Imagine a whole series of separate universes, made to suit the whims of a race of super-beings. Imagine these universes with their own laws, cultures, creatures and ecologies – each existing only to please the fancy of its individual master. Then imagine one such universe constructed as a diabolical trap to destroy a single person – Robert Wolff, one of the race of universe-makers, and once of Earth. When the satanic Master-Lord, Urizen, kidnaps Wolff's wife, he forces Wolff to enter the deadly universe of ambushes, filled with every kind of tortuous snare that the evil mind of the Master-Lord can advise. Wolf has only his courage and his wits which to combat this cosmic maze – unless he can perform a miracle, he and Chrysalis are doomed.
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) was an American author, principally known for his science fiction and fantasy novels and short stories. He spent much of his life in Peoria, Illinois. Farmer is best known for his Riverworld series and the earlier World of Tiers series. He is noted for his fascination for and reworking of the lore of legendary pulp heroes, and occasional tongue-in-cheek pseudonyminous works written as if by fictional characters.
