the idea of the four elements is something that goes back to alchemy. Before chemistry existed, people used to believe there were four elements, but when chemistry came along we discovered the whole periodic table. I’d love to see a series that throws everything on its head by revealing that there are more than just four elements.

Q #7: If you could bend any element from Avatar: The Last Airbender what element would it be?

A: I’d probably bend water. Firebending sounds like a cool ability, but in practice I think it’s probably one of the least useful elements to bend, because it can only be used to attack. Earthbending is probably more useful than firebending, and airbending is a wildcard. Waterbending I like because it can be used to heal. Waterbenders can also freeze the water; it’s a very versatile skill. Some waterbenders can even bloodbend, which is probably the most powerful form of bending, period.

Q #8: Am I the only one who wanted Zuko and Katara to end up together in Avatar The Last Airbender?

A: No. I think there’s plenty of others who wanted them to end up together. I think Zuko and Katara could have been a good match, too. Mainly because Aang seemed too young and naive in the series to me to have any interest in a relationship, and Katara and Zuko did strike me as older, at least in terms of their personalities.

Thanks for reading! Now I invite you to check out more MIQ posts below, or my book Sand and Smoke, which also is fantasy, with lots of action, lovable characters, and a main character who can control the wind, kinda like Aang and Tenzin…but he’s not an air bender, he’s something different (I can’t tell you what, because that would spoil the book!)

By the way, if you’re wondering about who I am, I’m an author from Portland, OR. I write epic fantasy and have dabbled in children’s science fiction.

Nine Most Interesting Questions about Harry Potter

Nowadays, if someone like Harry saw moving images on trading cards, he’d probably assume there must be a computer chip somewhere in there.

Welcome! This post is part of my Most Interesting Questions series, which means I’ll be answering the most interesting questions I can find or think of on Harry Potter. The Harry Potter books are among, if not being, the most popular book series of all time. There are seven books, pictured below. One of the reason why the books are so popular is because of the Harry Potter characters. With Harry, Ron, Hermione, Hagrid, Dumbledore, and more, who can resist these great characters? The Harry Potter books were also made into a film series. My personal favorite book is either Harry Potter and the chamber of secrets, or Harry Potter and the prisoner of Azkaban, I can’t decide.

By the way, if you’re wondering about who I am, I’m an author from Portland, OR. Many of my books would also be great reads for any fan of Harry Potter, feel free to check them out using the menu above!

harrypotter

Q #1: What is Lord Voldemort’s boggart in Harry Potter?

A: Good question! Boggarts are shapeshifters that take the form of whatever a person most fears. Thus, Lord Voldemort’s boggart would be whatever he most fears. There can be debate on this, however, I think what Lord Voldemort most fears is Harry Potter, so his boggart would take the form of Harry.

Q #2: If I have a piece of Harry Potter merchandise that would be a huge collector’s item (though not technically on the market in the first place), how would I go about selling it?

A: Wow! First of all, I’m jealous. Second, it depends how much work you want to put into it, and how much value you want to get out of it. The simple solution would be to place it up on eBay, and just see what kind of offers you get. However, if you’re more ambitious, I would suggest looking for people who have had similar items in the past and sold them for large amounts of money. Then copy their strategies. You could also reach out to people on Instagram, Twitter, or other social media with large followings that are in some way related to Harry Potter and ask them to advertise the item for you. The more people who see your item, the more potential buyers, and the higher the demand is, the more money you will be able to get for it. So it all comes down to making sure everyone knows you have that piece of merchandise and are selling it. That’s my thinking on it anyway. Obviously you would want to keep your personal details hidden, if you’re worried about it being stolen you could use an alias to sell/advertise until you find your buyer.

Q #3: Do you like Harry Potter or Batman?

A: Can I like both? Ha ha. I think that I like Harry Potter more than Batman. I mean, Hogwarts is just so cool! If you’re asking who would win in a fight between Harry Potter and Batman…well, it’s also Harry. Harry has magic so he could just paralyze Batman. The only way Batman would stand a chance is if he snuck up on Harry, and even then he’d need to keep Harry from launching any spells, just one spell could turn the tides of the entire battle.

Q #4: Do you believe the government has “Invisibility Cloaking” capability like in the Harry Potter movie?

A: No. If they did, we would know about it. Because the US is ruled by capitalism, and corporations. The corporations would find out about the technology, and market it to the public for a profit.

Q #5: Would you want a Harry Potter TV show?

A: Yes! I think a Harry Potter TV show would be awesome. In particular, I think it’d be an awesome opportunity to expand on the existing universe. In the movies, things from the book needed to be cut to fit into 2 or 2.5 hours, whatever their runtimes were. A TV show would have the opposite problem: the books wouldn’t contain enough material! But we could add in other things, like seeing Hermione’s parents, or seeing Ron’s brother Charlie working with the dragons, or seeing more of Dumbledore (he’s much more of a minor character early on in the series). The possibilities are endless!

Q #6: My friends said they think I would be in Slytherin house in Harry Potter and I can’t help but feel like the worst person?

A: You’re not the worst person! In fact, if you feel that way, I dare say you probably aren’t in Slytherin house. A Slytherin wouldn’t feel like a bad person for being a Slytherin. A Slytherin would relish in it, and use their reputation for their own gain.

Q #7: Who are the top ten most powerful wizards of the Harry Potter series?

A: In no particular order, I would say they are Dumbledore, Voldemort, Harry Potter, Grindelwald, Credence, Snape, McGonagall, Hermione, Mad-Eye Moody, and Bellatrix Lestrange.

Q #8: If Harry Potter series is written in 2019, how different would it be from the originals considering the changes in the world in the last 25 years?

A: In my opinion, the biggest differences would be in technology. We have smartphones now, and nobody goes anywhere without them. In addition, the first Harry Potter was published in 1997 originally, before people even used laptops regularly. I remember one of the scenes from Harry Potter, when Harry’s on the train with Ron and at first sees the moving images on the cards with different wizards. Back then, the only thing to assume would have been those moving images were magic. Nowadays, if someone like Harry saw moving images on trading cards, he’d probably assume there must be a computer chip somewhere in there.

Q #9: Why do Harry Potter, LOFTR Trilogy, and Star Wars all use such stark good versus evil symbolism?

A: It’s because a shift in the way we think about things. Back when many of those franchises were made, there was a stark good vs. evil mentality in storytelling, and even maybe in the world. People wanted the good guys to beat the bad guys. Those type of stories still work, I think, but they are becoming less popular than stories where the lines between good and evil get blurred. Nowadays, things are much more complex. People like stories that are about bad guys who have a good reason for being bad, or good guys who use wicked means to accomplish what they need to get done. One great example of this is to look at the Star Wars franchise. The originals and the prequels were all about the Jedi, the light, defeating the Sith, the dark side. Now, in film #8, suddenly Rey discovers and tells Luke that the dark side is not actually to be avoided, but that balance means light and dark, and not just light.

Thanks for reading! Now I invite you to check out more MIQ posts below, or my book Sand and Smoke, which is also fantasy, with lots of action and lovable characters. It’s been compared to Harry Potter, because it features a special school…but it’s a school for dragon riders, not a school for witches and wizards.

Ten Most Interesting Questions about Percy Jackson

Percy is like the weird kid who nobody pays attention to in school, then he goes off to camp half-blood and suddenly everyone pays attention to him because now he knows who he is.

Welcome! This post is part of my Most Interesting Questions series, which means I’ll be answering the most interesting questions I can find or think of on Percy Jackson. Percy Jackson is a series about greek demigods in modern times. The main Percy Jackson characters include Percy, Annabelle Chase, Grover, and they also have quite a few school mates at Camp Half-Blood. The series was made into a movie, though I think most would agree that the Percy Jackson books are much better. This post will mostly cover the first three books in the Percy Jackson book series, pictured below.

By the way, if you’re wondering about who I am, I’m an author from Portland, OR. Many of my books would also be great reads for any fan of Percy Jackson, feel free to check them out using the menu above!

Q #1: Could Percy Jackson win a fight against any of the Avengers?

A: He might be able to hold his own against some of the weaker Avengers. Against the likes of Iron Man and Captain America he’d definitely be toast. One weakness to consider is the fact that his sword, Anaklusmos, can only affect gods, demigods, Titans, giants, and monsters. Since most of the Avengers are humans with superhuman capabilities, the sword wouldn’t work on them. Would the Hulk be considered a monster though? If Thor is a god or even a demigod then it would work on him. Percy does also have the benefit of being able to control water, but the Avengers have all faced worse than that. Percy is much younger than any of the Avengers, which means that he would not be as physically strong as them. If he let any of them get up close, he’d most certainly be toast.

Q #2) What would Percy Jackson be like if the series was written by George R.R. Martin?

A: Percy Jackson would probably die at the end of the first book. Luke would have succeeded in killing him, and book number two would be about Annabeth rising to fill Percy’s shoes. By the end of the first trilogy Grover would be in charge of camp half-blood, Clarisse would be recruiting an army to help Ares take over control of Mount Olympus from Zeus, and Kronos would have taken over the underworld and killed Hades.

Q #3) Is there going to be another Percy Jackson?

A: It depends what is meant by another Percy Jackson. I think there could be another book. At some point in the future I think it likely will be another attempt at a movie, or maybe a TV show, given the popularity of the series.

On the other hand, there likely will be and already are other characters and series like Percy Jackson. They’re not exactly the same, but Percy Jackson is a very inspirational series.

Q #4) Could Percy Jackson get his sword pen through airport security?

A: I’d say definitely yes! The sword is magic, and airport security isn’t equipped to deal with magic. It can transform into a pen, so it’d look relatively harmless when passing through. And, I suspect, the government shutdown would make this even easier for Percy.

Q #5) Who would win in a fight between Green Arrow and Percy Jackson?

A: Green Arrow. And it’s not even close. He’s an ordinary human, which means Percy couldn’t harm him with Anaklusmos. Percy’s only option would be to fight him at a distance, but unless there was a huge body of water nearby, Green Arrow has the agility and training to easily avoid any water Percy might attack with. Plus, Green Arrow has a whole assortment of arrows. He’d easily win against Percy Jackson, even at a distance.

Q #6) Why does Percy Jackson suck?

A: This is a great question to answer now, since we’ve now established that Percy would lose in a fight against Green Arrow, and likely lose in a fight against most of the Avengers. Percy Jackson would suck going head-to-head against superheroes, because that’s what they do all day is fight. Their bodies and their skills are superior. Percy, however, is incredibly bright. What sucks about him is his raw power, but what rocks is his intellect.

Q #7) How attractive is Percy Jackson?

A: I’d say he grows more attractive as the series goes on. Percy is like the weird kid who nobody pays attention to in school, then he goes off to camp half-blood and suddenly everyone pays attention to him because now he knows who he is.

Q #8) What if Percy Jackson died?

A: It depends when he died. At the very best, Annabeth would be horrified, but the world would go on. At the very worst, the gods would start a war and America would crumble.

Q #9) If the gods go to Hogwarts, which house would they be in (the gods in Percy Jackson)?

A: Zeus and Poseidon would be in Gryffindor. Hades and Ares would be in Slytherin. Athena would be in Ravenclaw. Hermes would be in Hufflepuff. I think Dionysus would be in Gryffindor, but he’s a harder one to pin down. Artemis would probably be a Ravenclaw like Athena, and I think Apollo would be a Hufflepuff like Hermes.

Q #10) Who would win in a fight, Percy Jackson or Katara?

A: Two water-benders facing off against each-other! This is most certainly the closest matched two people we’ve examined in a fight so far. Like against the others, Percy would not be able to use Anaklusmos against Katara, but she doesn’t usually have a weapon either, so this would just put them on even more equal footing. Percy’s advantage, however, comes from the fact that water heals him, without him having to do anything. Just being in water heals Percy, whereas Katara has to actively water-bend in order to heal herself. Even if Katara did use water-bending against Percy, it couldn’t harm him, because water heals Percy. Katara would not be similarly advantaged, so I give this win to Percy.

Thanks for reading! Now I invite you to check out more MIQ posts below, or my book Sand and Smoke, which also is fantasy, with lots of action and lovable characters, and draws inspiration from Percy Jackson in one way…but I can’t tell you how, because that would spoil the book.