Lost Everything - by Brian Francis Slattery (Paperback)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

From the author of the critically acclaimed literary SF novels Spaceman Blues and Liberation comes an incandescent and thrilling post-apocalyptic tale in the vein of 1984 or The Road.

In the not-distant-enough future, a man takes a boat trip up the Susquehanna River with his most trusted friend, intent on reuniting with his son. But the man is pursued by an army, and his own harrowing past; and the familiar American landscape has been savaged by war and climate change until it is nearly unrecognizable.

Lost Everything is a stunning novel about family and faith, what we are afraid may come to be, and how to wring hope from hopelessness.

Lost Everything is the winner of the 2013 Philip K. Dick Award.

Review Quotes

"If you think this sounds like Thomas Pynchon or John Calvin Batchelor territory, you would be correct. Slattery's approach walks a tightrope between absurdism and a kind of accentuated Byzantine realism." --The Believer on Liberation

"Liberation is a magical, riveting poetic story of a post-economic America.... Slattery's prose style is complex, poetic, visionary and reeling, a cross between Kerouac and Bradbury, salted with Steinbeck.... It's a heady stew, a road novel shot through with mysticism and a love of freedom that soars over the pages. This is a book to fall in love with." --Cory Doctorow

"Liberation combined the serious and the satirical in creating an unforgettable image of a future America beset by the collapse of the dollar and the specter of a new form of slavery." --Omnivoracious, naming Liberation Amazon.com's #1 SF&F book of 2008

"For Fans Of: the surreal odyssey of Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man; Plan 9 from Outer Space.... For all its colorful characters and gonzo thrills, Slattery's debut is first and foremost a moving portrait of Wendell's griefs. A-" --Entertainment Weekly on Spaceman Blues

"Slattery's debut is a kaleidoscopic celebration of the immigrant experience.... Pynchon crossed with Steinbeck, painted by Dalí impossible to summarize, swinging from the surreal to the hyper-real, a brilliantly handled, tumultuous yarn." --Kirkus Reviews on Spaceman Blues

"Early reviews of Spaceman Blues threw around the names of Pynchon, Doctorow, and Dick as stylistic touchstones. But Slattery should really be considered alongside NYC homeboys like Lethem and Shteyngart, the former for his loving tweaks of vintage pulp, the latter for his sharp immigrant comedy." --The Village Voice

About the Author

Brian Francis Slattery was born and raised in upstate New York. He is an editor for the U.S. Institute of Peace and the New Haven Review. He is the author of Spaceman Blues and Liberation, and is also a musician. He lives near New Haven, CT.