Jherek Carneilan is the protagonist of this book, but in a way I identify more with Lord Jagged of Carnaria. He is the one who has seen the beauty of the world at the End of Time, where the last few living creatures in the universe have solved every problem of life, death and existence. There is a sort of superficiality to their lives, but this is really due to them being effectively immortal and omnipotent. Heaven, as David Byrne mused, is a place where nothing ever happens. But Jherek, The Iron Orchid, the Duke of Queens and the rest of them ensure that the End of Time does not get to be like that, purely through the exercise of will and acts of creativity. If you prefer the value that mortality gives to human life, and impermanence to an environment, you can always get satisfaction from the story of Jherek and Mrs Amelia Underwood. And I do. But I think I'd be staying with Lord Jagged to enjoy an eternal party with energy from the multiverse putting the big freeze on hold forever.

One of my all-time favourite books, and a kind of philosophical fuel for the anarchist temperament.