In a futuristic Middle East, plug-ins can turn anyone into a killer in this "wry and black and savage" Nebula and Hugo award finalist (George R. R. Martin).Set in a high-tech near future featuring an ascendant Muslim world and divided Western superpowers, this cult classic takes us into a world with mind- or mood-altering drugs for any purpose, brains enhanced by electronic hardware with plug-in memory additions and modules offering the wearer new personalities, an...

A coming-of-old-age novel from the Hugo Award–winning author of When Gravity Falls. "Engaging . . . spry, inventive, and often quite funny" ( Kirkus Reviews).In HEROICS, Irene--like everyone in the future--struggles with boredom. Food, clothing, and all the necessities of human life have been taken care of. But, what does that leave of life itself? At eighty-two, Irene sets out on a pilgrimage across America hoping to find the answer. Along the way...

The world's first time traveler embarks on a multiverse misadventure in this madcap novel from "one of SF's distinctively nutty voices!" ( Chicago Tribune).Time travel: been there, done that … or at least Frank Mihalik has. On February 17, 1996, Frank discovers the secret to time-travel, or at least he thought he had. He must embark on a voyage through time and space in order to set things right. He must survive parallel universes in which--Oh my!--Shirley ...

Stories that "belong to a world that has been shaped not only by Asimov and Heinlein but also by Borges, Pynchon and Barthelme" ( The New York Times).In IRRATIONAL NUMBERS, as with much of his work, author George Alec Effinger straddles the line between allegorical fantasy and science fiction. It's a vein Effinger mines for a deep, meaningful understanding of human nature. Challenging and disquieting in the way only the best fiction can be, this collection ...

A "brilliant collection" of short stories set in a "marvelously realized, imaginary Muslim city" from the Hugo and Nebula Award–winning author ( Publishers Weekly, starred review).Long identified as a science fiction writer, except in his own eyes, George Alec Effinger had some of his biggest critical and commercial success with a series even he recognized and characterized as SF. Set in the marvelously realized, imaginary Muslim city of Budayeen, the three...

The complete Hugo and Nebula Award–nominated cyberpunk trilogy by an author whose work is "wry and black and savage" (George R. R. Martin).Praised as "a perfect example of how exciting the subgenre can and should be," George Alec Effinger's Budayeen Cycle is a towering and timeless science fiction achievement that continues to amaze, shock, and captivate readers ( SF Signal).When Gravity Fails: Set in a high-tech near future featuring an as...

Jewish Science Fiction and Fantasy? Yes!Wandering Stars is the landmark collection of Jewish science fiction and fantasy. The first of its kind, it is an established and enduring classic.This is the first time in a science fiction collection that the Jewish People—and the richness of their themes and particular points of view—appear without a mask. Wandering Stars is a showpiece of Jewish wit, culture, and lore, of the blend of humor and s...

A hilarious story of overly helpful aliens and a WWII alternate history tale from the Hugo Award–winning author of When Gravity Falls.These two short stories serve as a wonderful glimpse into the mind of multiple Hugo and Nebula Award nominee George Alec Effinger, a singular talent in the world of SF.In The Aliens Who Knew, I Mean, Everything, benevolent aliens have arrived on Earth, sharing their knowledge but also their annoying, overbeari...

Science fiction stories that offer "a poignant glimpse into the author's psyche . . . this bittersweet collection [is] one to be cherished" ( Publishers Weekly).When we first meet Courane, he must face down TECT, the self-aware computer that has come to control Earth and its colonial planets. Exiled to Planet D, Courane races to cure the debilitating disease that attacks each of the planet's residents, even as his own memory begins to fade...

The Hugo Award–winning author's "most memorable short stories . . . a tribute from those who best knew his work—his friends, fellow writers, and editors" (SFRevu).George Alec Effinger was a true master of satirical Science Fiction. Before his death in 2002, he gained the highest esteem amongst his peers for his pitch-perfect stylistic mimicry and his great insight into the human condition. Despite a life filled with chronic illness and pain, Effinger was a prolific...

A novel of first alien contact—and the conspiracy it unveils—from the Hugo Award–winning author of When Gravity Falls."Because it's there"—that was why Earth men climbed Mt. Everest and why, in 2017, they set out for the distant star Wolf 359. In 1988 they had learned that intelligent inhabitants from a planet orbiting Wolf 359 had been signaling Earth. That fact was reason enough to dispatch a manned probe to explore and investigate. But perhaps there was ...

Three slightly different versions of the same man inhabit three radically different versions of our world in this novel by a Nebula Award winner.Ernest Weinraub, Ernst Weinraub, Ernst Weintraub—three slightly different versions of the same name, the same man. Each incarnation of Weintraub/Weinraub inhabits a different version of our world: Ernest Weinraub lives in a maddeningly overcrowded New York, a hellish near-future world where sanity and life are imperiled by ...