WILD CARDS

   ORIGINAL-ANTHOLOGY series, ed George R.R. MARTIN, set in a SHARED WORLD, each volume comprising stories woven (BRAID) into a more-or-less integrated narrative. Martin prefers to think of these books, because their contents are planned and linked, often as "mosaic novels", though we treat them as, only technically, anthologies. The 1st vol, Wild Cards: A Mosaic Novel * (anth 1987; vt Wildcards 1989 UK), shows its alternateEarth's history (ALTERNATE WORLDS) deviating from our own in 1946 with the release over New York of a virus developed by ALIENS. The effect of the "Wild Card" virus is to kill immediately and horribly one out of ten people it infects. Survivors are mutated, mostly in useless, often monstrously damaging ways, in which case they are called "Jokers". One in ten is mutated beneficially: these become superpowered "Aces". The dividing line can be blurred; for example, physical deformity can be offset by an immense gain in strength.Ten vols have been issued to mid-1992, the remainder being \#2: Aces High * (anth 1987), \#3: Jokers Wild * (anth 1987), \#4: Aces Abroad * (anth 1988), \#5: Down and Dirty * (anth1988), \#6: Ace in the Hole * (anth 1990), \#7: Dead Man's Hand * (1990), \#8: One-Eyed Jacks * (anth 1991), \#9: Jokertown Shuffle * (anth 1991) and \#10: Double Solitaire (1992). Double Solitaire is a novel by Melinda SNODGRASS, the first single-author novel in what has otherwise been an oritinal-anthology series, but is copyrighted in Martin's name; Snodgrass acted as assistant editor on the series since \#6. . The books focus on a cast of Aces and Jokers through the decades. The strongest stories are in the 1st vol, which deals impressively with the McCarthy era. Later volumes are more comic-bookish, and history's incredible resilience becomes irritating: when a secret Ace of enormous power runs for the presidency, events contrive to bring about a victory for George Bush. Despite this, WC is one of the better shared-worlds series, showcasing hard-edged writing by Edward BRYANT, Lewis SHINER, Walton Simons, Walter Jon WILLIAMS and others.A companion comic-book series comprises Wild Cards \#1: Heart of the Matter (graph 1990), \#2: Diamond in the Rough (graph 1990), \#3: Welcome tothe Club (graph 1990) and \#4: Spadework (graph 1990), collected as Wild Cards (graph omni 1991).

RuB/RT

   See also: GAMES AND TOYS; SUPERHEROES.