QSFers August Li, Brandon Witt, Skye Hegyes and J. Scott Coatsworth have a new fantasy book out:
Faeries are part of mythology the world over, past, present, and future. Called elves, brownies, the fae, and more, they evoke a sense of wonder and a little danger. Faery has its own rules, and humans enter at their peril.
In this spirit, we bring you the first book in the Myths Untold anthology series—four stories from the land of the Fae: a homeless man in Cardiff and the luck that could destroy him; the trans man in future San Francisco who falls for an elf; the village boy who has always been a little different; and a faery prince whose birthright was stolen from him.
Welcome to Faery.
The Pwcca and the Persian Boy, by Gus Li
Despite beauty and luck, something about Glyn makes everyone uncomfortable. Homeless on the streets of Cardiff, he has nothing to keep him going but his friendship with Farrokh. Through stealing and fortune’s occasional favor, Glyn keeps them alive. But then homeless youths begin to disappear, and when Farrokh goes missing, Glyn begins to discover the reasons behind both his luck and the way people react to him. Determined to save his friend from a danger he never imagined, he enlists the help of Lleu, who might be an ally, or might be manipulating Glyn to achieve his own goals.
The Other Side of the Chrysalis, by Brandon Witt
In a species that values beauty above all else, Quay looses both his freedom and his birthright as prince of the fairies. Lower than an outcast, he watches over his younger brother, hoping against hope that Xenith’s rebirth will provide safety and positions that has slipped through Quay’s grasp. Though he expected kindness from no one, Quay gradually starts to trust that there is more to life, even for the likes of him, as sexual encounters with Flesser, a fairy barely accepted himself, turn from lust to love. Quay knows having forbidden relationships will be his undoing, but he is powerless to turn away.
Changeling, by Skye Hegyes
With his pointed ears and a tail, Tyler’s always been different than the other children, but until Marsh, a brownie tells him he’s a changeling, he never thought he wasn’t human. Now he will discover what faery life is like, and just how being a changeling could change his life. On the way, his ties with his mother will be pushed and prodded even as his friendships grow and his love life blossoms. However, in a village of God-fearing people, those who are different are spurned and Tyler will discover how much trouble a fledgling changeling can get into.
Through the Veil, by J. Scott Coatsworth
In the not-too-distant future, San Francisco has been swamped by rising sea levels caused by global warming, and has only survived by building a wall to keep the water out of the heart of the City. Colton is a trans man barely getting by on the canals outside the wall. Tris is an elf who has come to the human world on his journey to become a man. Fate brings them together, and everything changes for Colton when he sets out with Tris to find the elf’s missing brother, taking Colton behind the Wall for the first time.
Excerpt – Through the Veil
Tris sat in the prow of the boat, eagerly drinking in all the sights around him. This place was unlike anything he had imagined before, filled with its own kind of magic, and also its own darkness.
He’d had some time to consider what had happened to his brother. Somehow, the tuatha had been waiting for him when he crossed the veil. Had it happened to Laris too? His brother was stronger than Tris, but he likely hadn’t had the aid of someone like Colton, and the sword that now hung at Tris’s waist.
He put his hand on it. He had seen its like many times before at home, one of the swords the Knights of the Guard carried to protect the royal family. So what was it doing here?
“Can I ask you a question?”
“Shoot.”
“Where did you get the sword?” He looked up at his unlikely protector. “And how did you know where to find me?”
Colton frowned. “It was given to me, and I was told where and when to wait for you.”
“By whom?”
Colton frowned, thinking. “I don’t know her name. She’s called the Pharmacist, and she provides… necessities, for a price.”
Tris thought about that. “And what was your price?” he asked quietly.
Colton didn’t answer for a long time. The steady motion of the oars pushed the boat along, and a large structure appeared ahead, poking up out of the water. Tris
was about to ask again, unsure if Colton had heard him, when he finally replied.
“Myself.” He said no more.
Tris decided it was better not to pry.
The structure ahead grew quickly larger, and Tris saw that it was brick on the bottom, with metal support stanchions on top. It was wide and squat, not nearly as impressive as some of the buildings on the other side of the Wall. But it held a sort of grandeur nonetheless.
“Is that our destination?”
“Yes,” Colton said, sounding relieved to talk about something else.
“What is it?”
Colton laughed. “More like, what was it? It was a stadium where teams from different cities used to play one other.”
Tris looked back at the building once again. A stadium? The place looked like it could hold thousands and thousands. Letters along the top of the building spelled out “AT&T Park.”
“What’s an AT&T?”
Colton shook his head. “It’s too hard to explain,” he said.
Buy Links
Available at the Wilde City website 4/13/16; other sites one week later.
Wilde City Press: Click Here
Author Bios
Gus Li
August (Gus) Li is a creator of fantasy worlds. When not writing, he enjoys drawing, illustration, costuming and cosplay, and making things in general. He lives near Philadelphia with two cats and too many ball-jointed dolls.
He loves to travel and is trying to see as much of the world as possible. Other hobbies include reading (of course), tattoos, and playing video games.
Brandon Witt
Brandon Witt’s outlook on life is greatly impacted by his first eighteen years of growing up gay in a small town in the Ozarks, as well as fifteen years as a counselor and special education teacher for students with severe emotional disabilities.
Add to that his obsession with corgis and mermaids, then factor in an unhealthy love affair with cheeseburgers, and you realize that with all those issues, he’s got plenty to write about…
Skye Hegyes
Dragons, wolves, and sharp objects are commonplace in Skye Hegyes’s home in North Carolina. She spends most of her time between writing and working. When not doing either of these things, you may find her making crafts or adventuring with her family, which consists of her husband, two daughters, two birds, and three cats… and a partridge in a pear tree…
J. Scott Coatsworth
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, finishing more than a dozen short stories – some new, some that he had started years before – and seeing his first sale. He’s embarking on a new trilogy, and also runs the Queer Sci Fi (https://www.queerscifi.com) site, a support group for writers of gay sci fi, fantasy, and supernatural fiction.