A dark and gritty trip into the imagination of one of science fiction's most gifted authors, this collection presents all nine tales of the Budayeen gathered together in one archival-quality volume, available for the first time in more than 20 years. Here is the Budayeen: a gritty fusion of Bogart's Casablanca, New Orleans' notoriously seedy French Quarter, and a futuristic Muslim city, all welded together and serving as the perfect backdrop for Marid, a drug-addled policeman and anti-hero of world-class proportion. This is a collection to get lost in, from the city's sordid underbelly to the glamorous excesses of the "sex moddy" industry, from the tall, ancient mosque towers to the strong-voiced muezzin calling the faithful to morning devotions, the Budayeen leaps to sudden life, making claims to its own reality as only the best science fiction can.

Author Biography

George Alec Effinger is the author of The Exile Kiss, Felicia, A Fire in the Sun, Shadow Money, and What Entropy Means to Me. His novelette, "Shr+dinger's Kitten," won the Hugo, Japanese Seiun, and Nebula Awards and the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award. He was also known for mentoring numerous aspiring writers through the science fiction and fantasy writing courses he conducted for nearly a decade at the University of New Orleans Metropolitan College."