Scott lives with his husband Mark in a yellow bungalow in Sacramento. He was 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 all the people like him were. He decided that if there weren't queer characters in his favorite genres, he would remake them to his own ends.

A Rainbow Award winning author, he runs Queer Sci Fi, QueeRomance Ink, and Other Worlds Ink with Mark, sites that celebrate fiction reflecting queer reality, and is the committee chair for the Indie Authors Committee at the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA).

Androids & Aliens by J. Scott Coatsworth

Scott has won a number of rainbow awards, including top honors for several of his books and recognition as one of the best new queer authors of the year. His books cumulatively have sold nearly 20,000 copies.

Androids & Aliens is Scott's third short story collection - eight sci fi and sci-fantasy shorts that run the gamut from cyborgs to (comedic) alien invasions:

Rise: The rise in sea levels caused by climate change swallowed Venice beneath the lagoon half a century ago. But what if we could bring it back? Shit City: The Bay Area is being walloped by a hurricane, and seventeen-year-old Jason Vasquez has been relocated to a refugee city in the Nevada Desert. Will it be temporary shelter, or change his life? The Last Human Heart: I'm one of the Remainers, the few cyborg humans still living on this busted planet. But if my still-human heart finally gives out, I may not live to find out the truth about who I am. And five more.

This is the first time all of these stories have all been collected in one place, and the first publication of the Pacific Climate Tryptich - What the Rain Brings, High Seven, and Full Real - in any form.

 

REVIEWS

  • "I'm having a hard time finding good sci-fi to read after finishing most of the old and modern classics, so I'm glad I stumbled onto this book. These stories remind me of stuff I used to read in magazines like Analog and Asimov. The worlds this book creates are compelling enough that some of these stories made me angry that they aren't full length novels or even series. I've never quite understood the magic formula that makes really good short stories impactful and complete despite their length and yet make you yearn for more at the same time. Whatever it is, Coatsworth nails it."

    – Mike, Amazon

  • "I love Scott Coatsworth's latest collection. I laughed and I cried, for broken and missing hearts, for hearts recovered, and love found and lost. I loved the golden thread of hope here, even if bad things happen… These are love stories, queer love stories, that celebrate the human spirit, and offer hope. These stories are a tonic for the soul. Recommended."

    – Wallace, Amazon
 

BOOK PREVIEW

Excerpt

From Rise:

Cinzia grasped Kendra's hand, pulling the child away from the edge of the traghetto, which floated in midair fifty meters above the waters of the lagoon. They'd have one of the best views of the Rise. Being old has its advantages.

Her granddaughter was a little chiacchierona today, chattering up a storm, unaware of the monumental undertaking finally coming to fruition below.

Solar-powered buzz drones zipped through the crowd, beaming images to the news corps and the huge tri-dee sky board hovering above the lagoon in front of them. Around her the crowd murmured, sharing a communal sense of awe.

Satisfied that Kendra wouldn't get too close to the edge of the airship, Cinzia let her go to pull out the golden ticket from her pocket. She stared at it, still amazed that she'd been chosen as one of the first hundred to enter the lost city. Along with one guest.

For Italians, it was a moment of fierce national pride, a reclaiming of the spirito nazionale that traced its heritage back through greats like Da Vinci, Galileo, Mazzini, Dante, and Beneficio. To the gathered masses from the rest of the world, real and virtual, it was a spectacle the likes of which they'd never seen before. A symbol of hope in a world starved of it for far too long.

Cinzia put away the ticket and knelt next to her granddaughter, her old back protesting. She brushed the little girl's kinky hair from the tawny skin of her forehead, her own spotted olive skin reminding her of the seventy years that stretched behind her. "Calmati, bambina," she said through the thin, clear rebreathing mask that pulled compressed oxygen from the air. "This is a great moment, one you will remember when you're as old as I am."

The little girl frowned, reaching up to touch her face. "How old are you?"

Cinzia cackled. "Old enough to know when to be quiet. Come here. I'll lift you up so you can see."

Though Kendra was only five, she was a handful, and Cinzia's aching back protested as she lifted the girl onto her hip.

Lucia, where did you go? Cinzia wished her daughter were still there. She'd run off with that scamp Hassan, the girl's father, chasing happiness. Or whatever her menthe-addled mind thought of as happiness now. Apparently, it didn't include family, home or a steady job.

The sky board cleared, and the young Prime Minister Enzo Speranza filled the sky. They looked sharp today, in a silver Italian suit sparkling like sunlight off water. "Welcome to the day of the Rise. We have worked long and hard for this. As a nation, we survived the Dark Decade of the twenties and the rise of the Mediterranean Sea. We weathered Hurricanes Diego and Lorenzo, and the flows of refugees from Africa and the Middle East that transformed our identity and culture."

Cinzia snorted. And not always for the better. She squeezed Kendra's hand. It's not all bad. If only Lucia were here to see this.

"Today, we reclaim our history. Our pride. Our Nation." Speranza raised their arms. "Viva l'Italia!"