The Status Civilization

Book excerpt: This is a classic science fiction novel by Robert Sheckley, a Hugo and Nebula Award nominated author. This story follows Will Barnett, a man convicted of a crime on Earth, who is memory-washed and sentenced to a prison term on the planet Omega, from which there is seemingly no escape. However, he does return to Earth and finds it full of subtle terrors more insidious than those of the ruthless prison planet he left behind This work is part of our Vintage Sci-Fi Classics Series, a series in which we are republishing some of the best stories in the genre by some of its most acclaimed authors, such as Isaac Asimov, Marion Zimmer Bradley, and Robert Sheckley. Each publication is complete with a short introduction to the history of science fiction.