Comments | rachelmanija: Martin, George R. R. (ed): Wild Cards, intro and books 1-3

rachelmanija

Martin, George R. R. (ed): Wild Cards, intro and books 1-3

Jul 16, 2006 10:43

At long last and as promised, I am beginning to write up one of my more guilty pleasures, the 15-book (or so) Wild Card series edited by George R. R. Martin ( Read more... )

author: martin george r r

Comments 14

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rachelmanija July 16 2006, 20:06:05 UTC

I would have phrased it, "if the pace slows, have a character get raped/mutilated/beaten to death/disembowled/raped andmutilated/beaten to death/disemboweled."

If you stick it out to the very last volumes, you will come across a detailed infodump about how to have sex with a horse. OK, so the horse in question is actually a centaur, and it's a sweet, romantic story about love overcoming prejudice. But! There is still a detailed infodump on how to have sex with a horse.

coffeeandink July 16 2006, 20:02:32 UTC

I await v12 with vast anticipation.

rachelmanija July 16 2006, 21:45:54 UTC

It was written by Melinda Snodgrass, who was also responsible for a Star Trek novel called Tears of the Singers, in which Lt. Uhura meets a tormented and temperamental genius musician with a disease that will kill him if he over-exerts himself. He insults her, she puts him in his place, and then it turns out that there are these baby seal aliens who are being clubbed because when they die, they shed a single tear that turns into a beautiful gem. Only they are also engaged in singing a song that prevents their sun from going nova, and now their song is being disrupted because they're being clubbed.

So the tormented genius musician-- did I mention that he has tousled black hair and brilliant green eyes?-- is drafted to back up Uhura as she communicates with them via music.

SPOILERS

He overexerts himself and dies in her arms. A baby seal alien spontaneously sheds a single tear, which Uhura makes into a memorial necklace.

Many bits I encountered in fanfic were familiar to me solely due to having previously read Melinda Snodgass.

coffeeandink July 16 2006, 21:53:15 UTC

I am pretty sure I read that in my phase of reading Trek novels because the ones by Diane Duane, Barbara Hambly, and John M. Ford were pretty good.

juliansinger July 17 2006, 02:22:05 UTC

Janet Kagan wrote one, too. _I_ liked it, at least.

Thread 9

copperwise July 16 2006, 20:11:35 UTC

We only have volumes 1-4, I think. I loved 1 the most.

sarge_5150 July 16 2006, 22:18:50 UTC

I bought and read the first one. While I fell in love with the concept of marginal heroes, I don't think I read any of the others. The flawed characters in Wild Cards were so much more interesting than Peter Parker the Whinger.

oracne July 17 2006, 12:41:06 UTC

I remember these, but cannot remember reading any of them except for the Zelazny stories (I was a Zelazny completist)--am not sure if I actually own that one, though. I await future posts with great anticipation.

Fortunato the Pimp?!

rachelmanija July 17 2006, 16:51:34 UTC

Fortunato, the half-Japanese (almond eyes) half-black (cocoa-colored skin) pimp, whose powers vary according to what he needs for a story, but are acquired by having sex and blocking his penis with his finger so no semen emerges, and it then migrates to his forehead and gives him powers. (Basic Tantric sex magic, actually; Lewis Shiner didn't make that part up. Women love him.