Wild Cards, edited by George R.R. Martin


Books


Wild Cards #1: Wild Cards

Quote:

An alien species decides to use Earth to test a new bioweapon. An airborne criminal seizes the weapon and tries to use it to blackmail the city of New York. A former WWII flying ace tries to stop him. And, on 15 September 1946, the world is forever changed when the wild card virus is unleashed in the skies over Manhattan.

Ninety percent of those infected by the virus die instantly. A further nine percent develop crippling deformities or abnormalities, becoming known as 'jokers'. And one in a hundred of those infected develops a wondrous superpower. They become the 'aces'. As an alternative history of the 20th Century unfolds, the American government first tries to use the aces for their own ends and then, in a paranoid frenzy, turns against them, before they finally win some recognition for themselves. But for the jokers, forced to live in a ghetto in Manhattan, their road to recognition and respect will be much harder.

Wild Cards is the first book in the series of the same name, which of this time of writing spans twenty-one volumes with two more planned. This isn't a series of novels, but collections of stories written by many different authors. George R.R. Martin (of A Song of Ice and Fire fame) and Melinda Snodgrass provide editorial control, ensuring that each volume has its own narrative drive and point beyond just collecting random short stories together. The stories are set in their own milieu, with authors sharing ideas, using each other's characters and building up a consistent, coherent shared world.

The first Wild Cards book opens with a bang, with Howard Waldrop giving us the origin story for the entire setting in 'Thirty Minutes Over Broadway'. This is a terrific slice of fiction, with Waldrop fusing pulp energy with his own idiosyncratic style to give us something weird, resolutely entertaining and rather tragic in its own right. Roger Zelazny - yes, that one, the author of the Amber series and Lord of Light - then provides the origin story for Croyd Crenson, the Sleeper, one of the original aces whose powers shift every time he goes to sleep. Crenson's periods of hibernation provide a handy way of fast-forwarding through the immediate aftermath of the crisis, showing how New York, the USA and the world adapt to the arrival of the virus. Walter Jon Williams and Melinda Snodgrass then show us two sides of the same tale through 'Witness' and 'Degradation Rites', the story of the Four Aces and their betrayal by the American government. These opening four stories provide a quadruple-whammy of setting up this alternate history and doing so whilst telling stories that are well-written (superbly so in both Waldrop and Zelazny's cases, though the others are not far behind), finely characterised and as gut-wrenchingly unpredictable as anything in the editor's fantasy stories.

Later stories remain highly readable, though perhaps not quite on a par with this opening salvo. Martin's own 'Shell Games' is, perhaps unexpectedly, the most uplifting story in the book, the story of the bullied boy who becomes a superhero. Michael Cassut's 'Captain Cathode and the Secret Ace' and David Levine's 'Powers', two new additions for the 2010 edition of the book, are both decent, filling in gaps in the history. Lewis Shiner's 'Long Dark Night of Fortunato' introduces one of the setting's less salubrious characters and makes for effective, if uneasy, reading. Victor Milan's 'Transfigurations' shows how the anti-Vietnam rallies of the late 1960s and early 1970s are changed by the presence of the wild card virus (and gives us an ace-on-ace rumble that is particularly impressive). 'Down Deep' by Edward Bryant and Leanne Harper is probably the weirdest story in the collection (which in this collection is saying something), a moody trawl through the underbelly of New York (figurative and literal). It's probably a little bit too weird, with an ending that is risks being unintentionally comical, but is still reasonably effective.

Stephen Leigh's 'Strings' and Carrie Vaughn's 'Ghost Girl Takes Manhattan' (the latter being another new addition in this edition) return to the quality of the opening quartet. The former depicts the jokers' battle for civil rights, resulting in riots and chaos in Jokertown and New York that a shadowy figure is manipulating for his own ends. 'Ghost Girl' is a straight-up adventure with the titular character teaming up with Croyd Crenson to find her missing friend. 'Ghost Girl' could be a novel in its own right, with the battling criminal gangs and dodgy drug-taking rock bands providing a canvas that's almost too big for the story, but Vaughn's method of keeping the story under control and resolving it is most effective. Finally, John J. Miller's 'Comes a Hunter', in which a 'nat' sets out to avenge the death of his friend by going up against some criminal aces, is a superbly-written thriller which examines how 'normal' people can stand up against aces and jokers.

The book as a whole is excellent, with the stories entwining around real history and changing it in a way that is mostly organic and convincing. There are a few issues with plausibility here - most notably the way no-one seems particularly bothered about the proven existence of an alien race that has just tried to poison the entire planet - but for the most part the writers use the premise to tell stories about the changed history of the USA (from McCarthyism to civil rights to Vietnam) in an intelligent, passionate manner.

Wild Cards (*****) introduces the world, setting and many of its memorable characters through a series of well-written, smart stories. There isn't a weak card in the deck, and the best stories (those by Waldrop, Williams, Snodgrass and especially Zelazny) are up there with the best of their original work. The book is available now in the UK and USA.


Man, I love the Wild Cards series. I'd heard they started reprinting them again, going to have to try and finish my collection, and get the updated first book.

It was interesting that only the first book was an anthology of short stories, later books are mosaic novels, with authors working on different chapters. Some of them make each chapter feel like a separate storie in its own right, but they're strongly connected to all the others in the novel.

Sovereign Court RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8

They are excellent books. Personal favourite characters are Captain Trips and The Great and Powerful Turtile.


Hah, yes! I love Captain Trips and his many different personalities. Fortunato is an interesting, if somewhat disturbing at times, character as well.

The Exchange

While I enjoyed the first couple of books, I read the synopsis of the third book and got the impression that the series is losing direction and not telling any meaningful story. I decided to skip ahead to the newer books, and was aghast to find myself reading a book about a stupid reality TV show. I think it will be a while before I come back to this series.

The turtle is great, though.


Tinkergoth wrote:

Man, I love the Wild Cards series. I'd heard they started reprinting them again, going to have to try and finish my collection, and get the updated first book.

It was interesting that only the first book was an anthology of short stories, later books are mosaic novels, with authors working on different chapters. Some of them make each chapter feel like a separate storie in its own right, but they're strongly connected to all the others in the novel.

There was quite a bit of interconnect between the short stories, though. GRRM did a good job of ensuring all the writers played in the same "world" so that one story often picked up where the last left off. If nothing else, Tachyon's evolution throughout the first book was intriguing.


Every third book in the series is a mosaic (where each story is basically a chapter in a single story). The rest are linked anthologies, where each story stands alone but some threads and ideas continue through them (and characters guest-star in other writers' stories). The first one is the most diffuse, as it spans 40 years (the rest all seem to span just weeks, days or, in the case of the third book, hours), but even that has elements carrying on from one story to another.

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder PF Special Edition, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

There was an excellent GURPS Supers sourcebook for it as well. And this is definitely NOT something I'd try to Pathfinderise.


LazarX wrote:
There was an excellent GURPS Supers sourcebook for it as well. And this is definitely NOT something I'd try to Pathfinderise.

. Wasn't the original inspiration for the series a supers RPG some of the authors were playing together? I'm sure I remember reading that in the intro, and that man of the Aces were based on their characters.

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder PF Special Edition, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Tinkergoth wrote:
LazarX wrote:
There was an excellent GURPS Supers sourcebook for it as well. And this is definitely NOT something I'd try to Pathfinderise.
. Wasn't the original inspiration for the series a supers RPG some of the authors were playing together? I'm sure I remember reading that in the intro, and that man of the Aces were based on their characters.

From wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_Cards

Wild Cards was inspired by superhero comics, and many of the authors play with the conventions of the medium, while some characters are based on existing heroes (for example, Jetboy was modeled on the Hillman Periodicals' character Airboy). Many of the original authors were also inspired by a long-running Albuquerque, New Mexico campaign of the role-playing game Superworld, gamemastered by George R. R. Martin, and many modeled their characters on their in-game persona.

Superworld was specifically a supers rpg, not a D20 based game system.


Yeah, never thought it was a d20 based one. d20 definitely wouldn't handle that sort of game well, no argument from me on that one.

There's a system coming out soon from a Kickstarter, AMP: Year One that I've been thinking I might try to use for WildCards style game. I've been pretty impressed with the creator's stuff before (Eloy Lasanta is the designer, previous games - and kickstarter campaigns - include Apocalypse Prevention Inc., Part Time Gods and a number of splat books for Part Time Gods.) He's always been good with communication, project management, and producing quality games, so I'm intrigued to see what he does with the superhero genre.

Liberty's Edge RPG Superstar 2008 Top 32, 2011 Top 16

I haven't heard anything on it recently, but SyFy is supposedly working on a TV show based on Wild Cards.

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JoelF847 wrote:
I haven't heard anything on it recently, but SyFy is supposedly working on a TV show based on Wild Cards.

It's been so darn long since there was any word on that, so I feel pretty confident to say that it's not really happening.


SyFy were developing a film version, to be scripted by Melinda Snodgrass (the - often uncredited - co-editor of the WILD CARDS books, frequent writer on the series and a former producer on ST:TNG). The problem seems to be that SyFy wanted to do it as a big-budget 'proper' film in co-operation with a big studio, and then the big financial crisis happened and no big studio wanted to risk it.

I've got a feeling that GRRM would be very happy for the rights to lapse so he could take it to HBO. If HBO ever wanted to do a superhero series, WILD CARDS would be right up their alley. Hell, it's more HBO than ASoIF ever was ;-)


Werthead wrote:
I've got a feeling that GRRM would be very happy for the rights to lapse so he could take it to HBO. If HBO ever wanted to do a superhero series, WILD CARDS would be right up their alley. Hell, it's more HBO than ASoIF ever was ;-)

Am I the only one who can see Tim Roth as Tachyon? He has the acting chops, a slightly exotic accent, and is a natural redhead. If we're dreaming big names, how about Stephen Fry as Hiram Worchester? As long as they don't cast Shia LaBeouf as Jetboy I'll be happy.

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder PF Special Edition, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Tinkergoth wrote:

Yeah, never thought it was a d20 based one. d20 definitely wouldn't handle that sort of game well, no argument from me on that one.

There's a system coming out soon from a Kickstarter, AMP: Year One that I've been thinking I might try to use for WildCards style game. I've been pretty impressed with the creator's stuff before (Eloy Lasanta is the designer, previous games - and kickstarter campaigns - include Apocalypse Prevention Inc., Part Time Gods and a number of splat books for Part Time Gods.) He's always been good with communication, project management, and producing quality games, so I'm intrigued to see what he does with the superhero genre.

I have to eat some of my words. Wild Cards apparantly has been implemented as a Mutants and Masterminds setting. No word on how well it works though. I did know the person who worked on the GURPS Supers book though.

The Exchange

I've been aware of the Wild Cards universe for many a year. It's worth investigating, though it's definitely rated M. One nice thing about it is that since George R.R. is only editing, not writing, the character deaths are only occasinal. ;)

The Exchange

TarSpartan wrote:
Werthead wrote:
I've got a feeling that GRRM would be very happy for the rights to lapse so he could take it to HBO. If HBO ever wanted to do a superhero series, WILD CARDS would be right up their alley. Hell, it's more HBO than ASoIF ever was ;-)
Am I the only one who can see Tim Roth as Tachyon? He has the acting chops, a slightly exotic accent, and is a natural redhead. If we're dreaming big names, how about Stephen Fry as Hiram Worchester? As long as they don't cast Shia LaBeouf as Jetboy I'll be happy.

I actually really like David Tennant with a wig as Tachyon. He already played one quirky, emotional, alien doctor in a way that I really liked, so I figured, why not another?

EDIT: come to think of it, one of the first things he said in his role as The Doctor was that he wanted to be ginger this time around. Who are we to deny him such a wish? ;)


Croyd Crenson. Kid Dinosaur. "Joker" Jubal. Hiram giving a plate of coins to the traitor. The ink not making it through the lockbox. Howler, the un-character... The see-through information dealer. The Puppetmaster. Polar bear on a night train.

So many great stories, vignettes and expertly nuanced personalities. I did kinda get completely bored by the Joker Island stuff...


Croyd is a spectacular charater, with his constant regen. I'm a big fan of Popinjay as well, and Brennan, the 'normal' who's good enough to take down the big bad aces.

Didn't Howler

Spoiler:
die really early though? I thought Roulette killed him.

Been a while since I've read them though, I could be wrong


GRRM did okay or order every major character death (and there are a few along the way). Apparently his first experience with getting angry fan letters about character deaths came in the first triad, when even briefly-set up characters who died very quickly triggered complaints. I think one character who died only had one line, "Where's the cheese?" before buying it.

He experienced the same thing later in ASoIaF of course, not to mention working on BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (although that was a bigger deal, being one of the series leads).


You know... at every turn when there is a discussion about Game of Thrones, I find myself in the position of telling people about this series. About how all the shocking things they are seeing/reading in GoT are pretty standard fare for Martin as far back as the 80's when Wild Cards began.

Almost NEVER do I see a response that someone other than I has read the series, in full or in part.

This thread is breathtaking to behold. ^_^

To comment on a few things above:
The OGL D20 systems didn't exist yet when the series began. I always forget it was Superworld and tend to remember it as if they were using GURPS, even though I know it was quite a few books later that they only developed the Wild Cards supplement with Steve Jackson.

George Martin and Melinda Snodgrass were pretty neck-&-neck as far as who wrote the more bizarre and shocking character deaths and tortures.
Even some of the characters' POWERS were just disturbing to consider... i.e. Roulette(created by Martin) or LOOPHOLE!?(created by Snodgrass).
Fans only reading GoT just don't know...

Truth be told, the latest books put out over the past few years haven't met those standards quite as much, but have had some great stories regardless.
And it was very cool to see them finally draw the Captain Trips/Radical story to some kind of conclusion.

Yes, Howler

spoiler:
was killed by Roulette. Again, among all the bizarre and twisted stuff Marin and gang were doing to characters LONG before SoI&F.

The next book in the series, Lowball, is due out in hardcover this summer and the author pool is working on the next... I think it's called High Stakes.
There are some excerpts of Lowball on Martin's website.


SeeDarkly_X wrote:

You know... at every turn when there is a discussion about Game of Thrones, I find myself in the position of telling people about this series. About how all the shocking things they are seeing/reading in GoT are pretty standard fare for Martin as far back as the 80's when Wild Cards began.

Almost NEVER do I see a response that someone other than I has read the series, in full or in part.

My apologies for the minor threadjack, but I have to confess that while I first read ASOIF, I have made it a point to read as many of GRRM's other works as I can get my hands on to get a better appreciation for his work as a whole, and to help give ASOIF "context." I read "Windhaven," and I kept thinking throughout the book that his obsession with describing food goes back to the Seventies!

So yes, there are certain tendencies that pop up in Martin's work.

Pointing back towards the topic, I'm about to start Wild Cards book three of, what, fifteen? Twenty? I'm looking forward to the ride!


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TarSpartan wrote:
SeeDarkly_X wrote:
I'm about to start Wild Cards book three of, what, fifteen? Twenty? I'm looking forward to the ride!

21 out. 2 more definitely coming.

Although I should note that book XVII was done solely by John J. Miller. And while it's a great story that acts as a "where are they now" for a lot of the early characters... it REALLY could use Martin's direct hand in editing for typos and grammar.
It's also one of the rarest to find because the original publisher shut down after only a short run.
Good luck finding it... I'm not selling mine. :P


I love this series, and still reread it periodically. It was really good deconstructive superheroic stories before it became fashionable to write deconstructive superheroic stories.

I read the original 12 plus the 3 Card Sharks books, and only learned of the newest cycle (as well as 2 iBooks novels) recently, and am hoping to acquire them soon and catch up.

There were a couple of comics series for Wild Cards as well; Marvel (IIRC) did some adaptations of the series, and then there was one a few years ago from IDW. I only read the first one or two of that series, and am not sure if it even concluded. It featured Croyd Crenson as the antagonist. I still own the issues, and should reread them. I don't recall if I stopped picking it up because I didn't care for them, I just forgot to pick it up regularly enough (my shop didn't order many, so they sold out quickly), or if it just wasn't the same without Zelazny writing him.


Cthulhudrew wrote:
There were a couple of comics series for Wild Cards as well; Marvel (IIRC) did some adaptations of the series, and then there was one a few years ago from IDW. I only read the first one or two of that series, and am not sure if it even concluded. It featured Croyd Crenson as the antagonist. I still own the issues, and should reread them. I don't recall if I stopped picking it up because I didn't care for them, I just forgot to pick it up regularly enough (my shop didn't order many, so they sold out quickly), or if it just wasn't the same without Zelazny writing him.

Yeah, Marvel finished that 4-part original story (though it constantly referred to and adapted canon from the novels to tell it) on their Epic imprint back in the 90's.

Dynamite (also bringing us Game of Thrones comics) did the other original mini-series, The Hard Call.

They're both in trade paperback but I imagine they're not easy to find.


Wild Cards #2: Aces High

Quote:

The world has been divided by the wild card virus: the unaffected, the deformed "jokers" and the super-powered "aces". All have their own agendas, some darker than others, but all are threatened by the arrival of the alien Swarm. As Earth comes under concerted attack by the creatures, several of Earth's own alien allies (such as Dr. Tachyon) help lead a defence. But destroying the Swarm Mother may be impossible as a cult of sympathisers leap to her defence...

After the original Wild Cards focused on forty years of alternate history with the jokers and aces facing discrimination, political manipulation and questions over their loyalties, it's a bit of a tonal shift to follow that up with a full-scale alien invasion of Earth. Yet this kind of variety is what has kept the Wild Cards series fun and why it's still going thirty years after its creation. We know aliens exist in the setting - the wild card virus itself came from Takis - so it's fairly logical to see the aces and jokers joining forces to take on the menace.

There are of course complications. Unlike most superhero settings, Wild Cards doesn't hold much truck with big superteams. Aces tend to do their own thing, only joining forces when absolutely necessary. For most of its length, Aces High deals with several prominent aces and jokers (Tachyon, the Turtle, Jube the Walrus, Kid Dinosaur, Modular Man and Fortunato, with a few appearances by Croyd the Sleeper) tackling apparently unrelated issues relating to the Swarm and a Masonic cult before they realise how their individual threads link up, and there is the inevitable big showdown.

The stories that make up the book come from some of the bigger names in 1980s science fiction and fantasy: George R.R. Martin, Pat Cadigan, Walter Jon Williams, Melinda Snodgrass and Roger Zelazny are the big-hitters, but the rest are no slouches either. The stories vary from big, epic war stories as the Swarm invades in force to smaller-scaled tales of back-alley hustlings in Jokertown to things inbetween. They are all excellent, although it sometimes feels like you're only getting snapshots of the action. The Turtle gets a big, interesting storyline and then disappears off-page for a hundred-off page, during which time clearly some other stuff goes down, and suddenly he shows up for the big finale.

This is a recurring issue with these kind of shared worlds, the nagging sense that you are not getting the full story and having to infer that some big story-critical moments have taken place off-page. But it's not too distracting and is made up for the fact that each writer is clearly having immense fun creating and crafting their characters and taking their storylines forwards. The framing stories, "Jube" and "Unto the Sixth Generation", do a good job of keeping the larger over-arcing story on track.

The book builds to a big climax which is satisfying from an action and character perspective. But it's clear that although the aces have won a major victory over the Swarm Mother, they have neglected to account for her human minions. That's going to come back to bite them, quite hard, in the third book in the series.

Aces High (****) is a fine addition to the Wild Cards universe and a compelling follow-up to the original book. It is available now in the UK and USA.

Dark Archive

Just finished High Stakes :-)


Wild Cards #3: Jokers Wild

Quote:

The alien Swarm has been driven back into deep space. The band of villainous aces and jokers who tried to summon the Swarm, led by the Astronomer, have been defeated in battle and the victorious aces are taking some time out to enjoy Wild Cards Day 1986, the fortieth anniversary of the arrival of the alien virus on Earth. Unfortunately, the Astronomer hungers for revenge and sets out to murder all of the aces responsible for his defeat.

Jokers Wild is the third novel in the Wild Cards series and follows on directly from the events of Aces High. Having lost the battle in that book, the Astronomer is now out for revenge and begins cutting his way through the ranks of aces in New York City. Jokers Wild is interesting in that the entire book takes place across one day, so it's pretty unrelenting in pace, and also that it's the first "mosaic novel" in the series. Earlier books were collections of short stories which shared some events and characters, but mosaic novels actually intertwine around one another. The book reads as a regular novel, but each chapter is written by a different author and sometimes even sections and paragraphs within each chapter are written by different authors, who handle different characters and subplots.

This is a pretty noticeable phenomenon and for the first half or so of the book I found it seriously distracting, with sometimes jarring shifts in tone, atmosphere and prose style taking place. The somewhat relaxed and even jovial Hiram Worcester storyline (written by George R.R. Martin) and the adventurous Wraith plot (written by John J. Miller) didn't feel like it was really taking place in the same world as the sleazy, sexually explicit Fortunato stuff (written by Lewis Shiner) and the traumatising Roulette/Tachyon material (written by Melinda Snodgrass), despite the storylines all interacting with one another. This, combined with the disparate and wildly disconnected nature of the plots, made the first half of the book very tough going.

Fortunately, things gelled into place in the second half. The storylines start coming together and the way the heroes are working at cross-purposes without realising it becomes is quite cleverly structured. Eventually all of the scattered storylines come together in a massive, explosive and reasonably satisfying finale, even if the willingness of major characters to walk away and leave villains (who've just killed several of their friends) alive rather than either finishing them off or putting them in jail seems a bit implausible.

Still, if Jokers Wild (***½) is an experimental novel in structure and writing style, it is ultimately a successful one but takes quite a long time to get there. Accordingly, this is the weakest of the first three Wild Card books, but still a worthwhile read. The book is available now in the UK and USA.

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