John Peyton Cooke – Medium

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Gay vampire novel reprinted in 2019 (originally published 1991). One of the few gay-themed novels of the horror publishing boom of the ’80s and ’90s.

2019

John Peyton Cooke

John Peyton Cooke

Stories

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John Peyton Cooke
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Prism & Pen

Suppression of Pride Is a Slippery Slope Toward Authoritarianism

If we allow bullies, bigots, and MAGAts to intimidate us, they won’t stop until they rid themselves of us entirely

11 min read4 days ago

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Suppression of Pride Is a Slippery Slope Toward Authoritarianism

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John Peyton Cooke
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Prism & Pen

5 Great Novels by Women About Gay and Bisexual Men

Some of my favorite novels about gay men grew from the imaginations of some incredibly talented women

10 min readMay 1, 2024

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5 Great Novels by Women About Gay and Bisexual Men

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John Peyton Cooke
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Books Are Our Superpower

5 Huge Novels I Read Last Year

I’m a slow reader, and I read every word. Here are the longest (and some of the best) novels I read in 2023.

11 min readApr 6, 2024

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5 *Huge* Novels I Read Last Year

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John Peyton Cooke

Why Reading Matter Should Never Be Policed — Especially Not by Parents

Here in the bizzaro world of 2024, many school libraries and public libraries have been forced to remove books that conservative groups…

8 min readFeb 5, 2024

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Querelle de Brest, by Jean Genet

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John Peyton Cooke
in
Prism & Pen

Reading Gay Secondhand Books — Unique Legacies for New Generations

Who, I wonder, read this gay novel before me? What did they go through in their own lives? What did this book mean to them?

11 min read5 days ago

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Image shows two books. Left, ‘The Family of Max Desir’ by Robert Ferro — cover art featuring black-and-white photographs of family memories at the top, and a gay coupple arm-in-arm on a beach at the bottom. Right, ‘The Blue Star’ by Robert Ferro, featuring an illustration of a large ship on the ocean, as seen from a stone archway.

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John Peyton Cooke

Deriving Pleasure From Business: My Shanghai Story

I had to go to Shanghai on business . . . but I made sure to find time to explore for myself

8 min read5 days ago

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Image shows Shanghai in 2012, with people promenading along the Bund. (Photo copyright © 2024 by John Peyton Cooke)

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John Peyton Cooke
in
Books Are Our Superpower

East Meets West With a Vengeance in ‘The Singapore Grip’

Booker-winner J. G. Farrell gives us an inside look at the chaotic end of the British Empire in Southeast Asia

9 min readMay 21, 2024

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Historical black-and-white photograph of Singapore in February 1942, during its fall to the Japanese, showing the city centre and burning oil fields in the background.

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John Peyton Cooke
in
Books Are Our Superpower

Every Novel I Read Has a Soundtrack

For me, classical music helps me avoid distractions and enhances my reading enjoyment — especially with novels

6 min readMay 16, 2024

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Photo image of an iPod with a pair of wired headphones.

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John Peyton Cooke

‘Ripley’: a Rant

How did the filmmakers manage to turn Patricia Highsmith’s brilliant suspense novel into such a slow, soulless snoozefest?

7 min readMay 7, 2024

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Photo shows a 47-year-old version of Tom Ripley, played by Andrew Scott, apparently wearing a wig and staring out a window in a crisp white cotton shirt, posing with an old 35mm camera.

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John Peyton Cooke
in
Books Are Our Superpower

On Loving ‘My Dog Tulip’ by J. R. Ackerley

Every dog lover should read this classic memoir of human-dog relations by a great 20th century British author

5 min readApr 29, 2024

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Image shows title page stating the title ‘My Dog Tulip’ and the author J. R. Ackerley on black type against a white page.

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John Peyton Cooke

John Peyton Cooke

Book Author

Author of several novels and short stories, most with gay protagonists. TORSOS was a Lambda Literary Award finalist (Best Gay Men’s Mystery).

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