Page:Drug Themes in Science Fiction (Research Issues 9).djvu/52

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Author: Silverberg, Robert
Title: Downward to the Earth
Publisher: New American Library, New York
Pages: 176 pp.
Date: 1971
Format: Novel
Descriptor: Drugs as mind-expanders
Annotation:The venom of a serpent found on an alien planet that has been colonized by Earthmen proves to have medicinal value, serving as a catalyst in limb-regeneration work; but when used in a different dosage it has psychological effects, evoking in Earthmen the illusion that they have been transformed into the elephant-like intelligent species that is the dominant native life-form of the planet. Illicit use of the drug for this purpose is common among the Earthmen stationed there. Protagonist, expiating old guilts, goes among the elephant-beings and eventually is admitted into ecstatic communion with them through use of the drug.




Author: Silverberg, Robert
Title: A Time of Changes
Publisher: New American Library, New York
Pages: 220 pp.
Date: 1971
Format: Novel
Descriptors: Drugs as mind-expanders, drugs as a means of communication
Annotation:Scene is a planet of the future dominated by stern culture that makes a fetish of privacy and personal reticence. Narrator obtains from a "primitive" culture on another continent a drug which attacks the basics of his native culture by making possible direct telepathic contact between minds. He attempts to found a subculture of love and openness based on use of the drug, but, although he is a prince of the realm, he is proscribed and hunted down.






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