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I used to love Mr. Effinger's short prose, but was never able to find his novels in local shops or libraries. I discovered to my delight that my local library system has them, so I've been reading When Gravity Fails. I am honestly fascinated. It's a Science fiction noir thing, beautifully done. The character is no Gary Stu he man either, but a rather hedonistic fixer with a serious drug habit. The mystery is complex and it amuses me that the POV character keeps getting sidetracked from actually solving it instead of just working at the mystery like a normal noir hero would. I also love that his girlfriend is a transwoman, which is rather a startle for something from the '80's. In fact, a majority of the women are transwomen and one of his best friends is a transman. Who ever heard of that in RL in the '80's let alone writes one in as supporting cast. Of course, pretty much all the women in the book are prostitutes, trans or no and the POV says something pretty unforgivable to Yasmin during a fight. it's far from politically correct. still, it pleased me to see the very straight male lead in an overtly sexual/romantic relationship with a transwoman and friends with transfolk of both sexes. I also like that I'm more than half way through and I haven't solved the mystery yet. How rare is that?