It’s their human qualities that bring out Hossain’s funny, satirical encapsulation of today’s zeitgeist. They come in human form with a powerful aura that surrounds them and works as a weapon. In Hossain’s novel, they are indeed villainous. Who/what the heck are djinns, anyway? A survey course in mythology might convey their various villainous characterizations. They initially seem to resist doing so, less so upon learning he’s related to djinns and his father is a djinn emissary. When Kaikobad falls into a coma, Aunt Juny, Uncle/Ambassador/GU Sikkim, and cousin Rais take the little guy under their wing. Kaikobad won’t even educate his son about his own mother, other than the fact she died giving birth to him, which people love to joke about as “death by Indelbed.” His father is a very learned and very drunk man, possibly because he misses the boy’s mother, and he refuses to allow his son a traditional education. The novel opens with the backstory of Indelbed, a child who lives with his widower dad and a few ghostly servants in a decrepit house in Bangladesh’s capital. Hossain’s recently released Djinn City from Unnamed Press builds on his 2015 novel Escape from Baghdad! This Bangladeshi writer captivates with his often humorous blend of satire, sci-fi, fantasy, and mythology that takes place in 2066 underground, at ground level, and in the skies.
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