NY: Avon Books. Very Good+ with no dust jacket. 1968. First Edition Thus. 1. Soft Cover. Publisher's glossy pictorial wraps. 12mo. 144 pp. Former owner's initials on fep, else fine. VERY GOOD+. The Master played God, but trembled before unknown Furies! "Constantly inventive and interesting, a virtuoso performance. " -New York Herald Tribune. [Avon #S329]. . Mass Market Paperback. 12mo - over 6¾" - 7¾" tall .

Synopsis

From Robert Silverberg's contemporary afterword: "What I wanted to do in short was to produce a masterpiece. I don't mean that word 'masterpiece' in the pretentious sense, not a sublime work of genius but merely the piece of work which a craftsman presents by way of proving that the apprenticeship is over. That required an elaborate plot. My earliest books suffered from an inability to tie up loose ends...so I studied my elders, I analyzed the means by which the science fiction writers I admired wove the strands of their stories...I studied and I imitated and finally in Master of Life and Death, I let loose with all my thunderbolts." In The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Anthony Boucher wrote that "Silverberg's success in maintaining complete clarity and narrative drive while 'manipulating unnumbered plots and complex concepts is a technical triumph" and Master of Life and Death, returning in this RosettaBooks edition, has the contemporaneity of Silverberg's best work.When his superior disappears, Roy Walton, the assistant director of population relocation, suddenly becomes the Master of Life and Death on an overcrowded Earth and must reapportion the population to avoid fear and panic. But this is only the first of Walton's challenges. He is confronted by menacing aliens with an ambiguous agenda which may include conquest. A renegade scientist has produced a new immortality serum which if distributed would only strain resources and deepen human misery. But how can such information be withheld and will Walton become the Master of Death alone if he suppresses that information? Manifold obstacles make efforts to solve one problem only contribute to increasing the others. Ultimately, however, Walton finds the ingenious solution which ties and resolves all of the difficulties.

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Details

Bookseller: Round Table Books, LLC (US)
Bookseller's Inventory #: 4444
Title: MASTER OF LIFE AND DEATH
Author: Silverberg, Robert
Format/Binding: Soft Cover
Book Condition: Used - Very Good+ with no dust jacket
Edition: First Edition Thus. 1
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Avon Books
Place of Publication: NY
Date Published: 1968
Keywords: Science Fiction, Fiction;, Novels;
Bookseller catalogs: Science Fiction;

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About Round Table Books, LLC

Round Table Books, LLC lists rare, beautiful and interesting books. All books are described accurately, packed carefully and shipped promptly. SATISFACTION GUARANTEED - Any book may be returned within 30 days of receipt for a full refund.

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Glossary

Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:

Good+: A term used to denote a condition a slight grade better than Good.
Pictorial Wraps: Pictorial wraps are color illustrated covers for paperback books. Preceding mass-market paperbacks, this format brought popular...
12mo: A duodecimo is a book approximately 7 by 4.5 inches in size, or similar in size to a contemporary mass market paperback. Also...
First Edition: In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...
Jacket: Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...