Greetings, Loyal Reader!
Relative silence in this space the last few weeks, I know. But fear not! Amid the distractions travel and gainful employment, I have been plugging away at getting HERO WANTED ready for release. Over the last week or so I’ve been reviewing the galleys (page proofs) for the book — that is to say, I am for the first time reading the book as it will appear on the printed page, as opposed to reading my manuscript. It looks good! And this is pretty much the next to last step before we’re ready to print. So although I’m cutting it close (in the best Jason Cosmo tradition) the book is on track.
Well, I’ve got about 80 more pages to review, so I’ll get back to it!
Best regards,
Dan McGirt
Greetings, Loyal Reader!
For those of you on Facebook, I have opened a Dan McGirt fan page (they won’t let me call it a Loyal Reader page) which you are welcome to join. It has the feed from this Jason Cosmo Update blog and is also a place where you can meet and interact with other Loyal Readers (who are, I must say, a fine looking group!). No one has actually started a discussion there yet, but feel free to join and start a topic.
Best regards,
Dan McGirt
Greetings, Loyal Reader!
I’ll keep this short. Picture worth 1000 words and all that. The Hero Wanted cover is here!
Hero Wanted (2009)
Art by Richard Hescox. Design by Kris Tobiassen.
I think they did an awesome job. Hope you agree! Hero Wanted remains on track for August 2009 release from Trove Books.
Best regards,
Dan McGirt
Greetings, Loyal Reader!
Thanks for the comments from Original Loyal Reader (OLR) Tim and others. You’re right, Tim–”gold pieces” is maybe a little too old-school D&D. Not that there is anything wrong with that! So here is the final draft of the back cover of the forthcoming Trove Books edition of Hero Wanted:
WANTED: DEAD OR VERY DEAD
Jason Cosmo is perfectly happy as a humble woodcutter in the village of Lower Hicksnittle-until a foppish stranger tries to kill him, claiming there is a huge price on Jason’s head. Ten million gold carats is enough put Arden’s best–and worst–bounty hunters on his trail. It seems Jason has become the most feared man in the Eleven Kingdoms–which is news to Jason!
On the run from mercenaries, Demon Lords, and the full might of the sinister Dark Magic Society, Jason teams up with cynical wizard Mercury Boltblaster and winsome twins Sapphrina and Rubis to learn the truth.
Driven by the Laws of Narrative, Jason’s quest will take him from the bright realm of The Gods to the deadly depths of the Incredibly Dark Forest–and into a final confrontation with the forces of evil. Followed by another final confrontation. And then a sort of wrapping up loose ends scene. If he lives that long…
Hmm, sounds interesting…
Best regards,
Dan McGirt
Greetings, Loyal Reader!
A while ago we had a little fun at the expense of poor Cover Copy Guy, who had the daunting task of writing the text on the back cover of Jason Cosmo. The cover copy has to describe the book, somewhat summarize it without giving too much away, and most of all induce a would-be reader to buy the book — or at least be intrigued enough to open it and investigate further.
Not as easy as it sounds–even if you wrote the book! Read the rest of this entry »
Greetings, Loyal Reader!
As I already mentioned on Twitter, yesterday I received a digital scan of the finished cover art for Hero Wanted! Read the rest of this entry »
Greetings, Loyal Reader!
MILD SPOILER ALERT!
As I’ve explained previously, I hate spoilers. But some people like sneak previews of upcoming works–like, say Jason Cosmo: Hero Wanted, coming from Trove Books in August 2009–so today I present a micro-preview in the form of the first sentences of the first ten chapters of Hero Wanted:1 Read the rest of this entry »
Greetings, Loyal Reader!
I’ll mention once again that I am on Twitter, twittering away about Jason Cosmo, writing, and other topics of interest (to me, at least). The link is twitter.com/JasonCosmo
(Or, if you’re already hip to Twitter, I’m @JasonCosmo)
If you’ve been waiting for someone to validate the worth of my Twitter feed, then wait no more! @JasonCosmo was recently included on a list of Literary Tweets: 100+ of the Best Authors on Twitter! Read the rest of this entry »
Greetings, Loyal Reader!
Last post, I discussed Robert Asprin’s Myth Adventures Series as one of the inspirations for the Jason Cosmo series (both the original handwritten stories and the novels). Today I want to address a more basic matter of Jason Cosmo’s origin: his name. Read the rest of this entry »
Greetings, Loyal Reader!
In the last two posts, I revealed the influence of the comic strip Finieous Fingers on the original Jason Cosmo stories that I wrote in middle school and high school. Today I continue that theme by considering some of the influences and inspirations for the Jason Cosmo books.
Obviously, all of the epic and not-so-epic fantasy stories I read prior to 1987, along with movies, TV shows, comics, other pop culture, current events, history, mythology, and other reading that I absorbed went into the mix. It would be impossible to identify every influence on my early writing. But I can definitely recall and acknowledge a few authors that I particularly looked to as models when I was writing Jason Cosmo.
One was Robert Asprin, particularly for his Myth Adventures series chronicling the adventures (well, myth-adventures) of Aahz and Skeeve.
