Harm

From the award–winning author, a tortured prisoner on Earth dreams of life on another planet in this dystopian novel that’s “part Kafka, part political roar . . . disturbing as hell” (Jonathan Carroll, author of Bones of the Moon).

“Admirers of Brian Aldiss know that he tells very good stories. There are two here: one a grim tale for our times, the other the escape fantasy of a man under torture, which has all the relish, the vigor, the inventiveness of science fiction at its best.” —Doris Lessing

In the near future, Paul Fadhil Abbas Ali, a young British citizen of Muslim descent, has gotten himself into trouble by writing a satire in which two characters joke about killing the prime minister. He is arrested, drugged, and imprisoned by agents of the Hostile Activities Research Ministry in an unknown location. His captors relentlessly and brutally interrogate him, believing his Muslim heritage calls for extreme punishment. And Paul’s mind is beginning to crack from the torture . . .

Far off in space, an Earth colony fights to survive on Stygia, a beautiful but harsh planet dominated by insects. While the Earthlings have managed to wipe out Stygia’s indigenous humanoid race, their long journey to the planet has left them unable to comprehend their own history and technology. This has thrown them back to a primitive state, setting them on a course to repeat all the sins of the world they left behind. Meanwhile, one of the colony’s guards, a former novelist named Fremant, is haunted by disturbing dreams seemingly drawn from Paul’s mind . . .

Although worlds apart, Paul and Fremant’s circumstances begin to share uncanny parallels. Is Paul dreaming of Stygia because of torture? Is Paul’s life living in Fremant’s memories? Or perhaps the truth of their connection is something far stranger . . .

“Brian Aldiss has written subtle literary fiction and vivid science fiction and everything in between, his work defined by a moral view, by a highly developed social conscience, and by an anger at the world’s cruelty, stupidity, and greed. And what he delivers in Harm is no simple satirical tract but a sophisticated novel which makes you think long and hard on a central problem of our time.” —Michael Moorcock, author of Behold the Man

“Harm offers keen insights into human nature and the ways of the cosmos as a whole.” —Locus

“Harm richly deserves a place in the canon of dystopian science fiction.” —Strange Horizons