Not a Blog

Picacio Speaks

June 15, 2020 at 4:35 pm
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Every two weeks or so, we upload new posts on our official Wild Cards blog at https://www.wildcardsworld.com/blog/

Our latest blog post is from the one and only JOHN PICACIO, the latest winner of SFWA’s Solstice Award (which I had the honor to present to him — virtually, of course), and one of the leading artists and illustrators in our genre… and any other genre, for that matter.   John talks about the artwork he has done for the Wild Cards stories on Tor.com, the Ice & Fire calendar he did for me way back when, and much much more.

If you love his art, or SF and fantasy art in general, his piece is a must read.   And while you are there, check out some of the other stuff we have to offer on our Wild Cards website, and sign up for our newsletter.   There’s always something new in the wonderful world of Wild Cards.

Current Mood: pleased pleased

Bloggity Bloggity

May 25, 2020 at 8:00 am
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History buffs, baseball fans, and Wild Carders alike will enjoy the newest post on the Wild Cards blog, John Jos. Miller’s “Annotated Long Night at the Palmer House,” touching on all the references, hidden and fictional, in his acclaimed LOW CHICAGO interstitial.

The Annotated “A Long Night At The Palmer House”

When he is not writing Wild Cards stories or watching the New York Mets, John is a huge fan of… ah… strange cinema.   Of late he has been doing some fun blog posts for our friends over at BLACK GATE, talking about some of his odder favorites.  Check it out at:

https://www.blackgate.com/2020/05/12/son-of-19-movies-the-good-the-bad-and-the-weird-edition/#more-427597

 

Current Mood: amused amused

Khan Has Come (Again)

May 6, 2020 at 1:42 pm
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Marko Kloos’s new Wild Cards story, “Berlin Is Never Berlin,” went up this morning on Tor.com.

Khan is back, and kicking ass.   Check it out.   It’s FREE.   Be sure to leave a comment.

Berlin Is Never Berlin

If you missed Khan’s first appearance, hunt up a copy of LOW CHICAGO.   He’s our cover guy.   Autographed copies are available from Beastly Books via mailorder.   https://jeancocteaucinema.com/product-category/signed-books/

I hope all of you reading this are safe and snug and socially distant.

Current Mood: pleased pleased

Brad and H’ard

May 2, 2020 at 1:08 pm
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Hey, Wild Carders.  There’s a cool new interview up on the Wild Cards website, wherein Brad Denton, one of the newest members of the consortium, talks with Howard Waldrop, one of the originals… author of the very first Wild Cards story, “Thirty Minutes Over Broadway.”

If you’ve ever wondered how Jetboy’s last adventure came to be, who actually wrote his final words, or how H’ard pissed off Roger Zelazny, the world’s nicest man, this is the interview for you.

Of course, it is all done on the telephone, so everyone can stay safely socially distant, donchaknow.

Check it out at:

Fifty Minutes Over Manchaca (now Menchaca) Road!

Current Mood: amused amused

Come On Back to San Antone, Y’All

April 19, 2020 at 6:25 pm
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Did you miss TEXAS HOLD ‘EM when it first came out in hardcover?

No problem.   Come APRIL 28, Tor will be releasing the book in trade paperback.   All the fun, for fewer dollars.

TEXAS HOLD ‘EM is the twenty-seventh volume of the Wild Cards series, and the third in our America Triad… but it stands alone just fine, and you do not have to have read any of the preceding volumes to enjoy it.   It’s the story of a group of kids from Xavier Desmond High in Jokertown travelling to San Antonio for a jazz band competition, and all that befalls them there, starring an all star cast of favorite characters both old (Mr. Nobody, Jade Blossom, and Bubbles) and new (Rubberband, Bacho, Skeeter, The Darkness and The Dust).   Contributing writers on this one were Caroline Spector, William F. Wu, Walton (Bud) Simons, David Anthony Durham, Max Gladstone, Diana Rowland, and — in his last solo outing for Wild Cards — the late great Victor Milan, who helped launch the series back in 1987.  I edited, assisted by Melinda M. Snodgrass,

The Wild Cards universe is vast, and contains both darkness and light.  TEXAS HOLD ‘EM is one of our lighter outings, a good fun read.   If that’s what you are looking for during these grim days of isolation and quarantine, give it a try.   I think you will enjoy it.

You can reserve an autographed paperback, signed by yours truly, from Beastly Books, mailorder.   We also have a good stock remaining of the original Tor hardcover, with signatures by several writers as well.   All at https://jeancocteaucinema.com/beastlybooks/

Current Mood: pleased pleased

The Visitor Returns

March 20, 2020 at 8:28 am
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Good news, Wild Carders.

Mark Lawrence is back with a brand new Visitor story, a sequel to his story in KNAVES OVER QUEENS.

It’s on Tor.com and it’s FREE.

The Visitor: Kill or Cure

Check it out.   I think you’ll really enjoy this one.   The Visitor is an amazing character, and Mark’s a wonderful writer.

And what better way to spend a day in self-quarantine than reading a great new story.

Current Mood: pleased pleased

Who Will Be the New American Hero?

March 3, 2020 at 10:34 am
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The year was 2007 when twenty-eight aces from all over the United States gathered in Hollywood to compete for a million dollars in the first season of the hit television series American Hero.  Men and women, young and old, all gifted with astonishing powers, they were divided into four teams: Hearts, Diamonds, Clubs, and Spades.  Each week they were sent out to face an amazing array of challenges to test their courage, their resourcefulness, their teamwork, and their cunning.   The winning team won immunity for a week; the others were required to discard one of their members.

As every Wild Cards fan know, the show did not go entirely as planned.   Midway through that first season, a large group of discards and a couple of the contestants still in the fight abandoned Los Angeles for Egypt, where a community of jokers was faced with genocide.   Some of them would die there.   Their story was told in INSIDE STRAIGHT, volume  eighteen in the series.   But over the years, many readers have asked us — what happened to the rest of the contestants, the aces who stayed in Hollywood to finish the competition?  What challenges did they face, who excelled, who stumbled, who was betrayed and discarded, who won the million dollars?

Their stories can at last be told in full, in AMERICAN HERO, a new ebook from Tor.   Here is the flip side of INSIDE STRAIGHT, with material taken straight from the show’s official website.   Here is every challenge told in detail, from the first week to the last, supplemented by confessionals from the contestants themselves, and commentary by the show’s three judges.   Come revisit those halcyon days when a new generation of heroic aces stepped onto the national stage and showed their stuff.   Jonathan Hive, Toad Man, Brave Hawk, Jade Blossom, the Amazing Bubbles, Jetman, Hardhat, Dragon Huntress, Simoon, Gardener, the Candle, Lohengrin, John Fortune, and many more… they’re all here.

AMERICAN HERO will be distributed through Tor’s usual ebook retailers and can be purchased for Kindle, iBooks, Kobo, Nook, eBooks.com, and Google Play.  Download to your platform and format of choice to read however you wish (iPad, ereader, computer, etc).

All of the buy links are listed here: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780765396402

And if by chance you missed INSIDE STRAIGHT and want to check that one out too, signed copies are available from Beastly Books… all of them autographed not only by me, but by several of the other contributing writers as well:

Wild Cards: Inside Straight

 

Current Mood: excited excited

Naked, Stoned, and Stabbed

November 6, 2019 at 8:16 am
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Wild Cards fans… we have a brand new Wild Cards original up on Tor.com, from Bad Brad Denton.

Go check it out:

Naked, Stoned, and Stabbed

Current Mood: bouncy bouncy

Casting Wild Cards

September 10, 2019 at 6:00 pm
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No, no, sorry, no news about the Wild Cards television shows being developed by UCP for Hulu.   Except, well… some scripts have been written, and we’re all very excited.  Our fingers are crossed.   Toes too.

Meanwhile, however, it is never too early to play the casting game.   Even writers are powerless to resist.   Witness this video, of interviews made two years ago in Santa Fe, when the development process was just beginning.

((Comments permitted, but ONLY about casting the Wild Cards tv shows))

 

 

 

 

Current Mood: bouncy bouncy

The Return of Demise

September 3, 2019 at 9:11 am
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Demise… the Wild Cards baddie you all love to hate, or maybe hate to love… is back in a new short story on Tor.com from the pen (well, computer) of Walton “Bud” Simons.

https://www.tor.com/author/walton-simons/

No, Demise hasn’t returned from the dead (again).  We don’t do that in Wild Cards.   It’s a period piece.

Old fans will love it, and new fans have a treat in store.

It’s free.  Go and enjoy.

Current Mood: bouncy bouncy