For avid readers in search of an end-of-summer reading, a hefty dose of adventure can be found by diving into the series “The Adventures of Will Danger,” written by local author Gary Cosby Jr. There are three novels thus far into the series, which are “Blackbeard’s Treasure,” “The Seeing Stones” and “The Dagger of the Underworld.” Cosby plans for the series to grow.

To get a better idea of the novels, Cosby said the adventure in each of the first three novels are self-contained adventures and that they all tie in together. The first novel of the series, “Blackbeard’s Treasure,” sets the true base of the novels that follow. When reading this novel, readers learn that the series is set in World War I and are introduced to the main characters.

“Blackbeard’s Treasure” has the main character, Will Danger, as a soldier in the trenches. Cosby explains the character and his best friend are in the legendary 77th division, which is the lost battalion. During this experience Danger begins to fall in love with one of the nurses as he is in the hospital, and they later form a family.

“The whole idea behind all of my novels here, the whole series is based around not only the adventures this family has, now they get into all sorts of dangerous situations and stuff, but at the same time they are getting married and having children and expanding their family,” Cosby said. “And so, they are dealing with all of the emotional issues of ‘How do I do this, keep my kids safe, my wife safe?’ and ‘My wife wants to be a part of the battle, too,’ so there is a whole lot of factors going on.”

Overall, the conflict rises from story to story, and Danger has to overcome these hurdles while keeping his family safe. The focus in the novels are on different characters and missions, but in the end, it all centers around Will Danger and his ability to lead in both the emotional and physical aspects of life while protecting his family.

“What Will Danger is very good at in these stories is finding a spot so that he can both protect his family and accomplish the mission,” Cosby said. “And so, this sort of becomes his tightrope and it becomes more and more difficult for him as the stories go along.”

Cosby is unsure of how many novels he is going to write; however, he is finishing up the ninth novel to the series with plans to continue it. Cosby said he has received positive feedback from those who have read his novels and is looking forward to gaining more loyal readers.

“The cool thing is since I’m writing a series I get to develop these characters more and more,” Cosby said. “As they grow older I get to give them new traits, new jobs, new thoughts [and] new feelings.”

Cosby said this series he has written will allow him to leave his legacy with his family, as they are able to see him in the series through his way of thinking and his philosophy in the stories.

“I just want them to have something so one day they can look back and they can read this book and go, ‘That’s my dad. I see my dad in that,’” Cosby said.

As a self-publisher, Cosby does everything for his novels except editing the manuscripts, which is saved for his editor, Amy Robinson. Cosby said he writes, corrects and then publishes his books using Kindle Direct Publishing. He is also in charge of creating his own artwork for the covers of his novels, along with doing his own marketing. But he does have local support. Cosby said he’s thankful for Easty Lambert-Brown, the owner of Ernest and Hadley Booksellers, for hosting the book signing. 

“I’m thrilled with the whole idea of the book signing, I can’t thank these guys enough for letting me do it,” Coby said.