A “Contract” Killing?

And here I thought that nude car-washing was the most curious innovation to come down the pike in a long while. Turns out I was wrong. Even more interesting (if not more eye-popping) is British publisher Headline’s decision to debut UK comics writer Simon Spurrier’s novel, Contract, online for free beginning on Thursday, May 24. Sarah Weinman tells more at GalleyCat:

Piers Blofeld, editor of Headline’s new generation fiction list, says Headline is the first mainstream commercial publisher to make such a move. “CONTRACT was one of those very rare submissions that had me literally jumping out of my chair with excitement,” said Blofeld. “The publishing industry has been tiptoeing around publishing books online. While there are obvious issues for publishers, the main point for me is that what writers need above all else is readers. With his comics background and established online presence, the fact that Simon has the perfect profile for this kind of venture, is a bonus; as is the fact the book will resonate with a particularly large market demographic of internet users.”

So, what’s Contract about? Here’s the write-up from a promotional site for the book:

Michael Point doesn’t seem anything special.

He dresses conservatively, is thoughtful, methodical and well spoken. He also happens to kill people for a living. It’s not about getting back at the world; for Michael it’s much simpler than that: IT’S ALL ABOUT THE MONEY.

But things are starting to get strange: his hits are coming back to life and trying to kill him. Is he losing his mind?

Or ... could it be that the things he sees aren’t delusions at all, but hints of a divine conflict: a heavenly war, sucking him in ...

The same site explains that “each installment [of Contract] will only be available for a limited time over a 6 week period.” After which the novel can still be read--only in conventional printed form, for a price. This is an intriguing publicity move, though not significantly more creative than books that are serialized online before being turned into standard hardbacks. In both cases, it depends on consumers being willing to read large chunks of text on their computer screens, which many simply refuse to do.