Royal Crush

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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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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

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Jason Cosmo: Royal Crush Update

Greetings, Loyal Reader!

As I mentioned last week, the next book I will release in the Jason Cosmo series is Royal Crush (a revised edition of Royal Chaos).

In the next few weeks, I expect to be done with the still-not-yet-named media tie-in Secret Project I’ve been writing the last few months. (Again, I’d love to tell you more, but the timing of a public announcement is not up to me on this one.)

So, right after the 4th of July weekend, if not sooner, I’ll be diving into Royal Crush full-time.

The rest of this post is process talk, for those who might be interested. Because Royal Crush is a revision of an existing book, I won’t have to spend much time on dreaming up plot or characters — the basic story will follow the outline of Royal Chaos.

So what will change? What makes this a revised version? Most of the changes in this digital remastering will come under one of four headings:

  1. Correct errors: horror of horrors,  a few slipped through into the published version of Royal Chaos. I’ll fix those. (While no doubt adding new errors. So it goes.)
  2. Better writing: I’m a better writer than I was in 1988-89 when I wrote Royal Chaos. I’ll go through line by line and revise any sentence, paragraph or scene that needs it to my 2013 eye. Tighten the prose, stamp out passive voice, banish excessive adverbs, improve awkward constructions, etc.
  3. Harmonize: I will add or alter details in Royal Crush as needed to be consistent with lore and events previously established in Hero Wanted and Noble Cause — and to fit with what is coming in future volumes!
  4. New Scenes: I will very likely add a few new scenes, possibly even a new chapter, to the story. That way, even if you’ve read Royal Chaos, you’ll get some all-new never-before-seen action with Royal Crush.

There you have it, my plan of action for Royal Crush. But there is one more preliminary step I have to take before I can really dig in — I’ve got a little version control problem to solve.

Until recently, my only electronic version of Royal Chaos was the “final” version of the file I printed out and mailed – in a box! – to my publisher back in 1989. In the intervening years, every so often, I’d open a copy of the file and make little spot edits and revisions, more for my own amusement than anything else, as this was way before the Ebook Era.

But note — what I was editing was the version I mailed off to the publisher, not the post-editing as-published text (which I only had in print).

More recently, I scanned a print copy of Royal Chaos, cleaned up the file, and published an ebook version. So now I had an electronic version of the published text of Royal Chaos — and from time to time over the last two or three years, I’ve made edits to a copy of that file — more or less forgetting about the first file.

Two different sets of changes to two slightly different base texts. Oops!

So step one, before I get to my 4-point plan, is to “compare documents” and merge these two versions of Royal Chaos into one starting text that I will, over the next few months, transform into Royal Crush.

More than you wanted to know? If so, pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.

Stay tuned!

Best regards,

Dan McGirt

 

 

 

 

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What’s Next for Jason Cosmo

Greetings, Loyal Reader!

If you haven’t read my Really Big Announcement at DanMcGirt.com go check that out first, because I don’t want to repeat myself here.

Back?

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Jason Cosmo: From Royal Chaos to Royal Crush

Greetings, Loyal Reader!

Happy 2013! I trust you enjoyed the holiday season. Before I go on, thank you for your support in 2012. It was the best year for sales of the Jason Cosmo books so far, and I also appreciate the positive reviews, comments, and other messages I received from many of you last year.

Later this year, I will — at last — publish the next book in the Jason Cosmo series, Royal Crush.

DM_RoyalChaos

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Dash: Into Space! at DanMcGirt.com

Greetings, Loyal Reader!

A quick program note. While I work on Royal Crush–to be book 3 of the Jason Cosmo series–I am also writing a new and different book: Dash: Into Space! An alien abduction comedy. I have posted previews of the first couple of chapters at DanMcGirt.com, and will have additional previews in the coming weeks. So please check it out.

Best regards,

Dan McGirt

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Jason Cosmo: Royal Crush

Greetings, Loyal Reader!

Goddess RaeI am pleased to announce the title of the next Jason Cosmo novel, Book 3 in the series, will be…ROYAL CRUSH.

Royal Crush will be a revised version of my 1990 book Royal Chaos. I’ve decided to continue with new titles for the new versions of the books to more clearly distinguish them from the classic Non-Trilogy versions.

I’ve begun preliminary work on the book, which consists of reading through Royal Chaos and making notes. Expect Royal Crush to be released later this year.

Best regards,

Dan McGirt