"Even for an immortal, living could really suck sometimes"
A gay erotic series by author J.L. O'Faolain.
Over two-hundred-sixty years ago, Tuulois MacColewyn was born of fire and ice, a wolf sidhe now exiled from Avalon and living in Manhattan, where, since the 1920s, he’s worked as everything from a mob enforcer to hired muscle taking odd jobs for and working with some of the city’s most mystical beings. These days, however, Cole's primary concern is paying his rent. Against his better judgment, he ends up accepting a job from Detective James Corhagen. A series of murder/kidnappings have plagued New York City as of late and the method points to black magic, even though everyone knows there's no such thing as magic. With Inspector Joss Vallimun, the trio form an alliance to fight against the rising amount of supernatural crime in the Big Apple. Along the way, Everyone Has Lots of Sex.
Part murder Whodunit, part Urban Fantasy, part erotic fairy tale.
Thus far, three books in the series have been released:
Tropes:
- Body Horror: These are not the cutesy fey that grant wishes and leave behind shoes.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Cole is hinted at having one. The reasons behind his exile from Faerie aren't made clear, but even after arriving in New York City in the Roaring Twenties, things didn't pick up for him.
- Depraved Bisexual: Cole is this, at least in Detective Corhagen's eyes. The general consensus seems to be that Corhagen is in serious denial, particularly after the incident in the park.
- Roaring Twenties: Cole started out as a mob enforcer in the early nineteen-twenties after his exile began. He still speaks of the time with a small amount of fondness.
- Transparent Closet: Detective James Corhagen, most definitely.
The Thirteenth Child:
- The Baby Trap: Detective Corhagen is married to a shrill, controlling woman that Cole believes lied about being pregnant. It turns out the woman really was pregnant, just not with Corhagen's child.
- Badass Normal: Detective Corhagen shows shades of this initially. There are hints early on that he may have some small preternatural ability involving foretelling dreams but this has yet to be elaborated on. Inspector Vallimun has this in spades, however, particularly after he gets the bazooka.
- Bag of Holding: Robyn the mercenary has one. It was made by her grandmother.
- Everybody Has Lots of Sex: Averted initially. The sex scenes don't kick in until roughly midway through. When they DO, however....
- The Fair Folk: Cole is a pure-blood sidhe who has lived in New York City for the past ninety years or so. Nevertheless, he still thinks very much like a sidhe and not a human. In this particular brand of New York City, fey are all over the place. Most people ignore them out of the belief that they aren't real.
- Fantastic Racism: There are hints of this, particularly with the character Naryssa and her adopted children, though it hasn't been elaborated on yet.
- IKEA Erotica: So far, not so much.
- Invisible to Normals: No one in New York City notices that there are trolls, pixies, sidhe, and all other manner of creatures living alongside them right under their very noses. Even for New York, this seems a bit hard to take.
Word of God says that its due to people no longer believing in them. Their minds either ignore it or make up some excuse - Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Inspector Vallimun. And again, Cole.
- Little Miss Badass: Robyn, hands down. She looks no older than twelve yet is armed to the teeth thanks to a Bag of Holding made by her grandmother. She also wears a red hood over camo fatigues and can perform incredible acrobatics without batting an eye.
- Meaningful Name: Sort of an inversion. Cole has albino skin and silvery-white hair, yet his shortened name is Cole (Coal).
- Money, Dear Boy: Things haven't been going well for our immortal protagonist. His motivation for taking the case Corhagen offers him is money so he can keep paying the rent. And to play video games.
- Scary Scarecrows: Scary Scarecrows in a locked-down hospital, no less!
- Shapeshifter: Cole can change into a wolf at will thanks to having served Queen Titania at one point.
- Three-Way Sex: This happens in a dreamscape between the three main male characters. Corhagen flip-flops back and forth afterwards between wanting to deny it happened and trying to blame it all squarely on Cole.
The Thirteenth Pillar:
- Armored Closet Gay: Corhagen, full-stop. Though he doesn't pull this off as well as he thinks.
- Bigger Is Better in Bed: Subverted. Vallimun is described several times as being spectacularly well-endowed in one area of the body, yet a chapter roughly midway through focuses on he and Cole discussing how such a thing is more of a curse than a blessing.
- It is implied that one reason Vallimun enjoys being with Cole is due to his sidhe anatomy being able to take more punishment, and therefore can accommodate for Vallimun's size.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Daniel Whittaker this time. The abuse he suffers both at home and at school leaves him a broken mess, but then some ominous shadows tortured him further into becoming the monster he was.
- Dogged Nice Guy: Corhagen sees himself as this.
- Everybody Has Lots of Sex: Played straight in this book. The levels of steam are cranked up to eleven this time around.
- Iam What I Am: In the end, Whittaker embraces what he is. And gets a girlfriend, an age bonus, and cool superpowers out of it.
- I'm a Humanitarian: The story begins with two of the main characters searching for a serial killer who burns children alive before eating them.
- Living Shadow: Several of them near the end.
- The Omniscient Council of Vagueness: The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. They haven't been around long enough to qualify as an Ancient Conspiracy, but if this trope is played straight for the remainder of the series, you know this won't be the last we've seen of them!
- Soap Opera Rapid Aging Syndrome: Whittaker goes through this as a result of bonding with a creature of angst.
- Suicide by Cop: Whittaker's master plan turns out to be this.
- Wild Child: Jynx has shades of this at first. She doesn't speak, leaving a Wood Goblin to fill in the blanks for people.
