I proposed the idea of a book for older teens that centered around the idea of the Egyptian god's spirits, namely Osiris, Isis and Horus, becoming manifest in the bodies of three high school students. I envisioned two nerdy loner siblings gaining the powers of Osiris and Isis upon touching a relic of some sort at the museum. On the same museum trip, one of the nicer jock types meshes with the spirit of Horus and he, too, is included in on the secret. I then considered, of course including Set, in the whole mix, but thought about not having him be the main adversary, but an ally of sorts; he would most likely be the kid that was always getting thrown out of class. The enemy is an idea that I will keep to myself for the time being. I intended to start this book probably around this time next year, once I had finished the first draft of the second book in the Gray series that I am working on.
Imagine my surprise at 6:15 AM yesterday, when my wife said, "Uh oh. You don't want me to read this to you." I did not want her to read from the LA Times as I was busy writing on the blog about douches that make spectacles of themselves at concerts to the point of ruining the ability for anyone to enjoy the concert at all. "This is in the LA Times. Um...it's a new book review for a book by Rick Riordan...it's called The Red Pyramid
..." Shit, no way. "Yeah, it is about a brother and sister who take on aspects of the Egyptian gods Horus and Isis and they need to locate Osiris to rescue their father from Set." Ouch. Not exactly my idea, but pretty damn close. Right after being relayed that information, I finished up writing in my blog, revised, and pushed "Publish", and then...nothing. Error. Whoa now, what the what? I logged in again and there was the first paragraph of what I had written, but none of the majority of it. For some reason known only to Blogger, the beginning of what was written had auto-saved, but then unbeknownst to me, I was logged out, and when I attempted to publish the error registered instead. Gone. I sat at my desk for a minute and considered calling in sick to work, because if my Monday was going to begin with losing my writing and seeing my supposedly bright idea already used, then I sure as hell was not going to want to carry the trend back to the cubicle. I sighed and took The Puppy of the Donist for a walk to clear my head, when it occurred to me that maybe if I hit the back button on the browser a few times, I could retrieve my work. Thankfully that worked and it was still there. I copied what I had written, and then published the post and all was good. Unfortunately, there was no back button for Rick Riorden and The Red Pyramid
. Now I know that Mr. Riorden's book is different from what I have going on in my mind, is aimed at a younger audience and might be a little lighter than what I had planned, and as The Wife of the Donist told me later that afternoon once I finally stopped crying that, "He does not hold the market on Egyptian gods. Stories about them have been around for a long time..."
"Yeah, possibly for more than one hundred years!" I said, hope blossoming in my eyes.
"Uh, yes. Definitely for more than one hundred years," she said dabbing the tears with a leaf that had fallen to the ground...which really made me itch bad btw...and pushing the concerned puppy aside.
"Okay, you're right. I can still do it. Do you think the Rick Riorden was hiding under the bridge yesterday, like some strange modernized troll from the Three Billy Goats Gruff? I mean, maybe he heard me, wrote his book, fast tracked it into publication and had it shipped via next day delivery to Amazon and Borders?"
"Shhhh, sweetie. Just drink your wine," she said.
Seriously though, I have a few other related ideas kicking around, whether I go with my original idea or not. We'll see, as it is still a ways off. I will, however, keep the ideas to myself and my lips zipped, because you never know....Rick Riorden might be listening.
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