Bretta Martyn by L. Neil Smith          Is that the ugliest book jacket ever made? Tell the publisher and the author what you think: Mail 'em! A Message From L. Neil Smith A thousand years from now, in the cold depths of interstellar space, there will be sailing ships -- and pirates!          It's very pleasing to announce that my 19th novel Bretta Martyn, officially scheduled for release August 1, is already finding its way into bookstores all across the country.          Bretta Martyn concerns itself chiefly with the exploits of young Robretta Islay, eldest daughter to Arran Islay, Hereditary Drector of Skye -- infamous throughout the Known Deep as the ship-robber "Henry Martyn" -- and of Loreanna Daimler-Wilkinson Islay, late of the Monopolity of Hanover, his notorious "bride of war".          Peremptorily summoned to the political center of the universe by a new Ceo of Hanover, Arran and his old comrade Phoebus Krumm are commanded to put an end to the vile "manufacture" and trade in Oplyte Warrior-Slaves, in which innocent humans are abducted and hideously transformed into short-lived, mindless killing machines.          Arran is given little choice but to take his wife and daughter with him into danger and it is here, after she is brutalized and separated from her family, that Bretta's Own Adventure Begins, an adventure that will take her into the corrupt heart of an evil empire, toward a young woman's first stirrings of romance, and ultimately to the lost and ancient homeworld of humanity.          Bretta Martyn has been published in hardcover (381 pages, ISBN 0-312-85893-0, $24.95) by Tor Books and is distributed in the United States by St. Martin's Press. In addition to bookstores, it may be found at Amazon.com Books, http://www.amazon.com, or just give Laissez Faire Books a toll-free phone call at 1-800-326-0996. I regret to say that what I regard as The Best Book I've Written so far not only has the ugliest jacket I've ever had on one of my books, but the ugliest jacket I've ever seen, and I'd remind readers never to judge a book by its cover. Sincerely, L. Neil Smith lneil@lneilsmith.org ORDER NOW from Amazon.com New York: A Tor Book, A Tom Doherty Associates Book, 1997 381 pages, hardcover, dustjacket Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 97-1156 ISBN 0-312-85893-0, $24.95 First Edition: August 1997 Edited by James Frenkel Jacket art by Bill Sienkiewicz Jacket design by Martha Sedgwick