A Fire in the Sun

Marîd Audran #2

by George Alec Effinger

Marid Audran has become everything he once despised. Not so long ago, he was a hustler in the Budayeen, an Arabian ghetto in a Balkanized future Earth. Back then, as often as not, he didn't have the money to buy himself a drink. But he had his independence.

Now Marid works for Friedlander Bey, "godfather" of the Budayeen, a man whose power stretches across a shattered, crumbling world. During the day, Marid is a policeman…and Bey's personal envoy to the police. His new position has brought him money and power which he would abandon in a moment if he could return to a life of neither owning nor being owned. Which, unfortunately, isn't one of his options.

It's also not an issue. For something dark is afoot. Something that is sending the city into chaos. Helping a child-mutilator to avoid arrest. Sending a killer to murder Marid's partner. Murdering prostitutes and savaging their remains. Signs point to the hand of Abu Adil—the one man in the city whose power rivals Friedlander Bey's. Whatever happens next, it's not going to be good news for Marid Audran…

Genres: Science Fiction, Cyberpunk, Fiction, Mystery, Noir, Crime, Speculative Fiction

306 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 1, 1989

Reviews

[Jeffrey Keeten · Rating 4 out of 5]

”I was amused and glad that events were turning out as I planned. A line of American fiction occurred to me: ‘If you lose a son it’s possible to get another--but there’s only one Maltese Falcon.’”

Marid Andran has become everything he once despised. He is augmented and becoming addicted to the personality-altering moddies that he can chip into his head. He can be Ramses II or Buck Rogers of the 25th century or Nero Wolfe’s great creation Archie Goodwin or anyone else that is available in the various shops in the Arab ghetto. The man who refused to be owned in the excellent first book in the series, When Gravity Fails, is now owned, lock, stock, and cock, by Friedlander Bey, the gangster who is also a devote Muslim and sees no conflict between being a cold blooded killer and a believer.

I read When Gravity Fails a long time ago and weighed the idea of rereading it before venturing into book two of the trilogy. My stack of TBR books made the decision for me, so I launched myself into this book with the hopes that a stiff desert wind would blow the dust off my memories. Meeting up again with Marid was like seeing an old friend whom you haven’t seen in ten years and starting up in the middle of a conversation you didn’t get a chance to finish the last time you saw each other. The story concept is so unique that the Budayeen/ Arab Ghetto came to life for me like I’d never left.

What does one call this? Arab Noir? It has that science fiction, Blade Runner edge to it. It also hearkens back to Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe. It certainly reminds me of the aspects of a Matthew Scudder type character who is down and out, self-medicating, but still fighting the good fight. I have no doubts that if there were a Blade Runner future, the Middle East would look very much like the one imagined by George Alec Effinger.

Marid is still a cop. One that fumbles with finding the right moddy to slip in for each situation. If given time, he can be a super cop, but in the time it takes for him to slip one moddy out and slip in another one, a perp may just fill him full of holes. There’s a guy loose on the town by the name of Jawarski, an American killer, brought specifically in to eliminate certain people on a list, and Marid’s partner gets in his way with terminal results. Who is responsible for Jawarski? Friedlander Bey? His arch rival Abu Adil? Or some other player as yet to be determined?

Marid is going to have to step up and remember who he used to be. Living as a tool of evil is not really living at all. To add to his troubles, someone is trying to kill Bey. Prostitutes are being murdered, and their bodies are being mutilated. When he gets wind that there is Phoenix File with all the pertinent medical information of practically everyone, he starts to understand that some people lower on the list might be considered more expendable than people higher on the list.

There is humor in the book as well. One of the moments that still makes me chuckle is when Bey is trying to decide how best to reward his hulking bodyguards for saving his life. ”I promised myself that I’d do something for the Stones as soon as I was able--maybe buy them a few infidels to torture. I mean, what do you get the Gog and Magog who have everything?” Okay, yeah, not so funny if I’m one of those infidels.

If you like hardboiled noir, you are going to love this series. If you are a bit skeptical about the fact that it is set in the future, set your mind at ease. The science fiction aspects just allow Effinger the freedom to layer on cyberpunk aspects that add wonderful nuances to a troubled detective. This book was published in 1989, but Marid has a more modern romance with a lovely, transexual woman named Yasmin. It seems in an Effinger future, even in a conservative Muslim community, who you love doesn’t have to conform to heterosexual stereotypes. I’m hoping in book three Marid has his augmentations stripped out of his head and starts experiencing the world for himself as himself again. I don’t think he can ever be happy until he quits being other people. We all have to find the version of ourselves that we like the best.

The third book in the series is called The Exile Kiss, and I am looking forward to reading that one very soon.

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[Bradley · Rating 4 out of 5]

The techno and social cyberpunk element is in full force in this novel, whether it comes from grifting, thugging, or betrayals. The second novel in the trilogy feels almost like a day/night alteration in the MC after he's left open to so many enormous mods to his brain and spinal column, in how he has not only come to grips with and uses all the tools now in his toolbox despite his fear.

But this isn't only a novel of coming to grips with what is now himself, altered. It's also a novel about coming to grips with his family, his co-workers, of getting justice even though he has become an enforcer for a Muslim kingpin, of coming to grips with his old compatriots who had shunned him after he did what he had to do in the previous novel.

The world set around 200 years in the future is gloriously detailed and fascinating, while still remaining the same old shithole of Noir storytelling... in other words, it's still very much a cyberpunk tale, but the focus is more on power and dominance and just trying to eke out a niche in his world of steadily decreasing choices. Drug abuse helps, some, but he finds out that squashing his enemies is much more satisfying.

And more than anything, these are absolutely character novels. Marid is fascinating and complex and I can't help but feel sorry for him; he's a tragic figure that's modded to become a perfect tool... the perfect opposite of what he'd always wanted for himself.

And then the reveals are pretty sweet and tragic, too, because now he has even less ability to break free. I can't wait to see how the third and last novel plays out. This is very readable and steeped in a very non-western attitude, which only adds a lot of spice to the cyberpunk. :)

[Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Somewhat disappointing followup to the magnificent When Gravity Fails, which I consider an early cyberpunk/noir classic.

While still enjoyable, this was just not quite as compelling. The plot feels patchy, jumping abruptly among too many threads, while I also failed to feel as immersed in the gritty slums of the future middle eastern metropolis known as the Budayeen which serves as the backdrop. The protagonist, a down on his luck gumshoe of sorts, seemed fraught with inconsistencies. In the previous book he's a kind of hardboiled bad ass loner, yet now he's become a kind of spineless junky working as a crooked cop for the big crime boss.

So, this didn't quite work for me, though it moved fast enough to keep me engaged. Not sure I'll continue with the last book in the trilogy.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

When Marid Audran joins the police department as Friedlander Bey's agent, he quickly runs up against Bey's counterpart, Abu Adil...

George Alec Effinger's Marid Audran sequence continues. Effinger isn't afraid to upset the status quo and quickly sets up Audran in the police department and gets him balls deep into the world of moddies and daddies. Audran ends up running a club in addition to his other duties. It feels like a police procedural at times.

All that aside, there's a lot of political intrigue in this as Audran maneuvers around and schemes come to light. Audran doesn't spend a lot of time in the Budayeen and that may be the book's sole weakness. There are more than enough twists, turns, and surprises, although I saw a few of them coming. Why the hell did spoiler let spoiler spoiler but I guess that sets up the third book.

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.0 stars. Very good sequel to When Gravity Fails and Book 2 of the "Budayeen Nights" novels that take place in a near future world of the Middle East (think Blade Runner in Saudi Arabia). The book is a "noir" style SF detective fiction starring Marîd Audran, a once small time hustler that is now working for the most influential man in the city of major crime boss of city.

The most interesting SF element/concept of the novels is the use by most of the population (at least those who can afford it) of computer software that can be inserted directly into the brain once it has been "pre-wired" for it. This comes in two main forms: (1) "daddies" (slang for "add-ons") which is software chips that can provide a person unique skills like languages translation, accounting or even street fighting; and (2) "moddies" (slang for modules) that contain whole new personalities that a person can assume either for pleasure (e.g., a movies star) or for work (e.g., a famous detecitive for crime solving).

Overall, good writing, fast-paced plot, good main character and interesting world building/SF elements. Recommended!!

Nominee: Hugo Award for Best Novel
Nominee: Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel

[Sleepy Boy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this just as good as the first. MC has become what he hates and remains a tool to be wielded by his patron. Threads and plots running deeper are coming to light, really curious to see what the trilogy finale has in store.

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Fire in the Sun is the second of the three Marid novels that Effinger completed before his death. Marid has achieved the success he desired at the beginning of his story, and now must face the fact that he doesn't much like who he has become; it's something of a be-careful-what-you-wish-for moral tale. Unfortunately, he's much less of a likable protagonist as a result, but the rich setting and engagingly noir-ish plot almost makes up for it. The mixture of a cyber-punk civilization in the traditional Arabic world is fascinating, and the Budayeen locale (inspired by Effinger's beloved adopted hometown of New Orleans) remains a high-water-mark in the science fiction field.

[Florin Pitea · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was OK.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

The next book in the Marîd Audran is a bit different from the first. Marîd is no longer anyone's favourite person. He's treated like scum by all his old friends for the horrific incident at the end of the last book as well as he's now Friedlander Bey's lieutenant.

Not so much a detective book this time Audran is now Papa's official liaison with the police force helping them when suitable. He's also dealing with his past when he finds his mother for the first time since his youth. And coming up against the only rival Papa has.

It's still a fairly dark book but lacks the punch of the first one. There's nothing really new in the world although there is a mention of a new technology which may pop up later. It was a good book but I was hoping for more.

[Megan Baxter · Rating 4 out of 5]

I remember thinking that the first book in the series was interesting, but never quite entirely satisfying. Apparently either the second book is a lot better, or I was really cranky when I read the first volume. That's certainly possible. At any rate, I quite enjoyed this second venture into Marid Audran's world.

Note: The rest of this review has been withdrawn due to the changes in Goodreads policy and enforcement. You can read why I came to this decision here.

In the meantime, you can read the entire review at Smorgasbook

[Olethros · Rating 3 out of 5]

-Estrictamente hablando, más “Noir” que “Cyberpunk”.-

Género. Ciencia-Ficción.

Lo que nos cuenta. En el siglo XXII, Marîd viaja al oeste hasta Mauritania para buscar a su madre con objeto de saber más de su pasado. Cuando vuelve al Budayén, retoma su trabajo indeseado de policía interesándose por varias muertes extrañas y recibe un nuevo regalo envenenado de Freidlander Bey, que simultáneamente le hace un encargo delicado. Segundo volumen de la trilogía de Marîd Audran y que para disfrutarlo es recomendable haber leído el primero.

¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:

http://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com/...

[Mirnes Alispahić · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first thoughts that come to mind when we hear the word "cyberpunk" are likely neon billboards that light up crowded streets and body modifications. Enters George Alec Effinger, who takes the game and turns the rules upside down. His cyberpunk world is a mix of Dashiell Hammett, William Gibson and 1001 Arabian Nights. Set in a Middle Eastern town which can be modern Dubai or Doha, in a shady part of it called Budayeen, Effinger brings a tale of Marid Audran, who is a part private eye, part wise-ass and a whole addict, of drugs mostly.
The first part of Marid's adventure was superior to its sequel, which somehow goes all over the place even though one has to admit to Effinger that he knew the Arab world well. The way they talk, their behavior and their customs. Everything is superb which makes us wonder whether Effinger spent some time living in the Middle East.
In "A Fire in the Sun" Marid becomes all that he is despised and fought against. Now he is a puppet of Friedlander Bey, a policeman, addicted to the technology plugged into his head. His new quest is somewhat unclear as Effinger sets the figures on the chessboard. Yes, he sure knows how to write interesting characters. However, somewhere down the line, he loses the focus and the plot is all over the place. Two thirds of the novel are slow, with almost nothing happening, even though there are signs of something bigger in the background. Then in the final third things heat up and Effinger unravels it all in a very naive way, for the lack of a better word, as if we're reading a Scooby Doo mystery where at the end they remove the mask and reveal a bad guy with a detailed explanation of how he became that.
Even though the novel was nominated for a Hugo Award in 1990, I find it hard to believe that it ended up there as „When Gravity Fails“ is a much better novel. This one is worth reading just for the rich world and characters that Effinger brings to us. Plot and execution wise it's not the best Effinger have to offer.

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

The principle problem with this entry in the series, is that for large sections Marîd reads like he's had his balls cut off. While this may make sense in terms of plot, it also greatly diminishes the reading experience found in the first book.

Now that the protagonist that I liked in the first instalment is a shadow of his former self. His shoulders are unable to support some of the failings in the narrative that at times insult rationality. This isn't the same a plot reveal displaying a few large craters. The characters openly hone in on a perpetrator at one point and instead of following through, they sit on the problem until it blows up. Considering the people featured in the story are supposed to be the movers and shakers in the world, I simply don't buy they would be that stupid.

Another consequence of Marîd's new life, is the city that once was so well realised now seems like a decaying husk. I'm not sure whether this is because of the tone of the book or some way to symbolise Marîd's psychology. But either way, all the life seems to have been squeezed out it. Instead of an image of a city, the image in my mind was a vacuous hovel that only featured the places Marîd visited.

Very disappointing considering I loved the first book. I hope the next one is able to save the series's overall standing.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very engaging book start to finish but it did not feel like a complete story as much as the first book did but more like a bridge between books one & three. Hoping for an outstanding ending in the final story.

[prcardi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Storyline: 2/5
Characters: 2/5
Writing Style: 3/5
World: 2/5

In the Marid Audran series readers get to loaf around a strip club largely populated by sex-changes while patrons such as our protagonist sift through their pillcase deciding which combination of pharmaceuticals fit their current mood. This is not my idea of an enjoyable setting for a story. But the series also gives us a crime-boss controlled city in the Middle East, whose protectors and citizens alike are religious Muslims in the process of their next fraud, takeover, or assassination. That, I find, stimulating. But one does not come without the other, and both elements are meticulously put together, full of details, producing a vivid picture of a city full of bewildering paradoxes. This was accomplished in the first, When Gravity Fails , but the demands of a sequel always require more. And that more simply was not delivered here.

The series first could get away with some missteps because it was so remarkable. It is difficult to imagine how novel this series must have seemed in 1986. Somehow a guy named “George Alec Effinger” writes a convincingly and seemingly familiar portrayal of Middle Eastern life and Islamic customs and does it in cyberpunk. There’s no internet, but characters walk around with bioware. It is a very cool look and idea into what might have been had technological development gone differently. That base is all laid out in book one, so it was up to book two to delve more deeply into the seeming contradictions of religious and criminal life, to detail the ramifications of interchangeable software personalities, or to explain what sort of moral or social code keeps a city full of criminals from devouring itself. But Effinger is having none of that. Effinger’s flair is making it seem like there is none. His descriptions of city and life are wildly successful at making all that is here seem normal and taken-for-granted. Effinger is entirely comfortable with the base which he has created, and there is no goal of extending the ideas, implications, or explanations any further. If one simply wants a new murder mystery in the same world, then A Fire in the Sun is a book for you. Anyone demanding more on the world, however, should know going into it that Effinger is not going to do anything more than he already has on that front.

Besides being a disappointment as a sequel, A Fire in the Sun is a step down from the first book in the areas of plot and characterization. This, I think even for those who find a lot to like in it, was a poor mystery. The clues were not subtle, the suspense was missing, the revelations simply were not interesting or believable. Even worse was our protagonist. Marid, I ultimately concluded, is a fool. And that is not what Effinger is going for. Marid is written as a flawed and compromised character, but he’s really supposed to be admirable. His starting portrayal as independent-minded and nonconformist is so thoroughly upended through the tale that one has to conclude that he was either never who we thought he was or that Effinger did a really bad job developing the character beyond the base presented in book one. The protagonist’s haphazard working through a none-too-interesting mystery did not improve matters. The final impressions one has of Marid, I feel very strongly, are not what Effinger intended.

So the setting remains remarkable but also remarkably unexplored. Effinger’s casualness with the world backfired for me because I needed to be convinced that these kind of systems could coexist, that these kind of people could work together, or that this technological development would result in these kinds of characters. I am really skeptical that the world has coherence. That blight on the otherwise creative base put together with a weak story and character made this into something that I cannot recommend. I do not plan on reading the final volume of the trilogy.

[Michael Burnam-Fink · Rating 4 out of 5]

The best cyberpunk that nobody knows. The drug and sex crazy Middle Eastern setting of the Buyadeen sets this apart from the usual chrome and black leather crowd, while the tech level is accurately 'like today, but a little bit different.' Book 2 of the Marid Audran trilogy follows our now neuro-enhanced protagonist as responsibility is forced on him, as well as a deadly secret about his employer and the system of governance he controls.

***

I reread this when Amazon had a deal on the whole series. This is a definite step down from When Gravity Fails. I could remember that book vividly, but this one had a vague "oh yeah, that's when that happens." While the scenes are good, the over all plot just doesn't make sense. There's some kind of covert war between the two major crime bosses of the city, but it turns out there's an overall alliance over a covert plan to share organs to favor underlings. Marid is at the mercy of hardened kills and walks out a few too many times for me to believe it. And as an underling in an organization and new moddy enthusiast, he's much less fun than the hustler of the first book. Still, I'm excited for to see how the series ends.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

9/10 idk I'm straight up really bad at rating things.

I love Effinger's writing because he manages a really complex and likeable protagonist that you can really get behind because of his flaws and root for because of his successes and yet he doesn't feel like a Gary Sue. I'm really enjoying the Muslim Future Arabia background of this series and Audran's slow acceptance of the better parts of religious doctrine. It's a cool and interesting culture with an honest and nuanced show of religion, poverty, power, desperation, and dignity.

Great series.

[Kirsten · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another excellent book by underrated talent George Alec Effinger.

Mr. Effinger is an effortless storyteller. He paints a wonderfully vivid picture of the people of the Budayeen and the lives they live (not to mention the deaths they die).

Marid is a flawed hero but a very sympathetic one. I am just very sad that I am coming up on Marid's final book. Very sad indeed.

[Jordan · Rating 5 out of 5]

The follow-up to When Gravity Fails is another great installation in a series that deserves more discussion when people talk about the cyberpunk genre. The Budayeen is a vivid locale every bit as much a character as Gibson's Sprawl.

[Michael Battaglia · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first book in this series had more than enough character development for several books, as we watched the gradually dawning look of terror on hero Marid's face as he not only realized that all the independent he thought he possessed was nothing more than a convenient illusion and got to watch as his world collapsed to a cushioned and pampered box both literal and metaphorical. It was a chilling note to end on, so how do you craft an encore to that?

By taking it even further, of course. With Marid now firmly under the thumb of benefactor/possible relative/ruthless underground overlord Friedlander Bey, known without a shred of affection by anyone as "Papa", he finds himself installed as one of his top men, utterly part of the system and given all the money he could ever want. But its a cage so gilded its likely to blind him . . . he's miserable all the time about feeling more compromised than a convention of double agents, all his friends hate his guts and Bey enjoys twisting the knife in the nicest possible fashion (the kicker is when he forces Marid's best friend to sell her bar to him, then gives it to Marid to run) just to remind Marid that he'll never have his old life back, no matter how he wants it. Oh, and its only Monday.

The last book had a bit of a lackadaisical attitude to plotting at times but succeeded through sheer texture and giving us an exotically intriguing locale to explore. With the shock of the new about being introduced to Effinger's world and the Budayeen worn off this could turn into a familiar romp, Just Another Day for Marid and his wacky cast of regulars. But Effinger does his best to push Marid out of his comfort zone by essentially eliminating it entirely . . . his alienation from his friends changes the whole character of what we thought we knew as once friendly places turn abruptly hostile on him, forcing him to hang out at Bey's house and figure out way to not do as he's told while looking like he's doing exactly as he's told.

A book where the hero holds zero cards in his favor and is doing his best to tread water until the vague hope of matters improving actually materializes is an interesting premise for a book and for the most part Marid's personality is what keeps this book going. As before, the plot itself seems secondary, spending most of the beginning figuring out the status quo and then gaining a little steam when Papa decides that he needs a liaison in the police station and poor Marid fits the bill, sticking him with people that have hated him all along instead of starting recently like his friends. These sections have a fun "buddy-cop" feel as the Marid has very little feel for police work and his partner is one of about three honest men on the force.

But its only when something happens to his partner that the book finally kicks into gear as Marid investigates a thing called "The Phoenix File" and run afoul of Papa's main rival . . . if anything, these parts go deeper than the first novel did by detailing the interconnected nature of the criminal underground and how these vicious old men stay in power. Marid toys with messing up the network but its difficult when everyone is just trying to survive and stay under the radar, including him. Its the nature of that survival that ultimately concerns the book and how far people are willing to go to maintain it, leading to one of those endings that might be heartbreaking if it didn't feel so inevitable.

It winds up being a setting you don't mind spending a lot of time in, partly due to how unique it is and partly due to the likability of Marid's narration, as the guy keeps looking for a break that steadfastly refuses to arrive. As a person faced with only bad choices and who may not even be that qualified to figure out which is the worst one, he tries constantly to make the best of it but keeps being reminded by everyone else how easily he folded and so he tries to live up to their ideals despite none of them being much better than he is. Its a book that takes the person who should be the main villain and makes them an almost necessary benevolent figure without ever letting you forget that they are not very nice. Its a book that can feel light in presentation but delves deeply into questions of honor and religion, mostly presented by drug addicted hustler turned enforcer with a prostitute for a mom. It shows Islam as the home of the sincere and the hypocrite and the questioning and in what might be the most quietly groundbreaking aspect of the series (and something I forgot to mention the first time out) casually counts several transgender people among its cast (including the woman he's dating). Its not full of the immediate pleasures of the first book but in its depiction of the intersection of power and religion in the world's underbelly it may be a more satisfying read and yet another reason to hope that it becomes more well known than it is.

[Princessjay · Rating 2 out of 5]

Now that Marid is set up as the single character with never-before-done brain modifications, are these ever used to any particular purpose? Not really. He chips these "moddies" and "daddies" much as everyone else in the story does, with their run-of-the-mill modifications. So what's the point of having him set up--in the first book--as THE GUY who refused to modify his brain because he feared losing his original personality?

The plot meandered here and there. There was some assassin or other killing people, involved in some dark plot or other. There was police corruption as part of life in the Budayeen. There was some plot against Papa. All nonstarters. The supposed climax was anticlimactic. The entire time I couldn't figure out whether this was intended to be a mystery--too straightforward and no unfolding truths, character exploration--no characters complex enough nor character growth, or social commentary--too unfocused to make any cogent point. Rather, it was a tepid mishmash of all of these, to no convening purpose.

I gave it TWO STARS, because Effinger is a good writer: personalities are mostly distinct, the cyberpunk Arabesque background realistically evoked. However, given this is a world where you could change your personality with software, wouldn't it be nice to explore a little bit what it means to be a human and an individual? Or if not that, could we have more fun with the trope of being able to acquire ANY PERSONALITY you want and ANY KNOWLEDGE you could buy, just by jacking data sticks straight into your brain?? Sigh.

Worth a flip-through if you've not much to do. Nowhere near as good as WHEN GRAVITY FAILS.

[Matthew Travers · Rating 3 out of 5]

A couple long drives had me blow through this book pretty quick.

It's not to the novel's credit. I just kept on with this series after first stumbling upon it with my last literary venture. It was quaint and niche enough beneath the sci-fi umbrella that it kind of coasted on its charm. These are essentially sandstrewn cyberpunk novels. Set in some Middle Eastern future ghetto, everything is morally gray, gender and your very corporeal frame are fluid, et cetera.

All that considered, this one felt a bit... uninspired.

The story itself sees our once wholly human, wholly independent operator, Marid, now running around town with some upgrades, a complete fucking sellout. This one, he's got a cyberdeck in his head that's top of the line. He's been given a job as a policeman by the corrupt and very much a criminal godfather of the city, who he works for as a consigliere of sorts. His life has changed quite a bit. He went from broke, savvy hustler to some kept woman for an Evening Prayer observing Don Corleone.

The ease of his life, the convenience (contrivance) of certain things felt pretty predictable. If not predictable, boring.

I said in the last review I'd keep up with this character, this series, but I wouldn't say that with much enthusiasm after this. I won't be rushing headlong into the third.

[Ružica · Rating 2 out of 5]

The majority of the book is kind of boring to read, especially compared to the first book, but it was still pleasurable to go through it. Or to finish it, at least.

[Xavi Aznar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Segunda entrega de la trilogía. El protagonista se ha alejado del fango donde ha estado batallando toda su vida y ahora se mueve en un terreno más peligroso si cabe; ejerce de lugarteniente para Papa y libra batallas en las que ya no sólo se lanzan puñetazos y se disparan pistolas de agujas. La droga que impregna el día a día del protagonista es el poder, y como todo en el Budayén, tiene un precio que hay que pagar.

La trama de esta segunda novela gira alrededor del "archivo Fénix", de lo que contiene y de lo que significa.

El tono de "novela negra" se mantiene, aunque quizás menos acusado que en la primera parte. El viaje del protagonista para "reconciliarse", de algún modo con su pasado, su acercamiento a la religión y a lo que significa ser un "buen musulmán" le restan crudeza a esta segunda parte que se apoya más en la tecnología para su desarrollo.

Sin entrar en detalles para evitar spoilers, los "moddies" (cartuchos de personalidades sintéticas) dejan ver cómo su mal uso no es sólo cosa de locos degenerados y psicópatas asesinos como vimos en la primera parte. El "clonado" de personalidades reales, vivas, puede ser abusado de formas absolutamente retorcidas, del mismo modo que la evolución de la cirugía no sólo permite el cambio de sexo o implantes. La capacidad de reparar prácticamente cualquier daño sobre el cuerpo y los transplantes de órganos permiten a quienes pueden pagarlo extender su vida de manera casi indefinida. Si a los avances de la tecnología añadimos el bajo precio de la vida humana en el Budayén, tenemos los ingredientes para crear un cóctel explosivo.

Aunque algo más floja que la primera parte, "Un fuego en el Sol" sigue siendo igualmente recomendable.

[Ralph Blackburn · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Fire in the Sun by George Alec Effinger- Marid Audran, the Islamic hustler- almost a PI-from "When Gravity Fails" is back and now firmly under the wing of his benefactor, Friedlander Bey, the crime overlord of the Budayeen, a red light part of town.. Audran's head now is a repository of memory add-ons and personality modifications, which make his new job as a policeman easier even though he hates it. His old friends despise him and his new acquaintances either want to bow to him or kill him. So when a rival kingpin from another part of town begins sending deadly emissaries, Audran must act quickly to keep Friedlander Bey alive. But as he digs deeper into the lives of the two men, Audran finds out a horrifying truth and risks his life to see true justice is done.
This story is steeped in Raymond Chandler with a bit of Mickey Spillane thrown in, and with all the Cyberpunk and Middle East tropes needed. A fast enjoyable thriller

[Joshua · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bismillah... I'd have a White Death.

Still have no idea what the hell bingara is. The protagonist, Marîd, gets gimlets at the other joint, which is kind of the same thing so it leaves me to believe that it must be some kind of regional thing. I don't know. Still want to try one. In any case, Marîd battles his inner demons along with many external ones and faces many tragic moments in this second saga. I was hooked after the first and am most definitely ready to see where Effinger's story of him ends in the third. I've heard good things about Budayeen Nights so if the last book leaves me longing for more of this gritty dystopia, I'll most definitely be imbibing that as well.

[Tentatively, Convenience · Rating 4 out of 5]

review of
George Alec Effinger's A Fire In The Sun
by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE - July 3, 2018

Yet another writer I'd never heard of. I liked the cover art. Got the bk cheap at my favorite local used bkstore. Was reluctant to get it b/c it's the 2nd bk in a series & the store didn't have the 1st one. Turned out the novel's setting is Africa. That was a bit strangely coincidental b/c I'd recently read Evelyn Waugh's Black Mischief (see my review here: https://www.goodreads.com/story/show/... ) wch had an African setting, AND I read Mack Reynolds's Blackman's Burden / Border, Breed Nor Birth wch ALSO had an African setting. It seems that I'm on a little Africa roll. None of the authors, as far as I know, are African.

There're 14 bks of his listed inside. That's a fair amt of bks for an author I'd never heard of. I want MORE.

"George Alec Effinger's stories and novels have made his name significant in the science fiction field for nearly twenty years. "Wry and black and savage . . . there's a knife behind every smile," is George R. R. Martin's characterization of Ellinger's fiction." - p 191

&, yet, I'd never heard of him.

Back to the beginning, there's an Oscar Wilde quote: "Children begin by loving their parents; after a time they judge them; rarely, if ever, do they forgive them." That's attributed to Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray, a novel I enjoyed greatly 50 yrs or so ago.

This novel begins: "We'd ridden for many days out the coast highway toward Mauretania, the part of Algeria where I'd been born." (p 1) I've used Mauretania as an example of a country that still practices slavery:

"Slavery has been called "deeply rooted" in the structure of the northwestern African country of Mauritania, and "closely tied" to the ethnic composition of the country.

"In 1905, an end of slavery in Mauritania was declared by the colonial French administration but the vastness of Mauritania mostly gave the law very little successes. In 1981, Mauritania became the last country in the world to abolish slavery, when a presidential decree abolished the practice. However, no criminal laws were passed to enforce the ban. In 2007, "under international pressure", the government passed a law allowing slaveholders to be prosecuted. Despite this, the number of slaves in the country has been estimated by Global Slavery Index to be 43,000 (or 1.058% of the population) in 2015 and by the organization SOS Slavery to be up to 600,000 (or 17% of the population). Sociologist Kevin Bales and Global Slavery Index estimate that Mauritania has the highest proportion of people in slavery of any country in the world.While other countries in the region have people in "slavelike conditions", the situation in Mauritania is "unusually severe", according to African history professor Bruce Hall.

"The position of the government of Mauritania is that slavery is "totally finished ... All people are free", and talk of it "suggests manipulation by the West, an act of enmity toward Islam"."

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery...

I certainly don't trust a government spokesperson but that doesn't mean that it's unreasonable to imagine that anti-Islam forces wd maintain that slavery still exists in Mauretania in order to discredit them. SO, let's see whether I can find any Islamic sources that criticize Mauritania for still practicing slavery, shall we?

"Interview with Mauritanian human rights activist Biram Dah Abeid

""Time to end Arab racism"

"Today in Mauritania, children are still being born into slavery. Not only that, they will remain slaves for the rest of their lives. It is the most prevalent and most extreme expression of Arab racism in North Africa, says human rights activist Biram Dah Abeid and it is time to consign it to the past. By Claudia Mende

"Slavery has been officially banned in Mauritania for the past 36 years. In 2007 a new law was introduced that allowed slave owners to be prosecuted. What types of slavery still exist in the country in spite of this?

"Biram Dah Abeid: Many babies born in Mauritania come into the world as the property of others. According to the Global Slavery Index, up to 160,000 people in the country are currently living in conditions of slavery. The black Africans – Haratins – are often the slaves of the country's Arab-Berber elite, the white Moors, who make up about one third of the population. The Haratins are bonded to the family of their master, have no right to education, no civil rights, earn no money and are often forced to do very hard work.

"How is this tradition passed on?

"Dah Abeid: Traditionally the slaves are not sold; they are given away as children when the master's children marry and start their own families. Females are the property of the masters from birth, they are expected to gratify his sexual desires and are not permitted to refuse his advances. Alongside this traditional bondage, there are also some modern forms of slavery being practised.

"What's the difference?

"Dah Abeid: This involves black Mauritanians and migrants from other African countries. They are forced to do hard, poorly paid labour and are mistreated by their Arab-Berber masters. The men and children tend animals and the women are put to work as domestic servants under very harsh conditions.

"The Mauritanian government claims that traditional slavery is rare and restricted to the remoter areas of the country.

"Dah Abeid: That simply isn't true. The government wants to play the whole thing down. Our organisation, the IRA (Initiative pour la Resurgence du Mouvement Abolutioniste en Mauritanie) has freed many people from slavery over the years. We've also encountered cases where Haratins were being kept as slaves in some of the upmarket neighbourhoods in Nouakchott, where the ruling elite live."

- https://en.qantara.de/content/intervi...

The person being interviewed is described as "Biram Dah Abeid, himself the son of freed slaves, has long campaigned for the rights of the Haratins. In 2013 he received the United Nations Human Rights Award for his commitment to their cause." & the article's from 2017.

Nonetheless, let's continue w/ some critical reading research. The publication that the article appeared in is described on Wikipedia thusly:

"Qantara.de (Arabic: قنطرة‎ qanṭarah, meaning "bridge") is an Internet portal in German, English, and Arabic, designed to promote intercultural dialogue between the Western and Islamic worlds.

"The portal was founded on the initiative of the German Foreign Office, in reaction to the crisis ridden developments in relations to Islamic cultures in the wake of the shock of the September 11 attacks in the USA. Online since March 2003, the platform is jointly run by the German Federal Agency for Civic Education (bpb), Germany’s international broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW), the Goethe-Institut (GI) and the German Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations (ifa), and is funded by the foreign office. The task of the joint dialogue project is to promote understanding between the various cultures, with the aim of combating ignorance and prejudice through knowledge.

"The editorial team works to publish writing by Western and Islamic authors who seek open and respectful discussion of both commonalities and controversial subjects. These have included diverse contributors, like the Egyptian literary scholar Nasr Hamid Abu Zaid, the German former diplomat and Muslim Murad Hofmann, the Islam theologian Halima Krausen, the conflict researcher Heiner Bielefeldt and the physicist Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker."

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qantara.de

SO, can it be trusted? After all, it's the product of the German Foreign Office.. so, nah, it probably can't be completely trusted. I decided to try searching in a prominent Arabic newspaper so I picked

"sharq Alawsat الشرق الاوسط
Asharq Alawsat الشرق الاوسط is a premier pan-Arab daily newspaper, printed simultaneously on four continents in 12 cities."

& waddya know, I got this 'error message':

"Forbidden
You don't have permission to access / on this server."

Interesting. Who forbids it? What about

"Al Jazeera الجزيرة بالانجليزي
Al Jazeera الجزيرة بالانجليزي is an international news network headquartered in Doha, Qatar. Initially launched as an Arabic news and satellite TV channel, Al Jazeera has since expanded into a network with several outlets, including the Internet and specialty TV channels in multiple languages."

They have a reputation for being critical of 'The West'. I could access their website so I did a search & got this:

"Your search - Mauretania slavery - did not match any documents.
No pages were found containing "Mauretania slavery" ."

OOPSIE! I misspelled it. I corrected the search to "Maritania slavery" &, yep, waddaya know, there's plenty on that:

"Thirteen anti-slavery activists in Mauritania on trial for "rebellion and use of violence" told a court on Monday that they had been tortured during their detention, their lawyer said.

"They were arrested last month after a protest in a Nouakchott slum community that was being forcibly relocated as the West African country prepared for an Arab League summit.

""One by one, the 13 spoke out against the forms of torture they had been subjected to in custody", according to lawyer Brahim Ould Ebetty, representing the members of the Initiative for the Resurgence of the Abolitionist Movement.

"He added that the campaigners demanded that "proceedings be brought against the torturers they have mentioned by name".  

"The 13 are accused of rebellion, use of violence, attack against public authority, armed assembly and membership of an unrecognised organisation, which carries a potential fine and a jail term of up to two years.

"The Nouakchott slum was home to many so-called Haratin - a "slave caste" under a hereditary system of servitude whose members are forced to work without pay as cattle herders and domestic servants.

"About 10 police officers were injured during the protest, according to local officials.

"Hereditary systems of slavery still exist in Mauritania despite an official ban, where those belonging to "slave castes" are forced to work as cattle herders and domestic servants without pay."

- https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/0...

SO, let's give a big WE-HATE-YR-GUTS-SHITBAGS to the Mauritanian ruling elites. If John Brown, version 21st century, were to kill-'em-all-&-let-Allah-sort-'em-out I wdn't exactly cry over it. Interestingly, despite slaving being ostensibly illegal in Mauritania, I didn't find a single article about slave owners being arrested, only abolitionists:

"Your search - Mauritanian slavers arrested - did not match any documents.
No pages were found containing "Mauritanian slavers arrested" ."

Same deal for a search for "Mauritanian Slave Owners Arrested". That tells me that it's the same old shit, right? The political activists get demonized while the old money criminals keep right on keepin' on.

End of tangent.

"Back home in the city, Saied thought it was beneath him to earn money. He liked to sit in cafés with me and Mahmoud and Jacques, all day and all evening. His little chicken, the American boy everybody called Abdul-Hassan, went out with older men and brought home the rent money." - p 3

Note that Effinger has the young male prostitute be an "American boy". Is he trying to avoid offending Africans? Not much point in denying the commonness of young male prostitutes in African countries. Maybe I've just read too much William S. Burroughs but I've always thought of Africa as a Mecca for such things.

"A new trend of commercial sex tourism that targets young boys has emerged in the coastal town of Malindi . It is alleged that boys from poor families are being lured into the trade by rich tourists.

"Malindi Sub county deputy commissioner Joshua Nkanatha and Malindi police Boss Kiprono Lang'at confirmed that the cases are rising in the resort town. Speaking at HGM primary school during a Public Baraza Nkanatha said male prostitution was high in Malindi and contributed to increased cases of HIV and AIDS. "A survey we conducted shows that boys engaging in sexual activities with male tourists are buying pampers because they can no longer hold their stool," he said. Lang'at on his part urged the public to take responsibility and enlighten the youths about the health risks of engaging in the vice."

- http://allafrica.com/stories/20130820...

Then again, maybe it's the tourists who deserve most of the 'credit', eh?

I'd call this "Cyberpunk". It has that 'gritty' noir plot augmented by some futuristic touches:

"They liked Saied. He could make people like him whenever he wanted. That talent was programmed into an add-on chip snapped into his bad-ass moddy. With the right moddy and the right daddy chips, it didn't matter where you'd been born or how you'd been raised. You could fit in with any sort of people, you could speak any language, you could handle yourself in any situation. The information was fed directly into your short-term memory. You could literally become another person. Ramses II or Buck Rogers in the 25th century, until you popped the moddy and the daddies out." - p 4

"A few minutes later, I was back in the modshop on Fourth Street. Twice in one day was enough of Laila to last anybody a year. I overheard her discussing a moddie with a customer. The man needed something to let him do armadontia. That's the science of converting human teeth into high-tech weapons." - p 232

It's too bad I missed the 1st bk but at least I got a little flashback taste from this one:

"Once upon a time I'd had to kill a few people, mostly in self-defense. More than one club owner had told me never to set foot in his bar again. After that, a lot of my friends decided that they could do without my company" - pp 14-15

Effinger drops in a few literary references: "I have vodka gimlets, because that's what Philip Marlowe drinks in The Long Goodbye." (p 16) "A line of American fiction occurred to me: "If you lose a son it's possible to get another—but there's only one Maltese falcon."" (p 285) So he likes Raymond Chandler & Dashiell Hammett — so do I. He doesn't base the whole novel around these references, tho, & I'm somewhat relieved that he didn't. I admit to having gotten somewhat burnt out on that type of writerly strategy w/ Jay Russell's Brown Harvest (see my review here: "Diarrhea Harvest: Wet Fart": https://www.goodreads.com/story/show/... )

Jump ahead 188pp from page 15, thusly missing most of the plot:

""How are you feeling, Mr. Audran?" said Dr. Yeniknani. He came up next to my bed and smiled down at me. His strong teeth looked very white against his swarthy skin and his big black mustache. "May I seit down?"

""Please, make youself comfortable," I said. "So are you here to tell me that the fire baked my brain, or is this just a friendly call?"

""Your reputation suggests that you don't have much brain left to bake," he said. "No, I just wanted to see how you were feeling, and if there's anything I can do for you."" - p 193

Kachink! If this were the present in the USA, that little 'friendly' visit to the patient's bedside might pay the doctor a minimum of $500 for, essentially, doing nothing.

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you liked book 1, this is more of the same.

[Malcolm Little · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a tale Effinger weaves. Rarely does a sequel surpass the original’s inventiveness and excitement, but in my honest reviewer’s opinion, Fire in the Sun is the Terminator 2 to When Gravity Fails’ Terminator. The protagonist, perpetually disinterested Marid Audran finally finds things to be interested in, the kind of things that a rational, ethical person would when surrounded by corruption but having the power to make a difference.

This time around in the budayeen, the friends and colleagues are more palatable, the enemies and obstacles are more frustrating, and the trials and tribulations are more thrilling. And I for one am not surprised. The brilliance of the premise, the setting and the mélange of deep characters from WGF screamed to be fleshed out further in a sequel. That sequel would have the benefit of not having to explain every little tidbit of minutiae to the reader. Familiarity goes a long way in the series, and Effinger expects a certain level of it here. For a natural continuation, that is not a problem at all.

There are a great many things concerning the narrative:
• The exposition is taught, fluidly integrating cyberpunk tech and jargon without being too heavy on the infodumps
• Characters that we only caught glimpses of in WGF are expanded in FitS (the intriguing ones too, not the insipid ones)
• Friendships and enmities coalesce over the course of the plot, rather than being forced as part of an unexperienced background
• A mystery plays out throughout the story. It intertwines with a couple subplots that actually gel well with the main one
• The setting is nuanced with many customs and idioms typical of the Muslim world … including the staples of religious hypocrisy, acceptable corruption, and enforced social separations

More important than all that – in my opinion – is the first-person perspective we readers are treated to. Marid Audran is a Berber of beauty. His modus operandi might speak far more to a struggling western man than to a man or woman from anywhere else on Earth. But for me, a western man who struggles from time-to-time, I could not but help developing a man-crush on the moddied hero. It was as if Effinger had tapped into my cerebral cortex and sucked out my pet peeves, my worldview, my motivations, and blew them onto a petri dish. Swirl that goo and sprinkle in an eclectic mix of situations and players – et voila, you have Marid navigating against a sandstorm of precarious bullshit flung at him from everyone and their pet agendas.

Only a couple things prevent Fire in the Sun from reaching the status of flawless masterpiece. No doubt this tale is a high 4, yet it dragged near the end and ended abruptly. The end was logical, and conclusions to problems were enacted, but the setup leading to it suggested too much was at stake to let things settle as they did.

Oh, and there was no Nero Wolfe moddie. Rex was cool in its own right, but c’mon. Nero Wolfe rocks!

Ugh, too much gushing. Need to go swallow some sunnies …

[The Retrospective Emperor · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Fire In The Sun picks up where When Gravity Fails left off. If you haven't read my review of the previous book you can check it out here. And if you don't feel like it reading it then the series takes place in a Cyberpunk Middle Eastern setting. Most people have brain implants that allow them to exceed human limitations in one form or another.

Marid Audran has become an employee of the local Godfather Friedlander Bey. He is now working as Papa's (Friedlander's) liaison for the police. Marid hates being tied to the boss, but there is nothing he can do about it. His friends won't talk to him, and his girlfriend wants nothing to do with him. The novel starts very similar to the previous installment with Marid wandering around for about half of the book. We see his relationship with Papa and his job on the police force. We meet his mother, a prostitute, with who he has a volatile relationship. And find out that he might be somehow related to Friedlander.

As the story goes on Marid is paired up with another police officer and they are sent out to investigate Friedlander's rival Abu Adil and a series of homicides that might be related. Neither Marid nor Jirji, his partner, are excited about working with one another. Eventually, Papa bestows a new gift upon Marid, a bar that he frequents that belongs to Marids friend. An event that doesn't seem to serve much of a purpose. This is something that could be said about this book (and the whole series) because there are constant tangents and side plots that seem to go nowhere. I could excuse it if it added to the world-building but it really doesn't. As Marid and his partner investigate a shooting: his partner is killed in action.

Audran is sad, he takes drugs and gets yelled at by everybody. He does some investigating and solves the murder but not without taking a few beatings and just generally making a fool of himself. Marid is supposed to come off as tough and smart but seems to be neither. He is an addict that bumbles and stumbles his way through the plot. The constant niceties in this series get old. Every conversation is filled with " may you be prosperous and be peace upon you," it was interesting at first but quickly becomes annoying. And the Muslim setting once again seems to be just window dressing. I will admit I liked this book better than the first. I would recommend it if you're desperate for some cyberpunk. As you can tell I'm not a big fan of this series but I'm almost done.