Apollo was also revealed to have a tendency to brag about his previous accomplishments, particularly his victory over Python, to the point of embellishing it: though he told storytellers that he had vanquished Python with a single arrow the instant he arrived at its cave, the truth of the matter was that he had needed all of his godly strength, his divine powers, and his bow (which he described to be the deadliest bow in the world) to defeat Python, who had been "no pushover". In fact, the battle between Apollo and Python had been such that the former suffered from nightmares about the latter for centuries.

His adult fiction has won the top three national awards in the mystery genre – the Edgar, the Anthony and the Shamus. His short fiction has appeared in Mary Higgins Clark Mystery Magazine and Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine. When Leto was pregnant, Hera was furious with Zeus' unfaithfulness and forbade the Titan from giving birth on either the islands or mainlands. Fortunately, the floating Isle of Delos gave sanctuary to Leto, and through the help of all the goddesses, who begged Hera to allow Eileithyia (who's also her daughter) the goddess of childbirth, to come to Leto, she finally gave birth to the goddess Artemis and, nine days later, Apollo. A four-day-old Apollo petitioned Hephaestus for a golden bow and a set of arrows which he used to kill Python, a dragon that was previously sent by Hera to chase his mother, Leto. After his defeat of Python, Apollo established the Oracle of Delphi as recompense, for Python was the child of Gaea, and Gaea complained to Zeus about Apollo's act. He also established the Pythian Games and named his Oracle the Pythia, to honor his great foe. The Lightning Thief | The Sea of Monsters | The Titan's Curse | The Battle of the Labyrinth | The Last Olympian Rise of the RoboShoes by Tom Angleberger- This story was just silly. Not really to my taste but I can see how some kids (boys in particular) would enjoy it. 2 starsThe wonderful short story as usual focused on Percy and Grover and it was fun reading about him. I don't think that we would be getting a full-fledged series about Percy again so these snippets from his life are perfect. Shapeshifting: Apollo is capable of altering his appearance at will, shown when he transformed into his mortal alter-ego "Fred" in The Titan's Curse. He was later forcibly transformed by Zeus into the mortal teenager, Lester Papadopoulos, in The Hidden Oracle. Apollo respects his father as the king of the Olympians. However after becoming mortal for a third time, he starts to see the subtle abuse his father has put him through and questions his current opinion of him. Apollo first hears about the daughter of Bellona from Venus. When Apollo thinks she is pretty, Venus tells him to stay away from her. Later, when he comes to Camp Jupiter, Apollo recognizes her and is instantly attracted to her. At camp, Apollo acts very awkward around her and doesn’t really know what to say to her. Reyna helps Apollo with his quest to become a god again and tells him that he needs to sacrifice a god to summon one.

The Dirt on Our Shoes by Neil Shusterman is very much a older children's, early teen story about where a colony ship is about to land on it's destination planet. This was I really enjoyed, because it was thoughtful and insightful. But is was a bit simplistic in several ways that mark it as aimed at children. An adult may find a little bit too much to question in it. I really like it though. 3* Supernatural Sight: As the God of the Sun and Light, Apollo is able to see almost anything and anywhere during the day - he remarked in The Titan's Curse that he "saw a lot". Apollo's sister, Artemis, decides to hunt the Ophiotaurus, a powerful monster that has the power to bring down the gods and Olympus itself. Before Artemis leaves, she asks Apollo to take her Hunters and various demigods to Camp Half-Blood because this mission is too dangerous for them, although Zoë Nightshade wanted to come with her.That’s because the flow may feel disrupted with the short stories that are scattered throughout the timeline. As well, since Riordan was writing multiple series over the span of many years, there is overlap throughout the universe with events taking place at the same time. Some of the short stories are also hard to place within the timeline, because trying to line up seasons, ages, and events within the overall timeline with the main books can be challenging. Apollo is the only Olympian to share his name with his Roman aspect because, in his own words, "perfection can't be improved." In reality the god had no Roman equivalent and was instead imported into the Roman pantheon, his Greek name Ἀπόλλων ( Apóllōn) being Latinized as APOLLO ( Apollō). Hermes was said to have put his Winged Shoes on Apollo when he was sleeping in Athens but then woke up in Argentina in The Dark Prophecy. Apollo was believed to have won the first Olympic Games, established to honor Zeus' victory over Kronos and was originally a game for the gods, and he is said to have defeated Ares at boxing and Hermes at racing. Ever since then, the Ancient Greeks gave laurel branches as rewards to victors in honor of Apollo's success. After all, laurel was the holy tree of Apollo.