Most Popular Books by Brian Francis Slattery

From the author of the critically acclaimed literary sci-fi novels "Spaceman Blues" and "Liberation" comes an incandescent and thrilling future history dystopia in the vein of "1984" or "The Hunger Games."

From the author of the literary pulp phenomenon Spaceman Blues comes a future history cautionary tale, a heist movie in the style of a hippie novel . Liberation is a speculation on life in near-future America after the country suffers an economic cataclysm that leads to the resurgence of ghosts of its past such as the human slave trade. Our heroes are the Slick Six, a group of international criminals who set out to alleviate the worst of these conditions and put America on the road to recovery. Liberation is a story about living down the past, personally and nationally; about being able to laugh at the punch line to the long, dark joke of American history. Slattery''s prose moves seamlessly between present and past, action and memory. With Liberation, he celebrates the resilience and ingenuity of the American spirit. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

*** Named a Kirkus Reviews Starred Title in Their 10/01/14 Issue *** In 1968 two boys are born into a large family, both named for their grandfather, Peter Henry Hightower. One boy—Peter—grows up in Africa and ends up a journalist in Granada. The other—Petey—becomes a minor criminal, first in Cleveland and then in Kiev. In 1995, Petey runs afoul of his associates and disappears. But the criminals, bent on revenge, track down the wrong cousin, and the Peter in Granada finds himself on the run. He bounces from one family member to the next, piecing together his cousin''s involvement in international crime while learning the truth about his family''s complicated history. Along the way the original Peter Henry Hightower''s story is revealed, until it catches up with that of his children, revealing how Peter and Petey have been living in their grandfather''s shadow all along. The novel takes a look at capitalism and organized crime in the 20th century, the legend of the self-made man, and what money can do to people. Like Jeffrey Eugenides'' Middlesex, The Family Hightower stretches across both generations and continents, bearing the weight of family secrets and the inevitable personal toll they take on loved ones despite our best intentions.

Painted in browns and grays and sparked by sudden fires, Spaceman Blues is a literary retro-pulp science-fiction-mystery-superhero novel, the debut of a true voice of the future, and a cult classic in the making. When Manuel Rodrigo de Guzmán González disappears, Wendell Apogee decides to find out where he has gone and why. But in order to figure out what happened to Manuel, Wendell must contend with parties, cockfights, and chases; an underground city whose people live in houses suspended from cavern ceilings; urban weirdos and alien assassins; immigrants, the black market, flight, riots, and religious cults. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Like a pebble that starts the avalanche, the Network plays its hand in a move more terrifying in its scope than the Bookburners ever thought possible – at a time when Team Three is more fractured than ever before. Can the world weather the storm? Can the Bookburners? This episode is brought to you by author Brian Francis Slattery, whose imagination knows no limit. Magic is real, and hungry—trapped in ancient texts and artifacts, only a few who discover it survive to fight back. Detective Sal Brooks is a survivor. Freshly awake to just what dangers are lurking, she joins a Vatican-backed black-ops anti-magic squad: Team Three of the Societas Librorum Occultorum. Together they stand between humanity and magical apocalypse. Some call them the Bookburners. They don’t like the label. "One With the World" is the tenth episode of Bookburners Season 2, presented by Serial Box Publishing. This serial will unfold in 13 episodes.

Grace gets a day off and time threatens to swallow Rome. It’s Grace’s one day off a year and nothing will stop her from enjoying every last second of it: not Sal’s troubling sleepwalking, not the mysterious tour guide Aaron and his aggressive concern for the Team, not even the magical artifact spreading a time-slowing bubble across Rome. The team’s troubles may never stop—but sometimes, you have to make time for a spin class. This episode is brought to you by team-writer Mur Lafferty and shows us the importance of taking time for oneself—even when time is of the essence.

Weather Alert: Tornado eating titans on the loose in Oklahoma. There might not be much upon the open, wind-swept planes of Oklahoma—but magic, like life, finds a way to thrive nevertheless. In this week’s episode the Team is literally blown away when they touch down in a tiny country town, utterly destroyed by horrifying monsters the locals call Tornado Eaters. The town is past saving but the threat remains—it will take all the Society can throw at them and even that might not be enough. Readers, and Sal, will finally get their first look at just what heat Team One is packing . . . but quickly learn that words wreak more havoc than even the most imaginative weapons. This episode is brought to you by team-writer Brian Francis Slattery who once again brings the Weird, this time to the West—but it’s not all fun and monsters in Oklahoma and the Society’s toll of life and limb is rising.

Sal and Team Three travel to Madrid, through a breathing door, and into a lonely man’s weirdest dreams. Sal Brooks, newest member of Team Three of the Societas Librium Occultorum, is settling into her job and apartment in Rome. In this episode we meet the rest of the team and get a tour of the Black Archives (pro tip: don’t touch anything), before being whisked off on Sal’s first mission: investigate a magical disturbance in the heart of Madrid, Spain. There they find a breathing apartment door, little girls being held hostage, and some furniture that is far too alive for good taste. First days on the job are never easy... This episode is brought to you by team-writer Brian Francis Slattery and trips down a rabbit hole (or rather, through an apartment door) into some thoroughly New Weird territory. Fans of Vandermeer’s Southern Reach trilogy will find much to enjoy.

When it comes to tattoos in the City of Sin, what happens in Vegas doesn’t stay in Vegas. The Team must travel to Las Vegas when the human canvases of a tattoo competition show start dying. The list of potential magical murders is colorful and well documented across episodes of Ink Stainz: Vegas—but appearances can be deceiving and the team must check their prejudices at customs and investigate the bristly and well inked lot before time runs out and more victims fall prey to the demonic ink. This episode is brought to you by team-writer Mur Lafferty and brings some Vegas vice and trash TV to our story. Get ready for deadly drama because no one is here to make friends.

The day of reckoning arrives as the Network’s power play consumes an entire town and the Bookburners confront a magical event bigger and more terrifying than anything previously imagined. This episode written by Andrea Phillips. Magic is real, and hungry—trapped in ancient texts and artifacts, only a few who discover it survive to fight back. Detective Sal Brooks is a survivor. Freshly awake to just what dangers are lurking, she joins a Vatican-backed black-ops anti-magic squad: Team Three of the Societas Librorum Occultorum. Together they stand between humanity and magical apocalypse. Some call them the Bookburners. They don’t like the label. "Shock and Awe" is the eleventh episode of Bookburners Season 2, presented by Serial Box Publishing. This serial will unfold in 13 episodes.

Magic is real, and hungry--trapped in ancient texts and artifacts. Only a few who discover it survive to fight back. Join Detective Sal Brooks, newest recruit to a black-ops magic hunting team backed by the Vatican, as she travels the world to keep the supernatural in check. Just remember: watch your back and don''t touch anything. Fans of Supernatural, The X-Files, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and The Da Vinci Code will love this epic urban fantasy. Bookburners Season 3 is written by Max Gladstone, Margaret Dunlap, Brian Francis Slattery, Andrea Phillips, Mur Lafferty, and Amal El-Mohtar and presented by Serial Box Publishing.

Nothing is what it seems in the shocking penultimate installment of Bookburners, the urban fantasy episodic series from Serial Box. With time running out, and the Hand growing stronger inside Sal, the only hope is to banish the demon back to his hellish domain. But to do that, Team Three needs The Book of the Hand, which is back in the Vatican. Now, thanks to a timely offer from Aaron, Sal and the rest of the team stake their freedom on a desperate throw of the dice by venturing into the lion''s den . . . This episode is brought to you by team-writer Margaret Dunlap.

A fiery mystery leads the team to Canada where they learn about more than just the contentious fishing industry of Manitoba. They say that museums are where history comes alive – but when magic is involved, it’s more often a library. This episode is brought to you by author Amal El-Mohtar who can hardly contain her excitement at being a Bookburner. Magic is real, and hungry—trapped in ancient texts and artifacts, only a few who discover it survive to fight back. Detective Sal Brooks is a survivor. Freshly awake to just what dangers are lurking, she joins a Vatican-backed black-ops anti-magic squad: Team Three of the Societas Librorum Occultorum. Together they stand between humanity and magical apocalypse. Some call them the Bookburners. They don’t like the label. "Fire and Ice" is the seventh episode of Bookburners Season 2, presented by Serial Box Publishing. This serial will unfold in 13 episodes.

Intrigue and betrayal await in the latest installment of Bookburners, the urban fantasy episodic series that''s taken the Internet by storm. Open Season is declared on the Black Archives with every demon in the world wanting the Codex Umbra for their own. Security tightens and the team prepares for inevitable assault never suspecting the sleeper cell already in their midst. Amateur attempts cause little concern but when demons team up, anything is possible as the Society quickly learns, with devastating results. This episode is brought to you by team-writer Brian Francis Slattery and explodes the demonic across the page, throughout the Black Archives, and into our heroes.

Detective Sally Brooks investigates an unusual robbery, and discovers that magic is real—and hungry! NYPD Detective Sal Brooks is no rookie—but even the most hardened cop would think twice when they see their brother open a book and become . . . well . . . something entirely not their brother. When her attempts to solve the case cross paths with a mysterious team led by a priest, she starts to realize that the world is far more than what is seems, and, just maybe, magic is real—and hungry. This episode is the first in a 16-part Serial, Bookburners, presented by Serial Box. From a team of writers, this collaborative effort unfolds an epic urban fantasy narrative across an entire season in weekly installments.

Asanti and Liam sneak invites to a magical conference in Russia, and find the bad coffee and cheap cups the least of their problems. While Asanti struggles with her feelings towards the Society and its mission, everybody else struggles to stay alive. This episode brought to you by Brian Francis Slattery who asks that you turn your attention towards the screen and save your comments for the end. Magic is real, and hungry—trapped in ancient texts and artifacts, only a few who discover it survive to fight back. Detective Sal Brooks is a survivor. Freshly awake to just what dangers are lurking, she joins a Vatican-backed black-ops anti-magic squad: Team Three of the Societas Librorum Occultorum. Together they stand between humanity and magical apocalypse. Some call them the Bookburners. They don’t like the label. "Mistakes Were Made" is the third episode of Bookburners Season 2, presented by Serial Box Publishing. This serial will unfold in 13 episodes.

The first rule of the Market is you do not talk about the Market. When a mysterious invite arrives in the mail and Father Menchu responds by whisking Sal off to Lichtenstein, the former cop is left on very new ground as she gets more than a glimpse at the broader world of magic users. Unfortunately, they are immediately confronted by a wealthy business man who is less upset about them blowing up his boat two episodes ago, as he is about them stealing his (sludge-demon releasing) book. When the three remaining Team members back in Rome suddenly find themselves under attack, Sal and Menchu are left scrambling for how to help and have to turn to the peculiar techno-cultists whose computers run on seahorses and have a pointed interest in the cop sister of their acquaintance Perry. Welcome to the Market Arcanum. This episode is brought to you by team-writer Margaret Dunlap who shows us that the Society is far from the only fish in the magic-hunting sea—and certainly isn’t the biggest.

"Sheer enormous fun!" -Naomi Novik, author of the New York Times-bestselling Temeraire series Magic is real, and hungry. It’s trapped in ancient texts and artifacts, and only a few who discover it survive to fight back. Detective Sal Brooks is a survivor. She joins a Vatican-backed black-ops anti-magic squad—Team Three of the Societas Librorum Occultorum—and together they stand between humanity and the magical apocalypse. Some call them the Bookburners. They don’t like the label. Supernatural meets The Da Vinci Code in a fast-paced, kickass character driven novel chock-full of magic, mystery, and mayhem, written collaboratively by a team of some of the best writers working in fantasy. Originally presented serially in 16 episodes, this omnibus collects all installments of Bookburners Season One into one edition.

Little is at it seems on the high seas when a magical book wreaks havoc on a luxury yacht. The Team saves on flight costs as the newest mystery happens around the corner. A tip from a local antiquarian doesn’t make it to the Team in time and they are left with a once-bookstore-now-rubble-pile, a missing magical tome, and very few clues beyond a helpful tour guide (one might even say too helpful . . .). Tracking the missing book to a luxury yacht, the Team gets less of the high-end boating experience and more of the demon-on-the-loose nightmare. All aboard the Fair Weather; but no smooth sailing ahead. This episode is brought to you by team-writer Margaret Dunlap and introduces readers (and our heroine) to not only the true dangers of Bookburning, but to mysterious secrets even cloudier than the Societas Librium Occultorum.

An epic smackdown ensues as Sal and Team Three match wits and magic with Mr. Norse. The stage is set for the Mr. Norse’s grand move in possessing—The Norton Anthology of Evil—aka the Codex Umbra. The team’s plans include infiltrating a yacht-party, sneaking into a secret compound, and generally trying to stop an evil billionaire from gaining control of a compendium of demons. But, as usual, even the best plans go awry and the team must be quick on their feet as Mr. Norse jumps through the looking glass and they having nothing left but to follow. This episode is brought to you by team-writer Max Gladstone who shows us that no matter how the battle is won or lost; the war wages on.