Kira and Claire, for their tough but fair criticism of the earliest drafts of this story
Heather, for buying me endless chais on my own credit card
Anthony Taboni, for being the future president of my nascent fan club
Therese, Craig, Kim, Aaron, Jonathan, and Gary, for reading through multiple versions of this manuscript without ever telling me to just pack it in already
Karen Fish, for teaching me what it means to be a writer
John, for being my go-to sounding board on all things literary
Mickey, for not getting mad after I said in a live interview that he didn’t have a face for Hollywood
Jack, for keeping my ego in check when it was needed most
Jen, for continuing to put up with me through all of this
Max and Freya, for never letting me forget what’s really important in life
As I said, this is a partial list. This book would not be what it is without any of these folks, and probably a whole mess of others besides. Thanks, friends. Now on to the next one, right?
ALSO BY EDWARD ASHTON
Three Days in April
The End of Ordinary
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
EDWARD ASHTON is the author of the novels Three Days in April, The End of Ordinary, and Mickey7. His short fiction has appeared in venues ranging from the newsletter of an Italian sausage company to Escape Pod, Analog, and Fireside Fiction. He lives in upstate New York in a cabin in the woods (not that cabin in the woods) with his wife, a variable number of daughters, and an adorably mopey dog named Max, where he writes—mostly fiction, occasionally fact—under the watchful eyes of a giant woodpecker and a rotating cast of barred owls. In his free time, he enjoys cancer research, teaching quantum physics to sullen graduate students, and whittling.
You can find him online at edwardashton.com or on Twitter @edashtonwriting, Or sign up for email updates here.
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CONTENTS
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Chapter 001
Chapter 002
Chapter 003
Chapter 004
Chapter 005
Chapter 006
Chapter 007
Chapter 008
Chapter 009
Chapter 010
Chapter 011
Chapter 012
Chapter 013
Chapter 014
Chapter 015
Chapter 016
Chapter 017
Chapter 018
Chapter 019
Chapter 020
Chapter 021
Chapter 022
Chapter 023
Chapter 024
Acknowledgments
Also by Edward Ashton
About the Author
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
First published in the United States by St. Martin’s Press, an imprint of St. Martin’s Publishing Group
ANTIMATTER BLUES. Copyright © 2023 by Edward Ashton. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Publishing Group, 120 Broadway, New York, NY 10271.
Cover design by Ervin Serrano
Cover art: rocks © Allgord/Shutterstock.com; man © Tithi Luadthong/Shutterstock .com; planet and mountains © Brita Seifert/Shutterstock.com; stars © Jamo Images/Shutterstock.com
The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data for the print edition is available upon request.
ISBN 978-1-250-27505-9 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-250-27506-6 (ebook)
eISBN 9781250275066
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First Edition: 2023