Joe Cooke is a Santa Fe–based novelist who writes dark, high-stakes fiction featuring fierce, flawed protagonists. His work blends relentless action with emotional depth, bringing complex characters—and the choices that define them—to life.
M A J O R A N N O U N C E M E N T
New Release: Art of the Kill
She ran from home. She ran out of time. Now she’s running out of humanity.
On the morning after her sixteenth birthday, Artemisia Vane tries to end the nightmare that has ruled her life. She fails.
Beaten, abandoned, and left to survive on the streets of Santa Fe, Art is offered a way out by a mysterious program called Girls Who Run.
It’s not a rescue—it’s a recruitment.
Backed by a shadow organization known as the Consortium, Girls Who Run identifies broken girls with one valuable trait: the capacity for violence—and turns them into elite assassins.
No rules. No mercy. No way out.
Inside a brutal training compound deep in Mexico, Art is pushed past every limit—physically, mentally, morally. Friendships become weapons. Loyalty becomes weakness. Survival means becoming exactly what they want her to be. But Art has a mission of her own.
She will go back.
She will find him.
And she will finish what she started.
But the deeper she goes, the more dangerous the truth becomes, because the Consortium’s reach is longer than she imagined, her past is more tangled than she knows, and the people she learns to trust may be the ones to destroy her.
As betrayal closes in and time runs out to save the only family she has left, Art faces a choice that will define her forever: escape the life they built for her, or become the deadliest weapon they’ve ever created.
“a thoughtful and talented writer”
Joe is a clear and thoughtful writer of non-fiction, as well as a talented author of fiction. His novel Elysen is a vivid work whose scenes leap easily from the page and into the reader’s imagination.” -Ethan P
“pulls you in right from the beginning”
…I would definitely recommend Elysen to those who are just discovering this kind of literature. It's very smoothly written and pulls you in right at the beginning. —Kornelia Longoria for Reader Views (3/06)
“strong and compelling”
In modern fantasy, very few male authors have managed the task of writing truly strong and compelling female protagonists, yet Cooke does it with ease. —Theresa Derwin, book pleasures.com
“an amazing and inspiring speaker”
Joe has an incredible command of his material and makes a poignant impression on his audience…He's an amazing and inspiring speaker! —Tom Soma, painter and poet
“creative, diligent, reliable”
Joe is one of the best writers I've worked with. He is creative, diligent and reliable - and I love his writing style.
—Maria Patterson, Executive Editor RIS Media
“Good read for…the fantasy world of covens.”
Written from Jess’ point of view, the author, Joe Cooke, takes his time to thoroughly develop the story, laying the web of unanswered mysteries carefully.
“an important writer and educator”
Joe is an important writer and educator with a lot of helpful information for his readers. —Beth Black Award-Winning Writer
BOOKS
Bad-ass female warriors of all ages. Reluctant heroes with troubled pasts who fight cannibals and werewolves and ancient foes. Joe Cooke's fiction isn't stereotypical or formulaic. He brings his imagination and unique voice to new worlds and his characters come to life with beauty, ferocity, and all the flaws that make us human.
“She’s asking for ten million?” he asked.
Gabby said, “She wants to settle and get out. No alimony. Just child support, but that’s not contested. Did you bone her?”
“No, of course not. Husband is the controller of National Corn? What’s he draw down annually?”
Colder already had a tax form in his hand.