Wild Cards

Rating:
Summary: Porbably the best short story collection I have read ever
Review: Finally a refreashing drink in any otherwise desert of fiction writting. These stories are a little bit on the old side but they really have lost none of their punch. Very good

Now I have to be honest the reason I brought these stories because of George RR Martin but there is not a dull one in the bunch let me tell you.

Overall-Very well constructed the new bread of Aces and Jockers fit almost seemlessly into a landscape of The Red Scare, Nazi Hunts and the fight for civil liberties. You can tell these poeple had fun when they were writting these stories and in the end that counts for a lot.

I have to pick up the other volumes in this serise, you should too.

Rating:
Summary: Here's Where It All Began-- An SF Epic
Review: I'm still in the process of tracking down some of the later episodes in this multi-author, multi-book saga, but you can't go wrong with this first volume. (Last I checked, there were SIXTEEN books in the series.) It introduces the "Aces" (advantageously-mutated humans) and the "Jokers" (disadvantageously-mutated humans) who live in New York in the last half of the 20th century. After a catastrophic viral incident in 1946, the mutant "wild cards" respond in different ways to their fates, and the stories here are always entertaining. Best for me is the first story by the irrepressible Howard Waldrop, in which he gets the ball rolling. But all are excellent. This is entertaining, well-written, and thought-provoking SF with pulp overtones (Martin tells us early of his love for the great comic book heroes), and you may find yourself working yourself through the many volumes with as much enthusiasm as me...

Rating:
Summary: Here's Where It All Began-- An SF Epic
Review: I'm still in the process of tracking down some of the later episodes in this multi-author, multi-book saga, but you can't go wrong with this first volume. (Last I checked, there were SIXTEEN books in the series.) It introduces the "Aces" (advantageously-mutated humans) and the "Jokers" (disadvantageously-mutated humans) who live in New York in the last half of the 20th century. After a catastrophic viral incident in 1946, the mutant "wild cards" respond in different ways to their fates, and the stories here are always entertaining. Best for me is the first story by the irrepressible Howard Waldrop, in which he gets the ball rolling. But all are excellent. This is entertaining, well-written, and thought-provoking SF with pulp overtones (Martin tells us early of his love for the great comic book heroes), and you may find yourself working yourself through the many volumes with as much enthusiasm as me...

Rating:
Summary: A truly great collection of connected stories
Review: Martin provided in Wilds Cards a new universe for writers to explore superheroes. The assemblage of authors in this first collection of stories set in his Wild Card universe is truly great.

The first story creates the setting, as an alien virus is released into the air above New York City despite the best efforts of a WWII ace hero. This is the jumping off point for the subsequent stories, which advance the story forward in time successively.

Zelazny's story is the prize of this collection, creating an Ace (a person afflicted by the alien virus and receiving powers instead of deformation, while those deformed are Jokers) who reappears and is mentioned in the later stories. A little boy is forced into adulthood, and the conclusion really hits home.

Other stories detail Aces with powers of different sorts. Some have their powers dormant only to be activated by chance, while others work to develop their powers to become like their comic book heroes of youth. Some are criminals, some are just regular people who have to deal with the card that fate drew for them.

There are several interludes that take the form of news excerpts through the years, to rationalize the events of the day or explain in scientific terms the nature of the powers that Aces demonstrate. There are a couple stories that I feel are only so-so, which kept this review from a fifth star, but I have obtained the second collection eagerly to read more.

Rating:
Summary: Reach into the deck and draw an Ace...
Review: The demons of LJ and Bookcrossing (otherwise known as "those people who tell me of too many good books") told me about this one. It's an Science Fiction anthology about the introduction into Earth of an alien virus, just after World War II. This virus, which has major (and varied) genetic effects, is quickly named 'the Wild Card virus.'

Of those who encounter a Wild Card particle (it's not contagious, just floating around for you to breathe in or drink up or...), nine out of ten draw the Black Queen (so to speak) and die. Of the one in ten that survive, nine in then of those suffer genetic affects that leave them like freakshow carnival subjects - insectlike, lizardlike, or otherwise of obvious mutant ugly stature. They're said to have drawn a Joker. Now, those other one in the ten who survive, they're the ones who drew an Ace - they get, for lack of a better way of putting it - powers.

The chronology of the series is superb - the Ace/Joker/Wild Card impact on the McCarthy era, for example, was very well done. The stories lead further and further toward the contemporary era, and the characterization of the various Aces and Jokers is a joy to read.

So, if you're at all into science fiction in a contemporary or recent historical setting, this is the stuff for you.

'Nathan

Rating:
Summary: Reach into the deck and draw an Ace...
Review: The demons of LJ and Bookcrossing (otherwise known as "those people who tell me of too many good books") told me about this one. It's an Science Fiction anthology about the introduction into Earth of an alien virus, just after World War II. This virus, which has major (and varied) genetic effects, is quickly named 'the Wild Card virus.'

Of those who encounter a Wild Card particle (it's not contagious, just floating around for you to breathe in or drink up or...), nine out of ten draw the Black Queen (so to speak) and die. Of the one in ten that survive, nine in then of those suffer genetic affects that leave them like freakshow carnival subjects - insectlike, lizardlike, or otherwise of obvious mutant ugly stature. They're said to have drawn a Joker. Now, those other one in the ten who survive, they're the ones who drew an Ace - they get, for lack of a better way of putting it - powers.

The chronology of the series is superb - the Ace/Joker/Wild Card impact on the McCarthy era, for example, was very well done. The stories lead further and further toward the contemporary era, and the characterization of the various Aces and Jokers is a joy to read.

So, if you're at all into science fiction in a contemporary or recent historical setting, this is the stuff for you.

'Nathan

Rating:
Summary: Even years later, this book is still a classic.
Review: What really got me about this series (and this first book in particular) is that "What If?" factor of everyday superheroes being introduced to the world during World War II. This first book is amazing in that it tells the stories of the Jokers and Aces in different times, through the ages. One can be completely satisfied reading this stand-alone book of short stories or continue reading the series (which unfortunately deteriorated as it went on).

When I first read this book as a teenager, it truly changed my reading habits and influenced my interests. It comes highly recommended even years later.

Rating:
Summary: Even years later, this book is still a classic.
Review: What really got me about this series (and this first book in particular) is that "What If?" factor of everyday superheroes being introduced to the world during World War II. This first book is amazing in that it tells the stories of the Jokers and Aces in different times, through the ages. One can be completely satisfied reading this stand-alone book of short stories or continue reading the series (which unfortunately deteriorated as it went on).

When I first read this book as a teenager, it truly changed my reading habits and influenced my interests. It comes highly recommended even years later.

Rating:
Summary: Even years later, this book is still a classic.
Review: What really got me about this series (and this first book in particular) is that "What If?" factor of everyday superheroes being introduced to the world during World War II. This first book is amazing in that it tells the stories of the Jokers and Aces in different times, through the ages. One can be completely satisfied reading this stand-alone book of short stories or continue reading the series (which unfortunately deteriorated as it went on).

When I first read this book as a teenager, it truly changed my reading habits and influenced my interests. It comes highly recommended even years later.

Rating:
Summary: To return again and again without fear of the virus
Review: YAY! Republished! A friend loaned me the first 3 books YEARS ago (I still haven't returned the first one.)Recently my husband was whining he didn't have anything to read, so I tossed it at him. Yesterday he came to me and said "I need more!!!!!" while holding the finnished book, we went to B&N and Borders, neither had any of them, so I prommised to serch AMAZON for them. He's going to be soo happy to see the legnth of the wish list, but not the price :) but thats what to expect.

I have always loved the what if story lines, especialy the "golden age" ones IF anyone is reading this review because they are wondering, then stop thinking and BUY!!!!!! You know you want it!. Just keep in mind these are antholigys of short stories, not a full book story.