Press Release
Queer Supernatural Horror In Chicago Coming on Leap Day!
Cooper S. Beckett continues his Spectral Inspector book series, striving for great representation of the LGBTQIA community, as well as those who suffer disabilities or chronic pain, mental health issues, and the most important community: ghost hunters. Add to this supernaturally motivated suicide and murder, among teens? Well, now we’re cooking with gas. Osgood as She Gets delves deep into themes of regret, survivor's guilt, the relentless fight for survival, and the haunting art of letting go. With a tone that balances moments of light-heartedness and warmth with periods of profound introspection and spine-tingling terror.
Within the mysterious confines of Chicago's Andersonville neighborhood, Prudence Osgood, 45, queer AF, tormented by chronic pain, opioid addiction, and a tempestuous relationship with alcohol, captains The Spectral Inspectors—an ensemble of ghost hunters, each wrestling with their inner ghosts. In Osgood as She Gets, the third installment of The Spectral Inspector series, a sinister phenomenon known as The Graveyard Game emerges, drawing in fearless teenagers who dare to confront their own mortality by gazing into the hooded statue's eyes. As suicides surge, a chilling question arises: Is this disturbing game to blame, or does it have a connection to the elusive North Side Slasher? With time running out, The Spectral Inspectors must unravel the mystery that threatens their beloved city.
Reviewers are calling Osgood as She Gets “A trippy, cosmical joyride grappling with terror, pain, guilt, and bad decisions,” “An engaging and grisly caper,” “deeply chilling, yet profoundly human” and “A haunting, dream-like urban fantasy that stings and satisfies like a bitter-sweet shot of whiskey,” and main character Prudence Osgood “a protagonist for the ages: bold, brash and absolutely captivating,” “a lovable disaster,” and “the bad habit you didn’t know you needed.” They say of writer Beckett that he “writes with the accessibility and charm of Stephen King, but with the queer knowledge and language to appeal to an often-ignored audience.”
“As a queer writer who suffers from many of the ailments of my protagonist Osgood, I’ve always endeavored to create stories and characters that reflect the diverse lifestyles of my friends, my partners, and myself,” said Beckett. “Osgood as She Gets is my eighth book and it thrills me to deliver something scary, sexy, challenging, and fun.”
Osgood as She Gets releases as an ebook and paperback on Leap Day, February 29, 2024, with an audiobook to follow in early summer. The fourth book in the Spectral Inspector series, Osgood as Dead, will be released late in 2024. For more information, visit SpectralInspector.com.
Osgood as She Gets (as well as the previous two Spectral Inspector novels) is available now for reviews, and Cooper is available to talk about the books, queer horror, general horror, being non-monogamous, or being an openly bi male in the LGBTQIA community. (Or other things, he likes to talk.) Please let us know if you are interested.
Media
Front Cover
Back Cover
Full Wrap Cover
Long Description
Within the mysterious confines of Chicago's Andersonville neighborhood, Prudence Osgood, 45, queer AF, tormented by chronic pain, opioid addiction, and a tempestuous relationship with alcohol, captains The Spectral Inspectors—an ensemble of ghost hunters, each wrestling with their inner ghosts. In Osgood as She Gets, the third installment of The Spectral Inspector series, a sinister phenomenon known as The Graveyard Game emerges, drawing in fearless teenagers who dare to confront their own mortality by gazing into the hooded statue's eyes. As suicides surge, a chilling question arises: Is this disturbing game to blame, or does it have a connection to the elusive North Side Slasher? With time running out, The Spectral Inspectors must unravel the mystery that threatens their beloved city.
Osgood as She Gets delves deep into themes of regret, survivor's guilt, the relentless fight for survival, and the haunting art of letting go. With a tone that balances moments of light-heartedness and warmth with periods of profound introspection and spine-tingling terror, this novel invites you to join Osgood, Audrey, and Zack as they navigate the twisted realms of the supernatural. Can they unearth the truth before the shadows swallow them whole?
Reviewers are calling Osgood as She Gets “A trippy, cosmical joyride grappling with terror, pain, guilt, and bad decisions,” “An engaging and grisly caper,” “deeply chilling, yet profoundly human,” and “A haunting, dream-like urban fantasy that stings and satisfies like a bitter-sweet shot of whiskey,” and main character Prudence Osgood “a protagonist for the ages: bold, brash and absolutely captivating,” “a lovable disaster,” and “the bad habit you didn’t know you needed.” They say of writer Beckett that he “writes with the accessibility and charm of Stephen King, but with the queer knowledge and language to appeal to an often-ignored audience.”
Short Description
A sinister phenomenon known as The Graveyard Game has emerged in Chicago's Andersonville neighborhood, drawing in fearless teenagers who dare to confront their own mortality by gazing into the hooded statue's eyes. As suicides surge, a chilling question arises: Is this disturbing game to blame, or does it have a connection to the elusive North Side Slasher? With time running out, The Spectral Inspectors must unravel the mystery that threatens their beloved city. Can they unearth the truth before the shadows swallow them whole?
Review Block
Reviewers are calling Osgood as She Gets “A trippy, cosmical joyride grappling with terror, pain, guilt, and bad decisions,” “An engaging and grisly caper,” “deeply chilling, yet profoundly human,” and “A haunting, dream-like urban fantasy that stings and satisfies like a bitter-sweet shot of whiskey,” and main character Prudence Osgood “a protagonist for the ages: bold, brash and absolutely captivating,” “a lovable disaster,” and “the bad habit you didn’t know you needed.” They say of writer Beckett that he “writes with the accessibility and charm of Stephen King, but with the queer knowledge and language to appeal to an often-ignored audience.”
Cooper S. Beckett Bio
As a queer non-monogamous writer, Cooper S. Beckett endeavors to create characters that reflect the diverse lifestyles of his friends, his partners, and himself. From that mandate, he writes scary, silly, and sexy books and essays. Beginning his writing career as a podcaster as host of the Life on the Swingset Podcast and speaker in the sexuality education community, he wrote My Life on the Swingset, a memoir of his first five years in non-monogamy, then followed that up with two novels that take a brutally honest look at swinging and polyamory, A Life Less Monogamous, and Approaching the Swingularity. Returning to his first love, the horror genre with The Spectral Inspector Novels, has been like a homecoming. From a young age, his obsession with horror movies and books seriously concerned his mother. It probably still does. Given a choice, he would rather winter at the Overlook than the Waldorf. Like Lydia Deetz, he has always thought of himself strange and unusual, be it his perspective on sexuality, monogamy, politics, or where Elder Gods ought to fall in the hierarchy.
He lives in Chicago with Elle, his wife, constant, and binary star, Egon, their ghost terrier, and black cat Willow.
