"A Toy for Juliette" is a short story by Robert Bloch from Harlan Ellison's Dangerous Visions, about Jack the Ripper, being pulled into a dystopic future by a sadistic femme fatale and her mysterious grandfather. There, she attempts to seduce him, only for Jack to find a knife underneath a pillow in her bed. The rest is left to the reader's imagination.
Bloch incorporates themes of dystopic libertarianism--the title character, Juliette, is named after the Marquis de Sade's Juliette. Sade was the man for whom "sadism" is named, and Bloch often uses his works in connection with the mentally unstable, such as his character Norman Bates in Psycho.
Famous quotes containing the word toy:
“I did toy with the idea of doing a cook-book.... The recipes were to be the routine ones: how to make dry toast, instant coffee, hearts of lettuce and brownies. But as an added attraction, at no extra charge, my idea was to put a fried egg on the cover. I think a lot of people who hate literature but love fried eggs would buy it if the price was right.”
—Groucho Marx (1895–1977)