The Continent of Lies

By: James Morrow

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Synopsis: A dystopian tale about mass-entertainment-turned-toxic from the award-winning author of Towing Jehovah—perfect for Philip K. Dick fans. Cutting-edge virtual reality has emerged as a popular, albeit controversial, source of amusement. Devouring a cephapple or &“dreambean&” allows the eater to become the primary player in a preprogrammed narrative: love story, historical spectacle, horror thriller—this medium encompasses all genres. Our protagonist, Quinjin, is a professional dreambean critic, rating the hallucinogenic adventures hidden within these remarkable fruits. But something has gone terribly wrong. An anonymous &“dreamweaver&” has created a cephapple that, by transporting its users to the core of an inescapable nightmare, drives them stark raving mad—just the sort of ammunition the anti-dreambean movement needs to get the technology banned. Quinjin is hired to find the source of the poison and eradicate it. But the reviewer&’s heroic quest becomes highly personal when the person he most cares about—his teenage daughter—eats the forbidden fruit and lapses into a coma. Dark and satiric, The Continent of Lies is a bravura demonstration of the bold originality that has won James Morrow two Nebula Awards, two World Fantasy Awards, and the Prix Utopia.