The story begins in a dead-letter office in Omaha, where Randolph Jaffe discovers evidence of the Art, a metaphysical process that allows humanity to transcend physical reality and step into the Quiddity—the dream-sea between worlds. Jaffe enters a decades-long rivalry with the scientist Fletcher, leading to an evolutionary war that spills into the California town of Palomo Grove. Their conflict creates supernatural legacies through their children, Howard and Jo-Beth, who must navigate an assault of hallucinogenic horrors and ancient entities known as the Iad Uroboros. The narrative tracks how private obsessions with occult power lead to the physical collapse of a suburban community into a landscape of shifting nightmares.
This novel is for readers who prefer dark fantasy rooted in the grotesque and the metaphysical. It attracts those interested in how secret histories and forbidden rituals can overwrite mundane life. The reader walks away with a detailed map of a hidden cosmology where human evolution is driven by cosmic trauma and desire. They find a story that replaces typical horror tropes with specific biological and psychological architecture, depicting the end of privacy as human secrets manifest into tangible, dangerous monsters.
- Published
- 1989
- Language
- EN
