F O R E M M A
A technogothic novel by Ewan Morrison
“Morrison is so far ahead of the Zeitgeist it’s frightening.”
Doug Johnstone, METRO
Edinburgh indie Leamington Books will publish Saltire Fiction Prize winner Ewan Morrison’s newest novel FOR EMMA in March 2025. The UK rights have been acquired through Mathew Hamilton at the Hamilton Agency. Read the article in THE BOOKSELLER.
For Emma is the story of a young genius Silicon Valley scientist, Emma, who dies in a secret brain chip experiment. Her voice then haunts her father and helps him plan the killing of the CEO whose experiment destroyed her.
‘I’m thrilled to be publishing For Emma with Leamington Books. The editorial vision and courage of Peter Burnett and the literary cult novels he has produced have really impressed me. ‘For Emma’ is a layered novel, that balances a tale of family bereavement and revenge with a covert AI experiment and its human cost. I think that between us, Peter and I have a deep understanding of the book, its themes, its emotional energies and the relevance the story has for today. We make a great team for bringing this cautionary tale into the world.’
For Emma delves deep into the moral conflicts of new human-computer technologies and asks whether humanity can survive our accelerating drive towards the future that promises us digital immortality.
On 29 January 2024 Elon Musk announced in all world media that his company’s first human Brain Chip implant had been completed successfully.
‘We’re honoured to be publishing Ewan Morrison’s eighth novel,’ said Peter Burnett of Edinburgh indie Leamington Books. Founded in 2020 the company has had success publishing newcomers Colin Burnett author of A Working Class State of Mind and Charlie Roy, author of The Broken Pane.
‘There are so many developments in Ewan’s themes and style in For Emma,’ said Peter. ‘Readers will be surprised. This feels like a huge novel. It’s a ghost-in-the machine tale of bereavement and a unique and conflicted love between a daughter and her father. Like Ewan’s other novels, it’s the characters voices that are so well crafted and give it its power as much as the vision and setting.’
For Emma will be published in the UK in March 2025.
News on Ewan’s other titles
As of July 27th 2023, Ewan’s last novel How To Survive Everything has been acquired for translation by Surhkamp, Germany and Grada, Czech republic. It has been published in the US by Harper Perennial and in Denmark by Screaming Books. How To Survive Everything is currently being adapted as a six part TV series with Made Up Stories/Fifth Season (Nine Perfect Strangers, Anatomy of a Scandal). The script is being written by Tom Butterworth (Britannia, Tin Star, Fortitude).
Ewan Morrison is the 2019 winner of the Saltire Society Prize for Fiction Book of the Year, for Nina X, (Fleet/Little Brown). The novel is currently being adapted as a feature film with director David Mackenzie, whose film Hell or High Water was nominated for an Academy Award. Mackenzie has just wrapped on his new feature Relay (Sam Worthington, Lily James, Riz Ahmed). Morrison is also the winner of the Glenfiddich Writer of the Year Award (2013), and the Scottish Book of the Year Award (SMIT, 2013).
Enquiries should be made to
For film and television rights contact Nick Marston at Curtis Brown
Ewan can be found on X at @mrewanmorrison
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