Susan Cogan


Biography

Susan Cogan is a full time writer and occasionally amuses herself as a graphic designer. She writes things that she enjoys and she enjoys quite a lot. She has been at various times a nurse’s aid, a belly dancer, an actress, a journalist, and a radio shock jock. Her career is long, varied, colorful, often exaggerated and occasionally untrue. Cogan is the author of many novels: Black Jade Dragon, Dragon Sword, Dragon Rising, The Button Man, Tangled Garden, The Last Gift, Heart of the Tengeri, Murder on the Waterfront and The Man Who Needed Killing. Her nonfiction works include: Hands of the Buddha, The Buddha’s Three Jewels, and The Pocket Darwin. She written numerous short stories, some of them contest winners.

Where to find Susan Cogan online


Where to buy in print


Books

The Button Man    by Susan Cogan
Price: $2.99 USD. 74700 words. Published on January 18, 2013. Fiction.

Gregory is a contract killer with a popular specialty. He kills people with kindness.
Dragon Rising    by Susan Cogan
Price: $2.99 USD. 47890 words. Published on January 18, 2013. Fiction.

Go to Hell. It’s such a delicious phrase. Angie Tanaka never thought she’d want to go there herself.
Interview with the Black Jade Dragon    by Susan Cogan
Price: Free! 4910 words. Published on July 18, 2012. Fiction.

Angie Tanaka, a professional thief, has an uneasy friendship with Daiyu, a dragon who has been around since China was a collection of mud huts. This is the first of a series of interviews with an ancient dragon who struggles to live down her past. And she has such a lot of it to live down.
Wicked Down Below    by Susan Cogan
Price: Free! 5730 words. Published on July 17, 2012. Fiction.

Miriam Walker lives and works in the big city in 1902. There are monsters out in the dark streets but they are nothing compared to the wickedness humans get up to. Miriam battles wickedness both human and inhuman while always remaining prim and ladylike.
Dragon Sword    by Susan Cogan
Price: $2.99 USD. 66300 words. Published on May 2, 2012. Fiction.

Here we go again! Angie Tanaka can't seem to stay out of trouble. She finds herself haunted by a cute little hungry ghost and a not-so-cute demon who has a special hell kept warm just for dragons.
Rewriting the Buddha    by Susan Cogan
Price: Free! 3660 words. Published on May 1, 2012. Nonfiction.

So I told myself the Dhammapada is one of the oldest books of Buddhist thought. I should read it. What I wanted was a nice simple readable version that I could dip into. I discovered that most translations are completely unreadable, some more than others. A few modern versions attempt to clarify the text. I may be the first person to notice the problem who was a writer and not a translator.
Letters From a Dead Man    by Susan Cogan
Price: $0.99 USD. 15390 words. Published on April 29, 2012. Fiction.

Four short stories featuring the elegant crime-solving Lady Margaret and the long-suffering, hard boiled Inspector Monahan. It's 1935, San Francisco and the fog is rolling in with murder, crime, and danger.
Violet Crime, A Short Story    by Susan Cogan
Price: Free! 8840 words. Published on April 22, 2012. Fiction.

San Francisco, 1935 Imagine an insinuating saxophone and you will know what it was like to meet Violet Harris. A tight dress wrapped around her like a wet leaf in autumn. My own dress was silk and hers, who knows, maybe rayon, but she filled it out with a tawdry sensuality that turned men's heads. Includes a chapter of MURDER ON THE WATERFRONT!
The Buddha's Three Jewels    by Susan Cogan
Price: Free! 19890 words. Published on November 27, 2011. Nonfiction.

The Three Jewels of Buddhism are the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha. Almost everyone has heard of the Buddha but the other two words, Dharma and Sangha, are usually strange to western ears. In Buddhism, taken together, they are known as “The Three Jewels.”
Black Jade Dragon    by Susan Cogan
Price: $2.99 USD. 54470 words. Published on November 24, 2011. Fiction.

(4.00 from 1 review)
Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons for you are crunchy and good with ketchup. - source unknown.... In the South China Sea is an island that is protected by nine dragons. Angie Tanaka has made one of them really, really angry. Angie says: Thievery isn’t actually my vocation. It’s really more of a pursuit. It’s only my day job. I’m really an actress ... just kidding.  
The Book of Poisons, A Merlin's Gate Story    by Susan Cogan
Price: Free! 6120 words. Published on September 26, 2011. Fiction.

The Chief Priest of the largest temple in Merlin’s Gate needs to die and only one person can do it. Tuila, his wife. For other works by this author go to www.coganbooks.net
The Last Tattoo, A Short Story    by Susan Cogan
Price: Free! 3440 words. Published on September 15, 2011. Fiction.

(3.00 from 1 review)
If you get THAT tattoo and if you get it THERE, it will be your LAST tattoo! Includes an excerpt of BLACK JADE DRAGON! for other works by this author go to www.coganbooks.net
The King's Best Solder (And Other Stories)    by Susan Cogan
Price: Free! 7070 words. Published on September 13, 2011. Fiction.

Four sword and sorcery fantasy stories, some very dark, some very not.
Wicked They Come, A Short Story    by Susan Cogan
Price: Free! 6020 words. Published on September 7, 2011. Fiction.

Wicked aliens are bad enough. The wickedness in the human heart can be bottomless. Fortunately, so can human courage and goodness. Also check out www.coganbooks.net for other work by this author. Includes the first chapter of BLACK JADE DRAGON!
Murder on the Waterfront    by Susan Cogan
Price: $2.99 USD. 76580 words. Published on June 24, 2011. Fiction.

Lady Margaret’s quest to bring a killer to justice leads her out of her art studio to a seedy all-night cafe, a Depression-era tenement, the waterfront, and eventually to the dark underbelly of Chinatown. For other works by this author go to: www.coganbooks.net
The Man Who Needed Killing    by Susan Cogan
Price: $2.99 USD. 87810 words. Published on March 16, 2011. Fiction.

“The author never lets any piece fall into place too easily or illogically, never gives any character an easy out from their moral qualms, and colors details so skillfully that you feel the heat of the Oklahoma drought as surely as each little betrayal's knife wound when Joe realizes a friend has lied.”--Publisher's Weekly For other works by this author go to: www.coganbooks.net
Merlin's Gate    by Susan Cogan
Price: Free! 11330 words. Published on October 18, 2010. Fiction.

Merlin's Gate is a dark world where owning books, weapons or products of modern technology will get you a one-way ticket to The Pit--and all tickets to The Pit are one way. A mini-novel for your snacking pleasure. For other works by this author go to: www.coganbooks.net
The Heart of the Tengeri    by Susan Cogan
Price: $2.99 USD. 92520 words. Published on December 4, 2009. Fiction.

A young queen must save her kingdom from her crazy, homicidal brother and her ambitious wizard. Her only hope of saving her people from her enemies is to find the long-lost Heart of the Tengeri, a fabled talisman that contains the strength and power of the empire. For other books by this author go to www.coganbooks.net
The Hands of the Buddha    by Susan Cogan
Price: $0.99 USD. 10820 words. Published on December 2, 2009. Nonfiction.

(5.00 from 1 review)
This ancient book of Buddhist wisdom is older than the Bible. Rewritten in clear, clean modern language, the words of the Buddha will connect with the modern reader. The Dhammapada has been called the distilled essence of Buddhism. In 423 brief verses, said to be actual sayings from the Buddha himself, you will find inspiration and guidance. For other works by this author go to www.coganbooks.net
The Last Gift    by Susan Cogan
Price: $2.99 USD. 75750 words. Published on November 30, 2009. Fiction.

(5.00 from 1 review)
In this book there's a handsome hero, a bejeweled dagger, murder, revenge, a mysterious fortune teller, the French Revolution, Paris, the guillotine, bordellos, palaces, aristocrats and whores. For other books by this author go to www.coganbooks.net

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Smashwords book reviews by Susan Cogan

  • The New Constitution on Jan. 09, 2010
    (no rating)
    This "constitution" is the template for a heavy-handed government. It abolishes freedom of the press and an independent judiciary. It requires you to sign up on a central database to qualify for any job. It dictates when and where businesses may operate. It automatically disqualifies millions of citizens from voting. It prohibits the formation of political parties. It's a tyrant's wet dream. Or it's brilliant satire.