Jason Cosmo: Hero Wanted Kindle Edition

Greetings, Loyal Reader!

Hero Wanted is now available in the Amazon Kindle Store, both US and UK.

The book is the same — the Hero Wanted ebook has been available at Smashwords since July 2009 — but it does have a crisp new look thanks to some custom formatting by ebookarchitects.  (Look for the wanted poster!) I hope Loyal Readers who are also Kindle owners will enjoy the newly formatted version.

In 2009 I released the Hero Wanted ebook free at Smashwords and kept it at free for one full year. As of today, more than 8600 people have downloaded Hero Wanted. ((Or perhaps one person has downloaded it 8600 times. That is always possible.))

More than 12,900 Loyal Readers downloaded the (no longer) free ebook at Barnes & Noble. Others grabbed it at Kobo.  or got one of the the *ahem!* many bootleg copies that seem to be available on file-sharing sites.

Hero Wanted is also available at the Apple iBookstore and via the Stanza ereader app for your iPhone. And probably a few other sources I can’t recall.

Whatever your preferred ebook flavor I should have you covered!

Best regards,

Dan McGirt

Jason Cosmo HERO WANTED: On Sale Soon!

SPECIAL ALERT! UPDATE: Forget what I said below:  You can pre-order Hero Wanted at BarnesandNoble.com!

Greetings, Loyal Reader!

A quick update on the Trove Books print edition of Hero Wanted. I have received the first copy from the printer.  It looks good. It looks real good. Right now it is the only copy in existence, so I take it with me everywhere!

However, copy #1 will soon be joined by many more. I’ve ordered a couple of cases of books to bring with me to Dragon*Con 2009 — where I will be a guest, appearing September 5-7 in Atlanta.  If you haven’t got your copy of Hero Wanted by Labor Day weekend, come to Dragon*Con. I’ll have one with your name on it!

After you pay for it, of course.

As for regular sales channels, right now I’m waiting for data about Hero Wanted‘s availability to migrate out to booksellers. Until a book shows up in their computers, it doesn’t really exist, unfortunately.  I hope Hero Wanted will be included in the data stream by the beginning of August — at which point it will be available for purchase from Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, and other online booksellers or through your local bricks-and-mortar bookstore.

Believe me — I’ll let you know as soon as that happens! Until then, keep watching the skies.

Best regards,

Dan McGirt

Jason Cosmo and the Hobgoblins of Consistency

Greetings, Loyal Reader!

Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote that “a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.” I’m sure this quote never quite meant to me what Emerson intended, because I always picture cantankerous D&D hobgoblins saying foolish things and clubbing people who disagree with them.

What has this to do with Jason Cosmo? As any reader of an ongoing fantasy, science fiction, detective, or other series knows, eventually even the most careful author will contradict him- or herself regarding the established facts of the fictional world.  In Book 1, Throndor the Barbarian was an only child, but in Book 7 he recalls hunting spider bears with his brothers back in the day.  And don’t get me started on Star Trek.

Sometimes these contradictions are on minor points, sometimes they go to the fundamental logic of the fictional world. When I was a much, much younger reader such errors or illogic tended to bother me. I can nitpick with the best of them. However, many years of reading superhero comics pretty much beat that out of me. ((Jason Todd Robin came back to life because Superboy Prime punched reality.  Uh … okay.)) I learned to stop worrying and love the retcon.  Actually, I think the old Marvel Comics No-Prize was the coolest response to apparent errors:  “We made a mistake? No, no.  It may look like a mistake, but there is actually a good explanation. That one of our readers will provide.”

Having now authored a fantasy series myself, I am much more forgiving of the apparent errors made by other authors. When you’re making up the entire history, culture, commerce, etc. of a world on the fly, it is hard to keep everything straight. I maintain a timeline of Arden’s history and the events of each book, and I have uploaded notes to the Cosmopedia — but even that may not be internally consistent.

My real-world explanation of any errors is that I’m only human. With the addtional caveat that, Jason Cosmo being a humorous adventure, I will sometimes deliberately sacrifice logic or consistency for the sake of a joke.

But the in-continuity explanation for the inevitable errors that will arise as we go forward? That’s part of the fun! I hope that as I continue to chronicle Jason Cosmo’s adventure, that the characters and world will be engaging and interesting enough that Loyal Readers will actually find details worth nitpicking or debating. Just assume that any apparent mistakes are on purpose — even if that purpose is yet to be revealed!

Best regards,

Dan McGirt

Blurb Jason Cosmo!

Greetings, Loyal Reader!

You know those blurbs you find on books that are intended to make you think that this book is super-awesome because Famous Author X says so?  Like —“This book scared me.” — Stephen King or “A real page turner.” — John Grisham.

I probably won’t have many of those on the new edition of Jason Cosmo: Hero WantedContinue reading

Fantasy Women of Fantasy

Sapphrina and Rubis Corundum

Greetings, Loyal Reader. So one occasional complaint from some of my female friends who also happen to be Loyal Readers themselves is that there aren’t any strong female characters for them to identify with in Jason Cosmo. Continue reading

Welcome to the Jason Cosmo Update

Greetings, Loyal Reader! You’ve found your way to the new and improved Jason Cosmo Update!

This is the place to come for all the latest news about the Jason Cosmo fantasy adventure series.

If you are a longtime Loyal Reader you have already met reluctant hero Jason Cosmo, the sullen wizard Mercury Boltblaster, sultry twins Sapphrina and Rubis, radiant Queen Raella and many other denizens of the Eleven Kingdoms.

If you have not entered the Cosmoverse before–despair not! You’ve arrived just in time. Continue reading