the haunting of tram car 015 by p djèlí clark

The story also points out that the reintroduction of magic to society has resulted in an increased interest in traditional Egyptian religion. Think Emma Peel and John Steed in one body. Fatma has a preference for British men’s suits and carries an impressive black steel walking cane. It introduces us to Fatma el-Sha’arawi, one of the few women agents in the Ministry and possibly its most flamboyant. The series began with “A Dead Djinn in Cairo”, which was published on Tor.com. And there is a new organisation, the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments and Supernatural Entities, whose job it is to investigate magical crimes.

Cairenes have a new saying, “Thanks, Al-Jahiz”, that they wheel out whenever some feature of sharing their world with the djinn proves less than utopian. The Egyptians’ abilities quickly outstripped those of the colonialist British, French, Germans and Italians, all of whom were swiftly sent packing. When the Sufi mystic, Al-Jahiz, found a way into the Kaf, the realm of the djinn, Egypt quickly became the world’s foremost technomagical society. I mean, nuns with guns is quite terrifying enough give them chemistry labs too and there’s no telling what they might get up to.Ĭlark’s new novella, The Haunting of Tram Car 015, is the second story set in his steampunk Cairo universe. It is set in New Orleans and has airship pirates, plus nuns with guns and chemistry labs. His The Black God’s Drums was one of the stand-out novellas of 2018. P Djèlí Clark is rapidly becoming one of my favorite writers.

The haunting of tram car 015 by p djèlí clark