I wanted to keep things as normal as possible for the trainees, so I led my usual morning class. I called it Magic Problem-Solving 101. The trainees called it Whatever Works.

A legacy that powerful does not disappear. Next to the Egyptians, the Greeks and Romans were babies. Our modern nations like Great Britain and America? Blinks of an eye...The very oldest root of civilization, at least of Western civilization, is Egypt. Look at the pyramid on the dollar bill. Look at the Washington Monument—the world’s largest Egyptian obelisk. Egypt is still.......very much alive.

All of my characters tend to be montages of different people I've met: little bits and pieces of their personalities put together.

I may be biased, but I think jackals are cute and cuddly, even if they were known for digging up graves in Ancient Egypt.

What horrible things would you have to do in your life to get woven into Hades's underwear?

You're cute when you're worried, your eyebrows get all scrunched together.

Leo Valdez deserved a special punishment," she [Khione] said. "I have sent him to a place from which he can never return.