"I have to admit I'm not much of a sci-fi fan. You could count the number of science fiction books I've read on a hand and a half. I've not even seen many films of that genre. So why do I tell you this? For whatever reason, I saw J. Scott Coatsworth's The Last Run, and I was intrigued by the cover. Finding it was a short book, I thought, "What do I have to lose?" I can tell you now, I had nothing to lose. In fact, I a lot to gain. I got to spend a little over an hour (the story is only 67 pages long) with some very fine writing, an exciting story, and the twist that its two main characters are lesbians. But lest that idea turns you off, I report there is no sex in the book, not that lesbian sex is a bad thing or wrong or undesirable. We all walk this earth together, and there are all varieties on this walk. No, I tell you this because this book could be read by or read to younger readers with no fear of their stumbling into some description they are not ready for, and yet, readers of all ages can only benefit knowing there are same-sex couples in this world, and apparently, in other worlds. The tale takes place on a far distant planet-twenty-five years of travel from the earth-where Sera, the earthling, crashes, only to meet Jas, who works on a hencha farm. It would spoil the fun to explain what hencha is, but suffice it to say it is a unique product of this far-away world. Excitement ensues when we find the earthling is not welcome. And that's enough plot to tell. Coatsworth does a far better job telling his tale than I could ever do. His writing is straight-forward, sparing, and inventive. I reveled at and was amazed by an author who could think of this stuff. My own writing is grounded in the here and now in the world we all live in. Coatsworth has created a planet that bears little resemblance to Earth, characters who have a society unlike any I've encountered in my world travels, and that hencha. Oh, that hencha. Quite a curious crop, indeed. Get this book and read it. You have an hour of fun ahead. I guarantee it. And after all, you can trust me, since I don't like science fiction, now do I?" --Russell J. Sanders