About the Book
Title: The Shoreless Sea (Liminal Sky #3)
Author: J. Scott Coatsworth
Publisher: DSP Publications
Publication Date: Tuesday, October 15 2019
Format: eBook, Paperback
ISBN: 978-1641081498
ASN: B07T5C8DWY
Price: $6.99, $19.99
Length: 131K
Cover Artist: Aaron Anderson
Category: sci fi, near future, space opera
Tags: gay, lesbian, transgender, future, generation ship, AI, artificial intelligence, nb, non-binary, deaf
Series: Liminal Sky
Purchase Links
Publisher | Amazon | Amazon paperback | Barnes and Noble | Kobo | iBooks | GooglePlay
Get Books One and Two on Sale:
The Stark Divide – 99¢
Dreamspinner | Amazon | iBooks | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Google Play
The Rising Tide – $1.99
Dreamspinner | Amazon | iBooks | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Google Play
Synopsis
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.
Review
This entire trilogy has been a wild ride. It’s science fiction, yes, but there’s an element of magic in it too. The technology in this future world is living and breathing, and many of the inhabitants have developed gifts. The world building is wonderful and detailed. It really does help to have read previous installments to have a better grasp on it, though I would also recommend starting from the beginning for the sheer fascination of watching it all unfold.
One of my favorite types of story is multi-arc ensemble cast, and this delivers in every way. The series spans several generations, and each book’s story follows a lengthy period in successive generations’ lifetimes. We see the characters grow and develop over the course of their narratives. I felt that this kept the plot going, but I sometimes also felt as though I was playing catch-up and missed whatever was unspoken in the gaps. It does require some concentration to follow it. Skipping segments where little is happening helps keep the plot flowing, but it also can feel frustrating when there are gaps.
There’s a lot of diversity packed in here. In any other story, that might feel a bit like pick-a-mix or like an attempt to sound more inclusive than the story actually is. But in this case, I think we would expect the future to have a more diverse population, especially when the idea is rebuilding from scratch. So instead of feeling like a bit much, it comes across more as idealism than as diversity-stuffing.
I’m honestly not sure how well I can speak to the individual representation. First of all, I only know what’s similar to my own experiences. Second, even those are highly personal. And third, this all takes place in a fictional, futuristic world where people’s self-identification and expression differ from 21st century Earth. On the whole, the characters lean toward being people first, rather than cardboard cut-out stand-ins.
Which brings me to another aspect of the people. While this does have an overarching plot and plenty of action, especially toward the end, it’s actually heavily character-driven. The ups and downs of their relationships with each other are the most significant part of the story, and that all comes into play as they hurtle toward facing the Big Evil that threatens their world’s security.
I thought the final battle, if that’s even the right word, was well done. That was the point at which I became completely absorbed in the narrative. The carefully developed world-building all leads to this point, and it’s vital to have a full understanding of it or readers risk confusion. It’s hard to say more without giving spoilers.
Overall, this book is an excellent conclusion to the series. I’m giving it 9 out of 10 stars, only taking off a little for the places where it felt like lost time in between major events and for my lack of knowledge regarding how some characters are represented.
Excerpt #1
Dax frowned and pulled Kiryn onward, toward the village green.
When they reached the center of town, Kiryn stopped, his mouth dropping open.
He’d never been to the green at night.
The wide round lawn was dark, but the giant oak tree that stood at its center, wrapped in night ivy, glowed with dim silver light from the spindle above, turning the world an enchanting monochrome.
Lamp poles stood at regular intervals around the edges, burning luthiel, creating a golden circle.
It was beautiful.
He turned to Dax and grinned to show his approval.
“Come on.” Dax enunciated the words clearly for his benefit. He pulled Kiryn through the empty green, across the grass to the white tower that stood on the far side. It was surrounded by a low red fern bush, the night plant glowing with its namesake color.
The antenna had once been the main point of contact between Micavery and Transfer Station. His teachers had taught him all about it.
Now it stood abandoned, a relic of a time that seemed less and less relevant to the current day.
Sometimes Kiryn wondered why they had to learn such ancient history. There were so many more interesting things in the modern world.
Dax looked around. Seemingly satisfied that no one was watching, he slipped his fingers under a metal panel on the side of the antenna. He pried it open and beckoned for Kiryn to climb inside.
Snipping a piece of red fern, Dax followed and pulled the hatch closed behind them.
The little branch lit up the inside of the tower with enough of a glow to see by, revealing a metal ladder set into the wall. Kiryn flicked his fingers toward the heavens. “Up?”
Dax nodded. He clambered up the ladder, and Kiryn, after testing a couple of the rungs to be sure it was safe, followed the receding pink glow.
So far, this date wasn’t turning out at all like he expected, and he kinda liked it.
They reached the top, and Kiryn emerged onto a wide metal catwalk that went all around the tower, just underneath the main dish. He looked out as he emerged and gasped.
Dax’s grin said it all.
The whole city was laid out below them. They were probably a hundred meters above the ground, and from here Kiryn suspected he’d be able to see all the way to the Anatovs in the daytime.
Micavery was a treasure of sparkling jewels on black velvet, the golden luthiel lanterns lining the streets as they wound up into hills dotted with the windows of businesses and homes.
He wanted to ask Dax so many questions, but he was choked up. No one had ever done anything like this for him before.
His imperfect voice suddenly seemed inadequate to respond to such a beautiful gift.
Dax sat with his back to the tower and opened his carry sack, pulled out a bottle and a cloth-wrapped packet. Then he brought out a small notebook and handed it to Kiryn.
Kiryn always carried one, but he was pleased that Dax had thought about it.
Dax opened it, scribbled something inside, and held it out to Kiryn. Do you like it?
I love it, he replied the same way. Where’s the school?
Dax pointed.
Kiryn could see the round form of the Schoolhouse, wrapped in night ivy. Above them, the spindle glowed a subdued silver to match the school.
Thank you for bringing me up here. Writing was such a clumsy way to communicate, but it was what they had.
Dax nodded and handed him the bottle.
He took a sip. It was cool water.
Dax’s grin said You were expecting something else? He opened the cloth packet, pulled out a sandwich, and handed half of it to Kiryn.
Kiryn grinned. “Thanks.”
They ate without communicating except at the most rudimentary level. Dax’s hand sought out his, and they looked out on the quiet city while they ate.
A couple of lake gulls flitted by, swinging around to land on the railing, watching the food avidly.
Kiryn pulled off a crumb of bread and tossed it over the edge, and one of the gulls leapt after it.
Dax shook his head.
“What?”
The other gull stared at them plaintively until Dax relented and threw a piece of his own sandwich to the bird, who snatched it up greedily.
In two minutes, they were surrounded by a whole flock of noisy birds.
“That.”
Kiryn laughed.
Dax shooed the birds away and brushed off his hands. He picked up the pad and scrawled out, I want to learn.
Learn what?
How to talk like you do. With your sister.
Kiryn stared at him. No one had ever asked him that before. Why?
Dax looked away for a moment, pain evident on his face.
Kiryn squeezed his shoulder. “Sorry,” he said. With the pencil, he scribbled out, Did I step in it?
Dax picked up the pencil. Don’t be. I had a sister who was deaf.
“Had?”
Dax wrote out his reply. She died a long time ago.
So sorry. What was her name?
Naveen.
This back-and-forth with the pencil was tiring.
Kiryn wondered what it would be like to lose his sister. Belynn was such a huge part of him, even if she annoyed the hell out of him sometimes.
He shuddered and hoped he’d never find out. He took the pencil and pad again. What do you want to know?
Dax’s grin returned. For starters, how do you say “kiss me”?
Kiryn read it and laughed. “Like this.” He mimed kissing his right hand and then kissing it to his left, and puckered his lips.
Dax grinned and leaned forward to kiss him gently.
When he pulled away, he scribbled something on the paper and handed it to Kiryn, watching his expression anxiously. You asked.
Kiryn nodded and pulled him close to kiss him again.
Excerpt #2
Kiryn Hammond-Clarke floated in the darkness of space, stars he’d never seen in person twinkling against the velvety black depths.
The voice came to him from out of nowhere. “Can anyone hear me?”
In his dreams, he could hear. Like when Belynn let him ride in her mind.
The voice repeated, sounding stretched and thin. “Is anyone out there?”
In the distance, a single star glowed brighter than all the others, though it was still just a small golden dot.
Kiryn reached out toward the light, his hand naked to the cold of the void.
Ice crystals formed on his arm, hardening it in place. The cold reached into his bones like knives of frozen glass. It raced up his bicep, the burning cold fire of the void.
He snatched back his arm, but he was too late. The freezing grip reached his heart, and he screamed silently—
Kiryn awoke with a start, sitting up in bed in his dorm room drenched with sweat. He ran his hands through his dark hair, letting them come to rest clasped behind his head.
First Light flashed past in the trees outside his window, brightening up the room.
The world was utterly silent.
The silence, his constant companion since birth, was particularly soothing after his rude awakening. It wrapped itself around him like a blanket, a suit of armor, a barrier between him and the hustle and bustle of the outside world.
Between him and emotion.
He held his arm out for inspection, half expecting it to be blackened by the void. Instead, it looked perfectly normal. Warm and tan, halfway between his mothers’ sepia and white skin tones.
He shivered at the memory.
The bed moved under him, and his date from the night before sat up, his mouth moving soundlessly.
The man was handsome, a Thyrean sent to the university at Micavery for his higher schooling—long limbs, blond hair shaved short, warm brown eyes.
His name was Dax. Or Zack. Or something.
Kiryn’s lipreading was decent, but he hadn’t bothered to spend too much time learning this one’s name. Dax or Zack hadn’t seemed to mind much.
Kiryn pointed at his ear and shook his head.
The man’s mouth closed, and he blushed. “Sorry. I forgot.”
That one was easy enough to read.
He grabbed the piece of cotton paper and a pencil Kiryn kept at his bedside just for that purpose and scribbled something out longhand, then handed it over to him.
It’s Dax. And are you okay?
Kiryn stared at him. Did you just read my mind? Maybe there was a little Liminal in him. He laughed, wondering not for the first time what it sounded like from the outside. It felt clunky and awkward on the inside.
He sighed and took the paper and pencil.
Dax’s hand lingered over his for an extra second before letting go.
Bad dream. Class in fifteen minutes. He hesitated, then scribbled, Dinner?
Dax took the paper, and a grin lit up his face. His eager nod needed no translation. I work at the hatchery until six. Meet me there?
Kiryn nodded and grinned.
Dax slipped out of bed and pulled on his trousers and white shirt, the V-neck showing off his chest to perfection.
Kiryn sat back with his hands behind his head, admiring the view.
He leaned over, kissed Kiryn on the cheek, and mouthed, “See you.”
When Dax left, Kiryn grabbed a change of clothes and headed down the hall to the dorm bathroom. He hopped into the shower, using the aromatic red berry soap bar his mom and mamma had sent him from the Estate. The smell transported him, and he closed his eyes and imagined himself standing among the long, even rows of red berry vines that arched across the hillsides.
His parents worried about him, out here alone, but it was Andy who had insisted he go.
When Kiryn had been born congenitally and profoundly deaf, Andy and Shandra had learned sign language from the world mind in vee.
There were so few other deaf people in Forever. So few like him.
The day before he was set to leave for university, to catch the public wagon headed for Darlith and then Micavery, he’d had a huge panic attack.
His parents had sat him down along with his sister, Belynn.
“I’m scared. Why do I have to go away?” He was fidgeting, nervous.
“You have to go. There’s nothing here for you.” Andy indicated the Estate, where the family had built a thriving agricultural business on the backs of Trip’s and Colin’s earlier work.
“You’re here.” His hands signed it while his knee bounced up and down.
Andy shook her head. “This is our place. You need to go.”
He flushed. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize I was such a burden.”
“No.” That was emphatic. “That’s not what I meant. We don’t want you to get trapped here, working on the Estate for the rest of your life. There’s a whole world out there for you to explore.” She looked up at Shandra, who nodded.
“I’ll go with him,” Belynn said and signed it at the same time, but he could hear her inside his head too.
Mom could do that, too, of course, but she had to touch him to do it.
“You’re not ready.” Shandra glared at Belynn and shook her head.
“I’ve been with Kiryn in every vee class since I was born. I’m only two years younger than he is. Let me go with him to help.”
Kiryn frowned. He wasn’t sure he wanted his little sister tagging along after him, cramping his style. If he decided to go.
Belynn’s hand found his, palm to palm, and he could feel her emotions. We can take care of each other. That thought was private, just for him, inside his head.
Maybe so.
Andy looked at Shandra. “They could take care of each other.” She echoed Belynn’s thought and touched Shandra’s hand. Something passed between them.
Shandra looked at him and then at Belynn, uncertainty clear on her face. “We could… try it.”
Belynn squeezed his hand. “Yes!”
“For a semester.” Andy kissed Shandra on the forehead.
Kiryn thought about it. It would be nice to have someone close by, just in case. Someone who really knew him. “Okay.” And it would be a lot less scary.
Now he was here, and Belynn wouldn’t be far behind.
Where are you, big brother? Belynn’s insistent voice.
I’ll be back in a minute. He pulled the towel from its wooden peg, dried off his hair and shoulders.
A couple of the other guys in the dorm, Stave and Trevor, waved on their way to their own showers. Cute as hell, but straighter than the old antenna on Micavery’s village green. Well, except when Stave got drunk on red berry wine….
Kiryn grinned. He pulled on his trousers and shirt and padded back to his room. Belynn was waiting for him on his bed. “How did you get in?” he signed.
They touched palms, the emotions flowing between them and synching.
“Easy. Aric at the front desk is a sucker for a pretty girl.”
“Like I said, how did you get in?”
She stuck out her tongue at him. “Come on. We’re going to be late.” She tugged him off the bed, and Kiryn barely had time to grab his carry sack before she had him out the door and down the hall.
About the Author
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.
Social Media
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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:
