Campus: Part of McAvery Port
Captain Trip Tanner: Captain of the Herald; Colin’s lover, later husband
Carmella: Cook in the mess hall in McAvery Port
Central Valley Desert: New California desert
Chafs: Derogatory name for the Sino-African Syndicate troops
Chester Arthur: Communications officer on Frontier Station
Colin McAvery: Captain of the Dressler; later, Director of Transfer Station; retired 2160
Colony Master Tad Evers: In charge of McAvery Port
Crons: Currency/coin on Forever/Ariadne
Cutter: Sonic cutter tool
Dana Thomas: Community ambassador at the refugee camp
Dania Thorpe: Woman in charge of personnel at McAvery Port
Darlith: Second town built within Forever
Davian “Dav” Forrester: Eddy’s ex and a systems specialist
Deadware: Slang referring to a worn-out or obsolete part or machine
Devon Powell: Member of the McAvery Port team
Dex: Ranger on Forever
Dimensionals: 3-D entertainment shows
Dimitri Anatov: Anastasia’s father and a geneticist
Dipping: Interfacing with Forever’s mind; more intense than Transfer
Divia: Part of the North Pole crew
Dragon’s Reach: Peaks between McAvery Port and Darlith; later called the Anatov Mountains
Dreamcast: Movie watched via dreams
Dressler: Mission-class ship
East: Facing North, to the right
Eastern Front: Coalition of China, India, and North Korea
Eddy Tremaine: Former military (NAU Marine Corps); formerly Evelyne
Embassy District: Part of McAvery Port
Estate: Colin and Trip’s retreat
Extractor: Cutting tool
Fargo: Capitol of the NAU
Fargo Port: Launch port for AmSplor
Far Hold (aka North Pole): The station that controls the building of Forever
Father Vincenzo: Jackson Hammond’s priest
Federated Central American States: Central American allied nations
First Light: Advance of light in the morning on Forever
Forever: Common name for Ariadne, the seedling world
Frontier: Earth’s primary space station
Fuzz Field: Distortion field
Fuzzer: Small silver spheres that create the fuzz field
Genecraft: Genetic artistry / manipulation
Gloria “Glory” Hammond: Jackson’s wife, Aaron’s mother, Hispanic
Great Burn: Big heat wave that burned across a large swath of the southwestern US
Hammond: Axion-class ship that brings Ana and Aaron to Forever
Harmony: Apple picker on Forever
Herald: Mission-class ship that comes to rescue the Dressler crew
Hold: Room on the Dressler
Hurricane Cisco: One of the super hurricanes that ushered in the drowning of most of Southern Florida
Ichor: The golden “blood” of the Mission-class ships and seed ships
Initiator: Crystalline memory chip—DNA encoded—that jump-starts the seed
Interveners: Antitechnology terrorists
Jackson Hammond: Engineer aboard the Dressler
Jacob: Part of the North Pole crew
Jared: Traxx driver
Jayson Hammond: Younger son of Glory and Jackson Hammond
Kuripa Drone: Sino-African drone that looks like a giant robotic cockroach
Kwame Jones: Community ambassador at the refugee camp
Lake Jackson: Lake on the “Southern” end of Forever, named after Jackson Hammond
Landing Station: The shuttle port in Micavery
Light Suckers: Industrial-strength fiber optic light transfer devices
Long Interval: The time between departing Earth and arriving at the other end
Loop: Communication device and personal assistant
Mag Bolts: Bolts holding things together with a superstrong magnetic charge
Mallow Tree: Tree on Forever similar to mahogany
Mallowood: Wood from the mallow tree; a hardwood, it is known for its red color
Marcos: Part of the North Pole crew
Maria Ortiz: Community ambassador at the refugee camp
McAvery Port: The initial colony, later called Micavery
Mestra Vaughn: Nurse who takes charge of refugee camp
Micavery: First town built on forever, previously McAvery Port
Mission-Class: Living ships genetically bred, which include metal and organic parts
Monongahela National Forest: Where Eddy and Davian work on the Moonjumper
Moonjumper: Cheap vehicle made for quick hops to and from the moon, retired around 2090
Natasha: Part of the North Pole crew
New Richmond: Area that became a space center in Virginia after the old city was destroyed
North: In the direction of the North Pole (the far endcap)
North American Union (NAU): The combined countries of Canada, USA, and Mexico
North Pole: Far end of Forever
Ostereich: Transport-class ship
Plasform (Plas): Advanced polymer used for many applications, usually clear.
Pulse Weapon: EMP device
Rask: Traxx driver on Forever
Ready-Packs: Ready to eat meals
Readygel: Industrial glue
Red Badge: Lawless group of technophiles involved in domestic espionage and wetware arts
Reformed Catholic Evangelical Church: The new church resulting from the merger of the Catholic and Baptist churches
Reunification: When Ireland and Northern Ireland became one country
Reverser: a tool to remove or apply mag bolts
Rishia: Part of the North Pole crew
Ronan: Transfer Station mind
Runway: Connects the various parts of the Dressler; also the main hallway on Transfer Station
Seed Ships: Three generation ships grown from seedlings
Seedling: The starter for one of the seed ships
Shadowfax: Colin’s horse
Ship-Mind: Biological mind grown to run AmSplor ships
Ship’s Bone: Bone from the Mission-class or Axion-class ship infrastructure
Sino-African Syndicate (CAS): Alliance between China and many African nations
Skyhook: Elevator system that brings people up to Frontier Station from Earth
Skyrises: Supertall towers in NYC
Slowdown: The process of bringing the ship down to approach speed
South: In the direction of the South Pole (the near endcap)
South Pole: Transfer Station end/starting end of Forever
Spanner: Arm of one of the Mission-class ships
Sugarloaf Mountain: Eddy Tremaine’s former home
Synth Wand: Tool for connecting organic materials
T-Line: Navigational course
Talis Miller: Picking crew supervisor in the orchards
The Edge: The end of the planted portion of Forever
The Heat: Runaway warming brought on by greenhouse gases on Earth
The Rise: The sea level rise accompanying the Heat
Tim: Ex of Eddy’s
Topside: Platform for flight from the South Pole
Transfer Station: The space station that accompanies Forever
Transport-Class: Generation of ships before the Mission-class, entirely mechanical
Traxx: Ground transportation on Forever that hauls supplies
Vixen: Mission-class ship that failed due to human error
Warehouse District: Part of McAvery Port
West: Facing north, to the left
X-Band: Long-distance radio
X-drive: Small, powerful antigravity drive that allowed rapid expansion to the moon colonies
York Street: A street in Darlith
sp; J. SCOTT COATSWORTH spends his time between the here and now and the what could be. Ushered into fantasy and sci-fi at the tender age of nine by his mother, he devoured her library of Asimovs, Clarkes, and McCaffreys. But as he grew up, he wondered where the gay people were in speculative fiction.
He decided it was time to create the kinds of stories he couldn’t find at Waldenbooks. If there weren’t queer characters in his favorite genres, he would write them himself.
His friends say Scott’s brain works a little differently—he sees relationships between things that others miss, and often gets more done in a day than most folks manage in a week. He transforms traditional sci-fi, fantasy, and contemporary worlds into something unexpected.
He also runs Queer Sci Fi and QueeRomance Ink with his husband Mark, sites that bring LGBTIQA communities together to celebrate fiction that reflects queer life and love.
Facebook Profile: www.facebook.com/jscottcoatsworth
Facebook Author Page: www.facebook.com/jscottcoatsworthauthor/
Author Website/Blog: www.jscottcoatsworth.com
Dreamspinner Page: www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/index.php?cPath=55_1189
QueeRomance Ink Author Page: www.queeromanceink.com/mbm-book-author/j-scott-coatsworth/
Goodreads Author Page: www.goodreads.com/author/show/8392709.J_Scott_Coatsworth
Amazon Author Page: www.amazon.com/J.-Scott-Coatsworth/e/B011AFO4OQ
By J. Scott Coatsworth
The Stark Divide
Published by DSP PUBLICATIONS
www.dsppublications.com
Published by
DSP PUBLICATIONS
5032 Capital Circle SW, Suite 2, PMB# 279, Tallahassee, FL 32305-7886 USA
www.dsppublications.com
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of author imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
The Stark Divide
© 2017 J. Scott Coatsworth.
Cover Art
© 2017 Aaron Anderson.
aaronbydesign55@gmail.com
Cover content is for illustrative purposes only and any person depicted on the cover is a model.
Map credit
© 2017 August Li.
All rights reserved. This book is licensed to the original purchaser only. Duplication or distribution via any means is illegal and a violation of international copyright law, subject to criminal prosecution and upon conviction, fines, and/or imprisonment. Any eBook format cannot be legally loaned or given to others. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the Publisher, except where permitted by law. To request permission and all other inquiries, contact DSP Publications, 5032 Capital Circle SW, Suite 2, PMB# 279, Tallahassee, FL 32305-7886, USA, or www.dsppublications.com.
ISBN: 978-1-63533-832-4
Digital ISBN: 978-1-63533-833-1
Library of Congress Control Number: 2017947264
Published October 2017
v. 1.0
Printed in the United States of America