Wild Cards ist eine Schöpfung von George R.R. Martin, dem Autor von Game of Thrones. Die Wild Cards erscheinen inzwischen seit bald vierzig Jahren, konnten bei uns jedoch nie richtig Fuß fassen. Nicht zuletzt des halbherzigen Umgangs wegen, den die deutschen Verlage der Serie gegenüber an den Tag gelegt haben. Hier ist ein vollständiger Überblick aller erschienen Bücher, chronologisch aufgelistet, mit Inhalt, Autoren und Erzählungen (tw. i.A.).
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KURZE EINLEITUNG
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Wild Cards ist eine Anthologie-Serie über eine alternative Welt, die dank von Außerirdischen verursachten Mutationen von merkwürdiger Superhelden wimmelt. Natürlich hat dort die Geschichte einen anderen Verlauf genommen. Die Bücher erzählen unterschiedlichste Abenteuer und Begegnungen mit den Mutanten.
Die Romane waren oft jahrelang vom Markt, Verlage wurden gewechselt, oder gingen pleite, aber trotz dieser Widrigkeiten hat sich die Serie bis heute gehalten und hat im englischen Raum eine große Fangemeinde. Neue Romane erscheinen grundsätzlich als Hardcover. Die alten Bücher wurden und werden Schritt für Schritt wieder neu herausgebracht. Oftmals um extra neu dafür verfasste Geschichten erweitert.
Diesen Aufwand betreiben Verlage nur, wenn sie damit ausreichende Gewinne einfahren, ungeachtet eines Kalibers von Autor, wie es George R.R. Martin ist.
Seit einigen Jahren erscheinen auch begleitend Storys auf der Verlagswebsite, ebenfalls extra dafür verfasst. Auch gibt es seit langem Pläne für Streaming-Serien. Wild Cards ist von daher gesehen ein Erfolgsprojekt, das man in seiner Dimension nur bewundern kann. Ausgenommen im deutschsprachigen Raum, da ist die Serie zweimal gescheitert.
Zuerst bei Heyne gestartet, wurden die ersten Bände gleich einmal auf zwei Bücher gesplittet und mit eher nichtssagenden Covern gesehen. Nach wenigen Bänden war dementsprechend Schluß. Jahre Später, als Game of Thrones am Höhepunkt war und Millionen Leute in den Bann zog, versuchte es Random House nochmal, dieses Mal unter dem Label Penhaligon.
Dröge Paperbacks mit langweiligen Covern, zu fetten Paperbacks aufgeblasene Ausgaben, ein wildes Durcheinander in der Reihenfolge. Alles darauf ausgelegt, den Namen George R.R. Martin zu Geld zu machen. Dem potenziellen Publikum überhaupt zu erklären, was das denn war, das wurde vergessen. Ging entsprechend schief.
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KURZE ERKLÄRUNG VON WILD CARDS
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Die Bücher selbst sind großteils Mosaikromane. Mehrere Autoren schreiben Teile eines Buches. Diese Teile werden dann durch eine Rahmenstory zu einem Roman umklammert. Das ist das Prinzip eines Fix-Up-Romans, ohne jedoch einer zu sein.
Dass die einzelnen Teile eines Romans von verschiedenen Autoren geschrieben werden, das ist nicht immer auf den ersten Blick erkennbar. Dazwischen finden sich dann auch Bände mit Einzelromanen, oder tatsächlich auch eine Storysammlung.
Angenehm an dieser Serie ist das zugrunde liegende Prinzip einer Anthologie. Jedes Buch kann für sich gelesen werden, man kann mit Band 30 einsteigen, ohne all die Bücher davor gelesen zu haben. Auch buchübergreifende Themen stellen kein Hindernis für einen Quereinstieg dar.
Wild Cards ist technisch gesehen eine ausufernde Ausprägung einer Shared World – einige Autoren, verbindliche Regeln, jeder macht sein eigenes Ding. Eine unter Umständen sehr komplexe Angelegenheit, müssen sich doch alle Geschichten an gewisse Grundprinzipien und Regeln halten.
Die beteiligten Autoren haben ihre eigenen Superhelden geschaffen und diese in Wild Cards eingefügt. Damit es hier zu keinen Ungereimtheiten kommt, arbeitet GRRM mit Melinda M. Snodgrass zusammen, einer überaus versierten Autorin und Drehbuchautorin, die viele Jahre und Werke lang für Star Trek tätig war.
Auch bei Star Trek, wie bei vielen Anthologie-Serien, kann man technisch gesehen von einer Form des Shared Universum sprechen.
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ANMERKUNGEN
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Wo es Inhalte zu den einzelnen Büchern gibt, sind diese ebenfalls aufgeführt, beziehungsweise werden sie nachgereicht – hauptsächlich betrifft das Autoren und Titel ihrer Beiträge.
Ein Fehler: Beginnend mit Bd. 26 scheint sich GRRM verzählt zu haben. Er macht aus diesem Buch die Nr. 27 und dreht auch noch die Nr. 27 zur Nr. 26 um und zählt von da an weiter. Dabei lässt er die Nr. 28 aus. Er spricht zwar in seinem Blog von einer britischen Zählung, jedoch vermeidet es HarperCollins UK überhaupt, irgendeine Zählweise anzuführen. Auch die Schwarmintelligenz der ISFDb behält die originale Zählweise bei.
Damit bleibt man auf der sicheren Seite, wenn man sich nach der Zählweise aller bisherigen und des aktuellen Verlags richtet. Die Zählweise von GRRM ist trotzdem mitangeführt.
WILD CARDS ROMANE
Bd. 1: Wild Cards I (The Original Triad I; 01/1987, erweiterte Neuausgabe 11/2010)
— alte dt. Ausgabe (gesplittet): Vier Asse (Heyne Nr. 06/5601), Asse und Joker (Heyne Nr. 06/5602)
— neue dt. Ausgabe: Vier Asse (1. Generation, Bd. 1) …
Inhalt
There is a secret history of the world—a history in which an alien virus struck the Earth in the aftermath of World War II, endowing a handful of survivors with extraordinary powers. Some were called Aces—those with superhuman mental and physical abilities. Others were termed Jokers—cursed with bizarre mental or physical disabilities. Some turned their talents to the service of humanity. Others used their powers for evil.
Bd. 2: Aces High (The Original Triad II; 04/1987, Neuausgabe 12/2011)
— alte dt. Ausgabe (gesplittet): Asse hoch! (Heyne Nr. 06/5603), Schlechte Karten (Heyne Nr. 06/5604)
— neue dt. Ausgabe: Der Schwarm (1. Generation, Bd. 2) … 05/2017 …
Inhalt
In book two of the Wild Cards series, Aces High, we trace these heroes and villains through the tumultuous 1980s, both like and unlike our own. Now, after centuries of travel through space, an extraterrestrial being called the Swarm is headed for Earth. Meanwhile, some of the aces given superpowers by the virus are hatching conspiracies to control the human world. These factions are about to collide…and the fallout could be catastrophic.
Bd. 3: Jokers Wild (The Original Triad III; 10/1987, Neuausgabe 11/2014)
— alte dt. Ausgabe: Wilde Joker (Heyne Nr. 06/5605)
— neue dt. Ausgabe: Der Astronom …
Inhalt
On September 15, 1946, the Wild Card virus was released, spreading a wave of mutations around the globe. “Aces” were endowed with extraordinary powers, while “Jokers” were cursed with bizarre mental or physical disabilities. September 15th is now Wild Card Day. With each passing year, the festivities become larger and more fevered. And 1986–the fortieth anniversary–promises to be the biggest Wild Card Day ever. But in New York City not everyone is celebrating: The Astronomer, a twisted, powerful genius, has been planning his own special festivities for Wild Card Day…a day of revenge against those who have opposed him …
Bd. 4: Aces Abroad (The Puppetman Quartett I; 05/1988, Neuausgabe 01/2015)
— alte dt. Ausgabe: Asse im Einsatz (Heyne Nr. 06/5606)
Inhalt
Forty years after the Wild Card Virus’s release, the World Health Organization decides it’s time to take a delegation of Aces, Jokers, politicians, and journalists on a fact-finding mission to learn how other countries are dealing with the virus that reshaped humanity. Leading the team is Gregg Hartmann, a senator with presidential aspirations and a dangerous ace up his sleeve. Joining him is a menagerie of some of the series’ best and most popular Wild Cards, including Dr. Tachyon, aces Peregrine and Golden Boy, and jokers Chrysalis, Troll, and Father Squid.
Bd. 5: Down and Dirty (The Puppetman Quartett II; 11/1988, Neuausgabe 10/2015)
— alte dt. Ausgabe (Split): Nur Tote kennen Jokertown (Heyne Nr. 06/5607), Konzert für Sirenen u. Serotonin (Heyne Nr. 06/5608)
Inhalt
Let the secret history of the world be told! An alien virus that struck Earth after World War II, and of the handful of the survivors who found they now possessed superhuman powers. Some were called Aces, endowed with powerful mental and physical prowess. The others were Jokers, tormented by bizarre mind or body disfigurements. Some served humanity. Others caused terror. Now, forty years later, as a gang war between the Shadow Fists and the mafia rages out of control in the streets of Jokertown, Aces and Jokers go underground-to wage their own war against the powers of the netherworld.
Bd. 6: Ace in the Hole (The Puppetman Quartett III; 01/1990; Neuausgabe 10/2016)
— alte dt. Ausgabe (Split): Terror u. Dr. Tachyon (Heyne Nr. 06/5609), Ein As in der Hinterhand (Heyne Nr. 06/5610)
Inhalt
Since a strange alien virus created the superhuman beings known as Aces and Jokers four decades ago, they have struggled for respect and recognition. Now they are key players in a presidential convention torn by hatred and dissent. Assassins stalk the halls of the convention and one of the candidates plans to use his secret Wild Card power for evil. Travel on a journey of intrigue and adventure in this collaborative novel edited by #1 New York Times bestselling author George R. R. Martin and written by five of science fiction’s most imaginative talents: Stephen Leigh, Victor Milan, Walton Simons, Melinda M. Snodgrass, and Walter Jon Williams.
Bd. 7: Dead Man’s Hand (The Puppetman Quartett IV; 07/1990, Neuauflage 06/2017)
Inhalt
Chrysalis, the glass-skinned queen of the Joker underworld, has been found brutally murdered in her popular restaurant, the Crystal Palace. Now two men are out to find her killer – Jay Ackroyd, the Ace private detective who discovered her ruined body, and the vigilante archer known as The Yeoman, who has been framed for the crime.
Their quest leads them on a nightmare journey of madness, violence, passion and intrigue that will forever alter the fate of those who contracted the Wild Card virus.
— Daniel „Yeoman“ Brennan by John Jos Miller
— Jay „Popinjay“ Ackroyd by George R.R. Martin
Bd. 8: One-Eyed Jacks (The Rox Triad I; 01/1991 … Neuausgabe ab 08/2018)
Inhalt
Something is stirring on Ellis Island, something strange and dangerous enough to subdue even the white-hot tensions between Wild Cards and naturals. The Jumpers are rising … The members of this vicious gang have the power to jump their minds into others’ bodies, use them to commit acts of terror and violence — then withdraw as quickly as they came, leaving their hapless victims to face the consequences.
Not even the powerful Aces are immune to the Jumper threat.
Die Neuausgabe enthält zwei zusätzliche, neue Stories.
Bd. 9: Jokertown Shuffle (The Rox Triad II; 08/1991, Neuausgabe 04/2019)
Inhalt
Bloat, the boy governor of the Rox, had dreams as big as his monstrous Joker body. He wanted to make Ellis Island a safe haven for his people, a Joker homeland. To survive, Bloat needed the Jumpers, adolescent outcasts who could steal a man’s body in the blink of an eye. He needed their money to feed the Rox.
Even more, he needed their terrifying powers to stave off the vengeance of a frightened world. But the Jumpers grew more viscious and uncontrollable every day, under the leadership of Dr. Tachyon’s psychopathic grandson.
Bd. 10: Double Solitaire (Solo Roman; 03/1992, Neuausgabe 12/2019) …
Inhalt:
Aboard his grandfather’s spaceship and fleeing the violent turmoil between Jokers, Aces, and Nats that his vicious ambition spawned, Blaise is headed for a new conquest: the plant Takis. Dr. Tachyon is left behind … but he’s lost more than his only way of returning to his home world.
Blaise has stolen his body, as well — leaving Tach trapped in the pregnant body of a teenage runaway. Tachyon must sell his soul to reach Takis — and once there, confront Blaise amidst the political and military machinations of Takisian society. Treachery and treason await him. At stake is nothing less than the destiny of an entire world.
Bd. 11: Dealer’s Choice (The Rox Triad III; 10/1992, Neuauflage 09/2020) …
After too many disastrous raids and military embarrassments, the Nats order a full-out, no-holds-barred blitzkrieg against Bloat and his genetic outcasts. The mission is clear: destroy Ellis Island, no survivors. As the final battle rages, the Turtle throws in the towel, Modular Man switches sides, Reflector faces defeat, Legion “dies”—and assassins reach Bloat’s chamber. This is it, folks. The final days of the Rox.
Autoren & Storys:
Edward W. Bryant, Stephen Leigh, John Jos. Miller, George R. R. Martin and Walter Jon Williams.
Bd. 12: Turn of the Cards (Solo Roman; 01/1993, Neuauflage 11/2021) …
Inhalt:
The Rox is history and Mark Meadows is on the run, pursued by the CIA, the DEA, and the Wild Card mistress of the winds, Mistral. But the renegade biochemist has his own secret weapon: each possessing ace powers, each activated by mind-bending drugs. Fleeing across Europe and Asia, Mark meets a crazed Vietnam veteran with an astounding plan—to lead an army of jokers in a war of conquest.
Caught between jokers who despise him and nats who want him dead, Mark must decide whether to unleash his ace powers for a madman’s bloody dream, or to stay true to his peaceful ideals—and die.
Bd. 13: Card Sharks (Card Shark Triad I; 02/1993) … dzt. nicht erhältlich …
Inhalt
Someone is trying to kill all the jokers—nothing less than genocide will do. For decades they have been the secret shadow players on the global scene, the puppet masters hidden behind the curtains, patient, cunning, moving inch by inch toward their terrible dream—a world “cleansed” of the Wild Card disease and its victims. And now their time is almost come…
Bd. 14: Marked Cards (Card Shark Triad II; 03/1994) … dzt. nicht erhältlich …
Inhalt
A beautiful young reporter and a small group of jokers and aces have unearthed evidence of a secret conspiracy called the Card Sharks, whose goal is no less than the wholesale destruction of those afflicted with the Wild Cards virus. Hannah and her heroes must flush out the Card Sharks before they can employ their ultimate weapon.
Bd. 15: Black Trump (Card Sharks Triad III; 07/1995) … dzt. nicht erhältlich …
Inhalt
Finally flushed into the open by the heroism of a joker and an uninfected lady reporter, the Card Shark conspiracy faces destruction. But a cornered animal is a dangerous animal, and the Sharks still have one final card to play: the Black Trump. The ultimate biological weapon. The Black Trump simply kills all those with the wild card virus written into their genes, joker or ace -and its success rate is one hundred percent. In New York’s teeming Jokertown, in the Joker’s Quarter of old Jerusalem, in the Free People’s State of Vietnam where the ace Mark Meadows rules in a sixties vision of love and peace, the bombs are ticking…and time is running out.
Bd. 16: Deuces Down (Solo Roman, 06/2002, Neuauflage 01/2021) …
Inhalt
An alien biological weapon was accidentally detonated over New York City, killing countless numbers of people. Those who survived, soon began to wish they had died once they discovered that they had been forever mutated by the virus unleashed in the blast. In this all-new collection of Wild Cards stories, the spotlight is on the most unusual Wild Cards of them all the Deuces.
In this revised collection of classic Wild Cards stories, the spotlight is on the most unusual Wild Cards of them all—the Deuces, people with minor superpowers. But their impact on the world should not be underestimated, as we see how they’ve affected the course of Wild Cards’ alternate history. This collection also features exclusive art to accompany these stories.
In Deuces Down, iconic celebrities and landmark events are seen in a whole new light, such as John Jos. Miller’s exciting 1969 World Series between the Baltimore Orioles and the Brooklyn Dodgers; Michael Cassutt’s first moon landing, when the world wasn’t watching; Walter Simons’ Great New York City Blackout of 1977; and Melinda M. Snodgrass’s account of Grace Kelly’s mysterious disappearance during the filming of The French Lieutenant’s Woman.
Bd. 17: Death Draws Five (Solo Roman; 01/2006, Neuauflage 11/2021) …
Inhalt
In Death Draws Five, John Fortune’s card has finally turned. He’s an Ace! And proud of it . . . except that his new powers put him on a collision course with enemies he never knew he had. Is he the new messiah? Or the Anti-Christ? Or is he just a kid who’s in over his head and about to drown?
It’s really quite simple. Mr. Nobody wants to do his job. The Midnight Angel wants to serve her Lord. Billy Ray, dying from boredom, wants some action. John Nighthawk wants to uncover the awful secret behind his mysterious power. Fortunato wants to rescue his son from the clutches of a cryptic Vatican office. John Fortune just wants to catch Siegfried and Ralph’s famous Vegas review.
The problem is that all roads, whether they start in Turin, Italy, Las Vegas, Hokkaido, Japan, Jokertown, Snake Hill, the Short Cut, or Yazoo City, Mississippi, lead to Leo Barnett’s Peaceable Kingdom, where the difference between the Apocalypse and Peace on Earth is as thin as a razor’s edge and where Death himself awaits the final, terrible turn of the card.
Bd. 18: Inside Straight (The Committee Triad I; 01/2008)
— dt. Ausgabe: Das Spiel der Spiele (2. Generation, Bd. 1) …
Inhalt
Now a new generation has come of age, a generation born into the world of the wild card. Aces are just movie stars to them, and jokers are as commonplace as the poor. They are the computer kids, the hip-hop generation, new aces for the new millennium. They know the world needs saving, and they’re the ones to do it. The old heroes messed it up. Now it’s the new kids’ turn. In 2008, the highest-rated show on TV is American Hero, which pits twenty-one young aces against one another in a series of tasks and stunts. Among the judges is Peregrine, whose production company created the show.
Her son, John Fortune, works as an assistant on the set and mourns for the ace powers he lost when his father cleansed the virus from his system … until Osiris of the Living Gods tells him that perhaps that door is not forever closed. For outside the studio, the world is in dire need of heroes. Within a shockingly short time, John Fortune will be reborn to a new state of being and will lead the new generation of aces from the soundstages of Hollywood to a climactic confrontation in Egypt, at the side of the Living Gods.
Bd. 19: BUSTED FLUSH (The Committee Triad II; 12/2008)
— dt. Ausgabe: Der Sieg der Verlierer (2. Generation, Bd. 2) …
Inhalt
In the six decades since the alien plague known as the “Wild Card” virus spread a wave of mutations around the globe, humanity has begun to come to terms with its consequences. Grotesque half-human creatures known as “Jokers” inhabit an underworld of their own, while the legendary prodigies known as “Aces” have beocome real-world superheroes, complete with colorful names and costumes.
Now a new generation of Aces has taken its place on the world stage, crucial players in international events. At the United Nations, John Fortune has assembled a team of young heroes known as The Committee to assist at the trouble spots around the world — including zombies in hurricane-ravaged New Orleans, a freak nuclear explosion in Texas, and a showdown with the forces of the oil-rich Islamic caliphate in the Middle East. But The Committee’s opponents have their own Aces and Jokers ready to do battle, including a Marxist revolutionary, a brutal mercenary, a boy with apocalyptic powers, and — most terrifyingly of all — a sinister arm of the FBI known as SCARE.
Bd. 20: SUICIDE KINGS (The Committee Triad III; 12/2009)
— dt. Ausgabe: Der höchste Einsatz (2. Generation, Bd. 3) …
Inhalt
The heart of the world is bleeding; the People’s Paradise of Africa is having it out with the Caliphate; and the Sudan is a charnel house. The powers-that-be aren’t doing anything. The UN might set up a committee. But the time for action is now. So, one by one, the aces join the fight, each for their own reasons. … The “Wild Card” virus kills 90 percent of the folks who catch it, but those who survive gain special powers. Some become grotesque mutants like the half-man, half-rhino Denys Finch.
They’re the jokers. Some get trivial powers. They’re deuces. Like Bubbles, who can absorb any amount of energy. Or Bugsy, who can turn his body into wasps. Or Double Helix, the shape-changing, teleporting assassin. And Tom Weathers. The Radical. The strongest, most versatile of the aces. He can fly; he’s strong enough to rip the turret off a tank; he can shoot heat rays from his hands … but his greatest strength is his total conviction in the rightness of his cause. Whatever the cause is at the moment. At this particular moment, he’s found a way to get more aces for the People’s Paradise. Lots more aces. And that’s where the trouble starts. …
Bd. 21: FORT FREAK (Mean Streets Triad I; 06/2011)
— dt. Ausgabe: Die Cops von Jokertown…
Inhalt
We get to know the hardbitten world of Manhattan’s Fifth Precinct—or “Fort Freak,” as cops and malefactors alike call the cop-shop where every other desk sergeant, detective, and patrol officer is more than human.
Joker … Das sind von einem außerirdischen Virus Veränderte; Mutanten; Freaks! Sie leben seit 70 Jahren unter den Menschen, und man hat sich an sie gewöhnt. Fast. Denn die meisten der New Yorker Joker leben in Jokertown, einem Ghetto im Süden Manhattans. Dies ist die Geschichte des fünften Polizeireviers, dessen Cops in Jokertown für Recht und Gesetz einstehen. Für manche ist es eine Zuflucht, für andere ein Ärgernis – aber für die meisten ist es die letzte Festung gegen die Freaks!
Bd. 22: LOWBALL (Mean Streets Triad II; 11/2014)
— dt. Ausgabe: Die Gladiatoren von Jokertown …
Inhalt
Decades after an alien virus changed the course of history, the surviving population of Manhattan still struggles to understand the new world left in its wake. Natural humans share the rough city with those given extraordinary–and sometimes terrifying–traits. While most manage to coexist in an uneasy peace, not everyone is willing to adapt. Down in the seedy underbelly of Jokertown, residents are going missing. The authorities are unwilling to investigate, except for a fresh lieutenant looking to prove himself and a collection of unlikely jokers forced to take matters into their own hands–or tentacles. The deeper into the kidnapping case these misfits and miscreants get, the higher the stakes are raised.
Jokertown … So wird das Ghetto im südlichen Manhattan genannt. Hier leben die Joker, die von einem Virus veränderten Mutanten. Gangs beherrschen die Straßen, für die Sicherheit können die Cops nicht mehr garantieren. Aber hier hält man auch zueinander! Als immer mehr Joker verschwinden und die Behörden nichts unternehmen, tun sich einige Mutanten zusammen, um sie aufzuspüren. Sie stoßen auf illegale Gladiatorenkämpfe und eine weltumfassende Verschwörung. Doch je näher sie der Organisatorin kommen, desto höher werden die Einsätze – bis es um ihr eigenes Leben geht!
Bd. 23: HIGH STAKES (Mean Streets Triad III; 08/2016)
— dt. Ausgabe: Die Hexe von Jokertown …
Inhalt
High Stakes delves deeper into the world of aces, jokers, and the hard-boiled men and women of the Fort Freak police precinct in a pulpy, page-turning novel of superheroics and Lovecraftian horror. After the concluding events of Lowball, Officer Francis Black of Fort Freak, vigilante joker Marcus “The Infamous Black Tongue” Morgan, and ace thief Mollie “Tesseract” Steunenberg get stuck in Talas, Kazakhstan.
There, the coldblooded Baba Yaga forces jokers into an illegal fighting ring, but her hidden agenda is much darker: her fighters’ deaths serve to placate a vicious monster from another dimension. When the last line of defense against this world weakens, all hell breaks loose, literally…. The Committee in New York sends a team of aces to investigate. One by one, each falls victim to evil forces–including the dark impulses within themselves. Only the perseverance of the most unlikely of heroes has a chance of saving the world before utter chaos erupts on Earth.
Bd. 24: MISSISSIPPI ROLL (America Triad I; 12/2017)
Inhalt:
Now on its final voyage, the historical steamboat Natchez is known for her super-powered guest entertainers. But after the suspicious death of a crewmember, retired NY police detective Leo Storgman decides to make this incident his personal case.
His findings only lead to a growing number of questions. Is there some truth behind the ghostly sightings of the steamboat’s first captain Wilbur Leathers? What secret does the current captain seem to be hiding? And could the Natchez be ferrying mysterious – and possibly dangerous – cargo onboard?
Autoren & Storys
Stephen Leigh, John Jos. Miller, Kevin Andrew Murphy, Carrie Vaughn (Martians Abroad), David D. Levine, Cherie Priest
Bd. 25: LOW CHICAGO (America Triad II; 06/2018)
Inhalt:
The stakes where already high enough at Giovanni Galante’s poker table that night in Chicago. Poker. Dealer’s choice. Seven players. A million-dollar cash buy-in. But after a superpowered mishap, the most high profile criminals in the city are scattered throughout the past and their schemes across time threaten the stability of the world in George R. R. Martin’s latest Wild Cards adventure. Perfect for current fans and new readers alike, LowChicago is an all-new time travel adventure that leads to the criminal underworld of 1920s Chicago, featuring a fresh cast of characters from the WildCards universe.
Autoren & Storys
Saladin Ahmed, Paul Cornell, Marko Kloos, John Jos. Miller, Mary Anne Mohanraj, Kevin Andrew Murphy, Christopher Rowe, Melinda M. Snodgrass
Bd. 26: TEXAS HOLD’EM (America Triad III; 11/2018) … (Bd. 27 nach GRRM)
Inhalt:
San Antonio, home of the Alamo, is also host to the nation’s top high school jazz competition, and the musicians at Xavier Desmond High are excited to outplay their rivals. They are also jokers, kids with strange abilities and even stranger looks. On top of that, well, they are teenagers, apt for mischief, mishaps, and romantic misunderstandings. Michelle Pond, aka The Amazing Bubbles, thinks that her superhero (and supermom) know-how has prepared her to chaperone the event.
But when her students start going wayward, she’ll soon discover the true meaning of “Don’t mess with Texas.”
Autoren & Storys
Caroline Spector: Bubbles and the Band Trip / Max Gladstone: The Secret Life of Rubberband / William F. Wu: Jade Blossom’s Brew / Diana Rowland: Beats, Bugs, and Boys / Walton Simons: Is Nobody Going to San Antone? / Victor Milan: Dust and the Darkness / David Anthony Durham: Drop City
Bd. 27: KNAVES OVER QUEENS (The British Ark I; 08/2019) … (Bd. 26 nach GRRM)
Inhalt
Now the virus has reached Britain… Queen Margaret rules over a country in which such legendary figures as Herne the Hunter, Spring-heeled Jack and Babh, the goddess of war, roam at will. Her Prime Minister, Sir Winston Churchill – gifted with extraordinary longevity – together with the Enigma ace – Alan Turing – set up a special organization named the Order of the Silver Helix. They will need all the wild cards they can find if they are to deal with the terrifying mutations thrown up by the virus.
Autoren & Storys
Kevin Andrew Murphy: A Flint Lies in the Mud & But a Flint Holds Fire / Peadar O Guilin: The Coming of the Crow, Cracks in the City & Feeding on the Entrails / Caroline Spector: Needles and Pins / Paul Cornell: Night Orders / Charles Stross: Police On My Back / Marko Kloos: Probationary / Peter Newman: Twisted Logic / Melinda M. Snodgrass: Ceremony of Innocence / Emma Newman: How to Turn a Girl to Stone / Mark Lawrence: The Visitor
Bd. 28: THREE KINGS (The British Ark II 03/2022) … (29 laut GRRRM)
Inhalt
In the aftermath of World War II, the Earth’s population was devastated by an alien virus. Those who survived were changed forever. Some, known as jokers, were cursed with bizarre mental and physical mutations; others, granted superhuman abilities, became the lucky few known as aces.
Queen Margaret, who came to the English throne after the death of her sister Elizabeth, now lies on her death-bed. Summoning the joker ace Alan Turing, she urges him to seek the true heir: Elizabeth’s lost son. He was rumored to have died as a baby but, having been born a joker, was sent into hiding. Margaret dies and her elder son Henry becomes king and at once declares he wants to make England an „Anglo-Saxon country“ and suggests jokers be sent „to the moon.“
Dangerous tensions begin to tear the country apart. The Twisted Fists—an organization of jokers led by the Green Man—are becoming more militant. And Babh, goddess of war, sees opportunities to sow strife and reap blood…
Bd. 29: JOKER MOON … 06/2021 (Bd. 30nach GRRM)
Inhalt
Theodorus was a dreamer. As a child, he dreamt of airplanes, rockets, and outer space. When the wild card virus transformed him into a monstrous snail centaur weighing several tons, his boyhood dreams seemed out of reach, but a Witherspoon is not so easily defeated.
Years and decades passed, and Theodorus grew to maturity and came into his fortune. . . but still his dream endured. But now when he looked upward into the night sky, he saw more than just the Moon . . . he saw a joker homeland, a refuge where the outcast children of the wild card could make a place of their own, safe from hate and harm.
An impossible dream, some said. Others, alarmed by the prospect, brought all their power to bear to oppose him. Theodorus persisted . . . never dreaming that the Moon was already inhabited.
Bd. 30 … FULL HOUSE … 08/2022 (Bd. 31 nach GRRM)
Inhalt
Sammlung von Storys, die ursprünglich auf der Website von TOR erschienen sind (siehe weiter unten):
Autoren & Storys:
Daniel Abraham: When We Were Heroes / Victor Milan: Evernight / Caroline Spector: Lies My Mother Told Me / Carrie Vaughn: Nuestra Senora de la Esperanza / David D. Levine: Discards / Paul Cornell: The Elephant in the Room / Melinda M. Snodgrass: When the Devil Drives / Stephen Leigh: The Atonement Tango / Walter Jon Williams: Prompt. Professional. Pop! / Marko Kloos: How to Move Spheres and Influence People
Bd. 31: PAIRING UP … 07/2023 (Bd. 32 nach GRRM)
Inhalt
An alien virus ravages the world, its results as random as a hand of cards. Those infected either draw the black queen and die, draw an ace and receive superpowers, or draw the joker and are bizarrely mutated.
Nevertheless, human nature reigns supreme. And one of the most enduring human drives is the search for love. Aces and jokers alike both want to find it, or have lost it . . . or perhaps just want to use it for personal gain. Crazy, unconventional, touching, strange, and oh-so-familiar, this is love, Wild Cards-style.
• A jewel thief seduces a popular actor just so she can track down a long-lost treasure.
• A teenager trapped in the body of a giant snail attempts to win his love à la Cyrano de Bergerac.
• A man discovers his purpose in life after meeting a beautiful butterfly woman.
• A young hero who has been awarded the hideous name of Hero McHeroface finds some solace in the arms of an astrologer hiding her own unique powers.
Autoren & Storys
Kevi Andrew Murphy: Trudy of the Apes / Christopher Rowe: Cyrano d’Escargot / Marko Kloos: In the Forests of the Night / Melinda M. Snodgrass: The Wounded Heart / Bradley Denton: Echoes From A Canyon Wall / Walton Simons: The Long Goodbye / Gwenda Bond & Peter Newman: What’s Your Sign? / David Anthony Durham: The Wolf and the Butterfly
Bd. 32: SLEEPER STRADDLE … 02/2024
Inhalt:
The Sleeper is Croyd Crenson, who was a high school freshman on his way home from school when the virus was released over Manhattan. From that day on, Croyd has been continuously reinfected by the virus whenever he sleeps, his body reshaping itself into a myriad of new shapes and forms. Each time he wakes, he is changed. Sometimes he wakes as an ace, with astonishing new superpowers, different every time.
Other times he wakes as a joker, malformed and hideous. He lives in terror of the day he draws the black queen, and does not wake at all. Croyd can sleep for days, weeks, even months, but when awake he does all he can to keep sleep at bay. Unable to hold a normal job or have a normal relationship, he lives on the margins of society; he has been a bodyguard, a thief, a mercenary, a con man, a hero for hire… whatever it takes to survive.
Everyone knows Croyd, and no one really knows Croyd.
Bd. 33: HOUSE RULES … 02/2025
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Inhalt:
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Autoren & Storys:
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[Bd. 18b] … AMERICAN HERO … seit 03/2020 …
Begleitbuch zu Bd. 18 INSIDE STRAIGHT
Inhalt
American Hero, the nation’s most highly anticipated competition show, kicks off its first season! People with incredible powers – from possessing death-defying healing to transforming into an insect swarm to shifting the earth itself – have been selected from all walks of life. Their goal: to win one million dollars and the admiration of millions more viewers by answering one question, “Do you have what it takes to be the next American Hero?”
Autoren & Storys:
George R.R. Martin, Carrie Vaughn, Melinda M. Snodgrass, Walter Jon Williams, Victor Milan, Daniel Abraham, Stephen Leigh, und mehr.
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WILD CARDS EINZELSTORYS
Ein Überblick über alle Wild-Card-Storys auf der Website von TOR. Die beiden Storys mit * finden sich auf Wild Cards World …
— Daniel Abraham: When we were Heroes (01/2013) … gratis online …
— Cherrie Priest: The Button Man and the Murder Tree (05/2013) … gratis online …
— Paul Cornell: The Elephant in the Room (05/2013) … gratis online …
— Caroline Spector: Lies My Mother Told Me (12/201) … in: Dangerous Women, Hrsg. GRRM
— Carrie Vaughn: Nuestra Senora de la Esperanza (10/2014) … gratis online …
— Walter Jon Williams: Prompt. Professional. Pop! (11/2014) … gratis online …
— David D. Levine: Discards (03/2016) … gratis online …
— Carrie Vaughn: The Thing about growing up in Jokertown (12/2016) … gratis online …
— Stephen Leigh: The Atonement Tango (01/2017) … gratis online …
— Melinda Snodgrass: When the Devil Drives (07/2017) … gratis online …
— Victor Milan: Evernight (02/2018) … gratis online …
— Caroline Spector, Bradley Denton: The Flight of Morpho Girl (05/2018) … gratis online …
— Max Gladstone: Fitting in (10/2018) … gratis online …
— Marko Kloos: How to move Spheres and Influence People (03/2019) … gratis online …
— Carrie Vaughn, Sage Walker: Long is the way (05/2019) … gratis online …
— Walton Simons: The City that never sleeps (08/2019) … gratis online …
— Bradley Denton: Naked, Stoned, and Stabbed (10/2019) … gratis online …
— Mark Lawrence: The Visitor: Kill or Cure (03/2020) … gratis online …
— Marko Kloos: Berlin is Never Berlin (05/2020) … gratis online …
— *Carrie Vaughn: Ghost Girl Takes Manhattan …(2011) gratis online … (Story aus Bd. 01)
— *Melinda Snodgrass: The Rook (2009) … gratis online … (Story aus Bd. 11)
— Ian Tregillis: Hammer and Tongs and a Rusty Nail (12/2020) … gratis online …
— Laura J. Mixon: Ripple Effects (09/2021) … gratis online …
— Alan Brennert: Skin Deep (07/2021) … gratis online …
— Emma Newman: Hearts of Stone (05/2022) … gratis online …
— Carrie Vaughn: Grow (07/2022) … gratis online …
— Paul Cornell: I Have No Voice and I Must Zoom Meeting … (offline) …
DIE COVER DER STORYS
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… Beitrag ursprünglich veröffentlicht 2017 auf Kultplatz.net …
… Beitrag überarbeitet und aktualisiert veröffentlicht am 20.10.24 auf AlexanderMisa …
… Beitrag neu veröffentlicht am 11.01.2025 auf Kultplatz.net …
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