Pyrexia

The book begins with Pyrexia, the sex goddess, who exists in a realm accessible to humans only through the GUM machine. Put your nickel in, pull the lever (so to speak: you type in a PPP (Provisionally Probable Pathname), which is not unlike the URL’s used on the Internet, except that since the universe is governed by Chaos, the result is often wildly different even if you use the exact same PPP), and take your chances. Abelard just got lucky when he found Pyrexia. Unfortunately he forgot to record the PPP, so he can’t go back. But that is the least of his problems. There’s his relation with his female half, or anima, named Kahani, from whom he’s hiding his desire for reuniting with Pyrexia. There’s the necessity of keeping his credit up on the LLL (Linked Lattice at Large), which allows him to get his e-mail, but the rules have evolved nightmarishly so that he’s in danger of going bankrupt. And there are the strange situations he finds himself in on the GUM trips, most of which place him with impoverished and sometimes demented personalities of early 21st century New York City or Paris.