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Origins of Boltblaster

Greetings, Loyal Readers!

First, it is good to be back. The Jason Cosmo Update was knocked offline for a while by evil-doers. I suspect the Dark Magic Society.

I am currently working on the long- long- long-awaited book Boltblaster, which reveals the origins and early years of Jason Cosmo’s friend, the wizard Mercury Boltblaster. The earliest stirrings of this book date back to 1990 which, I know, is longer than some Loyal Readers have been alive! In the next few posts I’ll discuss just why this book has taken so long to write. In part, that statement is an illusion, but all will be revealed! And I’ll update you on where things stand now.

Continue reading →

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Jason Cosmo Confusion

Greetings, Loyal Reader!

As I close in on finishing my first draft of Royal Crush, I took a break to do a little Cosmoverse maintenance.

I labeled the books Jason Cosmo and Royal Chaos as the “Cosmo Non-Trilogy” on Amazon (I haven’t released Dirty Work there yet for lack of cover art … which I hope to remedy.) and added a “From the Author” note on each book’s Amazon page to try to dispel confusion about the old series vs. new series.

I also took an hour or so to untangle the messy classification of the Jason Cosmo books on Goodreads. There I labeled Jason Cosmo, Royal Chaos, and Dirty Work as “Jason Cosmo original series” (eschewing my jokey “Non-Trilogy” label there in favor of maximum clarity) and marked Hero Wanted and Noble Cause as #1 and #2 of the “Jason Cosmo” series.

Longtime Loyal Readers know I took a do-over and rebooted the series with Hero Wanted but I can see how a new reader might read the book Jason Cosmo, then pick up Hero Wanted and think “What is McGirt trying to pull here, writing the same book over and over. Who does he think he is – Dan Brown?”

My original plan on releasing Hero Wanted in 2009 was to drop the original series down the memory hole. But some Loyal Readers wanted the originals in ebook form too! So I reconsidered and gave the Non-Trilogy a pardon from oblivion.

I knew confusion among newcomers would be the price of that decision, so I do have to patrol this issue from time to time. This latest burst of activity was triggered by a question from a new Loyal Reader about how all the books fit together and which order to read them in.

I hereby decree that Jason Cosmo and Hero Wanted are two different books telling the same story … just like there are many books telling the same story of King Arthur, Robin Hood, and other legendary figures! The original series ended with Dirty Work. The current series marches on!

If you already understand the Non-Trilogy/Current Series distinction – congratulations! You’re a hardcore Loyal Reader, part of the “in” crowd, and really could have skipped this entire post…but thanks for reading anyway!

If you’re a new Loyal Reader…welcome! There is a more extensive explanation of this mess on my Non-Trilogy page.

Best regards,

Dan McGirt

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Smashwords Summer Sale until July 31

Greetings, Loyal Reader!

Noble Cause (2010) by Dan McGirt

July means the Smashwords Summer Ebook Sale is here again (or Winter Sale for Loyal Readers in the Southern Hemisphere). Yes, you truly can beat the heat with an ebook–try fanning yourself with a Kindle! Works pretty well, huh? Just don’t get too close to the pool.

As usual, several of my titles are included in the summer (or, again, winter) sale fun:

25% off (enter code SSW25 at checkout to get your discount)

50% off (enter code SSW50 at checkout to get your discount)

100% off … yeah, FREE!

Only at Smashwords, only until July 31!  If you’ve already bought these books — Thank you! To share the fun, please leave a review and/or recommend to a friend.

Best regards,

Dan McGirt

 

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Jason Cosmo Omnibus ebook now at Smashwords

Greetings, Loyal Reader!

I recently released an omnibus ebook edition of the original Jason Cosmo Non-Trilogy. This ebook includes the original texts of Jason Cosmo, Royal Chaos, and Dirty Work. The Jason Cosmo Omnibus is currently available at Smashwords in multiple formats, for your Kindle, Nook, iPad, iPhone, Sony reader, Kobo  or other preferred device. Soon to be available at other ebook retailers.

Jason Cosmo Omnibus book cover

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Granted, if you’ve already read the original series, you may have no need for this Omnibus. But if you don’t already have the ebooks and want to dive right in to the classic version of the series, here you go!

Best Regards,

Dan McGirt

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Jason Cosmo comes to the Kindle

Greetings, Loyal Reader!

A quick note to let you know that the Trove Books Kindle edition of JASON COSMO is now available at Amazon.

To remind you, this is an ebook of the original text of JASON COSMO, as first published in 1989 (with minor corrections).  HERO WANTED is the revised version of this book. So if you’ve read one, you don’t need to read the other. Unless you want to. In which case, please do. I don’t mind anyone reading both the old and new versions of this book, but I don’t want anyone to buy JASON COSMO thinking it is a brand new story. Not a mistake longtime Loyal Readers are likely to make, but newer readers may be confused. So I hope to dispel confusion here.

Again — JASON COSMO, original version. HERO WANTED, new version.

Read both if you want, but please read responsibly!

Best regards,

Dan McGirt

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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

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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

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Hero Wanted ebook, soon no longer a free book

Greetings, Loyal Reader!

On July 18, 2009, I uploaded the Jason Cosmo: HERO WANTED to Smashwords as a free ebook. My initial intention was to offer the ebook as a free download only until the HERO WANTED print edition was released in August 2009. The goal was twofold:

  • A thank you to long-suffering, infinitely patient Loyal Readers who had been waiting for another Jason Cosmo adventure since 1993
  • Make it easy and painless for potential new readers to try Jason Cosmo.

For many and various reasons, I delayed charging for the HERO WANTED ebook. But the time is soon approaching when the free ride will end, as all good things must. Specifically, I’ll be adding a price tag on July 18, 2010, the one-year anniversary of the ebook release.

What does this mean for you, Loyal Reader? It means if you haven’t downloaded the free HERO WANTED ebook, what are you waiting for? You’ve had a whole year and now you’ve got one week left to get it for free!

(As for why I’m suddenly going to start charging for the ebook, the less said the better, but it involves a slight misunderstanding with the Russian mob and an unpleasant chap named Bruno. I really don’t want to talk about it.)

This does not mean I won’t be offering other fiction for free in the future–I definitely will be. In fact, I’ve got several free stories available right now:

And you can sample the first two chapters of the forthcoming Jason Cosmo sequel, NOBLE CAUSE here on JasonCosmo.com.

But if you haven’t yet grabbed the HERO WANTED ebook, do it now!

Best regards,

Dan McGirt

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Twinkle: second excerpt

Greetings, Loyal Reader!

Below is the second excerpt from my vampire mini-epic Twinkle, coming March 1 as a free Smashwords ebook. Vampires my way!  If you haven’t read the first excerpt yet, go read that first. This picks up with the very next line:

“I dream about you when I sleep, except I don’t sleep. I just lie awake thinking about you. Or texting my friends about you. Sometimes, late at night, I update my Facebook profile to say how much I miss you and that I’m thinking about you. And then I write poems about you in my LiveJournal.”
“Yes, I’ve read some of those,” said Edmund. “You don’t pay attention in English class either, do you?”
“I can’t! Maybe I should set my LJ to private, but I don’t care. I don’t care, Edmund! I don’t care who knows how I feel because I want everyone to know how I feel about you because it’s how I feel about you and everyone should care.”
“About?”
“How I feel about you!”
“Right.”
“Oh, Edmund, you’re so sparkly and gorgeous and moody. I want to be with you forever!”
His tourmaline eyes flickered red. “Do you really mean that?”
“Yes. I want to spend every second with you until the end of time! I have this aching, longing, yearning, indescribable need to be with you that I can’t even describe.”
“I think you just did.”
“It fills me, Edmund! My need to be with you constantly, always, forever. It fills me up. It makes me ache and tingle and ties my stomach in a knot and sometimes I just throw up on myself because I love you so much!”
“A lovely image,” said Edmund. “But, listen, Stella—”
She knit her brow in confusion. “Listen? What does that mean?”
Edmund sighed. “It means you stop talking and I say something.” He cupped her face in his hands and stared deeply into her chocolate chip eyes. “It mean you use these cute ears of yours for once.”
“I record myself reading the poems I write about you and then I upload the recordings to my iPod and I listen to them while I curl up in a ball under the dining room table because I miss you so much.”
“Not what I meant. Stella, this is important. Do you really want to be with me forever? Do you even know what that means?”
“I do, Edmund,” she said breathlessly. “I do know.”

More to come …

Best regards,

Dan McGirt

 

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Twinkle: an excerpt

Greetings, Loyal Reader!

Here is an excerpt from my vampire mini-novel Twinkle, coming March 1 at Smashwords:

Twinkle, Oregon

Twilight’s last gleaming fell softly through the mist between the trees. Sinuous fingers of fog caressed the upright shafts and trailed teasingly through the underbrush. The sun plunged into the wet darkness of the rolling sea. Above, parting clouds exposed a full, round, ripe, pale moon heaving upward into the night sky. Its tender light groped downward to find a young couple in a forest clearing, clutched in a tight embrace, their lips melded together in a deep and passionate kiss. They broke apart.
“Oh, Edmund!” said Stella, gasping. “Sometimes I think I’ll suffocate from kissing you! It’s like you never need air.”
“Sorry,” said Edmund. He smiled apologetically. “Sometimes you make me forget to breathe.”
Stella grinned. “When you put it like that, I don’t mind at all. Oh, Edmund, I love you so much!”
“And I love—”
“I mean, I really, really, deeply, completely love you with every single part of me from my head to my toes.”
“I feel the—”
“I mean every single molecule of me loves you! Every atom! Every one of those sub-atomic thingies that Mr. Flagg talks about in science class but I don’t really know what they are because I spend the whole class staring at you or passing notes to Callie about how much I love you or writing your name on my notebook.”
“I know,” said Edmund. He ran his fingers through her stringy brown hair. “Stella, you have—”
“When I’m with you, I don’t care about anything else! Not school or shopping for clothes or feeding the dog or talking to my family or even the Jonas brothers.”
“Good to know.”
“And when I’m not with you, all I think about is you. How you look. How you move. How you sound. How you smell.” She inhaled deeply. “I’m so drawn to your scent. Does that seem weird?”
“I tried that Axe body spray, so no.”

[Continued here …]

You can see where this is going. Or can you? BWA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!

Best regards,

Dan McGirt