The Shoreless Sea by J. Scott Coatsworth
On October 27, 2019 by Jaye
As the epic trilogy hurtles toward its conclusion, the fight for the future isn’t over yet. It could lead to a new beginning, or it might spell the end for the last vestiges of humankind.
The generation ship Forever has left Earth behind, but a piece of the old civilization lives on in the Inthworld—a virtual realm that retains memories of Earth’s technological wonders and vices. A being named Lilith leads the uprising, and if she succeeds in setting its inhabitants free, they could destroy Forever.
But during the generation ship’s decades-long voyage, humanity has evolved.
Liminals with the ability to connect with the world mind and the
Inthworld provide a glimmer of hope. They’ll have to face not only
Lilith’s minions, but also the mistrust of their own kind and persecution from
a new government as homotypicals continue to fear what they can’t
understand.
The invasion must be stopped, the Inthworld must be healed, and the people of Forever must let go of their past and embrace what they’re meant to become.
Series Blurb:
Humankind is on its way to the stars, a journey that will change it forever. Each of the stories in Liminal Sky explores that future through the lens of a generation ship, where the line between science fiction and fantasy often blurs. At times both pessimistic and very hopeful, Liminal Sky thrusts you into a future few would ever have imagined.
Links
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Get Books 1 and 2 Here (on sale for a limited time!):
The Stark Divide – 99¢
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Exclusive Excerpt
Excerpt – The Shoreless Sea
From Part Two, Chapter One
Destiny stood atop the rock outcropping, ser legs together and arms stretched wide, ser head thrown back to let the wind blow past ser, like a tree with the air slipping between its leaves and branches.
Se had taken off ser gloves, wanting to feel the world against ser skin, in ser mind, and through ser soul.
Se opened ser eyes and stared up at the spindle, bathing ser in its serene silver light. Out here, se was free. Out here, no one judged ser or expected anything from ser.
The wind moved through the grasslands below, the great exhalations of the mother mind making the grass flow to and fro like the waves of an ocean, rushing past ser to destinations unknown.
Aine had built this place… the mother mind. She had placed this rock outcrop here. She created the birds and trees and grasses that sang softly under the gentle caress of her wind.
Maybe she even created me. Destiny really wanted to believe that. To believe se was something more than the mundane mashing of human genes, the result of an act of a sweaty congress between two fleshy beings.
Se wanted to believe what Tag had said. That se was special.
Destiny felt Kiryn long before he found ser, coming across the grassy highland plain from the house. It was a part of ser power, an ability to sense living beings around ser. But it wasn’t the whole of it.
Se sank down onto the unyielding rock, folding ser hands over ser knees, and waited.
Off in the distance, the faint rumble told ser the mother mind was still working to build the world. The light of the spindle sparkled on the water of the new sea, still only half-formed and a quarter full.
A moment later, Kiryn scrambled up onto the top of the outcropping and sat down next to ser.
He didn’t say a word, only stared out at the world with ser.
They sat like that for a while, as the breeze blew ser hair behind ser, bringing the wet smell of the water with it.
Destiny glanced at him surreptitiously, wondering what he was thinking. He fascinated ser, facing the world from a whole different place than most of humanity. Like me.
At last, ser curiosity got the better of ser. Se tapped him on the shoulder.
He turned to look at ser, his face serious but kind too.
“Why me?”
He smiled, looking sad. “Because you can help us.”
Destiny laughed at the directness of his response. His voice was different, but se understood him well enough.
Se wondered what it was like to be him—to not be able to hear anything. Se reached out to touch his cheek. “May I?”
He nodded and closed his eyes.
Destiny hesitated. This was the other part of ser ability, and se had lost several friends—not to mention ser family—over it. Se could imprint his self on ser own. It wasn’t a complete copy, but enough to really know him.
Se could take more, if se wanted.
Kiryn opened his eyes. “It’s okay.” He took ser hand gently and put it on his cheek.
It was electric.
Who and what he was flowed into ser like a lightning bolt. Destiny’s body shook as se absorbed the wave, his life opened to ser as clearly as a book.
Growing up on an agricultural estate not so different from the Halfway House.
And yet, seeing the world through an entirely different lens than sers.
Having a solid sense of his masculine identity and his love for the same.
And a sister. A sister named Belynn, who had abilities too.
The wave passed, leaving ser warm and vibrating, like a tuning fork that had just been rung. He had a good soul.
Sometimes the experience left ser cold, like a chill wind had blown through ser soul. But with him, se felt warm. Safe.
Destiny opened ser eyes.
His eyes met sers, and they stared at each other for a moment. Then ser hand dropped back down to ser side. “I’ll come.”
He nodded. He signed something to ser, and though se’d never signed before, se understood it. “I’m glad.”
His memories were with ser now, at least the major ones that made him who he was. Se had absorbed them by touch, and over the next few days they would sink in and become a part of ser, as surely as Santi’s and Eddy’s had when they had let ser touch them.
As surely as ser father’s had, the first time se had fought back when he tried to hit ser.
The first time ser power had asserted itself.
Se hadn’t found a way to banish those memories.
Ser father had hit ser hard across the face because se had left the gate open and one of their sheep had escaped. The splinters had impaled themselves in the soft skin of ser legs as he’d dragged ser across the floor and thrown ser hard against the wall. Blood had trickled from the side of ser mouth, the copper taste sharp on ser tongue.
He had been an angry man. Hard as stone and a temper like a penned-up bull.
Se still remembered the darkness in his mind when se had tried to defend herself against his fists, and the look of abject horror on his face as se had drained him, not just sampling his mind but emptying it of everything that was him, pulling it all inside serself so he could never hurt ser or anyone else again.
How he had crumpled to the ground afterward, drooling on the rough wooden floor.
It lived inside ser, like a demon se couldn’t banish.
In the end, what se had done to him had been as much of a violation as the beating he’d given ser.
Se had locked it inside, trying to replace it with better memories. Better souls. A better family. Most days, it worked. He stayed locked away in his prison in ser mind.
Like today. Today was a good day.
Se signed back, “When do we leave?” That ability was one of the things Destiny had chosen to take.
Kiryn’s mouth dropped open, and then he laughed. “You’re amazing.” He grinned. “Tomorrow. Can we go back to the house now? It’s been a long day, and I’m tired.”
There was a lag as se worked out what he was saying. “Okay.”
Se would get better at it, as those memories became more sers.
Ser ability was a beautiful and terrible thing.
Destiny pulled on ser gloves, and they climbed down the rocks in the silver light to the fields below.
Author Bio
Scott lives between the here and now and the what could be. Indoctrinated into fantasy and sci fi by his mother at the tender age of nine, he devoured her library. But as he grew up, he wondered where the people like him were.
He decided it was time to create the kinds of stories he couldn’t find at Waldenbooks. If there weren’t gay characters in his favorite genres, he would remake them to his own ends.
His friends say Scott’s brain 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 seeks to transform traditional sci fi, fantasy, and contemporary worlds into something unexpected.
A Rainbow Award winning author and Science Fiction Writer’s Association (SFWA) member, he runs Queer Sci Fi and QueeRomance Ink with his husband Mark, sites that bring queer people together to promote and celebrate fiction reflecitng their own reality.
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
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Author Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/J.-Scott-Coatsworth/e/B011AFO4OQ/
Giveaway
Scott is giving away a $25 Amazon gift card with this tour, along with three eBook sets of his Oberon Cycle trilogy. For a chance to win, enter via Rafflecopter:
Direct Link: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/b60e8d4778/?
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