Preferred Risk is a sharp mid-century science fiction novel by Frederik Pohl and Lester del Rey, writing together as Edson McCann. First published in 1955, the novel imagines a world dominated by a vast insurance corporation whose calculations of danger, health, war, reproduction, and social order have become the hidden machinery of civilisation. What begins as corporate risk management has hardened into a system of control, where the language of safety conceals power, coercion, and the quiet management of human life. Project Gutenberg identifies the work as by Frederik Pohl and Lester del Rey writing as Edson McCann, and notes its original magazine serialisation in Galaxy Science Fiction in 1955.
The result is both classic science fiction and pointed social satire: a novel about bureaucracy, medicine, fear, corporate authority, nuclear anxiety, and the uneasy bargain between security and freedom. Pohl's gift for institutional critique and del Rey's strong narrative drive make Preferred Risk a strong fit for readers of Golden Age science fiction, dystopian fiction, corporate dystopia, Cold War speculative fiction, and rediscovered magazine-era SF. Explore other exciting Positronic Books devoted to classic science fiction, fantasy, and mystery.
