Did you know that there is now a whole sub-genre of Cosy Fantasy? Or Cozy Fantasy, if you are American, which somehow sounds better. This month I’m recommending a charming example of Cozy Fantasy by American author and audiobook narrator, Travis Baldree. Legends & Lattes was published in 2022 and is available in print with a splendid cover, as an ebook, or as an audiobook narrated by the author.

As the story begins, massive orc warrior Viv slays a vicious monster known as the Scalvert Queen with her mighty sword Blackblood. The four other members of her band of mercenaries look forward to dividing up the treasure in the monster’s lair but all Viv wants is the stone inside the Scalvert Queen’s skull which is supposed to be some kind of powerful luck-bringing charm. So far, so Sword & Sorcery but after 22 years of blood-stained adventuring Viv has decided to retire. She slips away without saying goodbye to her companions and travels to the city of Thune.

Viv has long dreamed of a new kind of life and after much saving and planning she intends to open a coffee shop in Thune. There are a number of problems with her plan, including the facts that most people are afraid of orcs and that hardly anyone in Thune has ever heard of coffee let alone tried any. Viv has to start by finding a suitable building and someone to help her convert it into a coffee shop. Her Scalvert Stone seems to guide her to a long deserted livery stables close to the main High Street. Viv manages to buy the building and hides the Scalvert Stone under the flagstone floor. When Viv spots a lone Hob among a group of human carpenters she notices that he is being shunned by his fellow workers. Viv hires the Hob even though his name is Calamity (Cal for short) and together they work on turning the ground floor of the stables into a space fit for the splendid gnome-built coffee-machine which Viv has ordered.

Viv realizes that she’ll need to employ someone to help in the coffee shop and the first person to respond to her advert is Tandri, a succubus with artistic and intellectual interests. Tandri is also trying to break free of the behaviour expected of her species, so Viv hires her. The newly named Legends & Lattes is soon ready to open but attracts no customers. Viv is despondent but Tandri is full of good ideas. She designs posters for the coffee shop and persuades Viv to offer free samples for the first few days. They begin to get repeat customers and things go even better after Viv hires shy rattkin, Thimble, who turns out to be a brilliant baker. Legends & Lattes acquires an interesting range of regular customers including a student mage, a stone-mason who wants to be a singer, a mysterious gnome who play chess with an invisible opponent and a giant Dire-Cat.

Viv still hasn’t achieved the peace she’d hoped for because setting up a business has brought a number of worries. A criminal gang called the Madrigals run a protection-racket in Thune and have demanded money with menaces. Local officials, who could close Viv down, are in their pocket. Viv could solve the problem by taking down the sword she’s hung up in the coffee shop and slaying the bullies but she doesn’t want to resort to violence anymore. She is increasingly uncertain whether or how the Scalvert Stone works but she does know that one of her former mercenary band is determined to steal it. When disaster strikes can Viv rebuild her dream or will she be forced back into her old life?

Due to being unwell recently, I haven’t wanted to read anything too demanding or too depressing. Books tagged as heart-warming Cozy Fantasy seemed just the ticket but I’ve been disappointed in many of the examples I’ve tried. I’ve given up on Cozy novels that proved to be too dark, too violent, too crude or too cynical for my taste. Perhaps my heart is particularly hard to warm up but I don’t think that my wish-list is unreasonable. I’m looking for heartfelt writing, characters I’ll enjoy spending time with, gentle humour, a plot involving only mild peril and preferably a love story with a happy ending. I’m not fussy about the genders or species involved as long as I like both of the potential lovers. In addition I’d hope for the normal strengths of a pleasing Fantasy novel – convincing world-building, good characterization, ingenious plotting and interesting themes.

Most of these qualities are provided in the latest installments of two series which I’ve already written about – Kim Watts’ Gobbelino London novels ( see Fantasy Reads April 2021) and Tansy Rayner Roberts’ Teacup Magic novellas (see Fantasy Reads January 2022) but I’ve struggled to find something new to recommend for those in need of cheering up. Then the anti-adventures of retired warrior Viv did manage to warm my heart and make me smile. I’m not going to pretend that this gently-paced story is a thrill-a-minute. The reader has to invest in Viv’s dream and enjoy watching it slowly coming into being. This probably won’t be too hard since many urban people do have a favourite cafe which means quite a lot to them. This is especially true of writers, who tend to divide into those who need endless cups of coffee to work and those who need endless cups of tea (I have a tea-shop set series in mind to recommend for the tea-drinkers). A friend of mine once wrote an article called `The Black Wine of Thantis’ pointing out how often thinly disguised coffee turns up in Fantasy and Science Fiction novels because many writers can’t bear to imagine a world without it.

Few authors have gone as far as Baldree and imported a complex coffee-machine into their otherwise traditional Fantasy world but if you are going to do such a thing then of course it would be skilled and ingenious gnomes who would be capable of building such a marvel. Much of the humour in Legends & Lattes arises from the transfer of real-life difficulties independent coffee-shop owners face into a Fantasy setting. So, for example, the annoying person who sits hunched over their lap-top occupying a table for hours after only ordering one cup of coffee is transformed into a mage who doesn’t like hot drinks and just wants to be left alone to study ley lines. Much of the joy in the book comes from the way that Baldree describes Viv’s customers experiencing everyday pleasures such as the smell of freshly ground coffee or the taste of a cinnamon bun warm from the oven for the very first time.

My favourite characters in Legends & Lattes are inventive baker, Thimble, and the elusive Dire-Cat, Amity, who has a purr that sounds like a rockfall. Viv thinks that it is the luck of the Scalvert Stone which has found her the people she needs to establish her coffee shop but it gradually becomes clear that Viv has a natural gift for befriending fellow misfits and offering them the opportunities they need. Most of the main characters want to break away from their stereotyped roles and live differently. There is a clever scene in which Viv worries about employing a succubus who might vamp her customers and then realizes that she is displaying the same kind of prejudice that she has long suffered as an orc. A slowly developing love affair between Viv and retired succubus, Tandri, is very delicately done. Stoical Viv has to learn to treat herself as a person who deserves friendship and love.

Some readers may find this book too sweet for their taste – there is only one truly villainous character and even the formidable leader of the Madrigal gang turns out to have her good points. However, in my present mood, I can’t help feeling that if more orcs and other monsters gave up slaughtering in favour of running coffee shops the world of Fantasy fiction would be a nicer place. Due to an upcoming operation, Fantasy Reads will be taking a break in August. I hope to be back with a new recommendation in September. Until then…