It’s no surprise that dystopian fiction has been on the rise lately. English anthology series Black Mirror was a bit ahead of the curve in that regard with its technophobic “Twilight Zone for the 21st century” feel. Now, series creator Charlie Brooker is editing the first of three collections of short stories that will reflect the TV series’ tone in what Brooker self-mockingly dubbed “high-tech ‘paper’ format.”

Brooker told EW, “Apparently, you just have to glance at some sort of ‘ink code’ printed on paper and images and sounds magically appear in your head, enacting the story. Sounds far-fetched to me, but we’ll see.” (Actually, it sounds a bit like the plot for a future Black Mirror episode taking place entirely in the protagonist’s head. Trademark that idea.)

Penguin Random House’s Del Rey imprint will release the trilogy opener in the States next February. That means that the next series of the TV show may drop before the book, giving us plenty of time to build anticipation.

We don’t have a list of contributors yet, but speculation is part of the fun. It’s highly possible Jesse Armstrong, the satirist behind the brilliant In the Thick of It and series one closer “The Entire History of You,” or Rashida Jones and Mike Schur, who penned the teleplay for series three’s “Nosedive,” could have a hand in the collection. Of course, there are countless other authors that would be a great fit for a techno-dystopian collection, from Margaret Atwood and Grant Morrison to Neal Stephenson and Ann Leckie. It’s all purely speculation at this point, but given how quickly we devour Black Mirror once it’s available for bingeing on Netflix, we can’t wait to get it on our bookshelf, too.

Whose take on the Black Mirror universe do you want to read? Let us know in the comments!

Image: Netflix