Baskerville pre-empts ‘eerily prescient’ AI-inspired thriller 

Baskerville, an imprint of John Murray Press, has acquired Daemon, an AI-inspired thriller by Mason Coile, a pseudonymised writer.

Yassine Belkacemi, editorial director, pre-empted UK and Commonwealth rights from Kerry-Ann Bentley at Janklow & Nesbit on behalf of Kirby Kim at Janklow & Nesbit US. North American rights have been pre-empted by Daphne Durham at MCD, an imprint of Farrar, Straus & Giroux. German rights have been pre-empted by Heyne/PRH. Publication is scheduled for 2024. 

Set over the course of one Halloween, Daemon is described as “a short read-in-one-sitting novel that shifts seamlessly between genres from psychological thriller and cyber-noir to haunted house horror and locked-box mystery.”

The synopsis reads: “Henry, a brilliant but agoraphobic robotics engineer, has achieved the crowning discovery of his career: he’s created an artificially intelligent consciousness. He names the half-formed robot William. But all is not right with William. The AI is filled with jealousy for humanity, for its capacity to love and create life.

“Henry is uneasy at first, then terrified when William develops an unsettling fixation on Henry’s pregnant wife Lily. Left with no other choice, he is forced to terminate the AI but somehow William’s consciousness survives. Henry and his wife wired their home to be the smartest of smart homes, a decision that may prove fatal since a vengeful William has now seized control of the house and its inhabitants.”

Coile said: “Having my novel published by Baskerville is the absolute best-case for me and Daemon. I love to read and write stories that challenge the constraints of genre at the same time they thrill and surprise and entertain, and those are exactly the sort of titles my novel now finds itself sharing a list with. I can’t wait.”

Belkacemi said: “I was blown away by Mason’s superb writing from the first page. The novel has an escalating suspense, which makes this an addictive page-turner with the tension ratcheting up to an unsettling ending which truly lingers. To pack so many ideas and twists into a short novel is incredibly impressive. As we see AI increasingly feature in our day-to-day lives, Daemon is an eerily prescient book. Think ‘Black Mirror’ meets Frankenstein with a dash of Stephen King. I am so excited for Baskerville to be publishing this terrific book.”