Tuscaloosa Author, Journalist Publishes Eighth Adventure Novel

NORTHPORT, AL. — Veteran photojournalist Gary Cosby Jr. has forged a successful, award-winning career as a storyteller, becoming a well-known commodity across the state for his ability to capture the human condition through his lens and words. But it was only in recent years that the ace photographer and columnist for the Tuscaloosa News branched out into the realm of fiction.

It's a difficult jump for many writers to make, in an increasingly-digital world where fewer and fewer make time to read lengthy literary works. Selling millions of books might by ideal, but for Cosby, he has maintained a simple mission while churning out eight full-length novels and hammering out plans for more.

"In fact, as I developed the idea to do these novels, it quickly popped into my mind that I could create sort of a heritage for my kids," Cosby said in an interview with Patch, before saying he and his wife Patty have eight children ranging in age from 15 to 35. "I started thinking about what I'm leaving for my kids and I thought after I’m gone, it would be cool if they could read a book and hear their Dad’s voice in it and see his philosophy."

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Cosby, 57, recently published the eighth installment in his "Adventures of Will Danger" novel series — titled "Black Sun Rising" — and has future plans ranging from 16 to 20 titles.

"The genesis of it, on Christmas about three or four years ago, I wrote a novella, for just my family as a Christmas gift because we had a child who died when he was only two and he had Down syndrome," Cosby said. "So I put my primary character in the book as someone who had Down syndrome just as a tip of the hat to Reece."

For his Will Danger series, though, the inception of the titular character came the next summer when Cosby found himself returning home from work each night feeling bored with social media and other empty pursuits. Needing an additional creative outlet, Cosby said "The Adventures of Will Danger" came out of the ether first as a title. At the urging of his oldest son, the first novel would see Will Danger cast as an American soldier in the first World War.

"It's an adventure novel series, so there's all kinds of adventure-type stuff, from fighting to mountains, but there are sub-themes in there, like women’s rights," he explained "Women only earned the right to vote in 1919, so women’s suffrage was new [in the time period of the first Will Danger novel]."

Cosby described Will Danger's introduction, as the wounded soldier falls in love with a wartime nurse. The character development over the course of the series, though, is what the author hopes will keep readers coming back.

"It's almost a cliché story, but then when they come out they form a miniature family with him and his best friend and hire some people and there’s a sailing ship involved and they take off and have these adventures and encounters with some of these hangovers from World War One," he said. "The family grows and sort of migrates to becoming a kind of special operations unit, which isn't normal in most families."

The unorthodox character development of Cosby's characters, he said, places them at odds with historical villains, ranging from the Ku Klux Klan to Nazis, in addition to the characters weathering various social crossroads in history.

Cosby was born in Alabama and sense of place, along with the looming specter of racism, are featured as prominent themes in the Will Danger series, with his local roots being pronounced early on in the storyline of the first novel. However, in the new title, "Black Sun Rising," Will Danger and his family face challenges "From Crockett, Texas, to the Isles of Scilly," in a landscape backdropped by life in the late 1920s as Germany gets its first introductions to Adolf Hitler.

The fight against Nazism is a consistent theme beginning with the fourth installment of the series and Cosby says the evolution of the characters and plot only become more refined as the readers take in the story.

"What I try to do at the end of the novel is to set up the beginning of the next," he said. "The beginning of book four ['A Shadow Grows'], it kind of becomes an idea, with them opposed to the rise of Adolf Hitler."

A veteran newspaperman who has worked more than three decades in photojournalism, Cosby has won numerous Alabama Press Association Better Newspaper Contest awards and other accolades for his photographs and columns. However, the five-year veteran of the Tuscaloosa News said during the last year he began writing news stories daily. While this presented a slight tweak to his daily routine, it has had little impact on his creative pursuits outside of work.

"Writing news stories is a whole different world from writing a novel," he said. "I try to loosely tie my novels to history to give them some anchor, but everything else that happens in them is completely imagination. When you’re writing a news story, you're quoting people and using facts and data, and you can't make stuff up. You have to be straight with it, so it's a relief to write fiction because you can do whatever you want ... It’s just a different world, but the fiction writing is just plain fun."

When asked about his literary influences, Cosby pointed to noted authors such as Mark Twain, Clive Cussler, Douglas Preston, Lincoln Child and Tom Clancy, to a name a few.

"It was just finding the idea that I could write a theme," Cosby said of when he realized he had the ability to complete a full-length work of fiction. "But I wanted to move away from that formulaic approach. There’s some really good stuff out there and every bit of it is inspirational."

While Cosby was in his 50s when he self-published his first novel, he encouraged others to take the plunge if they want to test themselves and find their own voice, regardless of age or experience.

"You have to try it to see if you can do it," he said. "When I first sat down to write 'Blackbeard's Treasure' [the first Will Danger novel], I had no idea I could write a novel. I think you really just have to give it a shot and let somebody read it and give it a shot with someone who will give you an honest opinion. When my brother said he liked them, that’s my critic, so I know it's good."

Cosby said he has yet to finish fully writing the series, but is currently in the process of finishing a rough layout of the 13th book in the series.

"I think if you start to to read the series, the first three books are not especially coordinated," he said of the entire collected works as they currently stand. "Once you hit book four, the series kind of takes a theme. The family is really starting to grow, mature and change, it becomes like Lay's potato chips, you just want more."

The newest installment of the "Adventures of Will Danger" series, "Black Sun Rising," can be purchased on Amazon by clicking here.

To view the other available titles from Cosby, click here.

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