SOLVED. sci-fi/fantasy short story, sentient talking rope strangles hero's enemies [s]

[Anna]

I'm looking for a short story (for some reason I think it was sci-fi genre but what I remember hints more at fantasy) that featured sentient talking rope who was some kind of main character sidekick. I think it was strangling his enemies on command. I read it about 15 years ago but I think it's older than that.

[Justanotherbiblophile]

This reminds me of Warhammer (ie: not Warhammer 40K) magical items.

[Leslie]

I read a short story (more like a play) called The Love of Three Oranges that has a talking and quite sinister rope as a character.

[Mir]

The character Merle in Roger Zelazny's second Amber series has a sentient rope or chain, I think maybe named Frakir or something like that, that he maybe wears on his wrist, that strangles his enemies. It is fantasy rather than sci-fi, but there is a computer in the story. It's not a short story, though, it is several books long.

[Anna]

Thanks for your help:). It turns out that the short story I was thinking about was part of Manna from Heaven collection by Roger Zelazny:). I remember The Corwin Cycle fairly well, but I haven't read any of Merlin's books, only these short stories and I totally forgotten that they were part of The Chronicles of Amber.

[Sue]

Thank you Anna-I didn't know about this book-now to find a copy! I didn't like John Bettancourt's Amber books much.

[Mir]

Anna wrote: "Thanks for your help:). It turns out that the short story I was thinking about was part of Manna from Heaven collection by Roger Zelazny:). I remember The Corwin Cycle fa..."

Oh, cool. I didn't realize there were Amber short stories.

[Banjomike]

Just for completeness, the story title is Coming To A Cord and is also available in The Road to Amber. I've updated the blurb on that book to include the Table of Contents. There is a LOT of contents.