I had read a one-off novel sometime during the mid-80s by an author I knew nothing about. The author is George Alec Effinger and the work was a futuristic noir piece with an arabic flair about a sort of gumshoe in a sort of a sort French Quarter of New Orleans section of a nameless Arabic city in the twenty-second century. The style is what we now might call cyberpunk, a desgination the author hotly denied, even though he is considered one of the fathers of the cyberpunk genre. The novel was "When Gravity Fails" and I remember thinking it was very uneven, kind of depressing, and wildly original. I liked it immediately, warts and all. I had hoped to read more from this author, but alas, never tracked down anything else by him. Until now. A buddy at work showed me a book he was reading by an author I hadn't heard of. I opened the flap and saw three author blurbs. I recognized two of the three and mentioned that Zelazny and Effinger were both dead now. That's when it occurred to me that I didn't know how I knew that latter bit, so I went searching around a little. I found the book of his that I remember reading nearly 20 years ago, "When Gravity Fails": http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/055325555X/002-3554094-2083216 I even found a review of it that captures something of the feeling I remember: http://members.aol.com/dmchess/www/gravity.html But then I read the following blurb and got all aquiver: "George Alec Effinger wrote three books about Marid Audran, a private investigator living in the Budayeen, the red light district of an unnamed Arab country in the 23rd century (but in actuality modeled on the French quarter in New Orleans, where Effinger lived). When Gravity Fails is the first of the three books, which introduce us to Marid, who was raised in Algeria by his mother, an Algerian prostitute, and who never knew his French father. Considered a barbarian north african by the Arabs in his city, Marid lives on the fringes among the drug dealers and users, and the strippers, protitutes, sex changes and outcasts that live just outside the law, working as a private detective when he can find a client. Marid prides himself on being unwired, that is, unlike most residents of the Budayeen, Marid has not adapted his brain to accept personality modules, or Moddies, or add-ons, better known as Daddies. Nor does Marid work or live under the largesse or protection of Friedlander Bey, better known as Papa, who controls most the business, legitimate or otherwise, in the Budayeen. When a client is killed in front of Marid's eyes and Marid's acquaintances start dying horrible deaths, Marid is drawn into an uneasy alliance with both the police, whom he does not trust, and Papa, to whom he does not want to be beholden. Effinger has created a world that is unlike most science fiction books, keeping the actual science light, and letting us believe that this is how the Arab world might be in the 23rd century, with not much changed except a bit of technology. Effinger offers both an interesting who and why-dunnit, while examining the issues of faith and identity. Is Marid, a heavy drug and alcohol user who lives by his own code and is committed neither to Allah nor any other human, the faithful one, or is it Papa, who kills and extorts in the name of business but who faithfully prays 5 times a day? What is it like to be an outsider, and how do you find yourself? This book is sadly out of print, but easily available used on the internet. Still compelling after all this time and well worth tracking down." /Three/ books?! I officially know what I want for my next birthday - used books: "When Gravity Fails" http://tinyurl.com/6gpge "A Fire in the Sun" http://tinyurl.com/5rtb5 "The Exile Kiss" http://tinyurl.com/5c59e By all accounts, it appears Effinger died before he was able to write a fourth book in the series, "Retribution". A book of Effinger's short stories entitled "Buyadeen Nights" was apparently published last year with introductions from his wife, author Barbara Hambly: http://tinyurl.com/6akct -- johne cook | johne.cook at gmail.com | http://www.phywriter.com |