The Backlot Gay Book Forum discussion

Lust and Other Drugs (Mytho Investigations 1)
By T.J. Nichols
Published by the author, 2021

This is the first in an 8-book series built on the startling (but sort of inevitable) premise that the development of the Hadron Collider would result in the collapse of the adjacent Mythological World and its fall into our world. The result is a heavily damaged and transformed world, in which all of the mythological creatures (from mermaids and vampires to ancient Greek gods) that were only in fairytales become part of the human world—which of course unleashes all of the worst human traits of xenophobia and bigotry.

Ten years on, Jordan Kells, a San Francisco police inspector, is assigned to handle Mytho crimes. He is reluctant to do it, because as an out gay cop, he has secrets of his own. Being pro-mytho is not an asset, and Kells, like all police, is aware of the political ties attached to his career.

Into his life comes Edra Tendric, who appears to be human (and beautiful); but who is in fact a Lesser Dragon Knight, formerly a sort of police-officer in his lost world. Edra is a shifter, who becomes a silvery, winged, human-sized dragon when he needs to. Particularly when he needs to communicate with the Greater Dragons, who live up to their mythology and spout fire, which is troublesome in the human world. Edra is part of Mythological Services (aka Mytho Servo), tasked with protecting the complex and diverse mytho community from the prejudices of the human world in which they must live. He is assigned to work with Jordan Kells.

Oh, the ambivalence, and complexity! Nichols does a masterful job of presenting the appeal and the less charming aspects of the mytho world, while never wavering from the belief that these creatures (some of which are humanoid, and many of which are sentient and intelligent) deserve justice and equality and safety.

At the center of the adventure is the instant attraction that Jordan and Edra feel for each other, and the equally instant reaction that such attraction is unnatural and impossible. But they have to work together—each with a not-quite-congruent set of goals—and begin to understand and admire the other for who they are, not just what they look like.

It’s a really fun watching these two guys feel their way through their own prejudices and into their more noble natures. Both are driven by a desire for justice, but also by the fears they harbor about “the other” with which they have to live. Let it be clear that the parallels with inter-racial relationships and justice in the USA are easily (and intentionally) brought to mind. It’s smart and clever and interesting.
I’m already into book 2, so I’ll keep you posted.