The
Stark Divide
By
J. Scott Coatsworth
The
Luminal Sky, Book 1
Publisher:
DSP Publications
Release Date: October 10, 2017
Genre:
Sci-Fi
Length: 288 Pages
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
EXCERPTThe storm closed in around her like a living thing, but Ana didn’t care. She had to get away from that hateful thing at the North Pole.That she was inside the belly of the beast she was fleeing didn’t factor into her thinking at all—logic wasn’t operative here. She was driven by shame and anger and primal fear.Shame at what she had done that had ultimately led to Jackson Hammond’s death.Anger that the world-mind, which she had saved and brought to this place, would treat her with such biting disdain.And fear of what might happen next.The sky darkened as the cloud of light was broken up by the storm. The wind buffeted her around through banks and streamers of cloud, and soon the rain started up in earnest as the accumulated moisture in the air reached saturation.She could see little beyond the menacingly glowing clouds, and had no choice but to continue on, hoping she could outrun the worst of the storm.It dawned on her that this had been a truly stupid idea.The first lightning bolt took her by surprise, streaking across the sky before her like a massive short circuit, rendering a wide swath of the glowing pollen that permeated the clouds dark.Ana started to panic. She had to get down out of this storm or she’d get herself electrocuted.Another bolt passed so closely behind her that she could smell the ozone.She picked a direction that felt like down and dove into the roiling clouds.The rain grew stronger, and the wind shoved her hard sideways. She struggled to regain her equilibrium, feeling her weight increase. She must be getting closer to the ground.At last she broke out of the cloud cover, although the driving rain continued. At the same time, her chute deployed, and she breathed a heavy sigh of relief.
Then there was a flash of light and nothing more.
About the Author
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.
Starting in 2014, Scott has
published more than 15 works, including two novels and a number of novellas and
short stories.
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.
Contact Links
Purchase Link
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