R. Cooper
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Standalone Novels and Novellas

Contemporary 

Cover for PIAC: a silver-haired man on a balcony

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Play It Again, Charlie
novel length
​m/m

After an accident left him broken in body and spirit, Charlie Howard retired from the police force to teach at a community college. Life has taught him that he’s unlikely to get what he wants, so he’s stopped asking. Instead, he hides from the world in the apartment complex he manages.  Then Will, a sexy, classic-film-loving twink, moves into the apartment across from him and—to Charlie’s surprise—makes it clear that he’d like nothing more than to hole up with Charlie and get kinky. Will has no problem expressing what he wants in bed or out of it, but he’s never dated anyone long-term, and Charlie isn’t sure Will’s ready for anything serious.

Charlie is a serious kind of guy. He wants Will and everything a relationship could mean. As they grow closer, Charlie realizes that it’s time to start asking for what he wants, and if he wants to be happy, he’ll have to risk everything and ask Will to stay.

​in ebook and paperback!




Small version of the Dancing Lessons cover. Two men embracing, foreheads touching but not kissing, with a starry sky above them.
Dancing Lessons
Contemporary
m/m

Two years of living with his controlling boyfriend left Chico worn down long before that boyfriend revealed he’d been seeing someone else. With no other choice, Chico moves in above his cousin’s garage in a small town in the redwoods, where he merely goes through the motions. To get him out of the house, his cousin pushes him to volunteer at a local dance studio to help with their annual show.

He’s not expecting to end up in a dance class, or to start feeling alive again in the arms of his dance instructor. Rafael is the studio owners’ son and was once a well-known dancer in his own right, but now enjoys being a teacher. Although Chico likes him, he’s afraid of taking a chance. But Rafael is determined, and it only takes one dance for Chico to start to realize he might still have something to learn.

in ebook and audiobook
​

Cover for Izzy: one figure in the foreground glancing back toward two men standing together

Izzy and the Right Answer
novel length
m/m/m

​
Jamie “Izzy” Islington is an ace, femme, neuroatypical college junior with anxiety, an interest in coding and poetry, and a difficulty identifying his own emotions. He’s had no interest in romantic love until very recently, when he realized he has a crush on someone...someones... in his circle of friends—although he has no intention of doing anything about it. Izzy thinks every problem through to the correct solution, and he knows that the initial fascination some people have for him quickly fades, and no one is interested in actually dating him.

To Izzy, the solution to this triangle is obvious—if he disappears, Rocco and Ronnie will have a straight line to each other. But brilliant though he is, Izzy forgets that Ronnie and Rocco have minds—and hearts—of their own, and there are more options than lines or triangles. The right answer might be something else entirely.

​
in ebook and paperback

Picture two men seated in front of a window, looking as if they might kiss
Jericho Candelario's Gay Debut
novella length
​m/m


Jerry Candelario has spent his entire life focused on raising his siblings and his young niece. But everyone has grown up or moved out. Now that Jerry’s evenings are free, all he wants to do is spend them with his friend Lincoln. Jerry knows nothing about gay culture, or dating, or being in love. With Lincoln, he wants to try, but is he making a fool of himself, or is his someday finally here?
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A Wealth of Unsaid Words
novella length
​m/m
(Free/reader sets the price on Smashwords. 99 cents on Amazon)


Alex has always known his bipolar disorder made him too flawed for his boyhood hero, Everett. So when his feelings for Everett became overwhelming, he forced a separation that saddened them both but gave Alex the clarity he needed. Now a year has passed, and he and Everett are together again when Everett’s noisy, imperfect family reunites for Christmas, pulling Alex into their chaotic warmth the way they always have. Can Everett convince Alex that, in spite of his fears, starting a relationship would make for the perfect holiday?
​

Fantasy/science fiction

Cover for Wicklow: a young man before a harbor that seems to be on fire

Wicklow's Odyssey
Steampunk/alternative history
novel length
​m/m


Union soldier Wicklow Doyle is infiltrating enemy lines to set up new radio communications technology in Confederate-held Charleston when his location is betrayed. After sacrificing himself to get his team to safety, he's on the lam, friendless in a hostile town. Determining who betrayed him without discovery by Confederate soldiers is dangerous, but Wicklow grew up in the slums of New York and knows how to handle himself. He isn't expecting anyone on his team to return to help him, much less Alexander Rhoades.

An effete dandy of great intelligence and conviction, Alexander Rhoades speaks through stories instead of giving orders, and he has earned the confidence of the rich and powerful. While Wicklow has come not to trust men with those traits, Rhoades has never once let him down. He looks at Wicklow in ways that make him burn beneath his skin and tells him stories of love and bravery Wicklow yearns to understand. Wicklow has absolute faith Rhoades's brilliant mind will uncover the traitor in their midst and find them a way out of the city. But when Rhoades tells him he's not alone, Wicklow isn't sure he can believe him. For the first time in his life, he wants to.

​in ebook and paperback

Cover for Taji From Beyond the Rings: a young man alone in an alien landscape
Taji from Beyond the Rings
novel length
queer sci-fi


The Interplanetary Trade Coalition has not been welcomed with open arms by the Sha Empire. Isolated at the far edge of a distant system, the Sha are distrustful of outsiders, and previous I.P.T.C. diplomatic missions have ended with members imprisoned or dead. But, if pushed enough, the I.P.T.C. will overrun the planet to take what it wants. The situation is already precarious when student linguist Taji Ameyo is conscripted to translate for the newest I.P.T.C. ambassador. Taji, used to being alone, has never learned to hide his heart or his opinions, and the controlled Sha nobility regard little, outspoken human Taji with fascination, calling him shehzha.

Mysterious, coveted figures, so devoted to their lovers that pleasing them is a test of Shavian honor, shehzha are usually kept out of public view. Taji is a nobody, hardly alluring, and yet it’s not long before his runaway mouth gets him entangled in imperial politics, and he has no one rely on but the soldiers assigned to protect him—one soldier, more than the others.
​
At the mercy of both a greedy trade coalition and a proud empire, Taji has to determine what it means to be shehzha, while surrounded by ambitious noble families and a sharp-eyed emperor, and hopefully learn enough about the Sha to keep him and everyone he cares about alive. 

in ebook and paperback


Cover for Delflenor: two knights standing close together. one is watching the first. the other is looking away.
The Devotion of Delflenor 
Fantasy
novel length

f/nb
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For ten anxious years, the country of Ainle has had no chevetein to keep their many lesser cheves in check and maintain peace. Anyone can become the chevetein if it is the will of the Three, as the most powerful of the gods are known. But as the years pass, fewer and fewer people go to the Seat to offer themselves as chevetein. Doubt has crept in among the population, and more than one arrogant cheve has decided that the time has come to abandon the old ways. Only the presence of Prityal of Ters, Knight of the Seat, Tyrant-slayer, the Hope of Ainle, has kept the country from falling into chaos.

Soft-spoken but fierce, noble as well as beautiful, Prityal is all that a Knight of the Seat should be. As faith dwindles, so, too, does the number of knights waiting to serve the chevetein, and with no one else available, it is Prityal who volunteers for a risky mission to an unfamiliar place. She cannot go alone. So, Delf, a lower-tier knight, accompanies her.

Plain, with an odd sense of humor, and of no fame or noted background, Delf is content to act as Prityal’s squire on this quest. Delf has loved Prityal for years with no intention of ever speaking of it. A hero and a nobody might become friends as they travel through ancient lands, facing tricky spirits and desperate farmers, finding ruins and knights of faded glory, speaking of magic and the history they share—yet even that is beyond Delf’s dreams of her future.

But a chevetein must be found, and Prityal will do it at the cost of her life, if need be, though the country—and Delf—need her. It seems the Three have plans, after all, and will use anything to see them through—including the strong, devoted heart of a hero.  

Small image of the cover for The Winter Prince. Two shirtless men, near each other but not together, surrounded by snow.

The Winter Prince
Fantasy
​novella
m/m


At seventeen, the noble Prince Arrow had his heart stolen by a powerful pari’s magic, which earned him the name Kişin Bey, the Prince-in-Winter, as his veins slowly filled with ice without a heart to keep him warm. Three years have passed since then, and Kişin is not expected to survive another winter. In a last, desperate attempt to save his life, Razin, the court wizard and Kişin’s childhood best friend, convinces him to travel in search of the pari, to ask for the return of his heart. What Razin doesn’t know is that Kişin’s heart was never stolen; he gave it away to the pari to escape the pain of an impossible love—his love for Razin.

Smart and stubborn, Razin has never accepted Kişin’s fate. The prince needs him, Razin insists, not knowing the truth of his own words, or how painful it is for Kişin to be near him. Kişin agrees to the desperate quest, out of duty and a need to protect Razin, but it isn’t long before Razin realizes saving his prince will require more than simply getting his heart back. Razin will have to convince him to want it.




Cover of Tit for Tat: a slightly feminine in appearance purple alien stands alone
Tit for Tat
Scifi
novella length
f/f 


Tat never expected a future. A lower-caste Luudi who left her planet and made a new home with a group of idealistic humans, she spends her time looking out for new family and working in secret to rescue refugees from a neighboring country. She is content with what she has, if sometimes lonely. Then a Pros arrives their tense little border town.





Cover for A Suitable Consort: a small, brightly dressed man in front of two larger men in armor.
A Suitable Consort (for the King and his Husband)
m/m/m fantasy
novella length
​in ebook and paperback!
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Everyone expects the king to rage at the suggestion that he find a new spouse to stand alongside--or better yet, replace--his beloved husband. Some might be planning on it, hoping to incite another conflict like what has plagued the country since the death of the last legitimate ruler. But to everyone’s surprise, the infamous Traitor King, Arden Canamorra, reacts to the suggestion with amusement, perhaps even interest.

Decades of chaos ended with Arden’s ascension to the throne. But many in the oldest noble families want more influence over the crown--noble influence, that is. Not from the king’s lower-rank and somewhat rough palace guard husband, Mil. They don’t care that Mil is a hero who helped secure peace at Arden’s side, and that, at least among the common people, Arden and Mil’s love story is legendary. Mattin, however, is outraged. A librarian at the royal library and advisor to the king despite his relatively young age, Mattin deeply admires the royal couple. That they happen to also be incredibly attractive is something he very determinedly ignores. If Arden and Mil are going to marry again for political purposes--since Mattin is sure no new love could ever match their great passion for each other--he will at least find someone perfect for them. If thinking about it makes Mattin miserable, well, he ignores that, too. 

But the king and his husband seem less interested in meeting appropriate nobles and more interested in fussing over Mattin while making plans of their own. It’s a more complicated matter than an innocent librarian could have realized, with more at risk than just his heart. The most suitable consort might not be enough to appease certain nobles, but the most beloved might win over the entire country. 

Picture
Ravenous 
m/m historical fantasy
novella length

Those who come back from the mysterious place known as the Realm, if they come back, are changed. Some return haunted. Others with knowledge of themselves that they will not share, and the magic of the Realm at their disposal. The peculiari, as these few are called, are tolerated at best, feared at worst.
 
Nicodemus isn’t anything like one of the exceptional, adventurous peculiari. For the most part, he’s content to keep house for the peculiari of the Arawn Agency and rarely ventures outside of the manor they all call home. As an asterion, one of the unwanted, monstrous children of the Realm, Nicodemus is human in appearance except for the ram’s horns growing from his head, and prefers the company of those who don’t judge him. There’s just one hitch in his otherwise safe and orderly world. One awkward, inconvenient, twice-a-year problem in which Nicodemus goes into what can humiliatingly only be called a rut.
 
It’s a secret he keeps from the others. But this year, unable to stand the thought of spending his rut alone, he ventures out in search of company—only to run into Bel, the one person he hopes will never discover his secret. Bel is powerful enough to make even other peculiari wary and far more experienced than Nicodemus in the ways of the world. But tonight, Bel isn’t out seeking pleasure. He’s on the hunt for a true monster that has slithered from the Realm to hurt people, and he seems to think Nicodemus is especially in danger. The Realm, and this creature, are drawn to people who want, and sheltered, lonely Nicodemus, with his rut approaching, is nothing but want.
 
According to Bel, the best way for anyone to stay protected from the temptations of the Realm is to indulge themselves enough to make their desires manageable. Alone with Bel for the first time after Bel vows to keep him safe, Nicodemus starts to wonder what it is that he really wants, and why Bel understands the appetites of a monster so well, and if perhaps Nicodemus should follow Bel’s advice and indulge some desires of his own.
 

Free Read! 
Lambchop and the Serious Courtship (A Ravenous AU) 


Cover of Let There Be Light: two men, one seated, one standing protectively near him
 
​Let There Be Light
Steampunk/alt history
novella length

m/m




In war-torn Europe of 1872, Karol and Hart devoted themselves to protecting England and the peace England maintained. Hart was a spy and bodyguard for Karol, a brilliant but hotheaded scientist. Their partnership was almost unstoppable... until Hart could no longer bear to see Karol in danger—or with other men—and seeing Hart repeatedly put his life on the line came to terrify Karol. Then a horrible accident separated them for what they believed would be forever.
Now the enemy's plan to kidnap Karol has Hart volunteering to guard him once again. Alone together with their fear and pain from the past might destroy them... or it might give them hope for a brighter future.



A Wealth of Unsaid Words
​m/m
​novella length
(Free/reader sets the price on Smashwords. 99 cents on Amazon)


Alex has always known his bipolar disorder made him too flawed for his boyhood hero, Everett. So when his feelings for Everett became overwhelming, he forced a separation that saddened them both but gave Alex the clarity he needed. Now a year has passed, and he and Everett are together again when Everett’s noisy, imperfect family reunites for Christmas, pulling Alex into their chaotic warmth the way they always have. Can Everett convince Alex that, in spite of his fears, starting a relationship would make for the perfect holiday?



My Work
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  • My Work
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  • Contact
  • Bestiaire Amoureux
  • A Queen and Her Knight