A Thousand Arms

In a time when confederation has failed, the formerly united American colonies are locked in a jealous land war, and local warlords consolidate power. Councilman Quincy Stokely rules the Home Place with a heavy hand, catching W, a house-slave, in the wrong place at the wrong time--cutting off his arm in a bid for silence. Then his other arm. Then his legs. W dwells on his revenge, culminating in the mystifying tale of how the limbless man escapes his kraal to grapple a final time with his hangbellied enemy.