Harm
(Book)

Paul Fadhil Abbas Ali winds up in custody after a repressive British regime takes a dim view of his novel, which contains a passing reference to the assassination of the prime minister. Tortured unmercifully, Ali finds refuge only in his imagination, conjuring up an alternate universe in which humans have fled Earth and attempted to start anew on the planet Stygia. On Stygia, Ali inhabits the body and mind of Fremant, a bodyguard for that world's dictatorial ruler, Astaroth. Fremant is recruited by rebels seeking his master's overthrow, but he finds himself warped by the brutal landscape and society in which he lives.