(#139943) THE RING. Piers Anthony, Robert E. Margroff, Piers Anthony Dillingham Jacob.

THE RING. [London]: Macdonald Science Fiction, [1969]. Octavo, boards. First British (and first hardcover) edition. A rebellious misfit becomes a good citizen as the result of harsh behavioral conditioning. "A society, sterile and corrupt itself, sentences its outcasts to 'Ultra Conscience' and the ring. Ultra Conscience -- the society's moral code, imprinted by computer into the subconscious of the outcast -- and the ring -- a shocking device sealed on the finger -- operate in conjunction to form a prison of the mind. Though still holding the same beliefs and inclinations as before, 'ringers' many not even entertain a thought contrary to Ultra Conscience without a cruel shock from the ring." - Berger, Science Fiction and the New Dark Age, p. 107. Perversely, the authors' victimized hero "realizes that the ring is, in fact, a good idea in this vision of an unusually coercive technological utopia." - Pringle, The Ultimate Guide to Science Fiction, second edition, p. 305. Anatomy of Wonder (1981) 3-36. Sargent, British and American Utopian Literature, 1516-1985, p. 310. A fine copy in fine dust jacket. (#139943).

Price: $100.00

Printing identification statement for this book:
"First published in Great Britain in 1969..." on copyright page.