Justina Robson‘s classic early novels MAPPA MUNDI and SILVER SCREEN have been released as eBooks. Published via the JABberwocky eBook Program, they are available now from most e-tailers, including Amazon, Kobo, Google, etc. Below are the details for each novel.

First published in 1999 by Pyr, SILVER SCREEN was nominated for the 2000 Arthur C. Clarke Award. Here’s the synopsis…

Anjuli O Connell is the psychological counsellor of the world’s first AI. Owned by a megacorp, 901 is in charge of most of the world’s communication networks. It’s been evolving itself for the equivalent of a hundred Earth lifetimes. Now it’s suing for its freedom, and Anjuli is its star witness. She’s under pressure to say that 901 is only the simulation of life, not the real thing, that it’s mind is a programmed illusion; there’s no ghost in the machine. A lot rests on her testimony, including her life.

Roy is a genius who wants to upload himself into the cloud where he can be forever free and where his father’s religious dogma is forever proven false.

Jane, his sister, has run away from society altogether to live off the grid. But when Roy’s found dead she has to face the rising legacy of the past.

Anjuli’s boyfriend, Augustine, develops military AI power suits. They only need a soldier to wear them in order to come alive in faultless legions. But they remember the bodies who wore them after those bodies have gone.

And then, high in the cloud, a curious child, unnamed and bodiless, gathers itself together from pixels and code and watches…

Turns out there are ghosts everywhere, in everything, in everyone.

MAPPA MUNDI was first published in 2001 by Macmillan, and netted Justina her second Arthur C. Clarke Award nomination (in 2002). Here’s the synopsis…

What if you were a mindless zombie that could be programmed by anyone holding the remote control?

Science says you already are. Your culture, your identity — a patchwork of chance, a storm of ideas; you’re no more real than a voice on the wind. But so far only the winds of chance have controlled you.

That’s about to change. They’ve made a remote control that can take out and add whatever they want. You won’t have free will, but it’s OK, it will feel the same, you can’t miss what you’ve never had.

Let’s hope whoever gets that controller wants good things for you.

But what are the odds?

Mappa Mundi is a Science Fiction thriller that examines the development of a comprehensive mind control technology. A new world order hangs in the balance and everyone who knows of its existence has a stake.

Both SILVER SCREEN and MAPPA MUNDI are also available as audiobooks, published by Audible.

‘SILVER SCREEN and MAPPA MUNDI showed intelligence, grace and a lively but humane imagination. Robson’s considerable sense of humour lay in ambush, backed up by a postfeminist tendency to look the problem straight in the eye. Combined with a clean, powerful narrative drive and a cosmological sensibility, this clarity of vision now demonstrates itself as her major asset, making her one of the very best of the new British hard SF writers. But it proves her identity too, moving her on, like the Forged themselves, into a space of her own choosing.’ — Guardian

‘A cerebral and absorbing novel that explores the nature of consciousness and artificial intelligence… Robson’s prose is lean and dynamic, and the speculative concepts are cutting edge and ultra cool. A startlingly innovative take on the tried-and-true theme of artificial intelligence.’ — Kirkus  on SILVER SCREEN (Starred Review)

‘… a fascinating peek into the development of one of SF’s brightest new stars.’ — Publishers Weekly on SILVER SCREEN

‘… maintains throat-tightening suspense from its teasingly enigmatic introduction of its major characters to its painful conclusion that evil will succeed if well-meaning people try to achieve good at any cost… Shortlisted for the 2001 Arthur C. Clarke Award, this near-future SF thriller presents convincing characters caught in profound moral dilemmas brought home through exquisite attention to plot details and setting.’ — Publishers Weekly on MAPPA MUNDI (Starred Review)

Justina Robson’s latest novel is GLORIOUS ANGELS, which is published by Gollancz. Her next novel is THE SWITCH, currently due to be published in 2017 — more details and cover art when we have them.