New Writings in Science Fiction and Fantasy

Collection Summary ...

This may be the most controversial collection you will read this year. With the third in Berkley's Showcase series, we offer the most ambitious of the new fiction that will define the direction of science fiction and fantasy for the 1980's. No easy reads. No fillers. No stale voices from the past. Just good sharp fiction aimed at the heart and sometimes at the jugular.

Introduction from the Editors ...

The following story is one of the most revolting we've read. It is exploitive, bludgeoning, and completely, utterly compelling.

Piers Anthony is known to most readers of this anthology. His many fine novels include Chthon, Macroscope, and Berkley's God of Tarot series. On the Uses of Torture is equally fine, but it could not be further removed from the rest of Anthony's work. It was written in 1969 but despite Anthony's already burgeoning box-office appeal never saw print. It seems that in 1969 editors had qualms.

There is a type of story or novel that crosses our desks from time to time. Couched in masterful prose it turns out to be the most repugnant thing you've ever read, and you keep turning the pages and groaning but you are left in absolute doubt as to what to do. In many cases the stories are shot right back to where they came from and only then does the gnawing worry that you've censored the story of a lifetime trouble you in your sleep. Fortunately we had enough wit about us not to send On the Uses of Torture back, but it's just that kind of story. Scary to publish, unthinkable to let go.

Why go to all this trouble? Anthony quite literally forces the reader's attention. There's nothing pleasant about the story—unless you count Anthony's sudden death style—but there is quite a lot of value. On the Uses of Torture is a lot like having your face pushed in it, whenever it may be. In this case it's probably all the fear of pain, humiliation, or loss that ever made you want to curl up and hideaway from the world. Literature is a good way of comforting such problems, certainly better than seeking them out, and that is why we've published On the Uses of Torture and why you should read it.

Story Excerpt ...

My fingers caress the dial. The boots stir uneasily. "You don't know me," I tell them. "But you do know this box–and that is sufficient. I expect you to work well and keep your opinions to yourselves. That is all."

They watch me, expressionless. There are twenty of them, all nonwhite humans. Some are half-caste Negroes, some Latins, a few Mongoloid, the rest mixed. The refuse of the space service—busted back to boot status and sentenced to hard labor here at Stockade Planetoid. Scrubbing out tankers, packing barges—that sort of thing, where human labor is cheaper than the shipping charges on heavy machinery. This barracks is listed as "inclement," and I am expected to whip it into line.

"Roll call," I announce. I depress a button on the box and set the dial to twenty-five. One of the boots stiffens, his breath sucking inward noisily. He is dark brown with frizzy hair and broad nostrils. I let him to twitch a moment while I study him. Then I turned the dial to zero and he subsides.

"You don't need to do that," a Latin objects. "We're wearing our numbers."

So they are. This loudmouth is #6. I depress stud number six and turned the dial to forty. He goes rigid with a cry of agony. Slowly by advance the setting to fifty, noting how his muscles strained and sweat pops out all over his body. He is trying to scream again, but can't catch his breath. Then I drop it down to ten, so that he is only nominally in pain. "Remember what I said about opinions?" I asked him gently.

He nods, the moisture shaking off his cropped skull. I turn to zero, and he breathes again.

Author Information ...

Author information appears on page 245.

Piers Anthony has quickly become one of science-fiction's leading tale-spinners with novels like A Spell for Chameleon and God of Tarot climbing SF best-seller lists. Anthony sold his first short story, Possible to Rue, to Fantastic in 1963. Since then his writing has been prolific and at regular intervals he has published major (often huge) novels already being acknowledged as classics of the genre. His most recent such work was the three volume God of Tarot novel published by Berkeley/Jove in 1979/80.