First published 2014
Marid Audran walks the neon-lit streets of the Budayeen, where neural implants rewire personalities and identities shift like desert sand. In this Muslim metropolis of the future, Audran navigates a world where technology and tradition collide in unexpected ways. These seven short stories and fragments expand the vivid landscape that Effinger built in his acclaimed novels. The collection opens with "Schrodinger's Kitten," which swept the Hugo, Nebula, and Seiun Awards. Readers encounter the same exotic yet familiar city where cyberpunk meets Middle Eastern culture, creating a unique vision of tomorrow. Audran faces new challenges in this urban maze where nothing is quite what it seems. The stories capture the atmosphere of a place both alien and recognizable, where advanced technology coexists with ancient customs and the protagonist must find his way through moral and physical dangers.
Genres: short-stories, science-fiction, urban-fantasy, cyberpunk
Vibes: atmospheric, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, moral-ambiguity
Setting: Budayeen, Middle East
Period: Future
235 pages · ebook · Open Road Media