PARADISE BURNING: ADVENTURES OF A HIGH TIMES JOURNALIST

PARADISE BURNING: ADVENTURES OF A HIGH TIMES JOURNALIST Chris Simunek (St. Martin's Griffin, $12.95) No creatures crawl out of the carpet in Paradise Burning, but Chris Simunek is clearly a Hunter S. Thompson wannabe, albeit one with his own put-upon humor and edgy, high-energy prose style. In pieces that chronicle his assignments for High Times magazine, Simunek tells the story of his ''career'' as a drug-culture journalist, which can be less fun than it sounds: He barely survives a Rainbow Gathering sing-along (imagine 10,000 hippies caroling ''Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah'') and camps out with crazed lowlifes at a bikers' convention. Simunek is at his best when things go badly, which is most of the time. B+