Golem¹⁰⁰

by Alfred Bester

From back cover of Timescape paperback March 1981: IN A MEGA CITY OF THE FUTURE... They were nice ladies, really. Just bored. And they never expected to succeed. But intoning ancient rituals to raise the devil, they unwittingly began a rampage of rape, torture and murder. For they concocted a new devil: Golem 100. And the Golem continues to grow... Tracking the monstrous path of depravity are three super talents: Gretchen Nunn, beautiful, black master of psychodynamics; Blaise Shirma, her brilliant chemist lover; and the shrewd policeman Subadar Ind'dni. Their hunt takes them into real and subliminal worlds of dazzling intensity, through the heart of the collective unconscious and beyond... where they battle for their souls and for the survival of humanity. But even these three super intelligences are up against their limits. For now the Golem has acquired a new identity. And the Golem continues to grow...