Arthur Cleveland Finch was an eminently practical man. Naturally he didn't believe that the carnelian cube was a "dream-stone" with supernatural powers. But, of course, if he were going to wish himself into another world, he would choose one where everything was perfectly rational.

Finch got his wish - with a bang! And he soon discovered that one man's rationality can easily be another man's nightmare. He awoke a poet in a strange place where status meant everything and a man could be tried for umpteen kinds of crimes for reciting a poem in public.

So, being optimistic as well as practical, Finch tried again - and again. And the worlds kept getting wilder, more improbable, and funnier - but more dangerous, too. The question was, could Finch find Utopia¿ before losing his skin?