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.

This series is one of my favorites. I think the first four or five volumes, maybe more, had been published at the time I was writing Jason Cosmo.  Since my book was in the same approximate “humorous fantasy” genre, I studied Asprin’s books carefully for things like how long chapters should be and overall pacing. Another thing I liked was his masterful use of dialogue not only for humor, but to move the action along.

I was fortunate to meet Mr. Asprin (I’m sure he would hate me calling him that. Okay: “Bob”) at the first con I attended, shortly after Jason Cosmo was released. He was as hilarious in person as he was in print, and was quick to welcome me to the ranks of published authordom. I appreciated his encouragement and advice. As fans of his work know, he went into a long hiatus (not quite as long as mine) emerging in recent years with new Myth books and other works, many co-authored with Jody Lynn Nye.  Bob Asprin passed away suddenly on May 22, 2008–another sad loss of a writer who not only entertained, but inspired me.

If you enjoyed my Jason Cosmo books and by some bizarre and inexplicable circumstance have never read the Myth series, I utterly recommend them. Even if you have read them, they’re well worth reading again!

Best regards,

Dan McGirt