Deuces Down: A Wild Cards Novel

Another good instalment in the Wild Card series, even if much delayed. Focusing on aces with powers of seemingly little consequence, some of whom are jokers as well, this book is a little more upbeat, or even lighthearted at times. Plenty of aces make cameos, even Cameo, not to mention Demise. So lots of old favorites are around. Peregrine's son, also, as a teenager. Fidel Castro has a different job, and Grace Kelly's husband has been very good for her, as two of the more tongue-in-cheek tales unfold. You like Wild Cards, or this sort of thing, you will certainly like this. This book a series of stories, again. Wild Cards 16 : 01 Storming Space - Michael Cassutt Wild Cards 16 : 02 Four Days in October - John J. Miller Wild Cards 16 : 03 Walking the Floor Over You - Walton Simons Wild Cards 16 : 04 A Face for the Cutting Room Floor - Melinda M. Snodgrass Wild Cards 16 : 05 Father Henry's Little Miracle - Daniel Abraham Wild Cards 16 : 06 Promises - Stephen Leigh Wild Cards 16 : 07 With a Flourish and a Flair - Kevin Andrew Murphy Shoestring spaceflight triangle. 4 out of 5 Kid reporter baseball investigation. 3.5 out of 5 Comedy babe's secret Sleeper save. 3.5 out of 5 Centaur porn and the beauty secrets of the famous. 4 out of 5 Priest protection to prevent a Demise. 3 out of 5 Petrified of family life. 3 out of 5 Hats in fashion unto the seventh generation. 4 out of 5

It was nice to visit the wild cards again... especially the Sleeper... However it was a bit sad knowing that Zelazny was not at the helm of that story... I also miss the Turtle and some of the other gang... but i guess this was a book for the deuces... i hope that there is another effort to revitalise this series. with GRR Martin's massive popularity (very deserved i might add) there should be an effot to get some writters together and have some adventures... Now that the jumpers and the rox is gone, hopefully we can get back to the 3 books per villain structure... although it will be hard to top the astromomer, or the swarm...It was nice to go back and visit again... but next time i want aces and jokers...

Browsing in a bookstore circa 1986 I came upon the first Wild Cards book. Curious, I bought it . .. and devoured it in a night.That set a patern I would follow with the release of all the subsequent books. The premise, the shared milieu, the contributions of the various writers, the twists, turns, and thrills, it was just so much fun. Like other fans, I was sorry when the series seemed to end, but I understood that the death of Roger Zelazny might want to make the others involved retire the concept. What cause for celebration then to see the Wild Cards resurrected! So, okay, this is not the most exciting entry in the series, dealing as it does with deuces, wild carders who powers seem to be useless. Not so, of course, the authors are quite ingenious at making those useless powers pivotal. There are cameos by some old favorite characters, and the last story, involving a frantic search for a specific top hat, is quite entertaining. But this book does differ from its predecessors in that it does not begin, suspensefully continue, or slam-bang conclude a story arc. I miss that Saturday serial kind of anticipatory excitement, and uneasily wonder if that means the series will not be continued any time soon. If not, too bad. I always left the Wild Cards world wanting more. I always hoped for a story about the Harlem Hammer, or the Troll, and like most fans, wondered whatever happened next to the Radical. C'mon, George R. R. Martin and co., don't leave us hanging!