About
Urbantasm is a magical teen noir serial novel inspired by the author’s experiences growing up in and around Flint, Michigan.
Thirteen-year-old John Bridge’s plans include hooking up with an eighth-grade girl and becoming one of the most popular kids at Radcliffe Junior High, but when he steals a pair of strange blue sunglasses from a homeless person, it drops him into the middle of a gang war overwhelming the once-great Rust Belt town of Akawe.
John doesn’t understand why the sunglasses are such a big deal, but everything, it seems, is on the table. Perhaps he accidentally offended the Chalks, a white supremacist gang trying to expand across the city. Maybe the feud involves his friend Selby, whose father died under mysterious circumstances. It could even have something to do with O-Sugar, a homegrown drug with the seeming ability to distort space. On the night before school began, a group of teenagers took O-Sugar and leapt to their deaths from an abandoned hospital.
John struggles to untangle these mysteries while adjusting to his new school, even as his parents confront looming unemployment and as his city fractures and burns.
News
Events
FOR A COMPLETE LIST OF PAST EVENTS AND TOUR DATES, PLEASE VISIT URBANTASM.COM/TOUR
The Urbantasm book tour (2018-2022) has officially concluded.
However, Urbantasm readings and other events will continue by invitation.
Please visit connorcoyne.com to contact author Connor Coyne about a reading, book signing, or other event.
Media
FOR A COMPLETE LIST OF ALL MEDIA, PLEASE VISIT URBANTASM.COM/MEDIA
Text and other media can be found under #urbantasm via Instagram, Facebook, and elsewhere.
Featured media:
INTERVIEW: Hypertext Magazine publishes One Question answered by Connor Coyne (Summer 2022)
INTERVIEW: A recording of the digital launch of Urbantasm, Book Four: The Spring Storm, moderated by Jan Worth-Nelson. (May 5, 2022)
MAP: Updated for Urbantasm, Book Four: The Spring Storm. (April 4, 2022)
INTERVIEW: Belt Magazine publishes Beyond Good and Bad: A Conversation with Connor Coyne, by Kelsey Ronan (September 11, 2018)
EXCERPT: Belt Magazine publishes an excerpt from Urbantasm: The Dying City (August 24, 2018)
Darcie Rowan PR: PRESS RELEASE FOR DOWNLOAD! (PDF) (June 19, 2018)
MUSIC: Here’s a playlist of some wonderful music that informed and inspired Book 1: Urbantasm: The Dying City.
On YouTube.
On Spotify.
Praise
FOR A COMPLETE LIST OF ALL PRAISE, PLEASE VISIT URBANTASM.COM/PRAISE
Urbantasm, Book One: The Dying City is Young New-Adult Winner for the 2019 Indie Book Awards, Young Adult Winner for the 2019 Kindle Book Awards, Young Adult Finalist for the 2019 Wishing Shelf Book Awards, Young Adult Finalist for the American Fiction Awards, and was included on the New School’s 2019 Alumni Summer Reading List.
Urbantasm, Book Two: The Empty Room is Young Adult Winner for the 2020 Kindle Book Awards.
Urbantasm, Book Three: The Darkest Road is Young Adult Winner for the 2022 Kindle Book Awards.
“A magical epic.”
— Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, New York Times bestselling author of What the Eyes Don’t See
“Urbantasm: The Dying City is a novel of wonder and horror.”
— William Shunn, author of The Accidental Terrorist
“A book that values risk.”
— S.C. Megale, author of This Is Not a Love Scene
“Urbantasm imbues a neglected part of America with an azure luminescence.”
— Jeffery Renard Allen, author of Song of the Shank
“A compelling blend of noire and Rust Belt magical realism.”
— Gordon Young, author of Teardown: Memoir of a Vanishing City
Author
Connor Coyne (he/him) is a writer living and working in Flint, Michigan.
He’s published several novels and a short story collection, including the magical serial novel Urbantasm, and his novella Hollywood. His work has been featured in Vox.com, Belt Magazine, and elsewhere. He is the director of the Flint-based Gothic Funk Press and is facilitator for the Gloria Coles Flint Public Library‘s writing workshops.
He lives with his wife and two daughters in Flint’s College Cultural Neighborhood (aka the East Village), less than a mile from the house where he grew up.
Meet the Urbantasm production team, or learn more about Connor’s writing at ConnorCoyne.com.
To interview Connor or receive a review copy of Urbantasm: The Dying City, please email him at connor@connorcoyne.com.
Contact