When Gravity Fails is a cyberpunk science fiction novel by George Alec Effinger published in 1986. It was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1987 and the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1988. The title of the novel stems from the lyrics of "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues", a Bob Dylan song: "When your gravity fails and negativity don't pull you through".
Taking place in a futuristic Middle-Eastern setting, the series reverses some of the ...
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When Gravity Fails is a cyberpunk science fiction novel by George Alec Effinger published in 1986. It was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1987 and the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1988. The title of the novel stems from the lyrics of "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues", a Bob Dylan song: "When your gravity fails and negativity don't pull you through".
Taking place in a futuristic Middle-Eastern setting, the series reverses some of the usual expectations of a future world order by painting the West in decline while Muslim countries seem to prosper. The book's other main themes are the effects of drug use and alternate personality technologies, as well as the personal interactions and increasing isolation of a severely flawed protagonist.
It is the first book in Effinger's Marîd Audran series, named after the protagonist, and was followed by A Fire in the Sun in 1989 and The Exile Kiss in 1991. Effinger started work on a fourth Audran novel, Word of Night, but died before...
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