I just finished reading The Complete Paratime and I can say for certain I will not ever read those stories (novellas) again.

First, he had a loathing for socialism, which he equated to soviet-style communism and totalitarian government. The prejudice leaps off the pages--'evil socialism' is a given in his world view. I don't like someone else's social and political philosophy shoved down my throat on page after page under the guise of entertainment/fiction.

Second and more disturbing, he believed in reincarnation and promoted suicide as a "solution" to a life someone didn't want to lead. Commit suicide and then select for yourself another, better incarnation.

He envisioned the socialists as supporting the view that reincarnation was involuntary, the person being reborn in the next available neonate. The non-socialists who supported the status quo believed that when a person discorporated (notice the avoidance of the words death and die) he could hang around in limbo, communicating with incarnate people through mediums, and select the infant for his next incarnation.

The creepy thing is that Piper believed all this stuff. He committed suicide, despondent over his writing.

If I wrote that dreck, I'd be despondent, too. It was nothing like the "Fuzzy" books and I wish I'd never read it.