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Black Mirror: Volume I
From the creator of Black Mirror comes the first book in an anthology series featuring original stories from leading fiction writers, all set in the world of the cult series.
Edited by Charlie Brooker, the creator of the hit Netflix original series Black Mirror, this book 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.
You have been warned. . . .
Edited by Charlie Brooker, the creator of the hit Netflix original series Black Mirror, this book 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.
You have been warned. . . .
304 pages, Paperback
About the author
Charlie Brooker
20 books549 followersCharlton "Charlie" Brooker is a British journalist, comic writer and broadcaster. His style of humour is savage and profane, with surreal elements and a consistent satirical pessimism.
He presents TV shows Screenwipe, Gameswipe and Newswipe, wrote a review column for The Guardian newspaper, and is one of four creative directors of comedy production company Zeppotron.
His five-part horror drama Dead Set for E4 earned him a nomination for a BAFTA and he is also the host of the Channel 4 comedy panel show You Have Been Watching. Brooker won Columnist of the Year at the 2009 British Press Awards for his column, and the Best Newcomer at the British Comedy Awards 2009.
He presents TV shows Screenwipe, Gameswipe and Newswipe, wrote a review column for The Guardian newspaper, and is one of four creative directors of comedy production company Zeppotron.
His five-part horror drama Dead Set for E4 earned him a nomination for a BAFTA and he is also the host of the Channel 4 comedy panel show You Have Been Watching. Brooker won Columnist of the Year at the 2009 British Press Awards for his column, and the Best Newcomer at the British Comedy Awards 2009.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
Want to Read
November 28, 2017Black Mirror as a book?... Oh, God no, no, no...
anticipated-releases
January 25, 2018HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT
December 3, 2018
قادتنى ظروف الكحة الشديدة وحساسية الجيوب الأنفية إلى حالة أرق استعصى معها النوم فأخذت أقلب على الفلاش ميمورى الرابض فى ثنايا اليو إس بى فى تلفازى حتى عثرت على هذا المسلسل الرائع المرايا السوداء الجزء الأول.
لم أقرأ من قبل الكتاب ولكن تم ترشيح المسلسل لى من قبل صديق أثق فى ترشيحاته بشدة.
المسلسل إنتاج شبكة نتفلكس الأمريكية مكون خمسة أجزاء الجزء الأول الذى بين أيدينا يتكون فقط من ثلاث حلقات سأترككم فور الانتهاء من قراءة البمراجعة إلى مشاهدته ولذا اعترف هنا أننى وللمرة الأولى على صفحات هذا الموقع ارشح لكم مسلسل وليس كتاب ولعل من سيقرأ الكتاب سيستمتع أيضاً.
الحلقة الأولى تحكى عن حادث اختطاف أميرة إنجليزية أثناء عودتها من خطوبة إحدى صديقاتها ويحتجزها فى مكان مجهول ويرسل برسالة عبر اليوتيوب تقرأها الاميرة المختطفة من محبسها يصر فيها مختطفها على أن يرتكب رئيس وزراء إنجلترا فعل غير أخلاقى يبث على جميع شاشات التليفزيون عبر العالم أجمع بحلول الرابعة عصراً وتبدأ رحلة البحث عن الخاطف المجهول وسأترك لكم الباقى لتشاهدوه لكن سأؤكد لكم هنا على أن الخاطف فى هذه القصة يحاول أن يثبت أن القوة الناعمة للشعوب تستطيع أن تخضع الدول الغاشمة والحكومات المستبدة وأن تنكل بالرؤساء والوزراء دون أن تفقد احترامها لنفسها أو إنسانيتها.
الحلقة الثانية تحكى عن أحد برامج الذكاء الاصطناعى أو المجتمعات الحداثية الاصطناعية وفيها ينتظم المشتركون فى سلسلة من التمرينات الرياضية تمنحهم نقاط ويأكلون طعاماً يُخصم من رصيد نقاطهم مجتمع يعيش فيه البدناء كخدم وعمال نظافة .. تحكى القصة عن شاب يكافح للحصول على نقاط التمرينات الرياضية التى تساعده على عدم الاندماج فى باقى المنظومة من مشاهدات الأفلام الأباحية أو الاستماع للنشرات الإعلانية .. يتعرف بفتاة ويكتشف لديها موهبة الغناء ويشجعها على التقديم فى برنامج المواهب فى المجتمع ويساعدها ب 12 مليون نقطة كان قد ورثها من أخيه المتوفى فى البرنامج العام الماضى .. وتتقدم الفتاة للمسابقة ولكن يحدث ما لا يحمد عقباه سأترككم حتى هنا للبدء بالمشاهدة وأؤكد لكم أن الحب يصنع المعجزات ويحول الإنسان من آلة فى مجتمع اصطناعى إلى كتلة مشاعر تنبض بالعطاء والبذل وفى المقابل تحولنا آلات الإعلام ووسائل التواصل وبرامج الموبايل والتكنولوجيا الحديثة إلى آلات عديمة الإحساس فارغة من المعنى وفارغة من المشاعر.
الحلقة الثالثة تحكى قصة محامى عاطل عن العمل فى مجتمع يتيح لأعضائه إمكانية الاحتفاظ بالذاكرة واسترجاعها وإمكانية حذفها ولكنه يقع فريسة زوجة خائنة يضطر لكشف حقيقتها ولكنه يجد نفسه فى النهاية مضطراً لأن ينزع من نفسه البذرة التى تمكنه من الاحتفاظ بذاكرته لأن فى احتفاظه بذاكرته وإمكانية استرجاعها تحول إلى كتلة من الشك والقلق والاسترجاع مرات ومرات ووجد فى النسيان الذى رزقنا الله أياه فسحة من الراحة والهدوء لم توفرها له التكنولوجيا وتلك البذرة المزعجة.
أعترف هنا أننى أدعوكم صراحة لمشاهدة المسلسل فحلقاته قصيرة ولكنها مكثفة ورائعة.
لم أقرأ من قبل الكتاب ولكن تم ترشيح المسلسل لى من قبل صديق أثق فى ترشيحاته بشدة.
المسلسل إنتاج شبكة نتفلكس الأمريكية مكون خمسة أجزاء الجزء الأول الذى بين أيدينا يتكون فقط من ثلاث حلقات سأترككم فور الانتهاء من قراءة البمراجعة إلى مشاهدته ولذا اعترف هنا أننى وللمرة الأولى على صفحات هذا الموقع ارشح لكم مسلسل وليس كتاب ولعل من سيقرأ الكتاب سيستمتع أيضاً.
الحلقة الأولى تحكى عن حادث اختطاف أميرة إنجليزية أثناء عودتها من خطوبة إحدى صديقاتها ويحتجزها فى مكان مجهول ويرسل برسالة عبر اليوتيوب تقرأها الاميرة المختطفة من محبسها يصر فيها مختطفها على أن يرتكب رئيس وزراء إنجلترا فعل غير أخلاقى يبث على جميع شاشات التليفزيون عبر العالم أجمع بحلول الرابعة عصراً وتبدأ رحلة البحث عن الخاطف المجهول وسأترك لكم الباقى لتشاهدوه لكن سأؤكد لكم هنا على أن الخاطف فى هذه القصة يحاول أن يثبت أن القوة الناعمة للشعوب تستطيع أن تخضع الدول الغاشمة والحكومات المستبدة وأن تنكل بالرؤساء والوزراء دون أن تفقد احترامها لنفسها أو إنسانيتها.
الحلقة الثانية تحكى عن أحد برامج الذكاء الاصطناعى أو المجتمعات الحداثية الاصطناعية وفيها ينتظم المشتركون فى سلسلة من التمرينات الرياضية تمنحهم نقاط ويأكلون طعاماً يُخصم من رصيد نقاطهم مجتمع يعيش فيه البدناء كخدم وعمال نظافة .. تحكى القصة عن شاب يكافح للحصول على نقاط التمرينات الرياضية التى تساعده على عدم الاندماج فى باقى المنظومة من مشاهدات الأفلام الأباحية أو الاستماع للنشرات الإعلانية .. يتعرف بفتاة ويكتشف لديها موهبة الغناء ويشجعها على التقديم فى برنامج المواهب فى المجتمع ويساعدها ب 12 مليون نقطة كان قد ورثها من أخيه المتوفى فى البرنامج العام الماضى .. وتتقدم الفتاة للمسابقة ولكن يحدث ما لا يحمد عقباه سأترككم حتى هنا للبدء بالمشاهدة وأؤكد لكم أن الحب يصنع المعجزات ويحول الإنسان من آلة فى مجتمع اصطناعى إلى كتلة مشاعر تنبض بالعطاء والبذل وفى المقابل تحولنا آلات الإعلام ووسائل التواصل وبرامج الموبايل والتكنولوجيا الحديثة إلى آلات عديمة الإحساس فارغة من المعنى وفارغة من المشاعر.
الحلقة الثالثة تحكى قصة محامى عاطل عن العمل فى مجتمع يتيح لأعضائه إمكانية الاحتفاظ بالذاكرة واسترجاعها وإمكانية حذفها ولكنه يقع فريسة زوجة خائنة يضطر لكشف حقيقتها ولكنه يجد نفسه فى النهاية مضطراً لأن ينزع من نفسه البذرة التى تمكنه من الاحتفاظ بذاكرته لأن فى احتفاظه بذاكرته وإمكانية استرجاعها تحول إلى كتلة من الشك والقلق والاسترجاع مرات ومرات ووجد فى النسيان الذى رزقنا الله أياه فسحة من الراحة والهدوء لم توفرها له التكنولوجيا وتلك البذرة المزعجة.
أعترف هنا أننى أدعوكم صراحة لمشاهدة المسلسل فحلقاته قصيرة ولكنها مكثفة ورائعة.
Want to Read
June 13, 2019does this even exist or is this merely charlie brooker's way of fucking with our minds even more
Want to Read
December 28, 2017THIS IS A THING??
OOOH HEAVEN IS INDEED A PLACE ON EARTH.
OOOH HEAVEN IS INDEED A PLACE ON EARTH.
Want to Read
January 6, 2018Surely the expected.publication date is wrong for this?! I love the show and can't wait 7 whole years for the book!
Want to Read
January 26, 2018what do you MEAN 2025
Want to Read
January 1, 2019Expected publication: March 1st 2019 by Del Rey
hell yeah babey
-------------
i fucking love black mirror so much i need this
if this is going to have all those plot twists and brain fuckery? gimme 10
also
when :)
hell yeah babey
-------------
i fucking love black mirror so much i need this
if this is going to have all those plot twists and brain fuckery? gimme 10
also
Expected publication: March 4th 2025 by Del Rey
when :)
on-my-radar
December 9, 2021I am giving up hope that this is ever going to actually be released.
Want to Read
September 21, 2017Cory Doctorow, Claire North and Sylvain Neuvel are writing the novellas for this volume!!! Little Brother blew my damned mind when I read it as a teen and The Themis Files may just be my favourite ongoing SF series (I gave up on The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August but feel bad about it) so this all sounds splendid! Now we just need to get Ken Liu to write for one of these volumes.
June 21, 2025
Black Mirror created by Charlie Brooker – here is the plug, which does not work really, except to indicate that people are not really interested in these lines, which is for the better, and to offer consolation when I feel I did not put in a spoiler alert, some warning, preposterous acts, when you have nobody to follow up this link https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20..., well, maybe a few
Here is another litmus test, to see if anybody takes in the very first line of the notes – how do I make the photo I insert at the top of my ‘review’ show in my Goodreads post, I can see it (and everybody else presumably) on the blog, though the one at the top has a huge size, and then the rest get normal, but not in the Goodreads post
- There will not be an answer to the above, so let us move on:
Black Mirror has impressed the under signed quite a few years back, with the first episode of the first series, I was thinking to look up what year that was launched, but then I keep this mood of ‘who cares, who gives a damn’ – a line from Young Doctors in Love – since these lines are for nobody, why take the trouble?
Besides, if opinions on say The Karamazov Brothers https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... are looked up, when it comes to a movie, even one of the most significant, then the audience is reduced to one, or just zero, and this is as it should be, again, and therefore
- ‘There is nothing either good, or bad but thinking makes it so’ Hamlet
In the first episode of the initial series, a royal princess is kidnapped and the hostage takers have a very outré, memorable request, in order to release the royalty, they want the prime minster to have…sex with a pig, and this was to be recorded or aired, if I remember well, that was some shocking screenplay, I will be curious to see more
They have recently launched – well, maybe it has been a while, but I just found out – the latest, seventh series, and the first episode is remarkable – alas, this may have affected the second, according to the rule of lower your expectations, or else, you want the same elation, regression to the mean takes you down…
Amanda is a school teacher and she has a tumor, sometime in the future, when a company has the solution, they can take the part of the brain that is affected out and then replace the missing activity, capacity with their technology, which is what Mike, her spouse, signs up for and they think it will work so well
Only it does not – spoiler alert would be redundant, we have established at the start – in the sense that they try to get out of a 12 miles range – or something like that – only to see that they have no ‘coverage’, the teacher blacks out, and the representative explains that they have a Plus version of the program, with more included
The trouble is that in the future, like now, teachers have small salaries, and Mike is just a blue-collar worker, so he has to get on a sort of site for weirdoes, where he is asked to do disgusting things (unless, one is a BDSM adept) in exchange for money, and things reach a nadir when he takes off his mask for 500 dollars
Then his image is posted at the work place, presumably he has placed a dildo up his bottom for a sum to be able to pay for his wife’s brain activity ultimately, and the fellow who did it and laughed at the poor man is pushed, and then he is the victim of a terrible accident, Mike is fired and the whole thing is a terrible tragedy
The company with the technology to help the brain keeps asking for more, just to keep it at a minimum, if you do not pay the ever increasing rates, then you get to sleep 16 hours a day, and just like in those plans we know, there are ads, and Amanda keeps pushing all sorts of inappropriate products, without her knowledge, to the stage where she has to be fired, if she does not get out of this Catch 22 situation https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20...
Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se
There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know
As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/r...
Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works
‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’
Here is another litmus test, to see if anybody takes in the very first line of the notes – how do I make the photo I insert at the top of my ‘review’ show in my Goodreads post, I can see it (and everybody else presumably) on the blog, though the one at the top has a huge size, and then the rest get normal, but not in the Goodreads post
- There will not be an answer to the above, so let us move on:
Black Mirror has impressed the under signed quite a few years back, with the first episode of the first series, I was thinking to look up what year that was launched, but then I keep this mood of ‘who cares, who gives a damn’ – a line from Young Doctors in Love – since these lines are for nobody, why take the trouble?
Besides, if opinions on say The Karamazov Brothers https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... are looked up, when it comes to a movie, even one of the most significant, then the audience is reduced to one, or just zero, and this is as it should be, again, and therefore
- ‘There is nothing either good, or bad but thinking makes it so’ Hamlet
In the first episode of the initial series, a royal princess is kidnapped and the hostage takers have a very outré, memorable request, in order to release the royalty, they want the prime minster to have…sex with a pig, and this was to be recorded or aired, if I remember well, that was some shocking screenplay, I will be curious to see more
They have recently launched – well, maybe it has been a while, but I just found out – the latest, seventh series, and the first episode is remarkable – alas, this may have affected the second, according to the rule of lower your expectations, or else, you want the same elation, regression to the mean takes you down…
Amanda is a school teacher and she has a tumor, sometime in the future, when a company has the solution, they can take the part of the brain that is affected out and then replace the missing activity, capacity with their technology, which is what Mike, her spouse, signs up for and they think it will work so well
Only it does not – spoiler alert would be redundant, we have established at the start – in the sense that they try to get out of a 12 miles range – or something like that – only to see that they have no ‘coverage’, the teacher blacks out, and the representative explains that they have a Plus version of the program, with more included
The trouble is that in the future, like now, teachers have small salaries, and Mike is just a blue-collar worker, so he has to get on a sort of site for weirdoes, where he is asked to do disgusting things (unless, one is a BDSM adept) in exchange for money, and things reach a nadir when he takes off his mask for 500 dollars
Then his image is posted at the work place, presumably he has placed a dildo up his bottom for a sum to be able to pay for his wife’s brain activity ultimately, and the fellow who did it and laughed at the poor man is pushed, and then he is the victim of a terrible accident, Mike is fired and the whole thing is a terrible tragedy
The company with the technology to help the brain keeps asking for more, just to keep it at a minimum, if you do not pay the ever increasing rates, then you get to sleep 16 hours a day, and just like in those plans we know, there are ads, and Amanda keeps pushing all sorts of inappropriate products, without her knowledge, to the stage where she has to be fired, if she does not get out of this Catch 22 situation https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20...
Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se
There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know
As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/r...
Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works
‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’
Want to Read
March 31, 2019WHEN IS THIS COMING OOOOUT?????!
October 21, 2019
This book reminded me why I no longer enjoy science fiction as much as I used to. Back in the 1960's and 1970's, science fiction was all about the future, a time that did not yet exist, and so it was exciting to imagine all kinds of possibilities about it. Unfortunately, nowadays, science fiction is taking place right now, in the present, and it is not exciting, it is horrible to be stuck in it and forced to deal with it. Plus the worst to come seems right over the horizon.
So I will probably not be reading much science fiction anymore. It's all too real and disturbing in my daily life already....
So I will probably not be reading much science fiction anymore. It's all too real and disturbing in my daily life already....
Want to Read
August 18, 2018I'm really excited for this literary telling of Black Mirror. The show is fantastic & I hope the book includes stories similarly crafted in tone to the romantically heart-wrenching & quietly domestic 'Be Right Back' & the strange complexity/excellent introduction to this technological dystopian universe 'USS Callister'.
December 21, 2018
A thing of beauty. And the story about how Channel 4 kicked Charlie and Co. to the kerb will leave you wanting to give the old curmudgeon the biggest of hugs.
Want to Read
January 24, 2018They do realize that by 2025.....Black Mirror might not even be a thing anymore, or even relevant. They need to get this out asap if they expect this to live up to the show!
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews