{"product_id":"9780595720224","title":"The Rise and Fall of Shimmerism","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe year is 2167, and Simon Shadow is nearly killed by a crazed co-worker's explosive suicide. Leaving Earth behind, Simon embarks on a quest for freedom-to Reetar, a distant planet recently colonized. Upon arrival, he finds a city bristling with rival religions. Within days, Simon offends the Unholy Mass, a powerful and sadistic religion. His life threatened, he realizes the only way to save himself is to become a rival faith-Shimmerism. On the far side of the planet, meanwhile, a lone starship crash-lands. The survivors begin their own quest, searching for a fabled city of spirituality; and above them all, in orbit, a powerful military force keeps watch, laying waste to anyone foolish enough to threaten the balance of the Great Experiment-the ruling philosophy that governs humanity's colonization of new worlds. \u003ci\u003eThe Rise and Fall of Shimmerism\u003c\/i\u003e casts a speculative eye on a vast human population whose profiteering fringe blazes its way across the next great frontier, caught in a violent cycle of soulless spirituality. An epic future-history replete with phantasmagoric drugs, strange music, and savage ironies, the book ultimately touches on the evolution of human awareness-and the first confused glimpses of a malevolent new reality.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"iUniverse, Incorporated","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47120425976048,"sku":"9780595720224","price":6.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9780595720224_p0.jpg?v=1763723474","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9780595720224","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}