ARACHNE, a worldwide ebook adaptation of my first novel. Deemed “a cyberpunk classic” by The Boston Globe, ARACHNE debuted in the top ten titles on the Locus Hardcover List.

Book One of the Arachne Trilogy. Book Two of the Arachne Trilogy is Cyberweb. And Book Three is SPYDER, forthcoming in 2022.

Whoa! A new review, as of October 17, 2018, of ARACHNE. I found this on Twitter at https://twitter.com/libreture/status/1052661778436505603. The reviewer was kind enough to tag me.

“Arachne is a unique entry in the cyberpunk genre. It steps between the dystopia of William Gibson and the otherworldliness of Philip K. Dick. Full of 'almost' body-horror, corporations so mega that they transact court cases in nanoseconds, and AI characters with more spiritualism in their circuits than the humans that inhabit this post Big-One San Francisco.
A must-read for cyberpunk fans!”

ARACHNE is in Print in the U.S., in the U.K., in Germany, in France, in Spain, Italy, in Japan, and in Australia.

I just discovered these three new reviews on the ARACHNE print book page. Unlike a lot of authors, I don’t obsessively check my book pages. I’m too busy with other things, like trying to write new material. And trying to stay alive.
Anyhow, I’m of the “a watched pot never boils” school. If as an author you daily check your reviews and book sales, you’re bound to be daily disappointed.
There’s too much in life I’ve got to be sad and angry about. So I pretty much leave those things alone.
However! I was downloading the print links in seven countries for all my print books—here’s how oblivious I am, I didn’t realize that my print books are in all those countries—and I found, to my amazement, these three new reviews of ARACHNE.

5.0 out of 5 starsNot just cyberpunk as usual
“This is such an astounding book that I don't know where to begin praising it. I first discovered ARACHNE back in the mid-90s only because I happened to stumble on the long out-of-print first edition in a used bookstore. I remember reading it with a growing mix of admiration and frustration. My final verdict back then: ARACHNE so completely transcended the normal hardboiled/cyberpunk categories that it was going to have to wait another quarter of a century to be recognized as the groundbreaking book it was. In fact it reminded me of Howard Aiken's great aphorism about originality: "Don't worry about people stealing an idea; if it's original you'll have to shove it down their throats." How wonderful then to see ARACHNE back in print! Go forth, gentle reader, and buy a copy of your very own. I can't promise you'll like it ... but I think the odds are good. Meanwhile I've got my fingers crossed that the rest of the SF world is finally catching up to Lisa Mason.”

4.0 out of 5 stars Cyberspace Law
“Sarcastic robots, urban aboriginals, genetically-engineered beauty, soul-stealers, registered drugs...Lisa Mason manages to make these ideas and concepts flow in a fast-moving tale filled with action and meaning. Unlike a lot of cyberpunk, the reader doesn't get bogged down in the technical jargon and slang...she somehow makes it more real. The concept of Artificial Intelligence coveting human consciousness is fascinating. What I really enjoyed was how Mason dealt with the legal ethics of corporate law...from a corporate lawyer's view. Another great read from Lisa Mason!”

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent and amazing
“Excellent and amazing. Few novels immerse so radically and easily in such a different reality that has familiar elements spun into future tech, with such style. Great characters, even the ones that are not biological! Highly recommended and very memorable. True to archetypes, too.”

I’ve always believed from the start of my writing career that science fiction, of all the genres including mainstream, had an obligation to present big ideas, a vision of the future, and meaning.
And not read like a book report, as a lot of science fiction does. No wonder people don’t like it! I’ve always believed in a lively tight style and, above all, characters you really want to care about as a reader.

ARACHNE began as a short story, my first science fiction story. Through a series of miraculous connections with writer Barry Malzberg, writer and editor Robert Silverberg, and editor Ellen Datlow, I sold the story to OMNI. The magazine had a worldwide circulation of five million subscribers at the time. Here’s the cover:

H. R. Giger did the illustration accompanying “Arachne”. Giger designed the alien in the Ridley Scott film, “Alien,” as well as the alien’s creepily organic space craft. Here’s Giger’s “Arachne” illustration:

Peggy Park, a Bay area photographer, took this picture of me. You’ll recognize the black widow earrings and red-and-black necklace as bespoke Tom Robinson handmade jewelry.

And here I am, on the Omnibus Contributors page! “Arachne” the story is now republished by Bast Books in My Charlotte, Patty’s Story and appears in my second story collection, Oddities: 22 Stories.

News! "Arachne", the story, has been chosen to appear in THE BIG BOOK OF CYBERPUNK, coming in 2022! I'm so proud to be a part of this.

I had so much material compressed into the story, I realized this was my jumping-off point to a first novel. I was working fulltime as an executive editor at Matthew Bender, a national law book publisher. The project was quite a challenge for me—and my family! It took me nearly two years to complete.

The late editor David G. Hartwell was a colleague of Ellen Datlow. One thing led to another, and I sold ARACHNE to David for hardcover publication with William Morrow. The book went on to a trade paperback with Eos Books and a mass market paperback with AvoNova. It was published in Japan by Hayakawa.

Deemed “a cyberpunk classic” by The Boston Globe, ARACHNE debuted in the top ten books on the Locus Hardcover List. I appreciated the additional comment Locus made after the list, “where first novels rarely appear.” Thanks to the late Charlie Brown!

Here’s more about the writing of the novel: https://lisamasontheauthor.com/2016/09/02/on-writing-arachne-my-first-novel-lisa-mason-sfwapro/

And here’s how ARACHNE has been described:

Lisa Mason’s classic cyberpunk about an ambitious young mediator who must confront a terrifying presence haunting her telelink. From the author of Summer of Love and The Gilded Age.

High above the dangerous streets of post-quake San Francisco Island, mechanically modified professionals link minds in a cybernetic telespace to push through big deals and decisions at lightning speed. But unexplained telelink blackouts and bizarre hallucinations have marred mediator Carly Quester’s debut appearance before a computer-generated Venue—forcing her to consider delicate psychic surgery at the hands of a robot therapist, Prober Spinner. And suddenly the ambitious young mediator is at risk in a deadly Artificial Intelligence scheme to steal human souls—because the ghosts of Carly’s unconscious may be a prize well worth killing for.

What reviewers and my fellow authors had to say:

“Powerful . . . Entertaining . . . Imaginative.”
--People Magazine

“In humanity’s daring to enter the cybernetic heaven (and hell) of telespace, Lisa Mason reveals the lineaments of all that is tragic and transcendent in our evolution. Once the journey into this vivid and terrifying future has begun, there is no returning until the infinite has been faced and the last word read.”
--David Zindell, Author of Neverness

“Cybernetics, robotics, the aftermath of San Francisco’s Big Quake II, urban tribalism—Lisa Mason combines them all with such deftness and grace, they form a living world. Mason spins an entertaining tale . . . She allows Carly’s robotic allies a measure of personality and sophistication beyond the stock role of a chirping R2D2 or a blandly sinister Hal . . . Her characters and their world will stay with you long after you’ve finished this fine book.”
--Locus, The Trade Magazine of Science Fiction and Fantasy

“Lisa Mason stakes out, within the cyberpunk sub-genre, a territory all her own.”
--The San Francisco Chronicle

“Mason’s endearing characters and their absorbing adventures will hook even the most jaded SF fan.”
--Booklist

“Arachne is an impressive debut by a writer gifted with inventiveness, wit, and insight. The characters face choices well worth reading about. This is cyberpunk with a heart.”
--Nancy Kress, Author of Brain Rose

“There is a refreshing amount of energy associated with Lisa Mason’s writing. The good old values are there: fun, excitement, drama—but served up with new and original twists. Lisa Mason is definitely a writer to watch—and to read.”
--Paul Preuss, Author of Venus Prime

“Lisa Mason must be counted among science fiction’s most distinctive voices as we rush toward the new millennium.”
--Ed Bryant

A lot of science fiction writers have observed that it is more difficult than ever to write about the future because the present keeps catching up! But from my recent reading of the state of A.I., it looks to me like ARACHNE is still just a little bit ahead of the curve. Let me know what you think!

ARACHNE is on US Kindle, UK Kindle, Canada Kindle, Australia Kindle, Barnes and Noble, Apple, Kobo, and Smashwords.