Good news for all my Wild Cards readers. FORT FREAK, volume twenty-one in the series, will be out in hardcover on June 21, Tor tells me.

The cover is once again by the amazing Michael Komarck, who just keeps getting better and better. You really should nominate him for a Hugo some year, he’s way overdue.

After the wide-ranging global storylines of the Committee triad, FORT FREAK returns to New York City, the epicenter of the Wild Cards universe, to tell the stories of the cops and crooks of the historic 5th precinct of the NYPD !” the Jokertown precinct.

The lineup this time around includes stories by Wild Cards veterans Melinda Snodgrass, Stephen Leigh, John Jos. Miller, Kevin Andrew Murphy, and Victor Milan, and introduces newcomers (new to Wild Cards, at least) Cherie Priest, David Anthony Durham, Mary Anne Mohanraj, Ty Franck, and Paul Cornell. You can check out a sample of Cherie’s interstitial, the literary mortar that holds all the bricks together, on my website.

So mark June 21 on your calendars, and place your preorder now with Amazon or your favorite local bookstore. Come meet Ramshead, the Rook, Tabby, SlimJim, Abigail the understudy, Sgt. Squinch, Ratboy and Flipper, Tinkerbill, the Infamous Black Tongue, Natya, Maggie Graves, Puff, Beastie, Dr. Dildo, and the other colorful denizens of Fort Freak and environs. Old-timers like Father Squid, the Sleeper, and the Oddity are also expected to turn up to enliven the proceedings.

And while you’re reading, we’ll be working on LOWBALL.

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One more monkey off my back.

I just sent the manuscript of FORT FREAK, volume twenty-one in the ongoing Wild Cards series, off to our editors at Tor. Six hundred and eight pages of Jokertown goodness.

After the wide-ranging global storylines of the Committee triad, this volume returns to New York City, the epicenter of the Wild Cards universe, to tell the stories of the cops and crooks of the historic 5th precinct of the NYPD — the Jokertown precinct, Fort Freak. The lineup features work by WC veterans Melinda Snodgrass, Stephen Leigh, John Jos. Miller, Kevin Andrew Murphy, and Victor Milan, and introduces newcomers (new to Wild Cards, that is) Cherie Priest (Hugo-and-Nebula finalist), David Anthony Durham (still wearing his Campbell Award tiara), Mary Anne Mohnaraj, Ty Franck, and Paul Cornell (Dr. Who scripter).

No publication date set yet, of course, but I’d look for it sometime in the spring of 2011. So mark that down on your calendar, and come meet Ramshead, the Rook, Tabby, SlimJim, Abigail, Sgt. Squinch, Ratboy and Flipper, Tinkerbill, the Infamous Black Tongue, Natya, Maggie Graves, Puff, Beastie, Dr. Dildo, and the other colorful denizens of Fort Freak and environs. Old-timers like Father Squid, the Sleeper, and the Oddity are also expected to turn up to enliven the proceedings.

As for me… there are still a few more monkeys to wrestle into submission. Including Kong.

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This week Ian Tregillis is taking a stint as guest blogger at Tor, with more reflections on the complex and sometimes frustrating experience of writing for Wild Cards.

Check it out at http://www.tor.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=blog&id=58674

And then go out and get SUICIDE KINGS at your favorite bookstore.

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Daniel Abraham is a guest blogger on Tor.com, talking about Wild Cards and other collaborations. Check out what he has to say at:

http://www.tor.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=blog&id=58634

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Just got a peek at the final cover for SUICIDE KINGS, courtesy of the good folks at Tor Books. The art is by Michael Komarck.

SUICIDE KINGS will be the twentieth overall volume in the Wild Cards series, and the third and concluding book in the current “Committee” triad. Written by S.L. Farrell, Ian Tregillis, Melinda M. Snodgrass, Daniel Abraham, Caroline Spector, and Victor Milan, and edited by yours truly.

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For all you Wild Cards fans out there, I’ve changed the WC sample on my website, replacing the BUSTED FLUSH scene with a cool one from SUICIDE KINGS, written by Ian Tregillis (look for his his novel next year from Tor!) and featuring Rustbelt.

You can check it out at http://www.georgerrmartin.com/wc-s.html

SUICIDE KINGS will be published at the end of the year. This is the concluding volume of the Committee triad. Besides Ian T, the writers are Caroline Spector, Melinda M. Snodgrass, S.L. Farrell, Daniel Abraham, and Victor W. Milan. Featured viewpoint characters will be Rustbelt, the Amazing Bubbles, Double Helix, Gardener, Bugsy, and the Radical, but the rest of the gang will be on hand as well.

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