Marid Audran has risen from hustling on the streets of the decadent Budayeen ghetto to being the right-hand man of one of the Maghreb's most feared men. As an enforcer for the powerful Friedlander Bey, Marid is just beginning to enjoy his newfound wealth and privilege, when he and Bey are betrayed by a rival and accused of murder.
Sentenced to exile and abandoned to die in the vast Arabian desert, Marid and Bey must somehow survive the searing sands and make their way back to the now-hostile Budayeen--and, then, take their vengeance.
By turns thrilling and philosophical, "The Exile Kiss "is the culmination of one of the great works of modern SF.

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...

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 of eight magnificent pieces of fiction will have readers clamoring for more. 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, Effinger was a prolific novelist and short story writer, earning multiple Nebula and Hugo Award nominations. 

Someone’s about to rip off a sleepy little Louisiana town! Chuck’s gang of truckers are geared for looting. When Tom masterminds a false hurricane alert…When sheriff Boshardt orders an evacuation of the town…When Chuck moves in to strip the town clean…Their cool caper escalates into a devastating triple-cross that rips the rooftops off everything from Miami to New Orleans—and nothing—no one will ever be the same!