Free e-book from Brian Francis Slattery

When I do panels about editorial matters at conventions, a significant percentage of the questions I field regard that holy-grail-of-a-breakout-story: getting picked out of Tor’s massive pile of unsolicited manuscripts and getting published. So I’m pleased to offer up this month’s free e-book—Spaceman Blues, the first novel by Brian Francis Slattery, who’s been hanging out around here lately and blogging about economics—as an example of the kind of book that may just jolt us out of our submission-reading stupor and get us to take notice.

My preposterous (but hopefully effective) cover copy for Spaceman Blues called it a “literary retro-pulp science-fiction–mystery–superhero novel.” But when I think back to why I first picked up this book and started reading it, I can’t help recalling a line Brian wrote on his cover letter when he first submitted the book to us a bit over five years ago: “This book is painted in browns and grays, sparked by sudden fires. I suspect it is not for everyone, though I hope it is for you.” Here’s your opportunity to find out which camp you fall in.

Spaceman Blues

If you do turn out to be a fan of Brian’s, you may wish to check out his second novel, Liberation: Being the Adventures of the Slick Six After the Collapse of the United States of America, which is unrelated to Spaceman, but just as marvelous.

As usual, the links above will only work if you’ve registered for Tor.com and are logged in, so if you haven’t joined the site, you might want to do so now. In return, you’ll get access to this book, many other useful site features, and more free e-books in the months to come.

UPDATE 25 November: This book is now no longer available for free download.