Vulcan's Hammer: Battle of the Brain Machines

New York: Ace, May 1972. Mass Market Paperback. Ace Books 86608. 75¢. First stand-alone publication. No date of publication. First printing (No additional printings listed). No ISBN. Very Good. Light creasing and a .25 inch tear to front cover (see photos). Interior is tanned, but unmarked. Spine is straight and very tight. Not from a library. 154 pages.

Counter Objective, unbiased and hyperrational, the Vulcan 3 should have been the perfect ruler. The omnipotent computer dictates policy that is in the best interests of all citizens—or at least, that is the idea. But when the machine, whose rule evolved out of chaos and war, begins to lose control of the "Healer" movement of religious fanatics and the mysterious force behind their rebellion, all Hell breaks loose. Written in 1960, Philip K. Dick's paranoid novel imagines a totalitarian state in which hammer-headed robots terrorize citizens and freedom is an absurd joke. William Barrios, the morally conflicted hero, may be the only person who can prevent the battle for control from destroying the world—if, that is, he can decide which side he's on.