Imaginary Authors was founded by Josh Meyer in Portland, Oregon, with a premise as clear as it is unusual: every fragrance is a fictional novel. Each bottle comes with a cover, a title, and a synopsis of a book that doesn't exist, but the perfume is that book's world, rendered in scent.

Cape Heartache is a coastal noir. The Cobra & The Canary is something stranger. Sundrunk is summer at its most uncomplicated. The conceit never overshadows the liquid these are technically accomplished fragrances, but the literary framework makes them immediately distinctive in a way that goes beyond branding. Imaginary Authors is for people who approach fragrance the same way they approach fiction: willing to be transported somewhere they haven't been.