J. Scott Coatsworth has a new queer sci fi/fantasy anthology out: Spells & Stardust.
Spells & Stardust is Scott's first anthology - eight sci fi and fantasy shorts that run the gamut from regeneration to redemption.
The Bear at the Bar: A gay fish out of water tale with a pinch of magic.
Tight: What happens when your lover disappears in midair?
Morgan: The year when everything changed.
Re-Life: What if you were reborn in a strange new future?
A New Year: They met every eleven years. And each time, Hank's life changed.
Repetition: What if you wanted to go back in the closet?
Gargoyle: Sometimes you get what you deserve. Sometimes it happens on All Hallows Eve.
Avalon: A few bright moments in the sun, stolen from outside time.
Most of these stories have been previously published in various anthologies and journals. This is the first time they have all been collected in one place.
Get It On Amazon
Buy Links:
Amazon eBook: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07KDXHLWS
Amazon Paperback: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1732307547/
Unique
Excerpt – From "Re-Life"
As
Eric lay there listening to the solitary wind, looking up at the pinprick
stars, a line of golden light split the firmament. "You have an
appointment with Jozy in half an hour," Simon said, destroying the illusion,
as the line rotated and widened into a picture of the receptionist.
Eric
sighed and got up out of bed. He wasn't sure he was ready for modern society,
but he had to dive in some time. Better to do it with a willing tour guide. The
bed melted into the floor behind him.
He
called up the ionic shower, thanking the clinic for all the lessons they’d
given him on Safris hygiene. He stripped off his used clothes. “Simon?” he
said, looking around.
“Yes,
Eric?”
“Where’s
the hamper?”
There
was a pause. “There is no ‘hamper’,” Simon said at last, pronouncing the word
as if it were a brand-new thing. “Just set your clothes here,” and a spot in
the corner lit up, “and they will be absorbed for recycling.”
He
did as he was told, and then stepped into the ionic stream, feeling the tingle
as his body was dry-washed clean. A moment later, he stepped away, and the
shower head vanished up into the trees. Enough of this self-deception.
"White walls, please." The forest faded first to grey, then white.
“Can I have a mirror, Simon?”
“My
survey of early twenty-first century literature shows the mirror trope was
quite overused.”
Eric
stared at the wall for a minute, then burst out laughing. “Because I’m a
writer.”
“Quite
right, Sir. If you’d like, I can provide a virtual Eric for you to look over.”
Eric
grinned. He was sure there was laughter in Simon’s voice that time. “Had that
request before, huh?”
“You
re-lifes are nothing if not predictable.”
Eric
smiled at the dry humor.
A
full-sized version of his naked body appeared in the middle of the room. He
walked around it, admiring the work the re-life clinic had done. It was his
face, reimagined to perfection.
They’d
augmented his basic gene set, and his new body was a virtual work of art. It
was strange, but he kind of missed his old, less-than-perfect body. The mole on
his left arm that looked like a little Mickey Mouse. The occasional ache in his
ankle where he’d broken it playing soccer as a child. Even his chipped front
tooth.
Now
he was perfect, or at least as perfect as the clinic had been able to
make him. There was something quite boring in perfection. He understood why
others here went to extremes to be different.
The
technology to bring him and others like him back had been in existence for some
time, but the Clinic’s budget was limited. It was a historical, cultural
project to thaw those poor frozen souls like him and make them a part of modern
society. He was a walking museum piece, from his washboard abs and beautiful
pecs to his perfect ass.
He
took a much closer look at that beautifully rounded ass, a view he’d never
enjoyed before. And his cock... I would have been a God in my own time.
Giveaway
Scott is giving away a $20 Amazon gift card with this tour. Enter via Rafflecopter:
Direct Link: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/b60e8d4740/?
Excerpt
From "A New Year"
The nearly-frozen water rushed by in the river below, flowing under the bridge behind him and on toward the ocean far away in a steady flow, silver in the moonlight and heavily laden with winter rain. As soon as he gathered his courage, Hank would let go of his grip on the railing and fall into those icy waters, to disappear forever from the world of men.
It was New Year's Day, 1986, an hour after midnight, and it was the end of things for Hank.
Or it should have been.
It was also the night he first met Dale.
Author Bio
Scott lives with his husband of twenty five years in a Sacramento suburb, in a cute little yellow house with a brick fireplace and two pink flamingoes out front.
He inhabits in the space between the here and now and the what could be. Indoctrinated into science fiction and fantasy by his mom at the tender age of nine, he quickly finished her entire library. But he soon began to wonder where all the queer people were.
After coming out at twenty three, he started writing the kinds of stories he couldn't find at Crown Books. If there weren't many queer characters in his favorite genres, he would will them into existence, subverting them to his own ends. And if he was lucky enough, someone else would want to read them.
His friends say Scott's mind works a little differently than most - he makes connections between ideas that others don't, and somehow does more in a day than most people manage in a week. Although born an introvert, he forced himself to reach outside himself, and learned to connect with others like him.
Scott's stories subvert expectations that transform traditional science fiction, fantasy, and contemporary worlds into something different and unexpected. He runs both Queer Sci Fi and QueeRomance Ink with his husband Mark.
His romance and genre fiction writing brings a queer energy to his stories, filling them with love, beauty and power. He imagines how the world could be - in the process, he hopes to change the world, just a little.
Scott was recognized as one of the top new gay authors in the 2017 Rainbow Awards, and his debut novel "Skythane" received two awards and an honorable mention.
Author Website: https://www.jscottcoatsworth.com
Author Facebook (Personal): https://www.facebook.com/jscottcoatsworth
Author Facebook (Author Page): https://www.facebook.com/jscottcoatsworthauthor/
Author Twitter: https://twitter.com/jscoatsworth/
Author Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8392709.J_Scott_Coatsworth
Author QueeRomance Ink: https://www.queeromanceink.com/mbm-book-author/j-scott-coatsworth/
Author Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/J.-Scott-Coatsworth/e/B011AFO4OQ
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