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The Great North

by J. Scott Coatsworth

Dwyn is a young man in the small, isolated northern town of Manicouga, son of the Minstor, and betrothed to marry the beautiful Kessa in a few weeks.

Mael is shepherding the remains of his own people from Land’s End, a village farther north, chased out by a terrible storm that destroyed the town.

Both are trying to find their way in a post-apocalyptic world. When they meet, their love may change the course of history.

This book is on:
  • 3 To Be Read lists
  • 1 Read list
Published:
Publisher: Other Worlds Ink
Editors:
Jude Dunn

Cover Artists:
J. Scott Coatsworth

Genres:
Fantasy, Fantasy - Fairy Tale / Folklore, Fantasy – Gods and Heroes, Sci Fi, Sci Fi - Climate Fiction (Cli-Fi), Sci Fi - Dystopian & Post-Apocalyptic

Tags:
author - american, format - novella 15k-40K, what - topic - natural disaster, what - topic - religion, what - topic - superstition, where - general - small town

Word Count: 34000
Setting: Quebec, In the Future
Languages Available: English
Word Count: 34000
Setting: Quebec, In the Future
Languages Available: English
Excerpt:
Reviews:Cheryl on Sinfully Gay wrote:

I love what the author did with the legend, keeping the main elements true but playing with it just enough to make a satisfying story. I just adore the ending and it would almost be worth going through the end of the world just to get where they are.

All in all, this was a lovely book. I thoroughly enjoyed every part of it. The characters were engaging, the story fresh (well a fresh version anyway) and it was wonderful to see elements of my home country that are as rare as hen’s teeth. A very satisfying read all round and one I can heartily recommend.

Molly Lolly on Molly Lolly wrote:

I adored this story. It was sweet and completely fascinating. I enjoyed the way the story was set in a real place but in a future time when things are completely different. Mr. Coatsworth weaves a story that grabs your attention and doesn’t let go until the very last page. I enjoyed how it was based on a Welsh saint and corresponding legend. It was fascinating seeing the story in a completely different way…

Dwyn and Maelon are so good together. They have strong feelings for each other and watching them fall in love despite the odds stacked against them was lovely. You can tell they’re going to be happy together at the end of the book. It’s a sweet happily ever after because their love and relationship has weathered so much already and will stand the test of time.


About the Author

Scott lives with his husband of 25 years in a leafy Sacramento, California suburb, in a little yellow house with a brick fireplace and a couple pink flamingoes out front. He has always inhabited the space 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 and read the golden age classics and more modern works as well, he began to wonder where all the people like him were.

After he came out at twenty three, he decided that it was time to create the kinds of stories he couldn’t find at Waldenbooks. If there weren’t many gay characters in his favorite genres, he would reimagine them himself, populating them with a diverse universe of characters. He would subvert them and remake them to his own ends. And if he was lucky enough, someone else would want to read the things he wrote.

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. Although he was born an introvert, he learned to reach outside himself and connect with others like him.

Scott writes stories that subvert expectations, that seek to transform traditional sci fi, fantasy, and contemporary worlds into something new and unexpected. He also runs both Queer Sci Fi and QueeRomance Ink with his husband Mark, sites that bring people like them together to promote and celebrate fiction that reflects their own reality.

His writing, whether romance or genre fiction (or a little bit of both) brings a queer energy to his stories, infusing them with love, beauty and power and making them soar. He imagines a world that could be, and in the process, maybe changes the world that is, just a little.

He was recognized as one of the top new gay authors in the 2017 Rainbow Awards, and his debut novel “Skythane” received two awards and an honorable mention.

He runs Queer Sci Fi, QueeRomance Ink, and Other Worlds Ink with Mark, and is a full member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA).

You can find him at Goodreads here, on Amazon here, on QueeRomance Ink here, and on Facebook here.