Greetings, Loyal Reader!
A while ago we had a little fun at the expense of poor Cover Copy Guy, who had the daunting task of writing the text on the back cover of Jason Cosmo. The cover copy has to describe the book, somewhat summarize it without giving too much away, and most of all induce a would-be reader to buy the book — or at least be intrigued enough to open it and investigate further.
Not as easy as it sounds–even if you wrote the book!
Yes, the shoe is on the other foot. My capable cover designer has received the artwork from Richard Hescox and will soon begin the cover design. The only thing missing is the cover copy, to be provided by yours truly. So I boldly go where Cover Copy Guy has gone before. Here is my first take:
WANTED: DEAD OR VERY DEAD
Jason Cosmo is perfectly happy to be a woodcutter in the village of Lower Hicksnittle until a bounty hunter claims there is a price on his head-ten million gold pieces! Jason is known as Arden’s Archvillain, the most feared man in the Eleven Kingdoms–which is news to Jason!
On the run from mercenaries, Demon Lords, and the full might of the sinister Dark Magic Society, Jason teams up with cynical wizard Mercury Boltblaster and winsome twins Sapphrina and Rubis to learn the truth.
Driven by the Laws of Narrative, Jason’s quest will take him from the bright realm of The Gods to the deadly depths of the Incredibly Dark Forest-and into a final confrontation with the forces of evil. Followed by another final confrontation. And then a sort of wrapping up loose ends scene. If he lives that long…
Your comments are welcome, Loyal Reader! Would this make you curious to read Hero Wanted if you knew nothing else about the book?
Best regards,
Dan McGirt
Instead of “gold pieces” how about “gold sovereigns” or “gold crowns” or some such? “Gold pieces” sounds like it was written by some dude who played too much D&D. Oh, yeah. Never mind.
I certainly hope at least one chapter (or all of them) begins with the “rosy fingers of dawn”.
Tim: Yeah, “gold pieces” actually bugs me too. In the original book it was “crowns.” In the new, I changed the currency to “carats” (from Caratha, get it?) but “ten million carats” would be a puzzler if you haven’t read the book yet. For the cover text I might put crowns anyway — even though that is now wrong. But only because I made it wrong. Very confusing!