Chapter 101 | "Eeew!" [Bonus!]

It has been a couple of weeks since Ian met with Steven, the publisher at Actus Books. Ever since then, Ian had two-three more meetings with Steven, before the marketing of the new arrival happened.

At the time while Actus Books were busy reviewing the book written by Ian, he rested and thought of his next move. He even started typing the script—and he knew that people would love the next movie he had in mind.

Considering that, he took a small break away from work, and focused on scriptwriting and his fiction.

During those meetings, they discussed the plot and things that Steven suggested editing in the first draft. Some minor changes were acceptable for Ian, but for some others, Ian insisted on not changing them.

Ian and Steven had to talk and negotiate the deal regarding royalties too. After a long discussion about all the necessary details, they let Ian get 7.5% royalties on every paperback sold, and 25% on every Ebook sold. The deal was fair for both parties and Ian thought it was good too.

Nevertheless, after a light promotion campaign, the day Percy Jackson: The Lighting Thief hit shelves was finally here.

"The cover did a great deal, it looks absolutely stunning, and exactly as how I imagined it to be," Ian said touching the first book of the first edition which he received a few days ago.

Steven who sat in front of Ian in Ian's office had a smile plastered on his face. "I'm so glad we agreed upon it, and this time, people from everywhere are literally stunned to read the new book. The website is full of orders overseas more than here. And, the reviews itself are already good and over a hundred in the first three hours," Steven said while scrolling through his digital tablet.

Ian chuckled knowing what he was talking about. It was because, as soon as the promotion campaign was out, people had pre-ordered copies and a major part of Ian being a young and famous director played in the fame of the new book.

Either way, the cover itself attracted a lot of readers, and everyone knew it on the very first day that the cover designer brought the design in. It was a kid, who held a long stick in the air, preparing to throw it afar. The background was in blue, as Ian requested, but the lightning strikes, the environment, and everything else looked too good to be true.

Ever since the release of the words, people were commenting on how talented Ian is, writing his own movies and also taking part in the world of fiction.

During the marketing campaign, almost every local bookstore had a banner of Percy Jackson's book, in front of the stores. As for the book release, Steven had requested Ian to hold a small ceremony, but Ian said that he'd hold one on his next reveal, and since the book was being released in some sort of a hurry, he said it would be fine even if there's no ceremony to celebrate it.

Regardless, the media has been going crazy about the book release, and people were in front of Renner Studio— more than the usual amount, waiting to get replies from the most awaited questions.

"The book itself has a unique touch, Ian. I'm sure this book could quickly reach the number one New York Times best-selling book list," Steven said and stood up to walk out of the door, knowing times would just get busy since it was the first day of the release. "I already have four interviews by different channels ready, three of them are from UTube, and trust me I never knew Americans could get this keen about books," Steven joked.

"Haha… Waiting for it, I'll be reading reviews since already more than a thousand people have left them on the website," Ian said and took a look at them.

"Enjoy, see you again," Steven shook hands with Ian and walked out of the door.

Ian opened the laptop and checked the website. Not just people, popular authors had reviewed the book as per the request of Actus Books.

@IamLM_Frizez

An amazing mythology book. One of the best I've read so far.

@Liana_Christian

As a children's fantasy author, I find this book very interesting as a journey/adventure. I think this could be named one of the best books to ever exist.

@Aiyana_Mark

The best book I've read. Took me just two hours.

Seeing the little reviews that popular authors had commented on, Ian felt satisfaction and pride covering his heart. It was in fact wholesome on another level. During Resident Evil, since he was not on the main list of authors, no one had paid this much attention and interest. But this time, the release took the entire book to another level—considering the fact, that it was original and unique.

New notification * New Mail: JessSanson@mailo.com

Ian opened the email in the next second, and he read the three lines which had an unexpected meeting request wanting to be confirmed to schedule it within the next forty-eight hours.

-

"Happy birthday to you!

Happy birthday to you!

Happy birthday dear Bob Bob!

Happy birthday to you!"

Bob Sanders blew on the candles which had a 1 and a 2. He wished for something he wanted for years.

'I wish that I could get my own book library at least this year,' he thought to himself and blew the candles.

"Happy birthday, kiddo," his father walked towards him with a smile and hugged patting the kid's back.

After that, his mother, and then his two siblings wished him a happy birthday with giant smiles plastered on their faces.

"Happy birthday Bobby!" His best friend wished him, and Bob fed him a piece of cake while his friend hugged him tightly. "For many more years to come," he said and walked away.

His other six guy friends wished him afterwards.

This was the second time he was celebrating his birthday with friends. Bob was someone who had a family who moved from place to place a lot.

But much to his surprise, they stayed in Las Vegas for over two years now.

Due to his family situation, he had always been an introvert. Which was, inviting friends was his mom's idea—even when he insisted on inviting his one and only best friend.

"Are you feeling happy?" His mom questioned when everyone else was eating.

"I'm always happy, mom, I would've felt happy even if Rick was the only one present today," Bob said and continued to eat the piece of chocolate cake which was in his hand.

"Gift opening time!" His father shouted across the whole, making all the kids arrange a circle around him.

Bob walked toward them and his father started to record his reactions to the gifts that everyone brought.

There were more than ten gifts on the table, which he stood to the left—and every one of them looked absolutely stunning from the outer cover.

'I wish this ended up soon, I just wanna sleep' Bob thought as everyone else clapped and encouraged him to open the gifts.

"Open the gift by one, purple wrapper!" His father shouted behind the camera.

He opened the wrapper slowly, and it was a huge puzzle, which contained many more puzzles.

[... Bob - In his bed]

He took the book to his hand, Percy Jackson: The Lightning Thief.

The gift was given by one of his friends, who revealed that 'my mom told me to give it to you considering the book is about some greek mythology. I think it's similar to you in person because we don't understand you sometimes, which is equal to greek to us,' the tallest kid in the group admitted while Bob was going to open the book.

After thinking about it several more times, Bob opened the book. A thought which invaded Bob's mind was how beautiful the cover itself is. Turning the pages, he inhaled the scene from the book.

The night crept in and his eyes wandered over the words of the book. It became addictive and ever since the first sentence, the character of Percy got interesting for Bob to know more about him.

_/\_

"Titan," I corrected myself. "And ... he didn't trust his kids, who were the gods. So, um, Kronos ate them, right? But his wife hid baby Zeus, and gave Kronos a rock to eat instead. And later, when Zeus grew up, he tricked his dad, Kronos, into barfing up his brothers and sisters—"

"Eeew!" said one of the girls behind me.

"—and so there was this big fight between the gods and the Titans," I continued, "and the gods won."

Some snickers from the group.

_/\_

"Ahahaha" Bob laughed loudly, and read the same line over and over again. It was hilarious to imagine being in that sort of a situation.

'Oh my word, I'm so gonna read this throughout the night,' Bob thought and turned to the next page.

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