I remember this book coming out. It was published by Kerosina Books, a publisher set up by fans in the UK, so it was well publicised at UK conventions. Never bought a copy though, despite knowing Brunner quite well.

Kerosina was originally set up, I recall, to publish works by Keith Roberts. Kerosina was in one of his books. I also think it was set up to publish books that genre authors had failed to sell, so it's possible this was written some years before the publication date.