Land of the Headless

Roberts, Adam. Land of the Headless. London, UK: Gollancz/Orion, 2007. See Internet Speculative Fiction Database for other printings.[1]

Opening of Wikipedia Plot Summary on the novel:

The story focuses upon the experiences of Jon Cavala, a poet on the religiously fundamentalist planet of Pluse. He is beheaded for the crime of rape, although this is subsequently revealed to be simply consensual sexual intercourse outside of marriage that the authorities have deemed 'rape'. This being a future civilisation, beheading does not kill Cavala. Instead his 'brain' or, it is hinted, his mind state is placed inside a computer-like device called an 'Ordinator.' He sees and hears via robotic prostheses but cannot smell or taste.[2]

Cf. and contrast other instances of uploading consciousness in, e.g., Frederik Pohl's Heechee Saga, and works by other authors.[3] For the Ordinator, cf. and contrast the Pragmatometer in C. S. Lewis's That Hideous Strength, as well as word-play with French ordinateur (computer) and the possibilities for English "ordinator".[4]

Referenced in Anna McFarlane's "Science Fiction and the Medical Humanities," which see.

RDE, finishing, 16Aug21