Ebury bags first official Black Mirror guide

Ebury Publishing has acquired the first official "Black Mirror" book, described as "an immersive, illustrated, oral history" from the show's creator Charlie Brooker and executive producer Annabel Jones. 

The news follows a worldwide publishing deal struck by Ebury last year to publish an original series of books inspired by the hit Netflix original show, the first volume in which will be contributed to by authors Cory Doctorow, Claire North and Sylvain Neuvel and published under Del Rey.

Inside Black Mirror will publish as a £20 hardback on 1st November 2018. Ebury Publishing deputy m.d. and publisher Jake Lingwood bought world rights for Penguin Random House, with US and Canada rights sold to Crown. The deal was agented by Jo Unwin at JULA Ltd for Brooker, Jones and the House of Tomorrow production company. Ebury Publishing will publish under the Ebury Press imprint and also handle worldwide translation sales.  

The show "Black Mirror", which recently picked up three BAFTA TV Awards nominations, uses science fiction tropes to make unsettling social commentary on the convergence between humanity and technology, speculating what the future might hold. Seasons one and two originally aired on Channel 4 between 2011 and 2014. A third season was was commissioned in September 2015 for worldwide release in October 2016 and a fourth season was subsequently released on Netflix in December 2017.

The official guide publishing with Ebury will take fans of the series on a journey behind its creation, detailing the inspiration and thought process behind each film for the first time while providing an exclusive selection of behind-the-scenes imagery and ephemera. Key actors, directors and other creative talents will relive their own involvement including Jodie Foster and Hayley Atwell. Journalist, novelist and screenwriter Jason Arnopp will collate and bring the collection together.

Lingwood teased it would be "unlike any book written about a TV show before". 

"To sit down with Charlie and Annabel and hear them talk about how they make 'Black Mirror' is like catnip to me and will be to all the 'Black Mirror' fans around the world, he said. "The way they generate so many original ideas, develop them and spin them out, making up to six films simultaneously, with six different crews – it’s just extraordinary.  Fans are going to be so excited to be able to get inside Charlie’s head, especially. I feel confident in saying that this will be unlike any book written about a TV show ever before – that’s because Black Mirror’s so much more than a TV show."