Full House (A Wild Cards novel book 30) edited by George R.R. Martin (book review).
‘Wild Cards’ book 30, ‘Full House,’ is a bit of an oddity. Ten novelettes/short stories that were originally released on the Internet and combined as a collection here, according to the back cover.
Although the first one, ‘When We Were Heroes’ by Daniel Abraham, features Jonathan Hive, the ace he photographed in a romantic situation with Curveball (it’s only a kiss) for the Aces magazine isn’t happy. We only know her as Kate, and not even a hint of what ace power she has. Essentially, Bugsy is really giving her a facts-of-life talk about being a celebrity and always in the camera’s eye. If not his camera, then it will be someone else’s.
‘Evernight’ by Victor Milán has Candace Sessou—that’s her on the cover—looking for her lost brother in the catacombs of Paris, where jokers and aces hang out. The French refer to those who have contracted the Wild Card virus as ‘the sweeps.’ One can only presume it’s from ‘sweepstakes’ or random chance. Once again, she takes great care to avoid using her ace power, even in extreme situations.
What would we be if we didn’t have some Bubbles? Caroline Spector’s story ‘Lies My Mother Told Me’ could easily be a stepping-off point for another mosaic. Someone has briefly stolen Joey Hebert, aka Hoodoo Mama’s, zombie-raising powers and assaulted Michelle Pond, also known as Bubbles, when she was in the New Orleans Mardi Gras with her foster daughter/joker, Adesina. They engage in a delightful exchange as they search for the power-grabber and the individual who hired him.
In many respects, Carrie Vaughn’s ‘Neustra Señora de la Esperanza’ (it means lady of hope) is more an epitaph to Ana Cortez, aka Earth Witch’s time in Egypt and her coming to terms with killing regiments of the Egyptian military. As Ana Cortez returns home to New Mexico to recuperate from her injury, her confession to a Catholic priest takes a turn for the worse when he instructs her to use her power. Instead, her father advises she go and see her grandmother in Mexico. The story builds nicely and concludes well.
David D. Levine’s ‘Discards’ is set in Brazil, and we follow the life of Tiago Gonçalves when his card turns, and he has a mosaic design over his body and finds out later he can draw organic matter to himself. The thing is, he’s young and impoverished, even more so when even his companions kick him out for becoming a joker. He travels to Rio’s jokertown, utilising his advantage to navigate the situation, only to become entangled in a complex web between two families. Extreme poverty rarely raises its head in ‘Wild Cards,’ but this explains a lot about Brazilian culture.
Interestingly, both Melinda Snodgrass and Stephen Leigh had detective-themed topics in their stories.
For Snodgrass, in ‘When The Devil Drives,’ we follow Noel Matthews, aka the Double Helix. He’s now in New York running a demolition company, among other things. None of these stories have a date on them, but this one obviously is after ‘Three Kings.’ After one of his rivals’ bodies is found crushed on one of his team’s sites, Matthews is suspicious but also wants to find out who set him up.
Leigh’s ‘The Atonement Tango’ has the rock band Joker Plague devastated by a bomb while they are performing. Only two of them survive, and Michael Vogali, aka Drummer Boy, ends up doing his own investigating when he’s convinced the bomber did not die in the blast.
“Prompt, Professional, Pop!’ by Walter Jon Williams’ portrayal of the teleporting ace Cleopatra, also known as Cleo, from the American Hero TV series may surprise you, as she is not always as honest as she seems. She helps a producer client steal a copy of a rival’s film to debase it so his own will do better at the box office. He reneges on payment, and she gets her revenge. It’s also intriguing to note that the price has fallen out of the special effects department when so many AIs can do effects for real.
Lastly, writer Marko Kloos’s story, ‘How to Move Spheres and Influence People,’ introduces Canadian Lintilla ‘Tilly,’ or ‘T.K.’ Kendall, a one-armed teenager who turns the card and has telekinetic power over anything spherical. When she and her parents are in Edinburgh, she stops a joker driving a vehicle at people, becomes an instant celebrity, and learns to live with the changes in her life.
This is an intriguing turn of events, but it’s worth considering whether this book under the TOR imprint serves primarily to resolve unresolved issues before concluding. One thing unique about the ‘Wild Cards’ books is that they can work in many formats, usually either as a mosaic of their lives or individual stories. It’s a big playground, which is why it’s so popular.
GF Willmetts
December 2024
(pub: TOR, 2022. 324 page enlarged paperback. Price: $19.99 (US). ISBN: 978-1-250-16796-5)
check out website: www.tor.com
