Somewhere between "Animal Farm" and "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" lies "Paradox: Valley of the Sheeple," which explores the dire consequences of fear, ignorance and blindly following the herd. Set on a Western sheep ranch, the novel tells the tale of the Ransom family, their Peruvian shepherds, and the gregarious and humanlike Sheeple, who refuse to face painful facts about themselves and accept dreadful truths about their existence.True to its name, Paradox is a place of irony and contradictions, replete with natural beauty and barbarous bloodshed, quiet serenity and clamorous pandemonium, and the immortal struggles between predator and prey, good and evil. Not only is Paradox a peculiar and perplexing home to its inhabitants, it's also a microcosm of our world.