Books

Silver Screen

Anjuli O'Connell is having a tough year.
She's got the memory of a machine...
a boyfriend whose work is slowly turning him into a cyborg...

a friend, whose only dream, of becoming pure mind inside a computer, is about to come true...

besides a mystery to solve which questions all the received wisdom about artificial intelligence and what it means to be human.
And, to top it all, in the trial of the century her employers have set her up as the expert witness whose testimony could destroy a global technology empire.
So the going just gets tougher.

Shortlisted for the 1999 Arthur C Clarke Award

In Silver Screen I wanted to explore a few angles of what it might mean to become properly interfaced with machines. The resulting novel is a rather odd hybrid which occasionally does contemporary-novel things with science fictional material. Writing about it in 2003 I can see this wasn't an entirely happy marriage but I still think that my adventures with cyberpunk and the nature of artificial intelligence were a good beginning.

Some readers have found the unorthodox unwilling heroine a refreshing change. Others think I stole everything I knew from William Gibson. From my point of view I think I wrote all the interesting stuff he left out. It's a book that readers seem to love or hate but never find indifferent, and I count that a success. It's also one of the rare SF novels to get reviewed in Marie Claire and The Face.

Silver Screen was the first novel that I published. Before that I wrote two other novels and committed trilogy at an early age, producing a 700 page first instalment of a fat fantasy instead of working on my A-levels (not strictly recommended).

Macmillan were kind enough to let me stick my oar into the design process of the whole book and recommended artist Steve Stone who produced the fabulous digital cover artwork. Steve is still my cover artist on my third novel, Natural History and I'm very grateful for that.

Read the 2Kon panel discussion of the 1999 Clarke list, including Silver Screen, here

Reviews

Peter F Hamilton: "With Silver Screen, Justina Robson has found the perfect blend of excitement and thought-provoking concepts which lifts this novel far above the ordinary. Ideas and future trends are pitched with determined realism, doing what Science Fiction is supposed to do, and leave you thinking with considerable anxiety about the way we're heading."

Zadie Smith, Chair of Judges, Amazon.co.uk Bursary Awards, 2000: "Idiosyncratic and unpredictable, Silver Screen is a well-told, compelling story tackling big ideas. Justina Robson's writing is an intriguing example of how and why science fiction is no longer merely generic but relevant to our scientific present. She manages to integrate the alarmingly futuristic with a firm grasp of the history of ideas--a novelist of real vision."

Colin Greenland: "Bright and sharp as razorwire."

I-D, September '99: "Completely recommended."

Dreamwatch, September '99: "...Robson manages brilliantly the difficult task of showing a near future that grows convincingly from our own..."

Time Out: "A very accomplished first outing."

David Langford: "Robson's plot zigzags in unexpected directions, especially with revelations about the Source; there's tragedy and trauma, but happy surprises too. An impressive SF debut."

Silver Screen was awarded a star by Kirkus Reviews, Sept 01 2005 : "A startlingly innovative take on the tried-and-true theme of artificial intelligence. "

Silver Screen was awarded a star by Kirkus Reviews, Sept 01, 2005 : "Robson's prose is lean and dynamic, and the speculative concepts are cutting edge and ultra cool. "

Paul Di Filippo, Washington Post, January 2006: "Robson is unafraid to mix robust action with metaphysical-quantum conceits ... In doing so, she successfully penetrates the 'barrier of light and shadow play that will always be between us, you and me, human and AI.' "