Author Name: J. Scott Coatsworth
Publishing Company: Other Worlds Ink
Release Date: Friday, December 10 2021
Story Type: Collection 20k-50k
Word Count: 45000
Cover Artist: J. Scott Coatsworth
Genres: Sci-Fi
Pairings: MM, BI MF; Two stories have a secondary MM romance arc
LGBTQ+ Identities: Gay, bi
Keywords/Categories: sci-fi, science fiction, time travel, dystopian, hopepunk, climate change, clifi, portals, generation ship, sci-fantasy, aliens, collection, short stories, gay, bi, bisexual

Book Blurb

Tangents & Tachyons is Scott’s second anthology – six sci fi and sci-fantasy shorts that run the gamut from time travel to hopepunk and retro spec fic:

Eventide: Tanner Black awakes to find himself in his own study, staring out the window at the end of the Universe. But who brought him there, and why?

Chinatown: Deryn lives in an old San Francisco department store with his girlfriend Gracie, and scrapes by with his talent as a dreamcaster for the Chinese overlords. But what if a dream could change the world?

Across the Transom: What if someone or something took over your body on an urgent mission to save your world?

Pareidolia: Simon’s not like other college kids. His mind can rearrange random patterns to reveal the images lurking inside. But where did his strange gift come from? And what if there are others like him out there too?

Lamplighter: Fen has a crush on his friend Lewin, who’s in a competing guild. But when the world goes dark, only a little illumination can save it. And only Fen, Lewin and their friend Alissa can light the spark. A Liminal Sky short.

Prolepsis: Sean is the closeted twenty-five-year-old editor of an 80’s sci-fi ‘zine called Prolepsis. When an unabashedly queer story arrives from a mysterious writer, it blows open Sean’s closet door, and offers him the chance to change the world – and the future.

Plus two flash fiction stories – The System and The Frog Prince, never before published.

This is the first time all of these stories have all been collected in one place.

Exclusive Excerpt

From Chinatown

Deryn stood next to the ivy-wrapped concrete window ledge, staring out at the twinkling lights of Chinatown in the distance, dominated by the JioJinShan Tower—Chinese for Gold Mountain. A strong wind off the Pacific spun the gyros of the turbines lining the roofs of the shorter buildings, and solar panels sparkled in the late morning light.

In the distance, a skipper drone arose, carrying someone off toward the transport center over in what used to be Berkeley.

Behind him, Gracie scraped bits of burnable refuse she’d been able to glean from the junk vendors in Union Square into the cook pit. “Close the shutters.”

Deryn sighed. They’d bonded the year before, and had fallen into a life together, combining his meager earnings as a dreamcaster with her own from the odd jobs she performed in the shells—hollowed out old buildings across the city.

He really didn’t want to know what those jobs were.

Deryn pulled their makeshift shutters closed. They scraped against the window ledge and slammed together, blocking out the garish light.

Gracie lit the pile of garbage with one of their precious matches. It caught, and soon she had a pot of water simmering over the pit. She slipped in vegetables and a protein cube she’d bought in the square, and the small apartment filled with the delicious smell of cooking.

Somewhere past their thin interior walls, a child cried.

Deryn wiped the table. He pulled out two ceramic bowls from the old plastic cabinet salvaged from a place down on Market Street, setting them in place with care. He sat back on a low cushion and watched Gracie as she cooked. She bit her lip, and unconsciously tucked a lock of her dark curly hair behind her ear.

She was beautiful, her auburn skin marred only slightly by the scar that ran across her cheek like memory-made-flesh—a reminder of rough, lean years in San Jose.

They were saving up bit by bit for her sterilization surgery. Neither one of them wanted to raise a baby in this world, not unless they could both earn a permanent place inside Chinatown.

“They hauled Tess and Jenna before the tribunal last week for a carbon violation.”

“That sucks. What did they get them on?” The couple lived on the other side of the floor in the old Macy’s building that had become high-demand apartment space for hundreds of Chinatown’s low wage workers, former Americans connected to the invaders’ enclave.

She sprinkled a little precious salt over the pot. “They were running an old air conditioner on a gas generator.”

He whistled. “Hardcore. Where’d they get the gas?”

“Some kind of enzyme they bought from the market. Breaks down plastic, apparently.” She pulled the battered pot off the cook pit and ladled soup into each of their bowls.

Deryn poured some of the saved gray water from the morning’s dishes over the cook pit. Checking to make sure the fire was out, he opened the shutters again, letting in some fresh air. “I could go for a little air conditioning this summer.”

Gracie shuddered. “Not if it means a partial wipe. Their blank eyes… Tess looked broken.”

Deryn frowned. He worked for the Chinese. They were trying to fix the world, even if their laws were harsh. But mind wiping… there was no world in which extracting bits of someone’s brain could be right. He sipped his soup, staring at the wall thoughtfully. Burning trash was a minor infraction, but using fossil fuels…

Something buzzed in Deryn’s ear. He turned and froze.

A pixie drone had slipped in through the open window and was slowly traversing the room.

He glanced at the cook pit. It was covered. Thank you, Gracie. He hadn’t even seen her do it.

They sat stock-still while the drone did its impromptu inspection of their tiny living space.

No one knew if the pixies were equipped with cameras or just carbon sniffers, but they were coming around more often lately. The invaders—the Chinese called themselves rescuers, but they were invaders nevertheless—had a factory churning them out down in Los Angeles.

The drone fluttered past him, and Deryn could feel the air from the whirring wings on his cheek. It hovered for a moment as if considering what to do with him.

The vein in his temple pulsed.

Seemingly satisfied, it zipped back out the window and was gone.

“That was close.” His held breath came out in a huff.

“Too close. That’s how they caught Tess and Jenna.” Gracie looked calm, but her hands were shaking as she set down the empty soup bowl.

Deryn pulled her close and kissed her cheek. “It’ll be okay.” He finished his own meal and got up to stare at JioJinShan again. Everyone but the Chinese called it Chinatown.

The invaders had saved the remains of San Francisco, after the superstorms had come and destroyed much of what had survived the Great Collapse. The enclave, with its enormous white tower, offered both food and jobs. Those were low paying, though, and the tensions between the former Americans and the Chinese were palpable.

Deryn felt a lump in his pocket. “Oh, I brought you something!” He pulled out the foil and opened it carefully. They would wash it and save it for re-use. “Li Ming gave it to me.” He handed it to Gracie.

She opened it with eager fingers. “Chocolate?” Gracie’s face lit up, and she grinned from ear to ear. “Melted, but oh my God!” She pulled over a cushion. “Come sit with me. We’ll eat it together.”

He moved next to her and shook his head. “Nope, sorry. It’s all for you.” He would have loved to try it, but the look on her face as she scooped up the melted chocolate and licked her fingers was its own reward.

She finished it, all but the last little bit. “Open your mouth.”

“No, I don’t need—”

“Open.” She glared at him.

He sighed and obeyed.

The sweet, bitter flavor burst in his mouth, bringing back childhood memories. It was everything he remembered. Maybe better.

She laughed, a sound he rarely heard anymore. “I have been so craving this lately. Thank you.” She put a hand on her stomach, and her eyes met his, the laughter suddenly banished. “I have something to tell you.”

Deryn stared at her. Surely she couldn’t mean— “I’m pregnant.”

Giveaway

Scott is giving away a full set of his previously self-published eBooks to one lucky winner:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Direct Link:  http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/b60e8d47214/?