Wild Cards Pubdates

[grrm]

HIGH STAKES -- the third and concluding volume in the current Wild Cards triad, and the twenty-third volume in the overall series -- will be released by Tor in hardcover on AUGUST 23 This one is another full-on mosaic novel, its storylines completely interwoven to make for a six-way collaborative novel. The participating writers, and their

Comments

[cashcraig]

I have to catch up. I got all the way up to Deuces Down and then fell behind, so I haven't even reached the new books yet. I'm hoping for a sudden burst of Wild Cards energy to get me going again. I'd love for it to be news of a TV series or movie, but I know how those things go.

[thepainyak]

"Be warned: this one is not for the faint of heart. This is our horror book, and things get pretty horrible. Mayhem and madness and murder, oh my. Don't say I didn't warn you."

One of the great tragedies of growing older is the steady loss of the ability of things to horrify you, at least in fiction.

When I was a kid, I was traumatized for days by the TV mini-series of Stephen King's IT. When I took a shower or bath, I kept imagining a clown rising from the drain and dragging me into the sewer to be devoured.

Now, when I think on that possibility, I mostly reflect that that would be a pretty interesting way to go. Cancer, heart disease, car accidents...all very common. But how many people get to be eaten by an eldritch abomination disguised as a clown? If you've gotta go, it might as well be in a very memorable way.

All of this is a long way of saying: Do your worst.

[so_very_pale]

The news I've been waiting for!Giddyup indeed.

[ext_2808874]

Any news about when/if the Mass Market Paperback edition of the Aces Abroad reprint is coming? I thought it would have been out before the big version of Down and Dirty was repirinted, but nope. :(

[ext_3507233]

Can anyone suggest a good place to start with this series? (I can't tell if they run in order necessarily) Also, are any of the others listed as "horror"? The grimdarker the better....

[cashcraig]

I would personally try the first book (simply called Wild Cards) to see if you like it.

And yes, the books are very dark and full of disturbing elements. More violent and dark than ASOIAF ever gets.

[grrm]

HIGH STAKES is the only book that I'd describe as horror... but there are some Lovecraftian touches in Jay Ackroyd's recurring nightmares in the early volumes, and Ti Malice was certainly horrible. (You can find him in volumes four, five, and seven).

Lots of horrible stuff happens in books eight and nine as well. Maybe too much (he said with the benefit of twenty years of hindsight).

[grrm]

The books do run in order, yes... but they are grouped into triads and quartets, with a few stand-alones thrown in, so there are several good entry points.

You can start with volume one, WILD CARDS, which launched the original series.

You can start with INSIDE STRAIGHT, which began the 'next generation' books and the Committe triad.

You can start with FORT FREAK, first volume of the current triad.