Friday, February 17, 2017

Skythane by J. Scott Coatsworth - Blog Tour with Author Guest Post, and Review


Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Authors: J. Scott Coatsworth
Cover Artist: Anne Caine
Length: 85K, # pages
Format: eBook, Paperback
Release Date: 2/17/17
Pairing: MM
Price: TBD
Genres: sci fi, mm romance, gay sci fi

Blurb:

Jameson Havercamp, a psych from a conservative religious colony, has come to Oberon—unique among the Common Worlds—in search of a rare substance called pith. He’s guided through the wilds on his quest by Xander Kinnison, a handsome, cocky wing man with a troubled past.

Neither knows that Oberon is facing imminent destruction. Even as the world starts to fall apart around them, they have no idea what’s coming—or the bond that will develop between them as they race to avert a cataclysm.

Together, they will journey to uncover the secrets of this strange and singular world, even as it takes them beyond the bounds of reality itself to discover what truly binds them together.

Excerpt:

Rain hit the plas and ran downward in little rivulets, separating and rejoining like branches of time as the storm whipped itself into a frenzy over Oberon City.

Xander Kinnson lay on his bed, head thrown back, watching the tempest with a laziness that belied his inner turmoil and pain. Alix had left him and gone missing. A year had passed, and still he had a hard time accepting that simple fact.

His dark wings with their jet-black feathers were stretched out lazily to each side of his supine form, their tips extending past the edge of the bed. His chest heaved slowly up and down, and he breathed easily, as if he were utterly relaxed.

Nothing could have been further from the truth. Below the surface, under the deception of skin and sinew, his heart beat at a thunderous pace, and his mind raced for answers to Alix’s fate that slipped beyond his grasp.

The handsome trick he’d brought home rested his warm hands on Xander’s thighs, his hot mouth engaged elsewhere. Xander smelled the deep, masculine musk of him, slipping a hand absently through the man’s dark, tousled hair as the rain increased to a thundering downpour against the plas. The drops glistened, each an individual universe of shimmering light before running quickly out of sight.

A flash of lightning illuminated the room, thunder indicating how close it had been. As the heavy rain pounded against the arco’s walls, Xander rode the wave of pleasure higher and higher. Despite himself, he rose quickly toward climax, drawn up on the tide as the trick worked his cock. Unable to stop himself, he thrust his hips almost angrily upward into the man’s willing throat. Closer, closer….

He reached the crest, a pleasure so intense it burned through him like phosphorous, a white-hot fire.

Lightning flared again across the wet, black sky, followed by thunder so close it shook the bed. The storm had reached a fever pitch outside, and he arched his back in the air one more time, his wings rustling beneath him. As if in concert with the storm, Xander came, the release of his orgasm radiating from his hips along his spinal cord and down through his toes and the tips of his wings.

The rush of elation washed away his cares for a few brief moments. Xander shuddered, shivered, and shuddered again, and it was over.

For a while, he drifted in an oblivion that was blessed in its emptiness. The rain fell in a steady beat against the window, and he forgot to wallow in his pain. His mind floated free, with no responsibilities, nothing to worry about for those brief moments between sex and real life. This was what he needed. This lack of thought, this pleasurable oblivion where he could just be.

When he opened his eyes at last, the nameless trick was staring down at him, expectant.

“You’re still here.”

“I can do more, if you’d like,” the man said with a grin. Like Alix, he had no wings—a lander man.

Xander glared at him, annoyed. He was handsome enough, tall, dark-haired, with blue eyes and a light complexion. Strangely, he reminded Xander of Alix. The hair and eyes were wrong, but there was something about him, and that annoyed the hell out of Xander, for reasons he didn’t care to examine too closely. “Get out,” he said with a dismissive wave.

The man frowned. “I thought—”

“Oh right, your pay.” Xander took the man’s arm and slitted him a hundred crits from the wrist reader embedded in his own. Then he waved the trick away. “We’re square. Now get the fuck out of my flat.”

The man gathered his own clothes, but Xander didn’t give him time to put them on. Instead he hustled the trick out of the irising door, palming it closed on his hurt and angry expression.

I really have become a bastard, he thought, staring at his dim reflection in the shiny black door. It had been a long year.

He tapped the cirq in his temple with his left hand, and called out to his PA. “Ravi, any messages for me?”

Buy Links Etc:



Amazon: Coming Soon

Apple: Coming Soon

Barnes & Noble: Coming Soon

Kobo: Coming Soon

Smashwords: Coming Soon

iBooks: Coming Soon



5 out of 5 stars
Skythane is a new science-fiction romance from author J. Scott Coatsworth. I'd hazard a guess that this is possibly the first book in a series...well at least I'm hoping it's the first book in a series because I absolutely loved this story. Skythane features some of my favorite science fiction elements and a handful of very well written lead and supporting characters. Add in a touch of romance, which helps make this my second 5 star book of the year. 

Our two lead characters, Xander and Jameson, are polar opposites, or so they seem at first. Xander is a skythane, a winged resident of the planet Oberon. Xander also straddles what I'd call the gray line, he's neither good nor bad, he's all about surviving this world that's not quite friendly for someone with wings. Jameson is a psych and travels to different worlds helping others. He was raised in a conservative religious colony by conservative religious parents who expect him to follow tradition and marry a nice girl and have children. 

Xander and Jameson are thrown together on this mission to find more pith and what's causing the shortage of this substance. Along their adventure, things start occurring that indicate Oberon is heading for destruction. On their journey their joined by Quince, who knows both men but doesn't share that with them for a little while, and Morgan, a feral boy who Xander stumbles on while separated from the others. Then there is Xander's attraction to Jameson, who attempts to ignore that because of his upbringing.

So from the start of Skythane we're introduced to the authors world-building and creation of a very strong back story laced with Oberon's history. The author also creates detailed images through description of the areas that the group is travelling through. Adding in action, adventure, internal and external conflict which spurs on character growth and you've got what I'd consider the best elements of a science fiction story. Of course this is all rolled into one book but all that information doesn't overload or detract from the story. Of course, I forgot to mention that there's a prophecy tucked within the story and that involves both Xander and Jameson. 

While the romance is there it is almost a secondary aspect instead of the main focus of the book. I'm completely okay with that because the events occur over a short time frame of maybe a week or less. It still is enough to pull Xander and Jameson together and weave the beginnings of a fated relationship, and even left me satisfied with where their relationship lies by the end of Skythane. 

I could probably go on and on about the story but I'd rather encourage you to go pick this book up and read it for yourself. There are so many things that I think you'll enjoy about Skythane that reading it is the only way to get the full effect. I highly recommend this book and hope that the author plans more within this world and even with these characters.


Three Things to Send the Author You Love
(And Three You Shouldn't)
J. Scott Coatsworth

I'm a relatively newly published author - my first short story came outin mid 2014, and Skythane is my first full-length novel. I have yet to receive my first fan letter in the mail, though I did have my first fanboy enounter at GRL in Kansas City last October. I’m still walking on air over that one.

But just in case you are thinking about going all fan crazy for me, here's a list of things I would love to receive from my fans:

1) Fan Art. Go wild. Paint a picture of Xander and Jameson from Skythane, and show off Xander's gorgeous black wings. Send me a winged bust, or a charcoal sketch of Oberon in half phase. Let your imagination run wild. I have only one exception to this rule—we’ll deal with that below.

2) Anything Chocolate. This works for almost any author, in my experience. You almost can't go wrong with chocolate. Especially dark chocolate. But not so dark that it should only be used for baking.

3) Your Questions About the Book. Let me know what you thought. Tell me what you are dying to find out in book two, and I'll tell you you'll just have to wait and see. But it will make me feel really good to hear that you’re interested.


On the flip side, there are a few things you should probably never send to your new author idol:

1) Your Scathing Criticism. Okay, so you read my book and you fricking hated it. We have this marvelous thing called the internet now, and you can reach out through it directly and tell me just how much you hated it.

But you shouldn’t.

You see, authors are people too. We writemostly for the love of it—God knows the majority of us will never get rich at it. And we are sensitive types. Your email, while giving you temporary satisfaction, could easily send me into a tailspin that might take weeks to recover from. Because we want you to like our stories, and when you don’t, it hurts.

Do you really want to be responsible for sending me on a three week Wild Cherry Pepsi and Oreo binge?

2) Macaroni Fan Art. Fan art is awesome. We authors love fan art, as stated above. But macaroni fan art is almost never okay. I don’t feel like I should have to say this, but there it is.

You know who you are. And you know why.

3) Your Underwear/Bra/Belly Button Lint. We love our readers too. You guys are the people who make what we do possible. But there is something to be said for keeping a little professional distance between us. In some cases, an entire state.


I hope this simple gifting guide will help the fan who really wants to reach out and touch their favorite authors… without leaving a stain.

:)
——————

My new novel, Skythane, is just out – and it combines my love of sci fi and secret reveals and MM romance. I hope you enjoy it!


Author Bio:


Scott has been writing since elementary school, when he and won a University of Arizona writing contest in 4th grade for his first sci fi story (with illustrations!). He finished his first novel in his mid twenties, but after seeing it rejected by ten publishers, he gave up on writing for a while.

Over the ensuing years, he came back to it periodically, but it never stuck. Then one day, he was complaining to Mark, his husband, early last year about how he had been derailed yet again by the death of a family member, and Mark said to him "the only one stopping you from writing is you."

Since then, Scott has gone back to writing in a big way. He has sold more than a dozen short stories - some new, some that he had started years before. He is currently working on two sci fi trilogies, and also runs the Queer Sci Fi (http://www.queerscifi.com) site, a group for readers and writers of gay sci fi, fantasy, and paranormal fiction.





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