Floyd Jones is a grumpy, clumsy and presumably crazy guy, but in a very short time he goes from being a stunt mutant at the fair to the leader of an entire planet. This is thanks to two incredible abilities: the ability to foresee the future and the ability to make people dream in a world where it has been forbidden.

Philip K. Dick's sinister tale of the post-nuclear messiah is as meticulously realistic writing as it is prophetic. In addition to bizarre mutants, hermaphrodite sex performers and interstellar beings, the novel depicts with deadly accuracy our desire to believe: in something, anything.