Publication Day: Something for Nothing by David Anthony

When I was ten years old, I had to have minor surgery. As a result, I was forced to spend the summer moping around the house, wearing an insanely large bandage over my right shoulder. I couldn’t do much aside from read until my father introduced me to the racetrack. I became obsessed watching televised races from Del Mar, circling my top favorites with a pencil, screaming until I was hoarse (pun intended) when one of my horses happened to win. So I was pretty excited to get my hands on a copy of David Anthony’s hilariously dark Something for Nothing, which is on sale today.

How would I best sum up this hot summer read? Guns, girls, and getaways are the first three words that come to mind. It’s the 1970s and Martin Anderson’s aircraft business is tanking, as is his extravagant suburban lifestyle. He may own a racehorse, a deep-sea fishing boat, a vacation home in Tahoe, and a Caddy in the garage, but his life is in financial–and emotional–freefall. Martin hides numerous secrets from his wife, from his mounting debt to his penchant for sneaking into neighborhood homes and making off with small keepsakes. When he’s given the opportunity to clear his debt by using one of his planes to make a few heroin runs between California and Mexico, Martin doesn’t think twice . . . or at all, for that matter.

Everything quickly spirals out of control when Martin’s simple plan lands him in the midst of gun-toting drug lords. After a narcotics agent arrives on his doorstep, he becomes increasingly paranoid, both about the police and about his associates in the drug world—a feeling that seems justified when he stumbles upon the scene of a brutal double murder. Martin wants out, but he wants his money, too.

David Anthony is hitting the road this June, along with fellow Algonquin authors Pete Nelson (I Thought You Were Dead) and Josh Wilker (Cardboard Gods), for the awesome FREE BEER tour. If you’re in one of the cities where they’re reading, please stop by for some hilarious entertainment along with FREE BEER (did I mention it was free?) from Lagunitas!  We’re also giving away three copies of the book– just leave a comment here for a chance to win!

For more David Anthony, check out his great trailer (at bottom of this post) which features none other than a visit to the race track. I’m hedging my bets that you won’t want to put this book down.

–Megan Fishmann, Publicist

FREE BEER/DAVID ANTHONY TOUR DATES:

June 1–NAPERVILLE, IL–Andersons, 7:00pm

June 2–MILWAUKEE, WI–Boswell Books, 7:00pm

* This is a FREE BEER Tour Event

June 3–ANN ARBOR, MI–Nicola’s Books, 7:00 pm

* This is a FREE BEER Tour Event

June 7–BERKELEY, CA–Books Inc, 7:00pm

June 8– DANVILLE, CA–Rakestraw Books, 7:00pm

June 9–OAKLAND, CA–Diesel Books, 7:00pm

* This is a FREE BEER Tour Event

June 16–BROOKLINE, MA–Brookline Books, 7:00pm

* This is a FREE BEER Tour Event

June 29–ST. LOUIS, MO–Left Bank Books, 7:00pm

June 30–AUSTIN, TX–BookPeople, 6:30

* This is a FREE BEER Tour Event

PRAISE FOR SOMETHING FOR NOTHING:

“[A] clever and surprisingly heartfelt debut… The parallels Anthony draws between the 1974 economic crisis and our own are successful precisely because they’re not overt, just like his depiction of Martin as an antihero succeeds because his ridiculous antics are laced with a yearning to belong that’s so intense it borders on deranged innocence, rendering him the most lovable drug smuggler in ages.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review

“[Something for Nothing] exceeds the expectations of its formula…in the finesse and wit with which Anthony handles both the setting and the swaggering, self-absorbed but often likable protagonist—he captures the ethos of the ’70s and the soul of sad-sack Martin admirably, and the links to our own time are compelling.”—Kirkus Reviews

“Anthony’s first novel…speeds to an adrenaline-charged climax in a conflict fueled by greed. Provocative, genre-spanning fiction by an author to watch.”—Booklist

“David Anthony’s novel Something for Nothing reminds me of Richard Ford’s early work: Martin Anderson, it’s airplane dealing, drug muling, neighbor’s wife coveting, reluctant family-man protagonist is both brutal and eloquent, his rise and fall (and rise again?) all the more moving because he’s aware that he’s to blame for his tale of woe, even if he’s slow to accept the blame. The book is set during the Nixon era gas crisis, but the parallels between that time and ours are obvious, and compelling; as this terrific cautionary tale makes clear, Martin Anderson’s bad decisions might have been ours, might still be ours.”—Brock Clarke, author of Exley and An Arsonist’s Guide to Writers’ Homes in New England

“Funny, sly, gritty and hugely entertaining, Something for Nothing is quite an accomplishment, kind of James Lee Burke crossed with John Cheever, but utterly sharp and distinctive in its own right. This is a fantastic, big-time book.”— Martin Clark, author of The Many Aspects of Mobile Home Living and The Legal Limit

“Insightful and wickedly funny, SOMETHING FOR NOTHING tells the story of a nefarious charmer caught up in the excesses of his American Dream. David Anthony has crafted a whip smart debut, what is certain to be a word-of-mouth sensation. This is a book for our times.”—Amy MacKinnon, author of Tethered

“Something for Nothing is a terrific debut novel–meticulously detailed, fluent, and even wise.  Make room on your bookshelves for David Anthony.”—Thomas Perry, author of Strip

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Tags: betting, Cardboard Gods, David Anthony, Free Beer Tour, horse racing, I Thought You Were Dead, Josh Wilker, Pete Nelson, Publication Day, racetrack, Something for Nothing