The 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.

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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.

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

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Science fiction: Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology upon society and persons as individuals. In common with most fiction, science fiction is written mainly to entertain people. The borders of this genre are not well defined, and the...

Book: :This page is about bound sheets of paper. For the graph theory concept, see Book (graph theory). For the musical theater meaning, see Book (musical theater)....

Jack Vance: John Holbrook Vance (b. August 28, 1916 in San Francisco, California; various alternative birthdates between 1916 and 1920 have been cited in different sources) is generally described as an American fantasy and science fiction author, though it has been reported that Vance himself objects to that la...