Cult of Loving Kindness

It is a pity that this work, like the previous two installments of the Starbridge Chronicles (Soldiers of Paradise and Sugar Rain), is now out of print, because it is certainly one of the most interesting fantasy experiments to be published in the past several years. Set in the distant future, in a time where environmental degradation has caused seasons to last for years, a phenomenon which has caused the fabric of society to disintigrate, the story synchronizes elements of mysticism, magic and prophecy. At the same time, the trilogy offers startling psychological insight into such areas as mass hysteria, human sexuality, addiction, and religious longings. Park in the Starbridge Chronicles has created a vivid, horrific world that, for all of its Boschian strangeness, convincingly portrays the landscape of the unbridled unconscious. I highly recommend these works to anyone, but in particular to readers of Gene Wolfe, Jack Vance, Frank Herbert, and Fritz Leiber.