Map-o-sphere slices, video games, and…evil?

Hey you guys! How’s it going? This weekend we’re joining in a spaceship food truck bonanza on Oftar 12’s third moon. It should be pretty cool. When we’re not selling dogs, Princess Dagger is psyched to try different foods from around the galaxy, and Humphree’s going to hunt down some new hot sauce ingredients. Me? I’m hoping to find some adventure, as usual!

Let’s dig into our reading marathon — today we’ve got an action-packed chapter to read! When we left off, Dags froze Krax and we escaped the MWWF arena. Phew!

In Chapter 15: Evil Ways, I try to piece the map-o-sphere together, we find out where the final slice is (it’s completely rad), and the Princess has an unwelcome encounter. Yikes! Find out what happens, and then check out…

Today I’ve got some original artwork that’s never been seen before! These are early sketches an illustrator did of Humphree, Dags, and me. You can see she was trying to figure out exactly how we should look in the book.

I think it’s so cool to see how artwork for a book gets created!

Okay, I gotta run. We’re almost to Oftar 12’s moon and we have a lot of setup to do. I want get it done so we have some time to explore the moon — you never know what you’ll find…

Have a rockin’ weekend,

Cosmoe

Part two of my Max Brallier interview!

Cool illustration of Max
by Galactic Hot Dogs illustrator, Rachel!

Hi everyone! Today I’ve got part two of my Max Brallier interview for you (read part one here). Max is the rad guy who wrote my book, Cosmoe’s Wiener Getaway, which of course you can read online now. And on May 5, the very cool print version will be out in bookstores!

Last time Max and I talked, we found out what color food he thinks is gross, the cool name he’d give his own spaceship, his advice for Earth kids like me, and more. Let’s find out what else makes Max the cool dude he is…

ME: Okay, so obviously you’re the writer of Galactic Hot Dogs. Have you written other stuff for kids?

MAX: Yep! I’ve written lots of stuff, including books for the Cartoon Network’s Adventure Time and Regular Show, and Poptropica, too. The first book in my new, middle-grade adventure series called The Last Kids on Earth comes out later this year. I also write books for grownups.

ME: Cool! Next up: Humphree wants to know what your favorite hot dog toppings are. Whaddya like?

MAX: I’m kind of boring. I pretty much like ketchup. Nothing else. Unless its’s bacon-wrapped — that is also delicious. Crumbled up Funyuns also add a little flavor and crunch. 

ME: Funyuns! What, no raw arakzid legs? No lime moon cheese?

MAX: Isn’t lime moon cheese green?

ME: Uh, yeah.

MAX: No green foods, remember? And I’ll pass on any kind of space creature legs.

ME: I’m with you, Max. I think both are pretty nasty! But aliens completely dig them. Okay, Princess Dagger wants to know if you have a pet, and if not, what kind of pet would you get?

MAX: I don’t, sadly. I’m not allowed to have one in my apartment building! It’s a butt… I really, really want a big fat bulldog. Also, I’d like a dragon if that’s somehow possible. With mechanical wings. And night vision.

ME: Ooooh, a dragon. That would be awesome. All right, let’s hear more about your favorites. What's your favorite movie? Food? Dessert? TV show?

MAX: Favorite movie: Star Wars, closely followed by Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, closely followed by Tremors, closely followed by The Bad News Bears. Favorite food: Not counting hot dogs? Hamburgers. Also pizza, fried mac + cheese, Choco Tacos, and Goobers.

ME: Whoa, whoa, whoa. GOOBERS?

MAX: Oh, no, not like your little elastic blob buddy! On Earth, Goobers are chocolate-covered peanuts!

ME: Oh. Right! Phew!

MAX: Okay, my favorite dessert is Phish Food ice cream. Favorite TV show… too many to name! Simpsons, Seinfeld, Firefly, Regular Show — anything about buddies getting into trouble. 

ME: This interview totally rocks, Max. Thanks. Anything else you want to tell us about yourself?

MAX: Hmmmmm. I do fake karate in my apartment and I’m really good at it. Super skilled. But I’m cruddy at real karate. I hate cooking but love eating, which is a pain. I collect old action figures and toys — it’s a hobby and hobbies are good. If you don’t have one, get one! But video games don’t count (sorry)!

Best. Interview. EVER! Thanks, Max, for telling us about yourself!

See you guys tomorrow,

Cosmoe

What would I do without my best buds?

Hey all. As I’ve been flying around intergalactic space this week with Humphree and Princess Dagger, I’ve been thinking about my cruddy buddies and how awesome they are.

Like that one time I had to fight the Boss Worm, Humps and Dags really were clutch in a tight spot. And then, when Dags pulled a fast one on Krax… well, read about it for yourself in Chapter 14: Cosmoe is Crowned! That’s the next installment in our reading marathon, and it’s pretty excellent.

And now it’s time for…

Today I’m going to school you on illustrations and color. Well, really, Rachel is. She’s the illustrator of my book! Check out the next image. Rachel did it when she was figuring out what we should wear.

Rachel did those less-detailed drawings to play with the colors more easily when she was getting Goober's coloring and Dags' dress right. Get this: The clothes we wear in the book show off our unique personalities. How cool is that?

I wear a red shirt in the book because I’m all into adventure and excitement. And jeans because I’m an Earth kid from the USA — what’s more American than jeans, right?

Humphree’s like the voice of reason of our crew. So he’s wearing mellow colors that show he’s usually a calm sort of dude. Usually.

And Princess Dagger? Well, she’s smart, digs adventure, is kind of girly, and can be a teeny bit bossy. (Don’t tell her I said that.) So turquoise is a perfect color for her. 

Pretty cool, huh? I didn’t know how important color is in illustrations! I’m going to be interviewing Rachel soon, so if you’re into drawing and art, you’re going to love what she has to say.

See you here tomorrow for part two of my Max interview!

Stay awesome,

Cosmoe

My way-cool interview with Max, the author of my book!

You guys! I’m so excited about today's blog post. I just did this amazingly rad interview with Max Brallier, the author who wrote my first book, Cosmoe’s Wiener Getaway! As you know, you can read it for free online. And on May 5, the print version will be out in bookstores!

Max is pretty awesome. I’m not just saying that because he thought I was cool enough to write a book about, I swear. And he gave me so much info in my super-exclusive interview with him that I’m going to do part one of it today and part two on Thursday.

All right, here we go. Meet Max Brallier!

This is Max. He's awesome.

ME: Okay, let’s start off with a really official-type question. Why did you become an author? Did you always want to do what you're doing, or when you were a kid, did you want to be something else?

MAX: Well, when I was 6, I wanted to play outfield for the Pittsburgh Pirates. When I was 7, I wanted to be the dude that gets paid to design Lego spaceship kits.  When I was 10, I wanted to be an illustrator for Image Comics. When I was 12, I wanted to be a movie critic but just for action movies. When I was 13, I wanted to design video games. When I was 14, I wanted to be a writer and that one stuck.  

ME: Dude! I want to design video games, and I’m 13! Sweet. Okay, tell me this: What's something funny or unique that not a lot of people know about you?

MAX: I have a tattoo of the James Bond logo on my ankle. I refuse to eat green foods (not counting green peanut M&Ms — I eat too many of those). In 1995, I was the country’s youngest professional movie critic (for real). 

ME: Green foods are the worst. I don’t go near them.

MAX: Exactly.

ME: Next question: You just got your own spaceship. What would you name it and what cool features would it have?

This is Max's awesome book.
Not that I'm biased or anything.

MAX: The Millennium Pigeon. It would be a real hunk-of-junk but, boy, she’d be sweet in a pinch. It’d have a big room in the back where all my friends and I could hang out while the ship’s on auto-pilot. There would be a film projector on the outside so we could watch movies on the sides of moons. 

ME: Ooooh, I wonder if F.R.E.D. could trick out the Neon Wiener so we could do that movie thing… Okay, last question for today: What’s the best advice you have for a Galactic Hot Dogs fan? You know, an Earth kid like me?

MAX: Play as much flashlight tag as you can. Watch weird movies. If you have a bike, ride it and ride it and ride it. And keep a journal!

Thanks, Max! That was super cool.

Be sure to come back on Thursday for part two of the interview. You’ll find out what Max’s favorite movies are, the weird-ish hot dog topping he digs, and more!

Later gators,

Cosmoe

F.R.E.D. to the rescue!

Helloooooo from outer space, everyone! After a long stay on planet Grenzo, the Galactic Hot Dogs crew is back to flying around the galaxy. It’s pretty rad to be back in space, seeing planets and moons from far above. And it’s definitely way cool to go to sleep with a view like this:

photo credit: Cosmic Conifer via photopin (license)

That view last night was courtesy of F.R.E.D. He can always direct us to the best star-gazing views to zonk out to! Speaking of F.R.E.D., in today’s GHD reading marathon chapter, my little robot friend seriously saves my butt. When we left off, I was in a really tight spot. The Boss Worm was squeezing the whats out of me! The situation was grim, people. Find out how I get out of a jam in Chapter 13: Ding!

And now it’s time for…

Let’s talk robots today. Specifically, my favorite flying robot: F.R.E.D.! 

You know that F.R.E.D. is super helpful. But did you know these fun facts about the little guy? He can:

• Be a flashlight
• Give directions, like a GPS
• Become a video game system
• Hack into computers
• Toast hot dog buns
• Speak to other robots in 10,010 languages
• Be a TV or radio
• Do pretty much anything!

I don’t know what I’d do without F.R.E.D. I just wish he were a little better at cleaning. If I never had to clean the ship again, I’d be one happy Cosmoe!

Have a great day you guys,

Cosmoe

When Mutant Worm Wrestling goes very, very wrong

Wow, you guys. It’s been quite a day here on Grenzo. Get this: A vacationing alien who was chowing down on hot dogs insisted that Humphree’s hot sauce wasn’t hot enough. He kept adding more and more helio jalapeños to his hot dog.

Humps tried to warn the dude to ease up, but he wouldn’t. One thing led to another, and, well, let’s just say the alien found out the hard way that too many jalapeños can have some, um, internally explosive side effects. Good thing the dude has five stomachs. Yikes.

So, our next chapter in our GHD reading marathon is all about that one time I went to a Mutant Worm Wrestling match as a spectator — and then I ended up being a participant! That doofus Krax electrozapped me and threw me in the ring with the Boss Worm, whose tagline is, “After he beats you, he eats you.” Whaaaat? How am I NOT going to get devoured by a mutant worm? Read Chapter 12: The Boss Worm to see what happens!

And now it’s time for…

Since we had a pretty wacked-out alien encounter today, I thought I’d tell you a little about the aliens that appear in the book. Check this out:

Some of them look familiar, right? You can find a bunch of these guys in the book. The illustrators did a lot of careful work to get them right.

Out here in space, most aliens don’t have two eyes, two arms, and two legs like us. Their planets have totally different atmospheres and environments from Earth, which means aliens evolved differently.

On our planet, walking around on two legs makes sense. But where Nitrams come from (Alien “A” above), having multiple legs makes sense. Our little human feet would just stick to the ground on a Nitram’s planet, but Nitrams can easily scurry along. Seems weird to us, but Earth would seem weird to them!

Have a great weekend, everyone. I’ll be here on Grenzo for a little while longer, warning other goofy aliens not to lose a stomach from too many helio jalapenos!

Stay awesome,

Cosmoe

Galactic Hot Dogs Island on Poptropica is now open to all!

Hey everyone! Today is a big day. Galactic Hot Dogs Island on Poptropica is open to everyone to play!

In case you don’t know, Poptropica is this awesome virtual world where kids can play in a safe online environment. Within the world of Poptropica there are Islands, and each Island has its own theme and adventure to complete. There are super-cool quests, stories, and games to explore. And you can collect objects, read digital books and comics, watch movies, and compete in head-to-head competition!

GHD Island debuted to Poptropica members a few weeks ago, and now it’s open to everyone! Check out this cool video to get an idea of what it’s all about:

And be sure to visit this GHD Island info page where you can get free Island extras like desktop wallpaper, a Neon Wiener paper craft, and a free F.R.E.D. follower. You can also watch a walkthrough of the island, which is super helpful if you’ve never played Poptropica before.

I hope you love Galactic Hot Dogs Island as much as Humphree, Princess Dagger, and I do!

See ya tomorrow,

Cosmoe

Why General Krax von Grumble is the WORST

Hi everyone! Have you ever been to a sports event that you were so pumped about, you thought you might explode from the excitement? That’s me when I go to a Mutant Worm Wrestling match! The action is totally intense and out of this world. Princess Dagger is a pretty big fan, too, as you can see!

In our next chapter of our reading marathon, you’ll see why Mutant Worm Wrestling rocks — and you’ll also meet the ridic General Krax von Grumble. He’s a toenail-chewing, electro-zapping, big villain type. And wait until you see what he does to me! Yikes! Check out Chapter 11: M.W.W.F. to find out what happens!

And now it's time for...

I’ve got some pretty cool Krax illustrations for you. The guy might be a nugget-brain, but I also think he’d be pretty tough to draw with his weird beard, weapons, and all that stuff. The illustrators really captured the essence of his doofy villainous self, you know?

Early illustrations of Krax

Here the artist was trying to figure out exactly how to draw Krax's weapon

Final design of Krax

He’s mean looking and yet completely lame at the same time. Man, I can’t stand that guy.

Okay, I gotta run. Hot dogs are calling my name. Or maybe that’s Humphree.

See you later,

Cosmoe

Totally rad Galactic Hot Dogs fan art!

Hi you guys! Today I’m going to show you some amazing art done by Galactic Hot Dogs fans! I found this stuff while surfing the Intergalactic Internet, and I was so psyched that I had to share it with you.

This way-cool art was done by a Poptropican. If you don’t know what Poptropica is, read this blog post. Basically it’s a super awesome online game that has cool “Islands” to play, and there’s even a Galactic Hot Dogs Island! A Poptropican named Serious Bird created this in Realms, where you can build your own worlds:

This one is pretty amazing. It’s by a fan named SailorStar64, and she created this drawing of Dags and me:

And finally, I don't know who did these cool drawings, but it seems like the artist created a Galactic Hot Dogs logo in Spanish. Sweet!

Fan art is the coolest. Seriously. Whenever I find some more, I’ll post it here!

See ya later,

Cosmoe

That time I made a huge, gigant-o mistake

Hey everyone! I hope you had a great weekend. I totally did. We ended up somewhere we haven’t been before: planet Grenzo. Not only does it have a way-cool beach with peach-colored sand and sparkling purple water, but we discovered that Grenzonians love our hot dogs! We made like a gazillion spaceos in one afternoon. We're going to hang out here for the next week and clean up, big time. Sweet!

So I was thinking about the last chapter that we read in our GHD reading marathon and how I goofed up in a high-level way. Can you believe I broadcasted to millions of aliens that we “found a map to the most amazing treasure of all time” — when we didn’t? Argh! How am I going to get out of this situation? And what are we going to do with the map-o-sphere? Read Chapter 10: Oops and find out!

You know, sometimes when I’m writing a blog post, I get all distracted and goof around on the Intergalactic Internet. Does that kind of thing happen to you? Today just for kicks, I looked for pictures of hot dog trucks. I wanted to see if anything could come close to the awesomeness of the Neon Wiener. Check these out…

It's a floating hot dog truck! I wish the Neon Wiener could turn into a boat. How cool is that?

Technically this one is a burrito truck, but I couldn't resist it. It's a hot dog truck for arctic weather! I know you guys in the Northeast USA can appreciate this one.

The Dogfather: "I'll make you a hot dog you can't refuse." Ha ha. Do you get it?

And I saw this one in Earth news the other day. The Oscar Meyer Wienermobile crashed! Don't worry, everyone was okay. But I guess the driver didn't cut the mustard.

Pretty rad, huh? I mean, nothing is as cool as the Neon Wiener, for sure. But those trucks are pretty impressive!

Have an awesome day,

Cosmoe

How am I going to escape the Space Zombie Death Grip?!

Hey everyone! Happy Friday! Have any cool plans for the weekend? Me, Humphree, and Princess Dagger aren't totally sure what to do. We should probably go sell dogs on Space Port Funketoun, but we're all kind of dragging.

I think we need a little va-cay, you know? Maybe some downtime on a tropical planet. Man, that sounds good. But we have to avoid the Tropical Moon of Mowee this weekend. We heard the Princess' evil mom, Queen Dagger, is hanging out there. No way, no how are we getting anywhere near her and her pain in the butt Jacks!

So, what did you think about the zombie space pirates in the last chapter of our reading marathon? Creeptastic, huh? When we left off, the undead zombie pirate captain was about to sink his nasty rotting fangs into me. Time to find out how the fuzz I'm going to get out of that mess -- and how I get us into our next mess! And why the heck is Humphree so fixated on the zombies' snack stash? Read Chapter 9: The First Slice to find out…

Speaking of zombies, check out these sketches that one of the book's illustrators did of the zombie captain. She put a ton of time into creating his super-high level of grossness. Look at his hands. They look like the flesh could just fall off at any second. Totally nasty -- nasty awesome!

Time for me to log off the old Intergalactic Internet and figure out what crazy fun stuff we're going to do this weekend. I know it's Valentine's Day on Earth tomorrow -- did you see the non-mushy valentines I made for Humphree and the Princess? I think they turned out pretty cool. You know, for a 13-year-old Earth kid who's not exactly artistic!

Have a great weekend!
Cosmoe

My (not mushy) valentines for my two best buds

Hey you guys! I hear Valentine’s Day is this weekend over there on Earth. Some of you might be like, “Ugh, gross. Romance and stuff.” Well, I know it kind of a lovey-dovey holiday, but I don’t think it totally has to be about that stuff. I think it’s about friendship, too. And since I’ve got two of the best cruddy buddies in the whole galaxy, I thought I’d make a valentine for each of them.

Now before you get all, “What the smudge? Cosmoe’s getting all mushy on us?” just hold on a space second. These are Cosmoe valentines. Not your typical sentimental gooey gunk, you know what I mean? So here we go…

First up, my main man — er, alien — Humphree. I think I captured some of his finest qualities in this valentine. Ha ha.

And of course, one for the Princess…

When I showed Humps and Dags their valentines, they were like, “Huh? What’s Valentine’s Day?” They thought the whole idea was kind of goofy, and pretty much think humans are even weirder than they did before. But they laughed because they’re awesome like that.

See you tomorrow when we read the next chapter in our reading marathon and find out if I escape total zombification! Ahhhhh! (If you missed the last chapter, you can check out my last blog post to get caught up.)

See ya later,

Cosmoe

What's waiting for me on the creepy old pirate ship?

Hi everyone. How's it going? I have to be honest, for me it's been a pretty crummy, smudge-a-riffic day. You know when one thing after another goes wrong, and you're like — seriously, could this day get any worse? And then it does?

First the air conditioner fuzzed out right when we were near the Second Sun of Solune. We still had to go by five more suns! It was hot as butts in the ship for hours. Then I overcooked a batch of hot dogs and we had to choke them down plain because we were out of mustard. Humps finally got the a/c fixed — and then proceeded to kick my butt at Super Moon Ninja Death Jab. If that wasn’t bad enough, the Princess then beat me at Hyperspace Heroes. Argh!

So yeah, not the best day. But at least it went better than that day in Mayday of Decay. That’s the next chapter in our reading marathon, and it’s awesome. It’s full of creepy, icky… well, I’m not going to tell you! Find out for yourself…

Today for your never-seen-before thingie, I’ve got this wicked cool piece of art: an amazing poster of Humphree, Princess Dagger, and yours truly!

I think it could make a pretty awesome wallpaper for your computer’s desktop. Save it to your computer and give it a try!

Well, I’ll see you guys tomorrow. Time for me to chill out with a buzzberry shake and read some old Star Wars comics. That should turn this day around!

See ya later,

Cosmoe

Help! I got sucked into Intergalactic Social Space!

Hi you guys! How’s it going? My brain feels as fried as a crunchy crater tot. Today I got sucked into the deep-space void that is the Intergalatic Social Space — for HOURS. It’s kind of like your Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook, all smashed into one crazy, busy, wacko network.

It must be a slow day for the bad dudes of the galaxy because this morning #BadGuySelfie was trending. And all the weirdos out there got into the action. I couldn’t stop scrolling through all the photos. It seems like space cretins love to show off their best — no, worst — sides. Check them out:

That’s Bic Vasterdly on the top left. Bounty hunter. Kind of scares the whats out of me. Next to him is General Krax Von Grumble. He’s one of Queen Dagger’s main bad guys. And yeah, that’s the Queen on the bottom left. Being evil and all, she had to get in on the hashtag. That last one is another bounty hunter named Jae Falcon. Kind of looks like a cute little kitty, if you squint real hard. But there’s nothing cute about that dude.

I finally tore my eyeballs away from the stinkin’ selfies of terror and got lost in the video channel. Aliens have posted some sick mutant worm wrestling videos! Speaking of videos, did you know I’m in a few? Yeah, seriously. Me! Check this one out:

Pretty cool, huh?

Ugh, I gotta sign off. Princess Dagger is bugging me because she wants to watch this show called Royalton Mansion. It’s a drama-type show about a royal alien family and their servants. It can get a little dull for me, but Dags loves it, along with pretty much every other teen alien girl and adult female in the galaxy.

See you tomorrow when get into the next chapter of Galactic Hot Dogs. Just wait until you see what I come face-to-face with in the Lost Triangle! YIKES!

Stay awesome,

Cosmoe

What will we find in the Lost Triangle?

Hey everyone! How was your weekend? Mine was filled with video gaming, hot dog selling, and even some reading on a beach. We had a wicked successful day selling dogs on Saturday, so we all chilled out on the second moon of Zantar yesterday. Princess Dagger got a sunburn, though. I hope she doesn’t drag us back to the mall for more SPF 1000 sunscreen! Bones. That would stink.

Okay, back to the reading marathon! Today we’re going to read Chapter 7: The Lost Triangle. We found Humphree’s old pirate band and now we’re off in search of treasure! But the pirate band was beeping out a distress signal. Why? What will we find there? Will there be anyone — or anything — waiting for us? Time to find out…

Oh, and I have something funny for you: I dug up this old illustration of me, Humps, Dags, Goober, and F.R.E.D. This is before the book's artists knew what we really looked like. Check it out:

Me with brown hair. Totally weird. And Humps has a tail! HA! He was NOT impressed by that, let me tell you. “What kind of alien did that artist think I was?” Humphree grumbled. “A green-tailed Tronkle? That’s completely different from a Bronkle!” Humps definitely likes how we turned out in the book a lot better!

Have a galactically great day you guys,

Cosmoe

Chore charts? You’ve GOT to be kidding.

Hello from the MWWF Arena! That’s the Mutant Worm Wrestling Federation, in case you didn’t know. This place is awesome. But I was a little nervous about coming back here, to be totally honest. I have some not-so-fun memories of this place. But as soon as we got here, I got over it. I mean, mutant worms. That wrestle. How cool is that?! Right now we’re selling hot dogs nearby, but after that? It’s wrestlemania time!

Okay, let’s get back to our way-cool reading marathon. It’s time for Chapter 6: The Pirate Band. Things don’t start out so great when the Princess decides that Humps and I live like slobs and comes up with … a chore chart?! What the fuzz?! But then we make a pretty nifty discovery. So I guess cleaning up might be a good idea sometimes. Sometimes. Not often. Don’t want the Princess to get any ideas and go on some crazy organizing binge or something. Gah!

And what’s today’s never-seen-before art? Well, since me and the gang are hanging at the MWWF Arena, today we’re all about creepy creatures! Take a look at some of these freaky oddballs that an illustrator designed for the book:

Blobs. Blech.

Other-worldly hyenas with scary big teeth.

The monster known as King Kong. Yikes.

A bunch of random creepy monsters that scare the whats out of me.

I would NOT want to come face-to-face with any of those. Yeeks!

Gotta run and sling some dogs so we can get over to the last MWWF match of the day. It’s King Worm vs. Predator Worm. That’s a whole lot of big, slimy worm in one arena. Gross.

Gross … but awesome!

Have a great weekend,

Cosmoe

PS: If you’re a educator or parent type, you might want to take a look at this Galactic Hot Dogs reading log. Kids can check off the chapters as they read GHD, and list other books they’re reading, too. Cool!