Into a world hungry for peace, comes a spaceship ferrying
chaos...
An alien bomb is detonated above the planet, shedding an indiscriminate gene virus on an Earth barely recovered from the horrors of World War ll. The result: Wild Cards. ACES blessed with superhuman powers and JOKERS cursed with bizarre physical and mental disfigurements.
And so began a series of shared-world anthologies that would bring the metahuman into the real world - our world. Everything up until 1946 is how we remember it. After that watershed year, many things will have changed.
Welcome to Wild Cards Online, the unofficial guide to all things Wild Card. Want to know how it all started? What each book is about? Who the main characters are? Chances are you'll find what you want here. If not, let us know and we'll try to do something about it. In the meantime...
WILD CARDS NEWS
January 26 2018
COVERS, UPCOMING NEW VOLUMES AND REPRINTS
Earlier this month, George uploaded two brand new Wild Cards covers to his Twitter feed. The first (pictured left) is Michael Komarck's cover to the 25th volume, LOW CHICAGO, which is due for hardcover release on June 21. This one, the second in the 'America' triad, will include characters such as John Nighthawk, Noel Matthews, Natya, Will O' Wisp, Croyd Crenson, Abigail the Understudy, Khan, Meathooks, and Hardhat..
The second cover (pictured below left) is for the long-awaited reprint of the 8th volume in the series, ONE EYED JACKS, is illustrated by David Palumbo and features The Oddity preparing to deal out some street justice on some unfortunate evildoers. This newly-revised volume - due to be published on August 28 in trade paperback - will also include two new stories by Carrie Vaughn and Kevin Andrew Murphy.
In other news, the latest volume (and first in the 'America' triad), MISSISSIPI ROLL, is now out in hardcover, and features such luminaries as Carnifex, the Midnight Angel, Hoodoo Mama, Ramshead, Sewer Jack, Wild Fox, and the Jokertown Boys, as the narrative takes the reader down river from New Orleans to Cincinnati. In a break from the norm, the cover to this one is by Bastien Lecouffe Deharme and can be found, naturally enough, on our Covers page.
Also, George shared some info on his blog back in September regarding the 27th volume that he'd just finished editing, which turns out to be the previously mentioned stand-alone set completely in the British Isles. It's now called KNAVES OVER QUEENS, and will cover the years from 1946 to the present day as we see how the Wild Card has affected the populace of poor old Blighty.
And on that theme, there's a new e-short story that's been up on the Tor site for the past few months: WHEN THE DEVIL DRIVES by Melinda Snodgrass, focusing on one of the protagonists of that upcoming British volume, gender-bending Ace assassin Noel Matthews. As before, cover art duties are again handled by John Picacio, and you can read it here for free.
March 10 2017
REPRINTS, COLLECTIONS, NEW BOOKS AND MORE!
Plenty of Wild Cards news to impart this month, all of which has been gleaned from George RR Martin's invaluable blog. First off, the new reprint of ACE IN THE HOLE is now out on trade paperback, with a spanking new Michael Komarck cover featuring the unforgettable Mackie Messer, while following it in June is the companion novel, DEAD MAN'S HAND, featuring covers stars Popinjay and Yeoman..
And this leads neatly into the startling news that Tor will be releasing nine more Wild Cards volumes over the next few years. Better yet, five of those will be the long-awaited trade paperback versions of volumes eight to twelve of the original series, meaning ONE EYED JACKS, JOKERTOWN SHUFFLE, DOUBLE SOLITAIRE, DEALER'S CHOICE and TURN OF THE CARDS will finally be back in print after all these years. George also mentions that they're planning to to add some new stories to ONE EYED JACKS and JOKERTOWN SHUFFLE, just as they did with the reissues of volumes one and four.
As for the other four books, one is to be called FULL HOUSE and will collect together all the short stories that Tor have published on their site so far, along with a few more that will be uploaded over the coming months. The other three volumes will be all-original volumes, however. Too early for titles just yet, but George does mention that one will be a solo novel, another will most likely take place in space, while the third is to be set on the British Isles.
And as if that wasn't enough, there are a number of interesting new posts over at the official Wild cards blog, including a great one by Walter Jon Williams as he takes a long overdue look at everybody's favourite bad boy, The Sleeper. Go check them out!
December 14 2016
BOOK NEWS AND TWO MORE E-SHORTS
According to George RR Martin's blog he's just delivered the second volume in the upcoming American triad - LOW CHICAGO - to Tor, while the first book, MISSISSIPPI ROLL, was already submitted back in October. He adds that they're now hard at work on the third volume, TEXAS HOLD 'EM.
George has also provided a few more details on the two upcoming e-shorts. The first is 'THE THING ABOUT GROWING UP IN JOKERTOWN' by Carrie Vaughn, and will be uploaded by Tor on December 21. The second is a Drummer Boy tale by Stephen Leigh called 'THE ATONEMENT TANGO', and will be available for free on the Tor website from January 18 of next year. Naturally, we'll post the links when we get them. Additionally, links to all the previously published e-shorts can now be found at the BOOKS section of this site.
December 1 2016
OFFICIAL WILD CARDS WEBSITE DEBUTS
Yep, you heard right. After years of hopeful waiting, George RR Martin has finally launched the first fully authorised Wild Cards website at www.wildcardsworld.com. And not only is it beautifully designed, but it's also packed to the rafters with all kinds of great content that will thrill new and old fans alike. You've got videos, interviews, blog articles, up-to-date author and character profiles, scans of domestic and foreign book covers, and plenty more besides. There's also a link in there to the Brilliance Audio site where you can listen to the first audiobook for FREE. So head over to www.wildcardsworld.com without delay and bookmark it as your first stop for all things Wild Card.
July 30 2016
'HIGH STAKES' OUT SOON
George RR Martin has kindly sent us a high-resolution copy of the brand new Michael Komarck cover to HIGH STAKES (click on thumbnail for a better look), which is due for publication by Tor on August 23 - although George mentions there will be a special advance launch/signing at the WorldCon at Kansas City a week prior to this.
According to a recent post on George's blog site, this concluding volume of the current triad will be the usual full mosaic novel - with six writers providing six different character viewpoints so as to provide one continuous narrative throughout the book. The writers and characters in question are John Jos. Miller (Midnight Angel), Caroline Spector (Amazing Bubbles), Ian Tregillis (Tesseract), Melinda M. Snodgrass (Franny Black), Stephen Leigh (Babel), and David Anthony Durham (Infamous Black Tongue).
George also tells us that work is continuing on the next Wild Cards triad, and that there will also be a further two short stories coming up on the Tor site, 'with more in the pipeline.'
May 12 2016
'DISCARDS' NOW UP AT TOR
As promised in a previous post, David D. Levine's short story DISCARDS is now up at the Tor site and can be viewed here. Also, in anticipation of the soon-to-be-released HIGH STAKES, George RR Martin has posted an excerpt from the book (by Ian Tregillis) on his website.
March 13 2016
MORE WILD CARDS BOOKS FROM TOR
According to the latest entry on George's blog, contracts have been signed and Tor will now be publishing three further Wild Cards books after HIGH STAKES is released later this year. He goes on to say, 'This set we will be calling (informally) the USA Triad. But it won't really be a triad, more like three stand-alones, each with its own setting, cast, and tone.' Too early for plot details yet, but the titles of the three books will be TEXAS HOLD 'EM, MISSISSIPPI ROLL, and LOW CHICAGO.
February 28 2016
AUDIOBOOK AND E-SHORT NEWS
More news concerning David D. Levine's upcoming short story, DISCARDS, which will introduce Tiago Goncalves, a teenager who scrapes a living collecting salvagables from the landfills of Rio de Jeneiro, and who assumes the role of The Recycler after being infected with the Wild Cards virus. As can be seen on the left, the 'cover' art is once again handled by John Picacio. More information regarding the story's origin can be found on David D. Levine's blog, where he adds that Tor should be publishing it some time in March.
In addition, George RR Martin mentions on his blog that work is continuing on the new series of audiobooks, with Random House having just completed work on the fourth volume, ACES ABROAD (the expanded edition with two extra chapters). As previously noted, rather than using a single narrator, a whole cadre of voice actors are being utilized in order to give the audio versions the same mosaic feel as the print versions. He adds that they'll moving right onto DOWN AND DIRTY next, with many of the cast members reprising their roles.
January 27 2016
MORE AUDIOBOOKS ON THE WAY
According to George's blog, the Wild Cards consortium have just signed a deal with Random House Audio to release more audiobook versions of the series. With Brilliance Audio having already released the first two volumes a few years ago, Random House will therefore start their programme with the third volume, JOKERS WILD. Even better, instead of using a single voice actor to narrate the whole book, they've decided to enlist a grand total of seven actors to tell the story, one for each POV character.
The actors in question are: Prentice Onayemi (Fortunato), Pam Grier (Roulette), Molly Quinn (Wraith), Ray Porter (Sewer Jack), Felicia Day (Bagabond), Ron Donachie (Hiram Worchester), and Stephen McHattie (Demise). So, not a bad little lineup at all.
No news yet as to when it will be released, but George does say that recording is taking place right now.