Publisher: DSP Publications
Author: J. Scott Coatsworth
Cover Artist: Aaron Anderson
Length: 284 Pages
Format: eBook, Paperback
Release Date: 10/10/17
Pairing: MM
Price: 6.99, 16.99
Series: Liminal Sky (Book One)
Genre: Sci Fi, Space, Gen Ship, Apocalypse, Gay, Lesbian,
Bisexual, Transgender, Queer
Blurb:
Some stories are epic.
The Earth is in a state of collapse, with wars breaking
out over resources and an environment pushed to the edge by human greed.
Three living generation ships have been built with a
combination of genetic mastery, artificial intelligence, technology, and raw
materials harvested from the asteroid belt. This is the story of one of them—43
Ariadne, or Forever, as her inhabitants call her—a living world that carries
the remaining hopes of humanity, and the three generations of scientists,
engineers, and explorers working to colonize her.
From her humble beginnings as a seedling saved from
disaster to the start of her journey across the void of space toward a new home
for the human race, The Stark Divide tells the tales of the
world, the people who made her, and the few who will become something
altogether beyond human.
Humankind has just taken its first step toward the stars.
Book One of Liminal
Sky
Excerpt:
“DRESSLER, SCHEMATIC,” Colin McAvery, ship’s
captain and a third of the crew, called out to the ship-mind.
A three-dimensional image of the ship appeared above the
smooth console. Her five living arms, reaching out from her central core, were
lit with a golden glow, and the mechanical bits of instrumentation shone in
red. In real life, she was almost two hundred meters from tip to tip.
Between those arms stretched her solar wings, a ghostly
green film like the sails of the Flying Dutchman.
“You’re a pretty thing,” he said softly. He loved these
ships, their delicate beauty as they floated through the starry void.
“Thank you, Captain.” The ship-mind sounded happy with the
compliment—his imagination running wild. Minds didn’t have real emotions,
though they sometimes approximated them.
He cross-checked the heading to be sure they remained on
course to deliver their payload, the man-sized seed that was being dragged on a
tether behind the ship. Humanity’s ticket to the stars at a time when life on
Earth was getting rapidly worse.
All of space was spread out before him, seen through the
clear expanse of plasform set into the ship’s living walls. His own face,
trimmed blond hair, and deep brown eyes, stared back at him, superimposed over
the vivid starscape.
At thirty, Colin was in the prime of his career. He was a
starship captain, and yet sometimes he felt like little more than a bus driver.
After this run… well, he’d have to see what other opportunities might be
awaiting him. Maybe the doc was right, and this was the start of a whole new
chapter for mankind. They might need a guy like him.
The walls of the bridge emitted a faint but healthy golden
glow, providing light for his work at the curved mechanical console that filled
half the room. He traced out the T-Line to their destination. “Dressler,
we’re looking a little wobbly.” Colin frowned. Some irregularity in the course
was common—the ship was constantly adjusting its trajectory—but she usually
corrected it before he noticed.
“Affirmative, Captain.” The ship-mind’s miniature chosen
likeness appeared above the touch board. She was all professional today,
dressed in a standard AmSplor uniform, dark hair pulled back in a bun, and
about a third life-sized.
The image was nothing more than a projection of the
ship-mind, a fairy tale, but Colin appreciated the effort she took to humanize
her appearance. Artificial mind or not, he always treated minds with respect.
“There’s a blockage in arm four. I’ve sent out a scout to
correct it.”
The Dressler was well into slowdown now,
her pre-arrival phase as she bled off her speed, and they expected to reach 43
Ariadne in another fifteen hours.
Pity no one had yet cracked the whole hyperspace thing.
Colin chuckled. Asimov would be disappointed. “Dressler, show me Earth,
please.”
A small blue dot appeared in the middle of his screen.
“Dressler, three dimensions, a bit larger, please.”
The beautiful blue-green world spun before him in all its glory.
Appearances could be deceiving. Even with scrubbers
working tirelessly night and day to clean the excess carbon dioxide from the
air, the home world was still running dangerously warm.
He watched the image in front of him as the East Coast of
the North American Union spun slowly into view. Florida was a sliver of its
former self, and where New York City’s lights had once shone, there was now
only blue. If it had been night, Fargo, the capital of the
Northern States, would have outshone most of the other cities below. The floods
that had wiped out many of the world’s coastal cities had also knocked down
Earth’s population, which was only now reaching the levels it had seen in the
early twenty-first century.
All those new souls had been born into a warm, arid world.
We did it to ourselves. Colin, who had known
nothing besides the hot planet he called home, wondered what it had been like
those many years before the Heat.
Buy Links
DSP Publications (paperback): https://www.dsppublications.com/books/the-stark-divide-by-j-scott-coatsworth-416-b
DSP Publications (eBook): https://www.dsppublications.com/books/the-stark-divide-by-j-scott-coatsworth-415-b
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-stark-divide-j-scott-coatsworth/1126901106?ean=9781635338324
QueeRomance Ink: https://www.queeromanceink.com/book/the-stark-divide/
Author Bio:
Scott spends his time between the here
and now and the what could be. Enticed into fantasy and
sci fi by his mom at the tender age of nine, he devoured her Science Fiction
Book Club library. But as he grew up, he wondered where all the people like him
were in the books he was reading.
He decided that it was time to create the kinds of stories he
couldn’t find at his local bookstore. If there weren’t gay characters in his
favorite genres, he would remake them to his own ends.
His friends say Scott’s mind works a little differently – he sees
relationships between things that others miss, and gets more done in a day than
most folks manage in a week. He loves to transform traditional sci fi, fantasy,
and contemporary worlds into something unexpected.
He runs both Queer Sci Fi and QueeRomance Ink with his husband Mark,
sites that bring queer people together to promote and celebrate fiction that
reflects their own lives.
Author Links:
Website: https://www.jscottcoatsworth.com
Facebook (personal): https://www.facebook.com/jscottcoatsworth
Facebook (author page): https://www.facebook.com/jscottcoatsworthauthor/
Twitter: https://www.facebook.com/jscoatsworth/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8392709.J_Scott_Coatsworth
QueeRomance Ink: https://www.queeromanceink.com/mbm-book-author/j-scott-coatsworth/
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/J.-Scott-Coatsworth/e/B011AFO4OQ
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