The Architect of Sleep / Steven R. Boyett

Boyett's sophomore novel is an inventive tale about a young slacker who finds himself transported to an alternate Earth, where bipedal raccoons, of all things, have evolved intelligence and civilization, and warfare plus potential natural disaster are on the verge of erupting. A terrific idea about contact with an alien culture, with impressively complex world-building and plotting...all for naught, as it was clearly meant as the first novel of a series, and the sequels never came. Reading...