- My Name Is Legion (Zelazny stories)
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My Name Is Legion 
Cover of first edition (paperback)Author(s) Roger Zelazny Cover artist The Brothers Hildebrandt Country United States Language English Genre(s) Science fiction short stories Publisher Ballantine Books Publication date 1976 Media type Print (Paperback) Pages 213 pp ISBN 0345248678 OCLC Number 1976128 Dewey Decimal 813/.5/4 LC Classification PS3576.E43 M9 My Name Is Legion (ISBN 0345248678) is an anthology of three stories by American writer Roger Zelazny, compiled in 1976. The stories feature a common protagonist who is never named.
Contents
Plot summary
The protagonist of these stories was involved in the creation of a global computer network designed to give ultimate economic control by keeping track of all human activity. Just before the system went live, the hero expressed his concerns about the possible misuse of such power to his superior, who gave the hero the chance to destroy his personal data before it was to be entered into the system. In taking this step the hero becomes non-existent as far as the system is concerned. Using backdoors in the central network, the hero is able to create identities for himself as needed. With this freedom he sets himself up as a freelance investigator and problem solver.
Stories
The following stories are included in the anthology:
- "The Eve of RUMOKO": Project RUMOKO is a plan to use nuclear explosives to create artificial islands; the hero must identify and stop a saboteur on the project.
- "'Kjwalll'kje'k'koothai'lll'kje'k": At a research station in the Bahamas a diver has died, apparently in an attack by a dolphin... But dolphins do not attack humans, and someone suspects foul play.
- "Home Is the Hangman": A sentient space-exploration robot, lost years before, has apparently returned to Earth. One of its original designers has died under suspicious circumstances. Has the Hangman returned to kill its creators? The hero must find the Hangman and stop it, and time is running out. Although based on the same character as the other stories in this collection the theme is more closely related to the ideas Zelazny was developing in the short story "The Force That Through the Circuit Drives the Current" from the collection Unicorn Variations. This story won the 1976 Hugo Award for Best Novella.
In popular culture
- In the film Phantasm, a paperback copy of the book is clearly seen on Mike Pearson's nightstand as he prepares to open the box containing a finger of the Tall Man.
References
- Levack, Daniel J. H. (1983). Amber Dreams: A Roger Zelazny Bibliography. San Francisco: Underwood/Miller. pp. 25–26. ISBN 0-934438-39-0.
Nebula Award for Best Novella (1965–1980) 1965–1970 The Saliva Tree by Brian W. Aldiss and He Who Shapes by Roger Zelazny (1965) · The Last Castle by Jack Vance (1966) · Behold the Man by Michael Moorcock (1967) · Dragonrider by Anne McCaffrey (1968) · A Boy and His Dog by Harlan Ellison (1969) · Ill Met in Lankhmar by Fritz Leiber (1970)
1971–1980 The Missing Man by Katherine Maclean (1971) · A Meeting with Medusa by Arthur C. Clarke] (1972) · The Death of Doctor Island by Gene Wolfe (1973) · Born with the Dead by Robert Silverberg (1974) · Home Is the Hangman by Roger Zelazny (1975) · Houston, Houston, Do You Read? by James Tiptree, Jr. (1976) · Stardance by Spider Robinson and Jeanne Robinson (1977) · The Persistence of Vision by John Varley (1978) · Enemy Mine by Barry B. Longyear (1979) · Unicorn Tapestry by Suzy McKee Charnas (1980)
Complete List · 1965–1980 · 1981–2000 · 2001–present
Categories:- 1976 short story collections
- Short story collections by Roger Zelazny
- Hugo Award Winners for Best Novella
- Science fiction book stubs
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