#r cooper

[luninosity]

Guess we’re all official now, so I can announce this! We are doing a charity auction sort of thing – limited quantities available! – from May 31 to June 1! R. Cooper and Geneva Vand are marvelous humans and I am happy to be involved!

My little contribution will have six things – a couple of flash fics, a poem, a preview of the first 7k of the next Magician-related novel (it’s a Jer/Talis sequel!), a bonus story for Sam and Leo from Character Bleed, and a…well, it’s a story you will never ever see anywhere else, which is seventeen years old now, from back when I wanted to write Humorous Fantasy (look, I was reading a lot of Terry Pratchett and Peter David, okay), and I should probably warn you in advance about the terrible jokes*….but, hey, it’s in a good cause! Enjoy my embarrassment!

*among other lines, there’s the truly dreadful song pun, for which I might owe John Cougar Mellencamp an apology…

[sweetfirebird]

A bundle by R. Cooper, $10.69 for 6 games

Itch is doing a sale/promo thing and I thought I would try it, and then of course I didn't put the link anywhere. But you know. That I got this far into this year with any of my brain left is a miracle so... at least I remembered today.

Also they are books, not games, but you know... itch mostly does games.

Anyway, in this "try my books" sort of bundle, you get, one standalone, Fox of Fox Hall, two Beings books (Treasure for Treasure and His Mossy Boy), one Suitable book (A Suitable Consort), and two Familiar Spirits books (Holly and Oak and A Little Blessing).

For about 10 bucks.

Read the descriptions for each book if you would like an idea of what to expect.

[queereads-bracket]

Queer Fiction Free-for-All Book Bracket Tournament: Round 1B

Choose a book:

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

Little God by R. Cooper

Voting ended onFeb 22, 2025

Book summaries below:

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

'How sad it is! I shall grow old, and horrible, and dreadful. But this picture will remain always young… If it were only the other way!'

Wilde's first and only published novel recounts the story of handsome Dorian Gray who upon having his portrait painted desires that it will age and grow ugly while he may remain eternally beautiful. The painting, which reflects each of Gray's sins and transgressions, haunts him until it finally becomes unbearable. In this dark tale of duplicity and mortality, Wilde creates a world where art and reality collide.

Classics, gothic, philosophical novel, aestheticism, adult

Little God by R. Cooper

Melis, the fledgling God of Desire in All Its Forms, is of course aware of the famously beautiful and famously unwed King Antero. Though the human king has been approached by many suitors, all have been intimidated by the strength of his remarkable heart. The lonely Antero has been praying for a companion, a friend who will stay by his side if he is not meant to find the other half of his soul. For years, he has been making those prayers to Melis.

Known by many names including Melis the Prankster and Melis the Cruel, Melis is blamed by humans and gods alike if he answers their wishes—and if he doesn’t—and almost never thanked for the stories that turn out well. He has listened to Antero’s yearning without responding, secretly pleased to have the noble king’s devotion for himself, but mostly convinced there is no one on earth who could ever be Antero’s equal.

But when some of the elder gods insist Melis would serve the world better if he knew anything of desires for himself, the little God of Desire decides to visit the private chambers of the king and finally respond to his most faithful servant—only to find himself wanting to answer the king’s wish in a more personal way than he’d anticipated. Melis might be divine, but one clever human king is more than a match for him, especially once Antero decides it’s time for Desire to learn something of Love.

Romance, fantasy, novella, adult

[queer-book-character-tournament]

Round 1

Jackson- The Boy from the Mish

Suzette- Little and Lion

Chester Sibley- Holly and Oak

Wylan Van Eck- Six of Crows

Voting ended onMar 27, 2023

[absolutebl]

I seem to have fallen into a BL black hole and have completely stopped reading (I usually read at least 50 books a year)… do you have any good queer novel recs to get me back on track? Bonus if any of them have a seme/uke dynamic! (I don’t mean thai BL novels, the translations are so awful I can’t cope with them)

Right there with you, BL killed my reading. But I did once read a ton of m/m.

So this is interesting because a seme/uke doesn't play well with m/m romance readers (in the US market at least). Also the more seme/uke the book the less genuinely queer friendly the writing. A romance author who writes this dynamic probably came from the slash side, identifies as straight, and is unlikely to be in touch with modern queer culture. 

M/M Books for BL Fans 

The only book I know of off the top of my head that strictly and intentionally is written with traditional yaoi tropes in mind and strong seme/uke but in English is:

Tokyo Stars by Gage Lively - and actually it works pretty well for what it's trying to do. Very classic Japanese Yaoi but in m/m novel form. 

M/m authors that touch on some of the tropes? These are gonna range in heat levels and queer friendliness, and a few of them aren’t the most fantastic writers (but they are better than Thai in translation). 

Christmas Kitsch by Amy Lane - friends2lovers, poor little rich kid, sunshine, hurt/comfort, coming of age, trigger for depression & family rejection. It’s a GREAT book. For fans of: I Told Sunset About You

My Hero by Max Vos - this is what we all wanted from Water Boyy. 

Steamroller by Mary Calmes - nerd/jock, obsession, very high heat. For fans of FighterTutor Why R U? (Mary Calmes’ style is extremely addictive, she writes mostly adult characters but she does tend to have a strict top/bottom kinda seme/uke thing going on. Because, I’m pretty sure, she comes out of early slash fanfic.) 

Frat Boy and Toppy by Anne Tenino - kinky, nerd/jock, bit dirty, coming out. For fans of TharnType. 

Him by Sarina Bowen and Elle Kennedy - sports romance, pining since childhood, complicated back story, hurt comfort, grumpy/sunshine, well done and popular book. For fans of We Best Love. 

Valor on the Move by Keira Andrews - bodyguard trope, age gap. FBI agent falls in love with the president’s youngest son. For fans of Golden Blood of course. 

A Fool and His Manny by Amy Lane - childhood proximity (close to stepbrothers), younger boy pines for older boy, fantastic family dynamics. For fans of Lovely Writer. 

Prefer Taiwanese Gritty BL? 

If you like the harsher stuff and you want your leads to suffer seriously for their pay out...

Racing for the Sun by Amy Lane - friends2lovers, hurt-comfort, military, criminal activities, trigger for abuse and violence 

Yes but hella QUEER?

If you want strong story, paranormal elements, (more like 1000 Stars, He’s Coming to Me, or Until We Meet Again) but with great queer rep then try author R Cooper. They are amazeballs. 

Please don’t ask me about Red, White, & Royal Blue. 

Links are to Amazon because I’m a lazy putz. Pay the fucking author, don’t steal these. Some of them are only on Amazon, but most of them are wide. 

(source)

[garobenart]

Fanart of Arthur from A Boy and His Dragon by R Cooper being a heroine in a gothic novel, I think I’ve posted this to my other account before but since I’m getting my art account back in order here seems a good place for it as well

(also this book is good as hell go read it)

[colorful-yarns-queer-stories]

Sometime you just need to read something soft

[astudyinfic]

Books read in 2020

#95: Holly & Oak by R. Cooper

My review:

I'm late to the game with R. Cooper and I'm kicking myself for not reading them sooner.  Soft, magical, queer romance with healthy doses of pining and a guaranteed HEA?  Sign me up! I'll be rereading this one at Yule time for sure.