Royal Crush and Other News

Greetings, Loyal Reader!

Hero Wanted (2009)

Hero Wanted (2009)

Happy 2014! I know, it is already March, but this is my first update of the year. I’ve been busy writing new stuff for you…and still am! So let me give you a quick update on what I’ve been up to.

  • ROYAL CRUSH: The third volume of the rebooted Jason Cosmo series, following HERO WANTED and NOBLE CAUSE, opens with Jason and the twins Sapphrina and Rubis in Rae City to attend the Royal Wedding of Queen Raella and the wizard Mercury Boltblaster. A joyous occasion! Which, of course, will soon go horribly, horribly wrong. ROYAL CRUSH is a revised version of my 1990 book Royal Chaos. I am revising line by line, keeping the gist of the original story, but adding new details and perhaps a new twist or two to keep longtime Loyal Readers on your toes. Just before composing this post, I finished the first draft of Chapter 17. (I think there will be 30 chapters in all.) This is going faster than NOBLE CAUSE because I am working from an existing text. I don’t want to put a definite release date out there, but I expect to be done with the principal writing before the end of March. That leaves editing, proofreading, formatting and cover art to be done in April. So ROYAL CRUSH may be ready for a May release … but that is only an estimate right now! I will keep you posted on my progress. I am reporting the completion of each chapter on Facebook (Dan McGirt Page) and Twitter (@JasonCosmo), so follow me there for the very latest updates.
  • BOLTBLASTER: I’ll hit pause on the main Jason Cosmo series after I finish ROYAL CRUSH and turn next to the long-awaited BOLTBLASTER, the story of Mercury Boltblaster’s early years. More to say on this later — one book at at time! But I can report this book is already under way. I wrote a prologue, three chapters, and a detailed synopsis more than 20 years ago. I pulled these files from the archives recently… and they hold up pretty well! BOLTBLASTER will be fun and I can’t wait to get to it!
  • COVER ART: I recently had a good meeting with a very talented fantasy illustrator to discuss covers for several Jason Cosmo titles. Specifically, we talked about Rainy Daze and Dirty Work, both of which have sad text-only covers prepared by me using Microsoft Publisher back in 2009. That was barely okay then, but I want to get both of these ebooks into wider distribution on Amazon, Apple, etc. so they need professional cover art. I don’t like to name names until the deal is done, but Talented Artist has some good ideas and I think you’re going to like the new covers.
  • COSMOPEDIA:  The Cosmopedia is my online reference to the Jason Cosmo universe (or Cosmoverse), also available for you to browse. It unavoidably involves some mild spoilers if you haven’t read the books, so be warned. I recently finished a page-by-page push through HERO WANTED, updating and adding entries to the Cosmopedia, so check it out while you wait for the next book!
  • MAILING LIST: I’ve launched a Dan McGirt News mailing list, so sign up to get an email alert when a new book is available. All I need is your name (which can be an alias…) and email address. I will not rent out, sell, mangle or otherwise misuse your email address and promise not to spam you. I’ll let you know when a new book is out, or other major news (like if there were ever a movie deal…) but I won’t be cluttering your inbox every day. I’ve got books to write! SIGN UP FOR THE MAILING LIST HERE.

That’s the news from the Eleven Kingdoms!

Best regards,

Dan McGirt

Dirty Work Cover Art Mystery – SOLVED!

Greetings, Loyal Reader!

One of the greatest mysteries of the Cosmoverse was recently solved.  For more than a decade I have been on a quest — well, an occasional quest — to learn who painted the cover illustration for the 1992 Roc edition of Dirty Work. Now, at last, the answer is revealed!

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Sarah Palin: Vampire Hunter New Cover!

Greetings, Loyal Reader!

Here is the finished Sarah Palin: Vampire Hunter cover by Brian Denham. In celebration, get the ebook for only 99 cents through Halloween with this coupon code: JH95N.

Sarah Palin: Vampire Hunter

Sarah Palin: Vampire Hunter

Best regards,

Dan McGirt

Sarah Palin: Vampire Hunter art by Brian Denham

Greetings, Loyal Reader!

It’s here at last — new cover art for Sarah Palin: Vampire Hunter by comic book artist Brian Denham.

This just hit my in-box a few hours ago. This isn’t the finished cover, but I wanted to share the art with you. What do you think?

Sarah Palin: Vampire Hunter

Sarah Palin: Vampire Hunter

I think Brian did a great job! The slightly crazed look in Governor Palin’s eyes is uncanny.

Check out more of Brian’s work at:

BrianDenham.com

www.danerot.deviantart.com

If you do like the picture, Loyal Readers, please let him know! I’m sure he’d love to hear from you:

Facebook.com/BrianDenham

Twitter.com/BrianDenham

And look for more Sarah Palin: Vampire hunter in early 2011!

Best regards,

Dan McGirt

New Sarah Palin: Vampire Hunter Cover by Brian Denham

[UPDATE: See Brian Denham’s cover for my ebook Sarah Palin: Vampire Hunter at Amazon or at Smashwords]

Greetings,  Loyal Reader!

Many of you have read my satirical novella, Sarah Palin: Vampire Hunter — and many more have not.  I’ve been pleased by the good response to the story and want to relaunch SPVH for a wider audience. To do that, I need a brand new righteously cool cover. To get it, I went to comic book artist Brian Denham.

You may be familiar with Brian Denham’s work on the Angel comic from IDW.  His credits also include: The X-Files, StarCraft, Iron Man: Hypervelocity, Nova, and Avengers. He is a Lucasfilm approved artist whose work was featured during the 30th Anniversary of Star Wars. He has contributed art to several Star Wars sketch card sets.

A talented artist, to be sure, and his Buffyverse and X-Files work means he knows from drawing vampires.

But can he handle Sarah Palin? In particular, a gun-toting, action-adventure, vampire-blasting Sarah Palin?

Yes, he can.

What convinced me Brian Denham was perfect for the job was his cover (and inside poster) for the Antarctic Press one-shot Sarah Palin: Rogue Warrior.  Palin, guns, Spandex–yeah, that pretty much covers it. After reading the issue, I got in touch with Brian and was delighted when he agreed to take on the SPVH project.

(Incidentally, he has yet another Sarah Palin-themed project coming from Antarctic this fall: providing the cover for Steampunk Palin. I hope he doesn’t get typecast!)

Anyway, the latest word from Brian is that the cover will be finished soon. I’ll be sure to share it with Loyal Readers as soon as I get it!

Best regards,

Dan McGirt

Jason Cosmo Cover Story

Greetings, Loyal Reader!

Three artists have provided cover illustrations for the Jason Cosmo books published to date. For the U.S. editions, the Jason Cosmo and Royal Chaos covers were painted by noted fantasy artist Richard Hescox. I love these covers! Let’s look at the Jason Cosmo cover:

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