the journal of r. cooper

Sorry I've been so lacking in updates! I was working feverishly to finish two different projects. (And I did, so yay me! The Winter Prince, a fairy tale, and a story for Halloween that I was going to put on Amazon, but it turned out a little different than I was expecting. So we'll see about that one. But it's so gonna have a familiar pun in the title. Because puns! Overly Familiar sounds good, right? Something.)

But this post isn't about them. This post is about some stories about Beings. Specifically a handful of short stories about Beings throughout the last century, from shortly after they first came out of hiding, to about now. You may have heard me mention these shorts before. I've been working on different ones for *years* now. And now here they are. Eeeee!



The Firebird and Other Stories

Magical creatures known as beings emerged from hiding amid the destruction of the First World War. Since then they’ve lived on the margins of the human world as misunderstood objects of fear and desire. Some are beautiful, others fearsome and powerful. Yet for all their magic and strength, they are as vulnerable as anyone when it comes to matters of the heart.

A firebird in 1930s Paris is drawn to a writer with a haunted past. Upon returning from fighting in the Pacific, a jaguar shifter finds a third-gender human on his doorstep. Early rock ‘n’ roll DJ Hyacinth the fairy shocks his listeners with his admiration for his quiet assistant. During the AIDS crisis, a gruff, leather-wearing troll dreams of a settled life with a mixed-species elf across the bar. An imp, who remembers only too well how cruel the world can be, tells himself he’s content to stay behind the scenes—if only his chaotic, impish magic would stop getting in the way. And a shy human tending his poisonous and carnivorous plants is convinced no one will ever want him, certainly not the handsome werewolf grieving for a lost mate. Human or being, all must overcome fear to reach for love.


Guys, I can't even tell you how cool it is, and how honored I am, that Dreamspinner agreed to publish a book made up entirely of short stories about my magical failboats in love. This is something I would never have dreamed of. In a way, it's my own little book of fairy tales and I am a super giddy dork about it. (No, really. I was distracting myself with writing projects, and now they are done, and I am basically flitting around giggling about this to myself. Like a weirdo.)

To celebrate the release day, Friday, September 18th, (a day, sadly, I will be working at the day job) I have queued up a whole bunch of interesting pictures and songs and posts of subjects relating to the short stories. I've queued up so many, in fact, they will probably last into Saturday as well. If you're interested, check out my Tumblr.  That's me, sweetfirebird. (ahaha my name will finally make sense to people.)

In addition to that nerdy party, on Saturday night (the 19th) I will be on Tumblr to answer any questions people might have, or if they just wanna hang out, or talk about non Beings things. I might even be tipsy on champagne, so obviously that is when people should ask anything they want to know. ;) Chatting on Tumblr is odd because of the format, but you can easily visit my askbox and say hello. It's the link that says Ask Me Anything. (But FYI I live in California, so I am on Pacific Coast time.)

In addition to *that*, you can always ask me stuff on Goodreads at the Ask the Author link. Just keep in mind that Goodreads does not notify me of questions in a timely way, so sometimes my responses will be slow unless I have Goodreads open in a tab--which I likely will that Saturday and Sunday.

This is so exciting!

And ooooh before I forget, Some Kind of Magic is now available on audiobook! SO MANY BEINGS! WE'RE SURROUNDED! Nerdy Beings party! History dorkiness! and Kazimir! My diva!

:)

Yeah okay. I will try to calm down now.

For anyone with a Goodreads account (I think. I'm not sure. Maybe anyone can go?) I am doing a Meet The Author chat thing this Saturday.

Here's the link Meet R. Cooper which is kind of a weird thing since anyone here has technically "met" me already. But you know. That's what it's called.

It will be at the GR Dreamspinner group, for three hours. 1:30-4:30 July 12. Pacific Time. (For those in other countries, this means go by San Francisco time on the world clock on your phone. Not that I am in San Francisco, but I can see the Pacific Ocean from here... okay. I can see the bay from here, not that actual ocean ocean. Not gonna lie. I wish I could see it though.)

You can ask me questions about Wicklow and Rhoades (or, say, Amelia, Louis, or Pilar) or any other character you want. I will be posting excerpts from current things and hopefully soon to be published things, maybe talking about my love of random alternate universe versions of my own stories, and oh hey, there will be a coupon offer. I might do a giveaway, although I have no idea how to do that, so.

(Such a clueless dork, you have no idea. My third grade teacher actually told my mother I would never get far in life without a secretary to handle basic things for me. This has proven to be true. But how does one get a secretary before one is a success, I ask you?)

If no one feels like asking me questions, I might just ramble on about steampunk or fairies for three hours. Or werewolves. Or imps. Or dragons. Or lonely ex-cops who are afraid to reach out for the love being offered them.

To recap, got questions about upcoming or current stories of mine? Then come over to Goodreads on Saturday and take pity on me. There's a coupon! Excerpts! Nervous babbling! It'll be fun. (Hopefully).