''Octagon'' is a novel by

Fred Saberhagen Fred Thomas Saberhagen (May 18, 1930 – June 29, 2007) was an American science fiction and fantasy author most famous for his ''Berserker'' series of science fiction short stories and novels. Saberhagen also wrote a series of vampire novels in ...

published in 1981.

Plot summary

''Octagon'' is a novel in which Alex Barrow discovers that someone is killing his opponents in the science fiction play-by-mail game '' Starweb''.

Reception

Greg Costikyan Greg Costikyan (born July 22, 1959, in New York City), sometimes known under the pseudonym "Designer X", is an American game designer and science fiction writer. Costikyan's career spans nearly all extant genres of gaming, including: hex-based wa ...

reviewed ''Octagon'' in '' Ares Magazine'' #11 and commented that "''Octagon'' is a good mystery novel which explores a rather interesting theme: the idea that a clever programmer can manipulate records and programs in our computer-based world to his own ends."

Dave Langford David Rowland Langford (born 10 April 1953) is a British author, editor, and critic, largely active within the science fiction field. He publishes the science fiction fanzine and newsletter ''Ansible'', and holds the all-time record for mos ...

reviewed ''Octagon'' for ''

White Dwarf A white dwarf is a stellar core remnant composed mostly of electron-degenerate matter. A white dwarf is very dense: its mass is comparable to the Sun's, while its volume is comparable to the Earth's. A white dwarf's faint luminosity comes ...

'' #68, and stated that "it's a pleasant thriller with the computer-moderated RPG ''Starweb'' getting uncomfortable as players are eliminated not by strategy but by assassination. I recommend this technique to ''Diplomacy'' addicts. The villain's identity is obvious long before the story reveals it, but it's all quite tense nevertheless."

Reviews

*Review by Tom Easton (1982) in Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact, March 1, 1982 *Review by Tom A. Jones (1985) in

Vector Vector most often refers to: *Euclidean vector, a quantity with a magnitude and a direction *Vector (epidemiology), an agent that carries and transmits an infectious pathogen into another living organism Vector may also refer to: Mathematic ...

127

References

{{reflist 1981 novels