In the Lap of Morpheus — R. Muir

Simon says... virtually nothing. Mute for two years, he is a wanderer, a mystic, a clairvoyant who crosses paths with Brandy, a voluptuous belly dancer, in the Arizona desert. Theirs appears to be a chance encounter, until we get a glimpse at their mutual dreams, wherein a Tarot reading is given to each by an ancient Gypsy Woman. It is she and her apprentice whom the couple eventually meets in a town outside Tucson called Esperanto. Founded by a group of scientists and intellectuals in the 1950s, Esperanto was an attempt to join the world through a universal language. It failed, leaving behind a handful of die-hards, artists, and eccentrics... including Oscar Lavalieré (nudist, local librarian, and art connoisseur), Jodi Dawns (resident potter, hermaphrodite, and occult devotee), and Maniqua (botanist, outcast, and self-ascribed seer). From these unorthodox characters evolves an equally unorthodox tale that fathoms the unfathomable in a sceptic-governed world.