Pain Before the Rainbow

Pain Before the Rainbow: a biomythographical anthology by Jack Cooper is a collection of stories anchored by Anthony's Sin. The anthology includes poetry, essays, and eloquent explorations of life and love.

Cooper describes his work as Biomythography, which means weaving together myth, history, and biography in epic narrative form, a style of composition that represents all the ways in which we perceive the truth.

He says that Biomythography is not our truth told simply and in a mundane way, but a writing down of our meanings of identity, with the materials of our lives. He asserts that we are the culmination of it all; experiences are painted with imagery, perception, and mostly emotions. Details that become true in the telling.

This gripping book chronicles the life of a man who was acutely aware of being gay as a boy in an unaccepting world-a time before the rainbow. Cooper presents an eloquent narrative through a series of stories that engage the reader's mind and heart in this skillfully composed exploration of identity and compelling perspective through the lens of a man who lives and loves outside the lines of the oppressive heterosexual boxes that society and religion drew and that condition boys to think and act according to a preset definition of masculinity.

Cooper brilliantly navigates the shame and secrecy, tragedy, and trauma, as well as strength and courage, that grow out of living one's truth in a disapproving and often hurtful world.

Jack Cooper lives with his husband and Great Dane, Jack, in upstate New York, where he writes and renovates properties. He has an MA from Union College, spent 20 years in the private sector, and taught at the secondary level for 25 years. His work has been published in the Flumes Literary Journal, Weasel Press, Limit Experience Journal, Co ee People Zine, Miracle Monocle, Plentitudes Journal, Prometheus Dreaming, Two Sisters Writing and Publishing, Pride and Presents, Red Noise Collective, Running Wild Press Short Story Anthology, Wingless Dreamers Publication, Wild Sounds Writing Festival, Beyond Words, Beyond Queer Words, and RIZE Short Story Anthology.

Elizabeth Ann Atkins is a best-selling author, an Emmy-nominated TV host, actress, and journalist who teaches how to unlock one's infinite potential to live and love in peace and purpose. Elizabeth created and hosts The Goddess Power Show with Elizabeth Ann Atkins(R), a podcast and YouTube channel exploring provocative topics to empower women to live bigger, better and bolder. Elizabeth and her sister Catherine M. Greenspan created Two Sisters Writing and Publishing(R), which has written and published 40+ memoirs, novels, business books, poetry books, and journals since its creation in 2016. Elizabeth and Catherine have written and published dozens of books, including their mother's book, The Triumph of Rosemary: A Memoir, by Judge Marylin E. Atkins, which is being developed into a screenplay that will be shopped to Hollywood for a feature film. Their mother wrote the book herself, chronicling her controversial, interracial marriage to former Roman Catholic Priest Thomas Lee Atkins. Elizabeth has a master's degree in Journalism from Columbia University and a bachelor's degree in English Literature from the University of Michigan. She has been a guest on The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Montel Williams Show, NPR, and many other programs. As America's Book Coach, she helps aspiring authors achieve their dreams of becoming published authors. The bestselling author of 40 books, Elizabeth also co-hosts MI Healthy Mind, a weekly, Emmy-nominated TV show aiming to shatter the stigma of mental illness, addiction, and abuse. She is also a certified meditation teacher, a certified fitness trainer and a wellness advocate.