The R-Master by Dickson, Gordon R - 1973

J. B. Lippincott Company. Very Good with no dust jacket. 1973. Hardcover. Library Discard. There is a library stamp on the first and last blank page with a withdrawn stamp by the discard stamp on the last page. There is number written on the top of the first blank page and a residue where the card pocket was located. The bottom of the back cover has a bit of peeling where the tape that held the dust jacket was removed. The pages are clean, no tears or soiling. The pages and binding are tight. Pages are rough cut on middle page ends. ; Ex-Library; 8vo 8" - 9" tall; 186 pages; Possibly one of the earliest SF novels to deal with smart-drugs, The R-Master is one of Dickson's seemingly forgotten stories. In this novel's utopian/dystopian future, humanity is governed by the Earth Council, a routine repressive bureaucracy which claims to have all of our best interests at heart while in fact keeping us all under its collective thumb by giving us menial jobs to make us feel necessary, a subsistence income, and the possibility of "advancement" through experimental drugs like R-47. R-47 is known to increase one's mental capacities and ability to tackle more demanding occupations. Yet there are a few unfortunates for whom the drug backfires savagely, turning them into idiots...and a few super-fortunates, who become complete brainiacs at the hands of R-47, "R-Masters" whose finely honed mental functions (not necessarily a vast increase in intelligence, more of a keen ability to sort through problems efficiently) make them ridiculously overprivileged aristocrats, whom the Earth Council wants to take really good care of - and, naturally, keep an eye on. Will combine shipping on more than one book. .