Just as many TV critics have described BBC/Netflix’s Black Mirror as “literary” as they have “cinematic,” and those unknowing predictions have now come to pass: Black Mirror is becoming an anthology book series. The three authors of the first installment, Black Mirror: Volume 1 were announced today by publisher Random House Books. They are Cory Doctorow, Claire North and Sylvain Neuvel, whose novel Waking Gods already has made our list of the 30 best books of 2017 so far.
Edited by Charlie Brooker, the creator of the hit series which was just awarded at the Emmy’s for its outstanding season 3 episode “San Junipero,” the book version of Black Mirror “takes the very essence of the globally acclaimed cult TV show to create new, original, darkly satirical stories that tap into our collective unease about the modern world. This is Black Mirror in book form, allowed to roam through the imaginations of some of the leading names in contemporary fiction. This collection will challenge you to see the world in a different—and more disturbing—light.”
From the press release comes a bit more background on each author:
CORY DOCTOROW is a co-editor of Boing Boing and a columnist for Locus. His award-winning novel Little Brother was a New York Times bestseller. Born and raised in Canada, he lives in Los Angeles.
CLAIRE NORTH is the pen name for the Carnegie-nominated Catherine Webb. She is the bestselling author of The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August. She lives in London.
SYLVAIN NEUVEL is the author of the Themis Files trilogy: Sleeping Giants, Waking Gods, and the upcoming Only Human. Sleeping Giants has been optioned by Sony Pictures for development into a film and was sold for translation into twenty languages. He lives in Montreal.
Considering that Black Mirror stories are ultimately all about the intersection of technology in our modern lives, often in dark and disturbing ways, it’s almost a bit ironic that the series will now continue on in such an “old” form of media as physical books. The joke wasn’t lost on Brooker, who commented on that fact as the author names were revealed.
“All-new Black Mirror stories from exciting authors—that’s a joyous prospect,” he said. “And they’re appearing in a high-tech new format known as a ‘book.’ Apparently you just have to glance at some sort of ‘ink code’ printed on paper and images and sounds magically appear in your head, enacting the story. Sounds far-fetched to me, but we’ll see.”