The "Left Path" boutique is a division of the TRANSHUMANISM INC. corporation where jar-bound detective Markus Zorgenfrei serves. The boutique offers black-magic trips for the wealthiest of clients. The service is not advertised due to potential reputational costs—what politician or banker would want to admit that they communicate with demons in a simulation?
Mysterious client disappearances must be investigated in secret. The corporation sends Markus on an alchemical trip-simulation with the highest risk factor—he becomes a 16th-century Italian warlock, acquires magical powers with the help of a magical grimoire, and engages in a struggle against powerful Venetian mages.
Soon it becomes clear that not only his life is in danger, but his soul as well. But Markus is already on the trail—and his superior, Admiral-Bishop Lomas, decides to continue the investigation.
Is it possible to destroy a soul in a simulation while preserving it in reality, and what is reality for a soul? What will the religion of the future be like, and can an AI create it? Is a simulation of salvation possible, and how does it differ from true salvation? Where should one look for God, and should one even bother?
Markus Zorgenfrei is once again cast into the abyss and risks his life so that the reader may receive a literarily impeccable and captivating answer to these formidable questions right under the cozy shelter of their own roof.
Author: Victor Pelevin
Pages: 480 (offset). Hardcover
Dimensions: 208x135x32 mm
