Thorns cover

explorer / books · 1968

Thorns

Robert Silverberg

Published 1967 by Ballantine Books · 222 pages

Hugo · 1968

Finalist

Nebula · 1968

Finalist
Science Fiction

On the ballot with

Each row shows the full Best Novel ballot for that award and ceremony year. Winners appear first.

Robert Silverberg on these ballots

18 award entries · 10 books · 1 wins · 1968–1981

WinHugo finalistNebula finalistThis book

Synopsis

Duncan Chalk, a monstrous media mogul who feeds psychically on human suffering, engineers a relationship between two damaged people: a man grotesquely altered by alien surgeons, and a young woman exploited after bearing a hundred children for a population experiment. As Chalk manipulates their pain for entertainment, the two must decide whether genuine connection is possible.

Experimental tags

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Social SF
Surveillance & ControlAlien ContactBiotech & Genetics

Details

Author nationality
United States
ISBN
9781497632448