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Home is the Hangman
Home Is the Hangman' shows Zelazny at his very best grappling with questions of what is good and evil, what makes something truly alive. 'Home is The Hangman' is part of a series of novellas where the premise is that when the world databases are unified, a programmer takes the opportunity to completely erase his existence. He pursues a career as a trouble-shooter, taking on those assignments no one else will do. In a series of stories he investigates a case of sabotage at a top-secret nuclear project, 'The Eve of RUMOKO' (1969), defends a group of dolphins accused of murder, 'Kjwalll'kje'koothai'lll'kje'k' (1973), and tackles the Hangman problem. All three are collected in 'My Name is Legion' (1976).
151 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 1975
6 people are currently reading
410 people want to read
About the author
Roger Zelazny
746 books3,891 followersRoger Joseph Zelazny was an American fantasy and science fiction writer known for his short stories and novels, best known for The Chronicles of Amber. He won the Nebula Award three times (out of 14 nominations) and the Hugo Award six times (also out of 14 nominations), including two Hugos for novels: the serialized novel ...And Call Me Conrad (1965), subsequently published under the title This Immortal (1966), and the novel Lord of Light (1967).
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
June 16, 2019
4.5 stars
This was a buddy read with my boyfriend. We decided to go through the hugo/nebula awards together so each month we pick one from the jar.
I liked this a lot. It kinda reminded me of the Murderbot Diaries from Martha Wells, but from the perspective of the people talking about the robot. I enjoyed the conversations, the thoughts of the main character and was pleasantly surprised by how easy the language was. Its fairly short, interesting but I wanted more plot from the actual robot, thus half star less. I do recommend for people who want to try sci fi, but are intimidated by it. :D
This was a buddy read with my boyfriend. We decided to go through the hugo/nebula awards together so each month we pick one from the jar.
I liked this a lot. It kinda reminded me of the Murderbot Diaries from Martha Wells, but from the perspective of the people talking about the robot. I enjoyed the conversations, the thoughts of the main character and was pleasantly surprised by how easy the language was. Its fairly short, interesting but I wanted more plot from the actual robot, thus half star less. I do recommend for people who want to try sci fi, but are intimidated by it. :D
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 23, 2014
This is 1/3 of the book, "My Name is Legion", the last story in it. It's pretty good. A robot is created with the ability to learn. Something bad happens, but it is covered up & the robot is sent out to explore a remote part of the solar system. Suddenly, it decides to come home, despite orders to the contrary. Who do you get to protect you in this situation, as one of the creators? The only man who isn't part of the worldwide computer system, of course.
It's a pretty good story. Not one of his best, but worth reading. I wouldn't by this copy, but the book that has all 3 stories in it.
It's a pretty good story. Not one of his best, but worth reading. I wouldn't by this copy, but the book that has all 3 stories in it.
February 8, 2020
https://nwhyte.livejournal.com/3330227.html
I have to be honest: I love this story with a deep love that is not entirely rational. Zelazny was one of the first authors I discovered when I first started reading sf systematically as a teenager. He won five Hugos and three Nebulas in his abbreviated career; this was the one story that won both.
It's set some decades in the future, though not all that many, vis-a-vis 1975 (so Zelazny quite possibly had roughly 2020 in mind when he wrote it). The protagonist appears in two other Zelazny stories (all three are collected in My Name Is Legion): in a world where everyone has become integrated into the surveillance state, our nameless narrator has managed to stay outside it and also retained the power to invent false identities when needed, which turns out to be occasionally useful for the security service when unusual problems need to be solved. Before I get into the story itself, it's interesting to note that while we today remain worried about state surveillance of our daily lives (and Zelazny here is on a straight line from Nineteen Eighty Four, with the difference that the sheeple have allowed it all to happen democratically), in real life we now worry at least as much about the extent to which corporations have power over our personal data. Several other aspects of the story point to its mid-70s view of technology - most notably that there are video phones but no mobile phones.
One interesting call is that one of the major characters is a US Senator who used to work for the space program - in 1975, John Glenn had just been elected for the first time and it must have seemed like a bit of a novelty; now of course Wikipedia has a whole category for American astronaut-politicians (and let’s not forget early cosmonauts Valentina Tereshkova and Gherman Titov, who both later served in the Russian State Duma).
I have said many times that I hate stories about cute anthromorphic robots. The Hangman of the title is an anthropomorphic robot, but it is very far from cute. Programmed *mumble* years ago to be an autonomous intelligence exploring the outer planets of the Solar System, it went rogue and disappeared. Now it has returned, and its former operators are being murdered one by one. Our hero is brought in to stop it.
There are a lot of good ideas in here, of which the best is the notion of the robot's psychological make-up being heavily influenced, but in the end not completely determined, by the four people who were in charge of its development. (Compare the two-dimensional Susan Calvin of Asimov's robot stories.) Another is that of the three storieas Zelazny wrote about his nameless protagonists, this is the only one where his cover comes close to being blown, and it humanises a character who would otherwise appear a little too superhuman.
It's interesting also to read about a future America that is not New York or California; although the story starts in Baltimore (apart from a couple of framing paragraphs), the main action is the length of the Mississippi - New Orleans, Memphis, St Louis, rural Wisconsin. And of course, as usual, Zelazny's prose conveys the images economically but vividly. Here are the first two paragraphs:
[start]
Big fat flakes down the night, silent night, windless night. And I never count them as storms unless there is wind. Not a sigh or whimper, though. Just a cold, steady whiteness, drifting down outside the window, and a silence confirmed by gunfire, driven deeper now that it had ceased. In the main room of the lodge the only sounds were the occasional hiss and sputter of the logs turning to ashes on the grate.
I sat in a chair turned sidewise from the table to face the door. A tool kit rested on the floor to my left. The helmet stood on the table, a lopsided basket of metal, quartz, porcelain, and glass. If I heard the click of a microswitch followed by a humming sound from within it, then a faint light would come on beneath the meshing near to its forward edge and begin to blink rapidly. If these things occurred, there was a very strong possibility that I was going to die.
[end]
I must admit now that I am 52 rather than 14 that the story is not without flaws. It depends very much on two coincidences of timing - the availability of our protagonist, who reports in for work only four times a year, just happening to match the return of the Hangman; and also certain other events that appear to be connected with the Hangman’s return but turn out to be independently generated. Zelazny did not always write women well or sympathetically, but there is an interesting woman psychiatrist here (not the only one in his works).
Anyway, re-reading it, I still love this story. Not entirely rationally.
I have to be honest: I love this story with a deep love that is not entirely rational. Zelazny was one of the first authors I discovered when I first started reading sf systematically as a teenager. He won five Hugos and three Nebulas in his abbreviated career; this was the one story that won both.
It's set some decades in the future, though not all that many, vis-a-vis 1975 (so Zelazny quite possibly had roughly 2020 in mind when he wrote it). The protagonist appears in two other Zelazny stories (all three are collected in My Name Is Legion): in a world where everyone has become integrated into the surveillance state, our nameless narrator has managed to stay outside it and also retained the power to invent false identities when needed, which turns out to be occasionally useful for the security service when unusual problems need to be solved. Before I get into the story itself, it's interesting to note that while we today remain worried about state surveillance of our daily lives (and Zelazny here is on a straight line from Nineteen Eighty Four, with the difference that the sheeple have allowed it all to happen democratically), in real life we now worry at least as much about the extent to which corporations have power over our personal data. Several other aspects of the story point to its mid-70s view of technology - most notably that there are video phones but no mobile phones.
One interesting call is that one of the major characters is a US Senator who used to work for the space program - in 1975, John Glenn had just been elected for the first time and it must have seemed like a bit of a novelty; now of course Wikipedia has a whole category for American astronaut-politicians (and let’s not forget early cosmonauts Valentina Tereshkova and Gherman Titov, who both later served in the Russian State Duma).
I have said many times that I hate stories about cute anthromorphic robots. The Hangman of the title is an anthropomorphic robot, but it is very far from cute. Programmed *mumble* years ago to be an autonomous intelligence exploring the outer planets of the Solar System, it went rogue and disappeared. Now it has returned, and its former operators are being murdered one by one. Our hero is brought in to stop it.
There are a lot of good ideas in here, of which the best is the notion of the robot's psychological make-up being heavily influenced, but in the end not completely determined, by the four people who were in charge of its development. (Compare the two-dimensional Susan Calvin of Asimov's robot stories.) Another is that of the three storieas Zelazny wrote about his nameless protagonists, this is the only one where his cover comes close to being blown, and it humanises a character who would otherwise appear a little too superhuman.
It's interesting also to read about a future America that is not New York or California; although the story starts in Baltimore (apart from a couple of framing paragraphs), the main action is the length of the Mississippi - New Orleans, Memphis, St Louis, rural Wisconsin. And of course, as usual, Zelazny's prose conveys the images economically but vividly. Here are the first two paragraphs:
[start]
Big fat flakes down the night, silent night, windless night. And I never count them as storms unless there is wind. Not a sigh or whimper, though. Just a cold, steady whiteness, drifting down outside the window, and a silence confirmed by gunfire, driven deeper now that it had ceased. In the main room of the lodge the only sounds were the occasional hiss and sputter of the logs turning to ashes on the grate.
I sat in a chair turned sidewise from the table to face the door. A tool kit rested on the floor to my left. The helmet stood on the table, a lopsided basket of metal, quartz, porcelain, and glass. If I heard the click of a microswitch followed by a humming sound from within it, then a faint light would come on beneath the meshing near to its forward edge and begin to blink rapidly. If these things occurred, there was a very strong possibility that I was going to die.
[end]
I must admit now that I am 52 rather than 14 that the story is not without flaws. It depends very much on two coincidences of timing - the availability of our protagonist, who reports in for work only four times a year, just happening to match the return of the Hangman; and also certain other events that appear to be connected with the Hangman’s return but turn out to be independently generated. Zelazny did not always write women well or sympathetically, but there is an interesting woman psychiatrist here (not the only one in his works).
Anyway, re-reading it, I still love this story. Not entirely rationally.
August 5, 2018
Yippee ki wow.
So, for funsies, I started reading a bunch of really old Hugo/Nebula Award winners. This was one of them (can't remember which one it won). Dude won it when he was, like, 28 or something, so that's cool.
And, you know, despite it having that old retro-science fiction vibe to it, I really enjoyed his style of writing. It was very readable and kept the story moving.
I was also pretty shocked at how simple the premise was when it got down to it: an AI seemingly goes on a rampage, killing its creators, and this cool private eye sorta guy is tasked with finding out why. What he finds out about the AI, what happened to it, is really intriguing and it makes for an interesting debate on what actually makes something conscious or not. At what point in an AI's life do we deem it "alive" not just in the mechanic sense, but in the human sense
Edit: Oh, I just done seen that it won both the Hugo and Nebula. Well, la dee da.
So, for funsies, I started reading a bunch of really old Hugo/Nebula Award winners. This was one of them (can't remember which one it won). Dude won it when he was, like, 28 or something, so that's cool.
And, you know, despite it having that old retro-science fiction vibe to it, I really enjoyed his style of writing. It was very readable and kept the story moving.
I was also pretty shocked at how simple the premise was when it got down to it: an AI seemingly goes on a rampage, killing its creators, and this cool private eye sorta guy is tasked with finding out why. What he finds out about the AI, what happened to it, is really intriguing and it makes for an interesting debate on what actually makes something conscious or not. At what point in an AI's life do we deem it "alive" not just in the mechanic sense, but in the human sense
Edit: Oh, I just done seen that it won both the Hugo and Nebula. Well, la dee da.
March 14, 2015
Πρόκειται για μια μικρή νουβέλα, η οποία κέρδισε το NEBULA, του 1975 και το HUGO, του 1976. Μπορεί να το βρει κανείς από τις εκδόσεις Απόπειρα στα ελληνικά, και στα αγγλικά είτε στην έκδοση που είναι μόνο η νουβέλα, με τον τίτλο Home is the Hangman, είτε σε μια συλλογή, με τον τίτλο My name is Legion, που είναι μαζί με άλλες δυο ιστορίες.
Ποια είναι ακριβώς η ιστορία; Πρόκειται για έναν ρομπότ, με το όνομα Δήμιος, το οποίο έχει εγκέφαλο παρόμοιο με αυτόν του ανθρώπου, τόσο σε δομή όσο και σε λειτουργία, και γυρίζει πίσω στη Γη για να εκδικηθεί τους "γονείς" του, τους τέσσερις προγραμματιστές δημιουργούς του. Ο Τζων Ντονν, ο πρωταγωνιστής, καλείται να καταστρέψει το ρομπότ. Όμως υπάρχει μια ανατροπή στο τέλος.
Η ιδέα είναι πολύ ενδιαφέρουσα, με τη τεχνική νοημοσύνη του ρομπότ και αν μπορεί αυτό να σκέφτεται αυτόνομα, σαν να ήταν άνθρωπος, και παράλληλα αν έχει συναισθήματα και λοιπά, υπάρχουν πολλά τεχνολογικά στοιχεία και επιστημονικές αναφορές σκόρπια μέσα στο κείμενο, η πλοκή είναι απλή αλλά όπως είπα έχει μια ενδιαφέρουσα ανατροπή προς το τέλος και η γραφή είναι αρκετά καλή.
Ποια είναι ακριβώς η ιστορία; Πρόκειται για έναν ρομπότ, με το όνομα Δήμιος, το οποίο έχει εγκέφαλο παρόμοιο με αυτόν του ανθρώπου, τόσο σε δομή όσο και σε λειτουργία, και γυρίζει πίσω στη Γη για να εκδικηθεί τους "γονείς" του, τους τέσσερις προγραμματιστές δημιουργούς του. Ο Τζων Ντονν, ο πρωταγωνιστής, καλείται να καταστρέψει το ρομπότ. Όμως υπάρχει μια ανατροπή στο τέλος.
Η ιδέα είναι πολύ ενδιαφέρουσα, με τη τεχνική νοημοσύνη του ρομπότ και αν μπορεί αυτό να σκέφτεται αυτόνομα, σαν να ήταν άνθρωπος, και παράλληλα αν έχει συναισθήματα και λοιπά, υπάρχουν πολλά τεχνολογικά στοιχεία και επιστημονικές αναφορές σκόρπια μέσα στο κείμενο, η πλοκή είναι απλή αλλά όπως είπα έχει μια ενδιαφέρουσα ανατροπή προς το τέλος και η γραφή είναι αρκετά καλή.
September 29, 2014
Δεν ξέρω τι να πω. Από τη μία πολύ μπλα-μπλα και εξηγήσεις και φιλοσοφία. Κι από την άλλη μια υπόθεση χαστούκι, μια αποκάλυψη χαστούκι. Κι ένα τέλος λίγο ότιναναι. Αληθινά δεν ξέρω καν αν μου άρεσε ή όχι.
December 8, 2021
"I do seem to recall something about man being made in the Creator's image, and something else about trying to live up to that. It would seem to follow that exercising one's capacities along similar lines would be a step in the right direction--an act of conformance with the Divine ideal, if you'd like."
"But I don't like. Man cannot really create. He can only rearrange what is already present. Only God can create."
"Then you have nothing to worry about."
He frowned. Then, "No," he said. "Being aware of this and still trying is where the presumption comes in."
Roger Zelazny's Hugo-Nebula winning novella Home is the Hangman is a retro-science fiction treat: A shady detective who has erased his social identity investigates a case where a group of scientists fear an android with genuine AI intelligence may be using its enhanced strength and speed to kill them off one at a time. The novella consists of more philosophical conversation than action, but Zelazny keeps the story moving forward to a satisfying conclusion.
If you have never read Zelazny, this is a good place to start. It's short, but it has the quintessential Zelazny prose stylings and his humor. If you enjoy this brief foray, you'll certainly enjoy Lord of Light, This Immortal, or his fantasy series starting with Nine Princes in Amber.
"But I don't like. Man cannot really create. He can only rearrange what is already present. Only God can create."
"Then you have nothing to worry about."
He frowned. Then, "No," he said. "Being aware of this and still trying is where the presumption comes in."
Roger Zelazny's Hugo-Nebula winning novella Home is the Hangman is a retro-science fiction treat: A shady detective who has erased his social identity investigates a case where a group of scientists fear an android with genuine AI intelligence may be using its enhanced strength and speed to kill them off one at a time. The novella consists of more philosophical conversation than action, but Zelazny keeps the story moving forward to a satisfying conclusion.
If you have never read Zelazny, this is a good place to start. It's short, but it has the quintessential Zelazny prose stylings and his humor. If you enjoy this brief foray, you'll certainly enjoy Lord of Light, This Immortal, or his fantasy series starting with Nine Princes in Amber.
December 6, 2017
This is not actually a review of this edition but rather of the printed story in the book Nebula Award Stories Eleven. The review is excerpted from my review of that book.
"Home Is the Hangman" was one of three stories by Roger Zelazny featuring the same main character, a man who, in an increasingly computer-dependent future, has managed to stay off the "World Data Bank" and consequently, to most of the world, does not exist. In this story he is trying to track down and stop the Hangman, a telefactor made to explore other planets. A telefactor is "a slave machine operated by remote control." The Hangman had stopped responding to orders and had returned to Earth. It is possible that the Hangman may have returned with the purpose of killing his three creators. (Zelazny died young at the age of fifty-eight.)
"Home Is the Hangman" was one of three stories by Roger Zelazny featuring the same main character, a man who, in an increasingly computer-dependent future, has managed to stay off the "World Data Bank" and consequently, to most of the world, does not exist. In this story he is trying to track down and stop the Hangman, a telefactor made to explore other planets. A telefactor is "a slave machine operated by remote control." The Hangman had stopped responding to orders and had returned to Earth. It is possible that the Hangman may have returned with the purpose of killing his three creators. (Zelazny died young at the age of fifty-eight.)
July 26, 2025
A worthy Hugo and Nebula Award winner.
Published in 1975, Zelazny's tale of a rogue AI is especially relevant in the current moment. Very well written, the story focuses less on the characteristics of the AI, but on the fears and prejudices of the folks involved in its creation.
A student of philosophy, Zelazny slides off into some very interesting side discussions of the works of folks like Karl Mannheim (mechanical and vegetable representations of the state), Godel (mechanical undecidability), and H.L. Mencken (The Cult of Hope).
The idea that kept swimming around in my head centered around the fact that we know so little about how the brain works holistically. What are the chances an AI could become sentient and NOT have a severe mental illness?
Published in 1975, Zelazny's tale of a rogue AI is especially relevant in the current moment. Very well written, the story focuses less on the characteristics of the AI, but on the fears and prejudices of the folks involved in its creation.
A student of philosophy, Zelazny slides off into some very interesting side discussions of the works of folks like Karl Mannheim (mechanical and vegetable representations of the state), Godel (mechanical undecidability), and H.L. Mencken (The Cult of Hope).
The idea that kept swimming around in my head centered around the fact that we know so little about how the brain works holistically. What are the chances an AI could become sentient and NOT have a severe mental illness?
December 29, 2025
A sentient robot, dubbed Hangman, comes home from space to confront its makers, who once used it for immoral purposes. Then, two of them are killed. Did the bot do it? Has it killed before? Zelazny’s novella seems to be in conversation with Philip K. Dick’s “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” Zelazny suggests that guilt is the wellspring of sapience, and figuring out what you ought to feel guilty for is one of the things that makes you human.
November 14, 2021
Had some interesting moments, and is at it's best in the middleish parts when it turns into a detective story. But, overall, it just didn't light my fire and had some very weird rhetoric. I leave you with Roger Zelazny describing the main character going to use the bathroom:
"Then I staggered off to the place of flowing waters to renew my contact with basics." Pg 25
"Then I staggered off to the place of flowing waters to renew my contact with basics." Pg 25
December 13, 2022
Good story, definitely recommend for those loving Asimov robot series.
January 16, 2025
Murderbot vibes
May 4, 2025
Detective story featuring scientists, their creature and a string of murders, and some philosophical questions.
I guess I prefer the works of Zelazny in a purely fantasy setting.
I guess I prefer the works of Zelazny in a purely fantasy setting.
November 1, 2025
A very entertaining, thought-provoking, noirish story. The plot involves an android that has returned to Earth to kill its creators, which is similar to what happens in Blade Runner. Coincidence?
June 13, 2009
"Home is the Hangman" is a novella by Zelazny and this book reproduces it in a very nice quality publication. The story is wonderful and the book is very well done.
September 9, 2010
Wow. Liked this a lot.Sentient robot comes back to earth to murder four original makers. reat climax and twist at the end.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Want to read
January 18, 2011Actually found out this is the 3rd story in "My Name is Legion". I have the 2nd story somewhere but not the first and I don't have the collection so I'm moving on to a different Zelazny title.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews