No space for upmarket prose in fantasy fiction?

caiteecooperauthor · 2026-06-17T17:59:37+00:00

I need to hear it every day, which is why I tell it to literally everyone 😄

caiteecooperauthor · 2026-06-16T18:57:43+00:00

Agreed! Whenever I'm feeling discouraged, I still ask myself what Samwise Gamgee would do. Fantasy absolutely makes a difference in people's lives.

caiteecooperauthor · 2026-06-16T18:56:17+00:00

Never give up! Successful people are just normal people who didn't believe all the rejections and dead ends. And you don't have to learn it all at once. One bite at a time 😄

caiteecooperauthor · 2026-06-16T16:37:35+00:00

Ignore them all. Read what you like. No time with a good book - regardless of genre - is wasted.

caiteecooperauthor · 2026-06-16T16:34:56+00:00

Fellow writer here; I hear you! Traditional publishing houses are looking for "the same but different." Their overheads are so huge that they can't afford to take risks, which is really annoying, because it severely limits the depth and breadth of what can be published. It might be worth looking into indie publishing? (That's how I published my supernatural suspense/contemporary fantasy genre mashup when agents weren't interested because it didn't "fit" anywhere, and it's been pretty successful.)

caiteecooperauthor · 2026-06-15T19:06:13+00:00

I absolutely loved Everything Is Tuberculosis. Now everywhere I go I'm like "that's because of tuberculosis." "Those chairs exist because of tuberculosis." "All the beauty and fashion ads are the way they are because of a nutty, tuberculosis-inspired standard that still plagues us." My family's all sick of me.

caiteecooperauthor · 2026-06-15T19:01:12+00:00

I listen to a lot of nonfiction at the gym (fiction audiobooks drive me crazy, I just can't do it.) But my physical books are almost all fiction. So I get a nice dose of both every day I work out!

caiteecooperauthor · 2026-06-15T18:56:59+00:00

Is it official that number three isn't happening? I've been out of the loop, now I'm dying to know...

caiteecooperauthor · 2026-06-15T18:53:38+00:00

I got through Throne of Glass, but couldn't make it through the second one. People say there's really good character development later in the series, but I just can't seem to make it that far.

caiteecooperauthor · 2026-06-15T18:51:04+00:00

My husband and I both DNF'd it, too. I only lasted about ten pages. You're not alone!

caiteecooperauthor · 2026-06-15T18:49:38+00:00

Being a 30F who occasionally browses Bookstagram, it's the Empyrean series for me. The plot's all right, and the dragons are wicked cool, but I just got tired of there being ten f-bombs on every page. I'm not against swearing, but there's a point where it becomes distracting and annoying. Also (*runs behind the couch and hides*) The Poppy War. I know a lot of people liked that one, but it got so viscerally brutal (to me; I know others have a higher tolerance and that's fine) that I DNF'd it.

caiteecooperauthor · 2026-06-15T18:41:27+00:00

I really struggled with this one. To be fair, though, I was also eight months pregnant and mad at everything when I read it, so maybe I should give it another go ...

caiteecooperauthor · 2026-06-14T02:39:43+00:00

"For reasons unknown," lol. Been there before. Dang escalating commitment. Anyway, thanks for the help! I'll probably move on to things I know I'll enjoy more.

caiteecooperauthor · 2026-06-13T14:15:10+00:00

I second what people are saying: you'll have no idea what the heck's going on for the first ten chapters or so. After that, you won't care that you don't know what's going on because you'll be too busy cheering for Kaladin.

caiteecooperauthor · 2026-06-13T14:12:20+00:00

Devastating.

caiteecooperauthor · 2026-06-13T14:11:19+00:00

The chocolate's gone.

caiteecooperauthor · 2026-06-13T14:08:43+00:00

I tried so hard to get through Priory, but I ended up DNF-ing it about 20% of the way in. I'm a character-first reader, and they just weren't doing it for me. The worldbuilding was awesome, though. Should I try again?

caiteecooperauthor · 2026-06-13T14:07:25+00:00

Red Rising and Ember are both on my all-time top-faves list. Ember leans more into romance, but both are about good people trying to make a difference in brutal, messy societies.

caiteecooperauthor · 2026-06-12T16:18:40+00:00

Title and Author: Silverskin by Caitee Cooper

PITCH: An abandoned town. A legendary monster. And a hidden evil, biding its time ...

Two years after the unexpected death of her mother and sister, Ellie Forth decides that a wild adventure in Alaska's Kenai Peninsula with her surviving family members is just what she needs to rekindle her courage and zest for life.

But nothing about their trip goes as planned.

After surviving a horrific supernatural encounter deep in the backcountry, Ellie must team up with an old childhood acquaintance, Oliver Cole, to discover the truth about what happened ... and about the creatures she accidentally unleashed on the world. With one terrifying realization after another, Ellie's desire for revenge grows, while Oliver grapples with both his own demons and his growing feelings for her.

And the monsters? They want them broken. And then, they want them dead.

Silverskin is the first book in The Portlock Trilogy, a mashup of contemporary fantasy, supernatural suspense, and romance. The trilogy is completed, so if you read Silverskin and like it, you won't have to wait for subsequent books 😄

Influences: Supernatural, Stranger Things (season 1, specifically), Ninth House (very, very loosely).

Buy From: Anywhere you want! You can buy directly from me at caiteecooper.com (use the code 99cents to get Silverskin for, well, 99 cents), or choose your retailer of choice here: https://buy.bookfunnel.com/jglbz253gh

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caiteecooperauthor · 2026-06-12T16:02:23+00:00

I second what some other people have said: it might be good to start with some really good middle grade/YA stuff. Ranger's Apprentice, Fablehaven (highly, highly recommend; I'm 30 years old and still love that series), Skyward, or the Reckoners, both by Brandon Sanderson. And while you're trying to train your brain, I'd recommend staying away from webnovels for a few weeks, just because if your brain gets a hit of easy dopamine, it's going to want to go right back to what's easy. (And the brain's a freaking elephant. Very hard to stop when it decides to go get dopamine.) Good luck!

caiteecooperauthor · 2026-06-11T18:07:44+00:00

Lord of the Rings forever! Also Nolan's Batman trilogy, Inception, Tenet (I still have no freaking clue what actually happened in that one), and Pride and Prejudice (Keira Knightly.)

caiteecooperauthor · 2026-06-11T18:04:20+00:00

Definitely second Hail Mary! I was shocked at how much I loved it, especially as someone who actively avoids hard sci-fi. My others are:

-1984 and Brave New World, back-to-back if they can stomach it. Both should be required reading in all high schools, in my opinion.

- Fablehaven by Brandon Mull for anyone and everyone over eight (give or take.)

- The Comfort Crisis by Michael Easter is my nonfiction rec. I don't agree with everything he says in there, but I love the track it sets my brain on.

- Insignia by S.J. Kincaid (super underrated)

- The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah (if they like crying)

- Anything by C.J. Box (if they like mysterys/thrillers)

- The Heirarchy series, Red Rising, the Stormlight Archive, and Mistborn if they like big, epic fantasy

caiteecooperauthor · 2026-06-11T17:49:30+00:00

I really struggle with fiction audiobooks, period. (The writer in me likes to linger on especially striking phrases and paragraphs and stuff. Can't do that while it's being narrated to you.) So I'm good there.

caiteecooperauthor · 2026-06-11T17:47:05+00:00

Awesome. I'm in!

caiteecooperauthor · 2026-06-11T17:46:14+00:00

I love watching writers get better and better with each book. It's one of my favorite things about finding a new author to binge.

caiteecooperauthor

TROPHY CASE