Wild Cards

I love the wild Cards series. I've only got the first series so can't comment on the later ones.

One of the first things I noticed when I joined this forum is you have a member called "Captain Trips", who is one of my favourite Wild Card characters (Croyd Crenson being one of the others).

It's a great take on the whole superhero genre, which doesn't get covered much in prose. It goes through post war earth history and mirrors the progression of the comics. The Golden age guys are all heroic and noble and by the time it hits the 80's most of the charaters are decidedly more cynical anti-heroes.
 
It sounds like a great series, I think I will gamble and buy the first Wild Card book. There are thirteen books in this series though, so it will cost me if I get hooked!!!
 
It's funny, obviously because I got into GRRM through ASoIaF, I just assume he's another one of those classic fantasy authors (Fiest, Gemmell) so it's hard to imagine him going "out of genre" like that to create a superhero universe (especially as he did this first!)

What's the name of the first Wild Card book (I shall have to beg, borrow, steal it! ;))
 
Winters Sorrow: the first Wild Cards book is just called 'Wild Cards'.

Also, GRRM isn't really a 'classic fantasy' author - Fevre Dream and The Skin Trade are really horror, Windhaven, Tuf Voyaging and Dying of the Light are sci-fi, and many of his short stories fall into the horror or sci-fi categories too. ASOIAF is practically his first 'typical' fantasy novel, and certainly his first in the classic multi-book style.

I've read the first six in the run, after which they get a bit more difficult to find. It's great stuff, mostly, with bits and pieces that don't work so well, but you expect that in a shared-world series. The best bits are those written by George himself (the Turtle, in particular, is a great character), but I do like the Zelazny, Walter Jon Williams and John J. Miller contributions too.
 
well I've managed to get a hold of a used copy of Wild Cards IV to start me off (I don't usually like joining a series after it's begun - I did with Jordan but luckily he takes 3 books to get started anyway! :D )
I'm starting on it tonight - the concept - superheroes in 'our world' suddenly appearing has reminded me of a Stan Lee novel called (I think) Crossworlds?
 
My boyfriend just bought me the first five Wild Cards books! Yayyyyyyy! I also just got the first Hedge Knight book and I'm hooked. Can't get enough of GRRM!:D He's like crack!
 
AryaUnderfoot said:
My boyfriend just bought me the first five Wild Cards books! Yayyyyyyy! I also just got the first Hedge Knight book and I'm hooked. Can't get enough of GRRM!:D He's like crack!
Click to expand...

Hedge Knight book? Is that just the two short stories with Dunk & Egg combined then?
 
Wild Cards... they aren't really books by GRRM, but anthologies, edited by him. He does have some characters who are his own (The Great and Powerful Turtle comes to mind, and later on Popinjay), and of course some of the stories are his, but it's the sheer variety of writing that makes this series a treasure. If I am not mistaken, there are 13 books in the original series and 3 ones that came after, that deal with one particular plotline. Card Sharks, I think that trilogy is called, as in Wild Cards: Card Sharks, and then whatever the title of that particular book is.

Fair warning, however, not ALL the books are short story collections. There are a few, maybe as many as four, that are just plain novels. However, if you get far enough into the series, you won't mind one author taking over for a whole book.

Most of them are pretty good reads and you'll easily find at least one "main" character to identify with and like. My personal favorites were the Turtle, Popinjay, Fortunato, Croyd "the Sleeper" Crensen, Chrysalis, and Puppetman. The last one is just so vile I had to like him, just because...heh. Books five and six deal with the same few days but from a couple different perspectives, so they should almost be one book, but both were still good reads.
 
I was glad to find this old thread about Wild Cards; it's one of my favorite series. I wouldn't term them "gritty" or "realistic" at all, nor would I really call them George R.R. Martin books, since they were, to begin with, an experiment in a shared universe. Some really memorable characters--if you can put your hands on the first book, "Wild Cards," it's definately worth your while.
 
Ive been able to round up a handful from used book stores. Looking forward to getting into them.
 
Hello.

I realize I am resurrecting a pretty old thread, but the first book in the new Wild Cards trilogy is out, called Inside Straight.

I'm too new to post links, but a google search on 'wild cards official site' will take you to a site with all the info.
 
I went to the site. Boy, that was so strange.

Anyway, I wonder how long before the publisher comes under fire for having a card called "al Allah." The name without the blatant reference to Islam and Arabs is enough to start a jihad.
 
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