Boy Meets Boy Reviews: Anniversary Shenanigans: Author Visit + Giveaway

J. Scott Coatsworth dropped by the stables today for storytime (cause we may be big kids now, but we're never too old for a story) and he brought along a gift for you!

The Frog Prince

“Holy crap.”

Jillian Tinsnip’s spell had gone horribly awry.

He was a bit of a crap magician to begin with. He was always leaving his wand back at the apprentice dorm when it was time for his Witchery & Wizardry course, and just last week he’d accidentally turned the rest of his class into frogs when he was trying a spell to conjure himself up a fair prince from a swamp toad.

It had taken Mistress Vroben a good three hours to disenchant everyone back to their normal selves, and Jory Klemp still walked with a bit of a hop.

But this... this was far worse.

All the hillsides before him had taken on rainbow hues.

He pushed his thick glasses back up onto the bridge of his nose and looked at the spellbook he’d stolen from the Mages wing of the library. He’d been looking for a spell to make himself more handsome. This one had said it would bring out his “inner beauty,” whatever the heck that meant.

He sounded it out again under his breath.

“Or su gah fo pash.” Damn. He’d said “goh” instead of “gah,” he was sure of it.

“Hey Jillian.”

Jillian stiffened. “Um, hey Jory.” He had a bit of a secret crush on the captain of the Sticky Wicket team

Jory hopped up beside him. “Wow. You did this?”

Jillian blushed. “Um, yeah, about that—“

Jory whistled. “It’s beautiful.”

Jillian exhaled. He hadn’t expected that.“You… you think?”

Jory nodded. “The hills are much better this way.” He grinned. “You must be really strong to do something like this.”

“Um, sure?” Jillian pushed a stray lock of hair behind his ear.

“I know you probably get asked this all the time...” Jory blushed.

Nobody asked him anything. Hardly ever. “What?”

“Would you go out with me sometime?”

Jillian’s mouth fell open, but he slammed it shut before Jory noticed. He hoped. “Um, sure,” he said as nonchalantly as he could manage. He nudged his glasses back up again.

Jory grinned, and it lit up his whole face. He took Jillian’s hand, and they started back toward school together. Jory hopped with joy.

Jillian glanced back at the rainbow-colored hills.

Well, at least one of my spells worked. I got my prince.

That was magical! Be sure to let Scott know what you thought of his story in the comments!

About the author:

Scott lives 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.