As if we didn’t have enough excitement around here with Pahua and the Soul Stealer on the horizon, we need to start talking about The Cursed Carnival and Other Calamities!
We’re going to share some excerpts from this anthology over the next few weeks, but we thought we’d start with Rick’s intro, as it’s quite inviting. Seriously, after reading this, we’re desperate for an invitation to the Multiverse Mansion. Just think of the party games. The scavenger hunt alone would be epic.
Welcome to the Multiverse Mansion
Imagine a Multiverse Mansion in which all the heroes of Rick Riordan Presents exist together. Think of it as like the Hotel Valhalla, only even bigger and stranger (in the best possible way).
You unlock one door and find yourself on an adventure with Aru Shah, solving riddles and zapping snakes with lightning bolts in the Grove of True Love. You unlock another door, and you’re on a field trip with Gum Baby to the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum, which might be fun—except for a cantankerous ghost who’s causing all sorts of trouble. You unlock a third door, and you are side by side with Paola Santiago, searching for magical meat flowers to cure her sick chupacabra puppy, Bruto. And we will do anything to help our chupacabra puppies!
The book you’re holding right now is that multiverse mansion. All your favorite authors from the Rick Riordan Presents imprint have contributed stories about heroes on fantastic adventures—myths remixed for modern readers. I’ve contributed one, too—my very first foray into the wild world of Celtic mythology! This book offers ten doorways into adventure—ten stories that offer chills, thrills, and lots of laugh-of-loud moments from across the mythological spectrum.
It’s impossible to pick a favorite. I got to see Sikander Aziz wielding Abubu, the sky-cleaving sword (magic shovel?) of Gilgamesh. I got to hang out with Riley Oh and her witch clan friends at the Gifted Carnival, which was awesome until an evil spirit from the Hell of Infinite Ice crashed the party. I got to see Sal and Gabi again, along with their class-nine AI toilet friend Vorágine, as they dealt with stray unicorns, prank-universe versions of themselves, and the ever-present threat of the dreaded chicken universe. The beauty of this anthology is that you don’t have to choose. In a single book, you get to see a bunch of your favorite heroes in new adventures, and you’ll meet some new friends as well.
So go ahead and insert your master key, demigods. Zane Obispo has a cave of doom to show you, with countless horrors like reptilian doppelgangers and human tourists. Jun and Min, galactic fox spirits, are back in their first adventure for the Thousand Worlds’ Domestic Security Ministry . . . except it’s not quite the mission they were expecting. Nizhoni Begay wants to take you to the All-Nations Assembly powwow, which should be a nice break from monster-hunting . . . unless, of course, monsters show up. I’ve got to be honest—some of these situations, I’m not sure how even Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase would handle them!
I hope you guys enjoy your trip through the multiverse mansion as much as I did. The real danger is that once you start exploring all the wonders herein, you may want to stay forever.
—Rick Riordan
