Book Home Books Information Anome

Anome

The Anome is a science fiction book by Jack Vance published in 1973. It is also subtitled as The Faceless Man and is the first book in the Durdane series of novels.

It tells the story of a boy growing to manhood in the land of Shant, a society composed of many different, and wildly individual cantons, some of which are run by cults. Each adult wears an explosive device around their neck — a "torc" — which can be exploded by remote command, bringing about instant death by decapitation. The torcs are controlled by an anonymous dictator, The Faceless Man, whose identity is literally unknown. Because those whose heads are exploded are selected primarily by the cantonal leaders, for violations of local law, the Anome is able to operate with only a handful of assistants, or '"Benevolences"', who themselves do not know his identity.

"'The Anome'" contains fascinating discourses about social structures, and the story of how this bizarre form of government evolved in Shant.

This literature-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.