Wild Cards (v. 1) [Mass Market Paperback]

Various (Author)

Book Description

Series: Wild Cards | Publication Date: December 1, 2003

The alien virus arrived on Earth just after World War II-and the world was never the same. For those who become infected, there are two results: death, or transformation. And depending on the recipient, death is sometimes the preferable outcome. Only a few lucky ones become superhuman "aces" as a side effect of the virus; and the rest are turned into horrible, grotesque "jokers." It's a strange and wonderful, terrible and terrifying world where anything can go. A world that, in a twist of fate, could lie just outside your door.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

George R.R. Martin's work includes many short stories which are dominated by visual imagery. His most recent work A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE, a dynastic epic which includes A GAME OF THRONES has won him a number of fantasy writing awards.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: I Books (December 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743475208
• ISBN-13: 978-0743475204
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,911,789 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A truly great collection of connected stories, January 11, 2005

By 

G. Swift "97jedi" (Southwestern Missouri) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Wild Cards (v. 1) (Mass Market Paperback)

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.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Reach into the deck and draw an Ace..., April 4, 2004

By 

Jonathan Burgoine "bookseller" (Ottawa, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Wild Cards (v. 1) (Mass Market Paperback)

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

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Here's Where It All Began-- An SF Epic, February 18, 2004

By 

Chris Ward (Costa Rica) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Wild Cards (v. 1) (Mass Market Paperback)

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...