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The River City Chronicles
Author Name: J. Scott Coatsworth
Publisher: Other Worlds Ink.
Release Date: Wednesday, May 30 2018
Format: ebook, paperback
Is This Book Romance?: No
Price: 5.99 eBook, 16.99 paperback
Story Type: Novel
Word Count: 115k
Cover Artist: Kelley York
Genres: gay fiction, queer fiction, magical
realism, contemporary
Characters: gay, bi, trans, straight
Keywords/Categories: gay, bisexual,
transgender, trans, gay fiction, queer fiction, magical realism
Series Title: River City
Position (Number) in Series: First
Necessary to Read Previous Books: No
Other Books in Series Available for
Review?: n/a
Book Blurb:
Everyone in the River City has a
secret, and sooner or later secrets always come out.
A group of strangers meets at Ragazzi,
an Italian restaurant, for a cooking lesson that will change them all. They
quickly become intertwined in each other's lives, and a bit of magic touches
each of them.
Meet Dave, the consultant who lost his
partner; Matteo and Diego, the couple who run the restaurant; recently-widowed
Carmelina; Marcos, a web designer getting too old for hook-ups; Ben, a trans
author writing the Great American Novel; teenager Marissa, kicked out for being
bi; and Sam and Brad, a May-September couple who would never have gotten
together without a little magic of their own.
Excerpt:
Matteo stared out the restaurant window
into the darkness of Folsom Boulevard. It was getting dark earlier as summer
edged into fall. Streetlights flickered on as cars drifted by, looking for
parking or making the trip out of Midtown toward home.
The sign on the window read “Ragazzi”
(the boys), lettered in a beautiful golden script just two months old.
Investing in this little restaurant his uncle had left to them when he'd passed
away had been their ticket out of Italy. But now with each passing day, as
seats sat empty and tomatoes, pasta, and garlic went uneaten, the worry was
gnawing ever deeper into Matteo's gut.
Behind him in the open, modernized
kitchen, Diego was busy cooking—his mother's lasagne, some fresh fish from San
Francisco, and some of the newer Italian dishes they'd brought with them from
Bologna. The smells of boiling sauce and fresh-cooked pasta that emanated from
the kitchen were entrancing.
They'd sent the rest of the staff —Max
and Justin—home for the evening. The three customers who had shown up so far
didn't justify the cost of keeping their waiter and busboy on hand.
Matteo stopped at the couple's table in
front of the other window. "Buona sera," he said, smiling his
brightest Italian smile.
"Hi," the man said, smiling
back at him. He was a gentleman in about his mid-fifties, wearing a golf shirt
and floppy hat. "Kinda quiet tonight, huh?"
"It always gets busier
later," Matteo lied smoothly. "Pleasure to have you here. Can I get
you anything else?"
"A little more wine, please?"
the woman said, holding out her glass so the charm bracelet on her wrist
jangled.
"Of course." He bowed and
ducked into the kitchen.
He gave Diego a quick peck on the
cheek.
His husband and chef waved him off with
a snort. "Più tardi. Sto preparando la cena."
"I can see that. Dinner for a
hundred, is it? It’s dead out there again tonight.”
Diego shot him a dirty look.
Matteo retrieved the bottle of wine
from the case and returned to fill up his guests' glasses. “What brings you in
tonight?” Maybe they saw our ad.…
“Just walking by and we were hungry. I
miss the old place though.… What was it called, honey?”
Her husband scratched his chin. “Little
Italy, I think?”
“That’s it! It was the cutest place.
Checkered tablecloths, those great Italian bottles with the melted wax… so
Italian.”
Matteo groaned inside. “So glad you
came in” was all he said with another smile.
Buy Links:
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-river-city-chronicles-j-scott-coatsworth/1128593446?ean=9781732307506
QueeRomance Ink (all buy links): https://www.queeromanceink.com/book/the-river-city-chronicles/
Author Bio:
Scott
lives with his husband Mark in a little yellow bungalow in East
Sacramento, with two pink flamingos by the front porch.
He spends his time 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.
He runs Queer Sci Fi and QueeRomance
Ink with his husband Mark, sites that bring queer people together to promote
and celebrate fiction that reflects their own reality.
Author Website: https://www.jscottcoatsworth.com
Author Facebook (Personal): https://www.facebook.com/jscottcoatsworth
Author Facebook (Author Page): https://www.facebook.com/jscottcoatsworthauthor/
Author Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/jscoatsworth
Author Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8392709.J_Scott_Coatsworth
Author QueeRomance Ink: https://www.queeromanceink.com/mbm-book-author/j-scott-coatsworth/
Author Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/J.-Scott-Coatsworth/e/B011AFO4OQ
Giveaway:
One lucky winner will receive a $25
Amazon gift card. Enter via Rafflecopter for a chance to win.
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