Yay! All Queer is now available!
GDB 𝒀𝒂𝒚! 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒒𝒖𝒆𝒆𝒓, an LGBTQ+ anthology from Inkd Publishing, is available now!
We both have stories included, and Mandy was the editor, so we can guarantee it’s full of good stuff 👍
Buy a copy here.
February 2025
Shelf Life — Royal Red is a Fun, Aimless Road Trip
Cozy fiction is still on the rise, and I’m here for it. The more hectic life gets, the more appealing it becomes to read stories about likeable characters just kind of living their lives and vibing without any clear stakes or massive conflicts to deal with. That lack of a clear plotline is supposed to be storytelling poison according to conventional wisdom, but I’m happy to learn I’m not the only weirdo who has been liking books that my high school English teachers would have had a fit over.
That lack of a clear plotline is also the point of Royal Red by K.C. Shaw, a cozy fantasy adventure in a quaint world of domestic dragons that promises “Art. Adventure. And lots of tea.” And it delivers all three in spades, even if that second bullet point is very low-key and personal throughout.
Rose is a dragon and an artist living in a co-op of other artist dragons, but lately she’s found herself in a slump and unhappy with her style of painting. At the urging of her mentor and roommates, she packs up some funds and some art supplies and flies away from her homeland for the first time to travel abroad and experience more of the world in the hope of growing and evolving as an artist and a person.
And that right there is the start and finish of the plot. Rose gets up to a handful of unexpected adventures on her travels, meets other dragons in a wide range of personalities and likeability, paints a lot of different subjects, and has a lot of little meals and tea breaks along the way. To dwell too much on any detail of her journey counts as a spoiler, because the whole thrust of the book is wondering what the next little event will be on Rose’s mostly aimless tour of self-discovery.
Read more after a tea break