The Anome
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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 a society run by cults. Each person 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 operated by the state, which is run by its dictator, the Anome, who never appears unmasked in public. It contains fascinating discourse about social structures, and the story of how this draconian law enforcement process came to be.
Themes and possible influences
The concept of a society ruled by explosive collars appears to have earlier featured in the 1964 novel The Reefs of Space by Jack Williamson and Frederik Pohl, although with a very different storyline and setting from The Anome. The films Wedlock (1991) and Battle Royale (2000) later employed a very similar explosive collar motif.
External links
- Cover illustrations (http://www.jackvance.com/dbase/viewimage.php?lang=1&title=Anome+(The))