Time for more holiday finds!
Which books/covers/authors intrigue you? Which have you read? Disliked? Enjoyed?
1. When Gravity Fails, George Alec Effinger (1986)
Jim Burns’ cover for the 1988 edition
From the back cover: “In a decadent world of cheap pleasures and easy death, Marîd Audran has kept his independence and his identity the hard way. Still, like everything else in the Budayeen, he is available …for a price.
For a new kind of killer roams the streets of the decadent Arabic ghetto, a madman whose bootlegged personality cartridges range from a sinister James Bond to a sadistic disemboweler named Khan. And Marîd Audran has been made an offer he can’t refuse.
The two-hundred-year-old ‘godfather’ of crime in the Budayeen has enlisted Marîd as his instrument of vengeance. But first Marîd must undergo the most sophisticated of surgical implants before he dares to stop a killer with the powers of every psychopath since the beginning of time…
Wry, savage and unforgettable, When Gravity Fails is a major new work of dark genius by one of the most celebrated talents in science fiction today–a cutting-edge, heart-stopping tour-de-force detective story about an insane future world not so far removed from our own.”
Initial Thoughts: Yes, I know, published one year outside my self-imposed cutoff point for my site’s coverage… Alas. I love Effinger. I want to return to his work. For my novel reviews, check out What Entropy Means to Me (1972) and Heroics (1979). I also thoroughly enjoyed the stories in Irrational Numbers (1976) — and I rank “Biting Down Hard on Truth” (1974) as one of my favorite 70s short story visions.
2. The Long Way Back, Margo Bennett (1954)
Rus Anderson’s cover for the 1955 edition
From the back cover: I own the 1957 Science Fiction book blub edition sans cover as the 1955 edition shown above–and the 1954 1st edition–are far too expensive ($275+). Thus, I’ve gone ahead and included the 1955 inside flap blurb divined from an ebay listing.
“The time is the future, some centuries after Europe after Europe has been destroyed by atomic warfare. But a legend persists in the super-organized society in Africa that man still survives in England, and that buried in the heart of that lost country is a golden city. The inhabitants, so the legend goes, never speaks of the city except when they are dying. And so an expedition is formed and sets out from Africa to search for the mythical islands of Britain and for traces of a possible civilization. The group is headed by Valya, a beautiful girl coldly dedicated to Science and the State.
The expedition finds a land of dense forests, inhabited by packs of huge ravening dogs. There are also tigers and strange, miniature cows and horses lurking in the brush. Finally, the Africans come upon a strange race of pale-skinned people who speak corrupt English and exist in the most primitive fashion, their whole lives dominated by the fear of their god, Thai, who, in the distant past, caused a great blast to destroy all life. Brown is the only native the expedition meets who has an inquiring mind and who is possessed with a mystic feeling that the English have had a great past and a may have a great future. How he saves the expedition and how they save him are only two of the dramatic high points of this novel. The Long Way Back is exciting reading. It is an outstanding novel by any standard–well written, intelligent and imaginative.”
Initial Thoughts: My nuclear doom collection grows and grows! I am fascinated by Bennett’s unusual African perspective. SF Encyclopedia doesn’t have much to say about this one other than “the denouement uneasily combines love interests, satire and adventure.”
3. I Am Not the Other Houdini, Michael Conner (1978)
Glen Weisberg’s cover for the 1st edition
From the inside flap: “The Chinese campaign of 2023 lasted some twenty years and led to the depopulation of urban centers throughout the United States. The civil war that followed led to a schism between the eastern and western states. Now, as July 4, 2079, approaches, Bruce Nukhulls, a government psychology expert, flies from Washington, D.C., to San Francisco on a mission of the utmost urgency.
On this day, Alphonse Sterling, known to his many admirers as the Great Houdini, will perform his greatest feat ever in Union Square. As millions of frenzied fans watch on their television sets, Sterling will pass through a mass of molten silver without being harmed. For Sterling, it will be his finest trick. For Nukhulls, it will provide an opportunity to stage the political coup of the age.
But the key to it all does not rest with Sterling or Nukhulls. It rest with a neurotic drunk named Ryan Arcad who possesses psychokinetic powers. And it is with Arcad’s involvement with Sterling’s wife and his surprising relationship with Nukhulls which change his life–and theirs–in ways even a clairvoyant could not forecast.
dealing with subtle ideas of illusion, suggestion and the impulsive and unpredictable nature of human beings, I Am Not the Other Houdini is a provocative novel by an exciting young science fiction writer.”
Initial Thoughts: An author unknown to me and a bizarre premise, count me intrigued. Mike Conner published four SF novels between 1978 and 1995 and thirteen short stories between 1976-1993. “Guide Dog” (1991) won a Nebula Award for Best Novelette.
4. Nuclear War, ed. Gregory Benford and Martin Harry Greenberg (1988)
Walter Velez’s cover for the 1st edition
From the back cover: “MANKIND HAS FINALLY BLOWN ITSELF OFF THE MAP.
Nuclear war. The greatest single threat facing mankind. The arsenals of a man-made Armageddon await only a word… the touch of a button.. a computer-glitch to reduce our cities to twisted wreckage, where survivors envy the dead.”
Contents: Chan Davis’ “The Nightmare” (1946), Theodore Sturgeon’s “Thunder and Roses” (1947), Fredric Brown’s “The Weapon” (1951), J. F. Bone’s “Triggerman” (1958), Herbert Gold’s “The Day They Got Boston” (1961), Norman Spinrad’s “The Big Flash” (1969), Joe Haldeman’s “To Howard Hughes: A Modest Proposal” (1974), David Drake’s “Men Like Us” (1980), Gardner Dozois and Jack C. Haldeman, II’s “Executive Clemency” (1981), Michael Bishop and Lee Ellis’ “The Last Child into the Mountain” (1983), Pamela Sargent’s “Heavenly Flowers” (1983), Ben Bova’s “Nuclear Autumn” (1985), Gregory Benford’s “To the Storming Gulf” (1985)
Initial Thoughts: I love nuclear glooms stories. I want to read more and more and more and more…. I included a bunch in my 2023 in review post–Pangborn, Matheson, Moore, Tenn, etc.
For cover art posts consult the INDEX
For book reviews consult the INDEX
For TV and film reviews consult the INDEX
Science Fiction and Other Suspect Ruminations 
Well, the idea of The Long Way Back grabbed me straight away, and lo and behold, the Internet Archive let me download a copy! I shall be on to that very soon…
Yeah, in my hunt for a cheap copy I found the online version but I much prefer to have a physical copy — even sans dust jacket.
She was a fascinating person. Served as a nurse and broadcaster for Spanish Medical Aid (affiliated with Communist International) during the Spanish Civil War. During the conflict she was injured in a truck crash and was shot in both legs…
I am very fond of When Gravity Fails (that is the cover of the edition I bought when it was first published by Bantam Spectra when I was still in college — yes, I am old). By the way, a few weeks ago I heard Paul Giamatti on the WTF podcast talking about his love for old SF and how he haunts used bookstores looking for multiple copies of his favorites because he loves the old cover art from 60’s and 70’s paperback editions.
Thanks for stopping by! I’m a child of the late 80s — born after the publication of the Effinger, haha.
As I pointed out in the post, I’m a huge fan of his 70s works. And I’ve only heard good things about When Gravity Fails.
What were your favorite vintage (for my purposes — pre-1985) SF reads of 2023? Did you see my year-in-review post?
I had to pull up my reading list from last year and found I actually read very little older SF and Fantasy in 2023 (and the current ones I read were almost all so disappointing that I didn’t finish them). I have used links that you have provided to read many of the short stories you wrote about, so thank you for that. I am going to start reread of Michael Bishop soon.
I’m glad you make use of the links. I should reread the rest of the Bishop stories in the Urban Nucleus sequence. Great stuff! Let me know your thoughts.
The only Effinger I’ve read is his novelizations of the Planet of the Apes TV series in the mid-seventies. I gather he regarded these as hackwork done to pay his medical bills, but I think they were well done, after their fashion. (I first read them at the age of eleven or so, when I was the Apes equivalent of a Trekkie.)
He’s an author of immense skill who came from deep poverty. As you mention, he had health problems his entire life and he accumulated massive health-related debt (his later years make for depressing reading).
Sounds like you should track down some of his best stuff this year! I list my favorites in the post above. If you’re in the New Wave mood, What Entropy Means to Me (1972) is not to be missed.
Many thanks, Joachim! I’ll check this out. In the mid-seventies, there was a Marvel mag devoted to Planet of the Apes (which I read religiously) and they had a review of one of Effinger’s Apes novelizations, and at the end mentioned some of his other titles, including What Entropy Means to Me, so it’s been in the back of my mind all these years. I’ll see if I can find it.
It’s one of those metafictional stories that plays with narrative in original and bizarre ways that I’m so fond of.
When Gravity Fails is a big favorite of mine. One of the best discoveries of reading the Hugo nominees imo.
I remember your mini-review! You also disliked one of my absolute favorite Hugo-nominated novels, Davy… so… muahaha. 🙂
I’d strongly recommend Don DeLillo’s ‘End Zone’, if you’re in a nuclear gloom mood. Very funny, full of the insane jargon around war and its publication date falls well within your parameters.
‘On The Beach’, a very different kettle of fish, is a very good nuclear gloom read – which I’m sure you will have read.
I had read about the DeLillo a few years ago but never picked up a copy. Thank you for the reminder. The small town football stuff will hit close to home… haha. I went to one of those massive rural Texas high schools with a district the size of a county obsessed with football. The collision with nuclear gloom sounds fantastic.
As for On the Beach… I have a copy, I’ve read countless pieces of scholarship about it but have not finished the novel (I’ve tried a few times). I’ve been out of the novel mood as of late — most of my reviews cover short fiction — but I’ll try to get to it this year.
Went ahead and grabbed a copy of the DeLillo. Can’t promise I’ll get to it soon but I’m glad I’ll have a copy for when the mood strikes.
Happy reading for 2024. It’s nice to have a wide choice, something to suit every mood / whim.
DeLillo (as I’m sure you’re aware) did write one SF novel – ‘Ratner’s Star’. Sadly I didn’t get on with it that well. It’s one that I keep meaning to go back to, give myself a couple of weeks to get the best out of it.
I only associate Effinger with one book – Nightmare Blue, which he co-wrote with Gardner Dozois, probably because I keep coming across the Fontana edition in various second-hand bookshops. My memories of the book itself are pretty vague. It was solid, enjoyable but ultimately forgettable SF, so pretty representative of its time.
Nightmare Blue is often described as his worst novel. It sounds like you should track down some of his better stuff!
When Gravity Fails definitely sounds like my cup of tea, but I keep wondering how I missed it first time round (ie if I’ve already read it)!
If you’re in the New Wave mood, check out What Entropy Means to Me (1972).
Gardner joked once about threatening to treat NIGHTMARE BLUE the way Harlan Ellison used to treat DOOMSMAN — buying the book from anyone who asked to sign it and ripping it in half.
Of course, that wasn’t Gardner’s way. He’d cheerfully sign it, cheerfully and ruefully admit he wasn’t very proud of it (and neither was George), and go on from there. And I have to say, I read NIGHTMARE BLUE long ago and kind of enjoyed it.
As for the rest of Effinger’s work, I liked THE NICK OF TIME and THE WOLVES OF MEMORY and some Marid Audran short stories, but for some reason I’ve never read WHEN GRAVITY FAILS. And I’ve read a lot of other Effinger stories, and I like them a lot, particularly the sports stories.
And, sadly, I have nothing else to say about these books! Except to note that much of the contents of the NUCLEAR WAR anthology looks pretty good.
I can’t imagine that you’re not a little bit intrigued by the Bennett — as a purveyor of the mostly forgotten! 🙂
Sure, but I have literally never heard of her or of that novel — so I cannot contribute anything sensible!
I’ll bet you have heard of it, but have just forgotten, since Damon Knight gave it a “nice try” at some length in IN SEARCH OF WONDER. (I concur with that judgment.)
I look forward to giving it a read!
You are correct. I have read IN SEARCH OF WONDER, so I did read about THE LONG WAY BACK, but I truly don’t remember it. Probably too obsessed with Arthur Zagat — was that the obscure author Knight perhaps needlessly slammed?
No–it was Arthur Zirul.
I’ve never heard of Zirul…
See Blish’s THE ISSUE AT HAND, ch. VII, One Completely Lousy Story, with Feetnote, for all you will ever need to know about him.
I read ‘When Gravity Fails’ sometime around 1990 or 1991. The date is important to me because it marks the passing of my interest in then contemporary SF, particularly cyberpunk, into the my somewhat obsessive interest in pre-1980s SF (30+ years and counting…). I remember precious little regarding the book–which doesn’t mark it out from much I’ve read! But I do vaguely recall that it left little impression after having read the likes of Gibson, Sterling, Shiner and Shirley. Cyberpunk by the numbers–“decadent” cyberpunk, in Joanna Russ’s sense of the term perhaps!?
I read a friend’s copy of Margot Bennett’s ‘The Long Way Back’ about four or five years ago. He was lucky enough to have nabbed a mint condition H/C with the lovely dust jacket you reproduce, above.
I loved the set-up of the novel, the way Bennett upended the prejudices of European “superiority”. Once the expedition arrives in what was once the UK the narrative tends to drag somewhat, until they find one of the blasted remains of a city. I recommend the novel mostly for its unique perspective vis-a-vis its sfnal contemporaries, rather than for any purported literary greatness.
antyphayes: Cyberpunk by the numbers–“decadent” cyberpunk, in Joanna Russ’s sense of the term perhaps!?
Oh, WHEN GRAVITY FAILS — and most of the Marîd Audran series — is better than than that, I think. Effinger was a natural writer. Granted the Budayeen books don’t have the eyeball kicks of contemporaneous Gibson and Sterling (the latter then still going strong, with SCHIZMATRIX, ISLANDS IN THE NET, and HEAVY WEATHER). But they’re well-paced and move along nicely.
The best Effinger novel, however, is probably THE WOLVES OF MEMORY aka UTOPIA 3 from 1981 —
https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?2935
Mike Conner won a Nebula in 1992 for a story in F&SF in 1991, about which I can’t now recall a thing. I do recall meeting the guy somewhere once and, as I thought about it, I’ve remembered where.
It was a free gig on a Sunday in Peoples’ Park in Berkeley, California, during the 1990s, where he was a keyboard player in a rock band called the Naked Barbies and I was another keyboard player. I’m pretty sure I wasn’t playing a free gig, though — I think I’d played for the band in the studio because the lead singer wanted someone to do Nickie Hopkins/Elton John -style acoustic piano and had paid me $50. I used to do every kind of gig then: wedding receptions, clubs, black churches, Caribbean cruises, a DOD tour of US/NATO bases while Gulf War I was going on — I think I even came back from Maui after playing at a Merck pharmaceuticals convention, then did a Hell’s Angels bar band in the East Bay that same evening.
Anyway, Mike Conner looked like he might be a coming SF writer in the first half of the 1990s, so I introduced myself and chatted with him a minute. As I recall, I pointed out a girl with bare breasts in the crowd — People’s Park, right? — and then he’d trouble looking at anything else for the duration of our brief conversation.
And as it turned out, he didn’t write anything else after 1995. There’ve always been writers who have one or two stories that crack the Year’s Best Anthologies and they maybe get a novel or three published, then drop out as the hard work of writing SF as compared to the meager-to-nonexistent payoff discourages them. Even being a professional musician — pardon the detour down Memory Lane — is usually a better paying proposition.
Mark, I think Utopia 3 is a variant title for Death in Florence (1978) not The Wolves of Memory (1981). I am eager to read both. I know I own the former under the variant title. Which one of the two did you enjoy the most?
I haven’t read DEATH IN FLORENCE.
And you’re right about UTOPIA 3 being a variant title for that, rather than WOLVES, according to SFDB. I apologize for the misinformation — should have checked.
I went ahead and bought Wolves as I didn’t own it. It might be the Effinger I read next.
The Conner story was “Guide Dog”, right? I remember thinking it was pretty good. And then, as you note, he pretty much disappeared.
Yup, I made sure to mention the Nebula-winning Conner story in the post.
I have a friend at work who’s been known to do those kind of gigs. Really talented keyboard and guitar player. Almost my age. Five years ago or so he (and another guy at work who was actually in a band that almost broke out nationally a couple decades ago) did some stuff for an up and coming country artist. They were recording a video, and the guy’s producer said, “Hey, your band can play. But you’re going to need to get some younger guys!”
Worked out OK — turns out the up and coming artist was a sleazeball to women and got in serious legal trouble and his career went poof anyway.
I am intrigued by the Bennett. Most of what I’ve read about the novel suggests it’s a bit disappointing in the sum of its parts — which matches your memories.
I’m not sure what Effinger I’ll actually read next. Maybe The Wolves of Memory or Utopia 3 that Mark mentioned below. I know I own the latter.