Wild Cards 30 - Full House

Short Runs

Wild Cards Vol 30
Full House
by George R. R. Martin
Tor Books
ISBN: 9781635912715256167958

Proclaiming itself a Wild Cards mosaic novel on the first printed page of the book, this 30th new collection of short stories in the Wild Cards series, Full House, isn’t really that at all. Sure it consists of new stories by a variety of the Wild Cards writers but, unlike the majority of the multi-authored previous volumes in the series, these aren’t all going towards making up an overreaching story arc. Instead, this is a collection of stories previously published on Tor’s website... which is fine by me, I don’t really have time for electronic PDFs or Epubs of fiction when there are so many good printed stories to be read... hence, I haven’t read any of these before, myself.

But the point is, these don’t go together so well and, yeah, I’ll hit you with my one negative comment at the end but, if you are a Wild Cards fan... lapping up these tales taking place in an alternate Earth history where a virus from an alien world was unleashed in the 1940s, which either leaves people as they are, turns them into hideously deformed Jokers, kills them or gives them Ace powers (basically gives them super powers)... then you are going to love this one.

As usual, all of the stories in this tome are amazingly well written and, if you’re anything like me, you’ll probably be absolutely into all the characters... old and brand new alike. These are skilled writers giving us fantastic prose set in a version of Earth where literally anything can happen... these books are like addictive drugs, they’re so good. Here’s a very brief rundown of what’s in this new edition of the stories... I’m not going to go into detail on each one because, frankly, they’re all absolutely brilliant.

When We Were Heroes by Daniel Abraham
This one has former American Hero contestant Bugsy, moved on since the various big international conflicts he’s been involved with since the first season of that reality show, now working as a ‘reporter’ on Aces magazine, a gossip rag of some notoriety. He is on the sharp end of an angry Curveball, after she finds out about a shot he uses of her combined with an Ace celebrity piece he puts out, catching her on a first date. The conversation they have crosscuts between a recent, tragic event in Bugsy’s life where he was working security for an organisation and the awkwardness and romance of Curveball’s first date with a Nat (Nats or naturals are people who haven’t been affected by the virus... yet).  

Evernight by Victor Milan
This one’s a fairly dark tale featuring Candace Sessou aka The Darkness, as she tries to free her terrorist brother from captivity in a Joker sanctuary beneath the catacombs of Paris, by doing a job for those who run the place in exchange for his release. Things go wrong all over.

Lies My Mother Told Me by Caroline Spector
This one sees Bubbles and her adopted, insect-like daughter Adesina attacked by zombies on a carnival float. However, it’s not Bubbles former lesbian lover and friend Hoodoo Mama who is responsible for the zombie disruption and deaths. Someone sole Mama’s power temporarily to specifically put pressure on Bubbles through her friends. Between the two of them, the ladies fight back and neutralise the threat... as far as we know... in the usual deadly manner.

Nuestra Señora de la Esperanza by Carrie Vaughn
Earth Witch, still mending from a bullet wound she received in one of the big international battles told in the novels, is wracked with guilt for killing so many enemy soldiers and then finds out that, somewhere in Mexico, her grandmother is still alive. Finding the advice of the local priest completely unsympathetic to the plight of those touched by the virus, she takes a road trip to go and find her grandmother for some advice on the matter... one Ace to another. A background detail... Curveball seems to still be in a relationship with John Fortune, son of the first wave Ace Fortunato, in this. Which kinda contradicts the first story in the volume... I’ll get to that soon.

Discards by David D. Levine
This one is by David D. Levine who wrote the wonderful Arabella of Mars novels (which I reviewed here, here and here). This one tells of a new Joker/Ace when his card turns, transforming him into someone who can attract certain kinds of junk and debris to overcome his obstacles. Now, I think Levine has been involved in the Wild Cards novels before on a number of occasions but this is the first time I’ve consciously noticed that this is the same guy who created Arabella. The writing style is totally different here to those aforementioned tomes and shows what a great, diverse talent this writer is... but the same can be said for all the Wild Cards writers, I’m sure.

The Elephant In The Room by Paul Cornell
This one’s a nice little sketch of Abigail, who picks up passing Ace and Joker powers (I think her first appearance was in the Wild Cards novel Fort Freak, reviewed here). She’s also the current girlfriend of the original, multigenerational, ageless Ace... Croyd ‘The Sleeper’ Crenson. But when Croyd is coming to the end of his current waking cycle and desperate to stay awake via whatever amphetamines or alternatives he can find, becoming his usual cranky self... Abigail’s mum comes for a visit.

When The Devil Drives by Melinda M. Snodgrass
Star Trek writer extraordinaire Melinda M. Snodgrass is one of the old and constant guard of the Wild Cards universe (and sometimes shares the editing credit with George R. R. Martin). This is another tale of assassin Noel Matthews, former teleporting assassin for the Order Of The Silver Helix and his various male and female incarnations. In this one, pursuing a somewhat ‘straight’ life, he is framed for a murder he didn’t commit and, in chasing down the real culprit, finds himself trying to fix his own family, from whom he has retreated.

The Atonement Tango by Stephen Leigh
This one headlines Drummer Boy, everyone’s favourite Joker/Ace musician. However, when a Joker Plague concert is bombed and all but one of his group and himself survive, with life changing injuries, he needs to investigate just what crackpot let the bomb off and come to terms with some home truths. This one features another cameo by Croyd Crenson and also the centaur Dr. Bradley Finn, who is looking after DB’s wounds. There’s also a mention of Jube, the walrus newspaper vendor and I love that people still assume that Jube is just another Joker, rather than an alien visitor from the old days of the early books in the series.

Prompt. Professional. Pop! by Walter Jon Williams
Irritating, self important, teleporting Ace Cleopatra is leading a life of crime but an intervention by original 1940s Ace Jack Braun, aka Golden Boy (who also doesn’t age and has been both a hero and a villain... due to his turning evidence in 1950s McCarthy hearings on ‘hidden virus citizens’ back in the 1950s) helps land her in more trouble pursuing fame and money.

How to move Spheres and influence people by Marko Kloos
This one is another story of a new Ace. When disabled 15 year old TK’s card turns on the last week or two before her summer holiday from the expensive school she is enrolled at, she eventually becomes a hero when she is trying to have a holiday in Edinburgh with her folks. She is expelled from school for her heroism but she is also approached by The Committee On Extraordinary Interventions, who are helpful and let her know she can go and work for them when she turns 18, if she wants to.
TK’s Ace ability is she can manipulate any spherical object with her mind... which obviously makes her very dangerous but, I won’t tell you her Ace name because the writer holds that back as a little reveal at the end of the story.

And that’s me done with Wild Cards Full House. My one disappointment is that the stories aren’t presented in chronological order, so there are lots of contradictions from story to story as various Aces are mentioned as doing different things at different stages of their lives (even though the stories are all about the more modern of the Wild Cards heroes... within the last ten years). So you do have to kind of ignore the seeming contradictions as you go on this one. But, other than that, another absolutely fantastic ride and I can’t wait for the next volume, which is due out next year. I love these books and have been reading them since the first tome appeared in the 1980s. Great stuff.

Arabella The Traitor Of Mars

Consider Phobos

Arabella The Traitor Of Mars
Written by David D. Levine
Tor Books ISBN: 978-0765382832

David D. Levine’s Arabella The Traitor Of Mars is, once again, an extraordinary and very special novel, being the third and, hopefully not final, tome rounding off the trilogy begun with Arabella Of Mars (reviewed here) and Arabella And The Battle Of Venus (reviewed here). And if you’re new to the truly wonderful fantasy world build by Levine, the novels tell of great Naval battles fought and explorations made in galleons sailing the air currents around the various planets in the Victorian era. They read, I’ll say again for any newcomers to the series, like a sly mixture of C. S. Forester, Jane Austen and Edgar Rice Burroughs’ interplanetary novels all rolled into one astounding science fiction package. And pardon me for gushing but it’s extremely rare I find a contemporary writer I actually like and, given the tragic circumstances under which this third tale was written (which I won’t go into here but you can read yourself in the afterword of the book), it seems like almost a miracle that this wonderful confection was ever written at all.

The novel is split into three main sections starting off with Section One - Earth 1816. Following the Battle Of Venus in the last book, where Arabella Ashby and her husband, Captain Singh and their latest companion Captain Fox were instrumental in helping Nelson defeat Napoleon in the air battle off Venus, Arabella finds herself back on Earth, getting along very well with the aid of her new clockwork foot, replacing the limb she lost at the end of her previous adventure. And the novel opens with a wonderfully atmospheric, icebound jubilee fair, on one of those rare occasions from olden days when the Thames used to freeze over and various stalls and games were introduced onto the frozen river. This is the first time that Arabella and her spouse have ever seen snow...

The scene then shifts to Brighton Pavilion, modelled after Venusian decor of course, when Arabella and her noble spouse are invited there by the Prince Of Wales. It is here, also, that Arabella is first introduced to a rare and decidedly overlooked gadget which turns out to be an early form of bicycle, which she helps improve and comes up with the idea of using pedals to increase its efficiency. However, a difficult and hard to decline offer from the Prince sees Arabella escaping Brighton to gain passage with Captain Fox to make the long journey to Mars, in order to warn them of the Prince’s plans to conquer and subjugate her home planet (she is human but was born and raised in the lighter gravity of Mars), with a fleet headed up by her newly promoted husband. She is thus, a traitor to her sovereign (as the English see it) and not a traitor to Mars, as was my initial concern when first reading the title of the book... but a traitor of Mars, as it more literally says.

Section Two - In Transit 1816, tells of the long journey to Mars and also of the arrival of a very welcome and unexpected ally. There’s also a battle with a giant space squid off of Mercury (the planet which Arabella is using to slingshot the crew of Fox’s ship into an air current to conduct them in a more efficacious manner towards Mars) and the discovery that the English intend to use underhanded tactics using a Venusian drug called Ulka, to subjugate the will of the Martians.


Section Three - Mars 1817 - 1819, tells of the long, harrowing and anxious preparations to equip various sympathetic concerns on Mars (not everyone wants to help maintain the independence of Arabella’s home-from-home planet, including a member of her own family who meant a lot to her in her past but who is now somewhat estranged and painted in villainous disposition), enabling them to at least attempt to hold their own against the mighty ships of the English. Much drama is wrought from the situation including more use of bicycles, a night time raid on drug smugglers to steal one of the Venusian animals which make the Helium gas needed to hold their own in their battles and, of course, a fleet (of sorts) with which to combat the menace. This all leads to two very exciting battles around the atmosphere of Phobos (a moon of Mars not discovered on Earth until much later than the setting of these stories in real life but, of course, in this alternate version of reality, the first human settlers on Mars would have discovered it for themselves straight away) and much damage is done to both sides, especially to the small Martian resistance hoping to turn the tide of battle. And of course I’m not going to tell you how all that goes, you need to read these books yourself but, I have to say, this one is probably even better than the last one as far as ‘edge of your seat suspense’ goes. Levine’s style of writing these tales, a kind of modernised appropriation of the stylistic writing of Jules Verne (I mean that as a compliment, for sure) is at once engaging and allows for a real empathy with the various characters and situations, breathing life into a tale of imagination which already has a lot going for it and which is only enhanced further by the fact that it’s incredibly well written and extremely entertaining.

And that’s me done with this saga for now... I can only hope the writer decides to come back to these characters at some point. There is a small, epilogue section set on Mars in 1828, where we see how the survivors of the last battle of the book have moved on nine years after and, frankly, a sequel could easily continue on from this point in time. It’s also a charming epilogue and a reminder of the sometime human characteristics of a certain automaton, whose inclusion in the novels is absolutely vital to the success of the campaigns and adventures related in the trilogy. I can only recommend Arabella The Traitor Of Mars as being another full-on and quite colourful entertainment, which I’m sure all great lovers of science fiction (and Naval warfare, for that matter) would embrace with an enthusiasm equalling my own. My one caveat is that, if you are entirely new to the series, don’t use this one as a jumping on point, go back to the first two novels and read the trilogy as a whole to get the best emotional investment from it. A truly splendid and joyous sequence of tales from start to finish.

Arabella And The Battle Of Venus

Venus Envy

Arabella And The Battle Of Venus
Written by David D. Levine
Tor Books ISBN: 978-0765382825

Arabella And The Battle Of Venus is the second of the phenomenally cool Arabella Ashby books. Following on just a few months after the end of the first novel, Arabella Of Mars (which I reviewed here), this one starts off like all good Hollywood movie sequels do, by trying to hit all of the same story points that made the first one in the series a success. So, set in an alternative, Victorian pulp style version of reality where it’s possible to sail galleons from planet to planet, the books tend to read as a kind of crossbreed between C.S. Forester, Edgar Rice Burroughs and Jane Austen.

So the book opens with Arabella in charge of her father’s plantation on Mars but her fiancé Captain Singh, acquired from the last novel as part and parcel of being allowed to take on the responsibilities of such a position (i.e. a lady would need to be married), already off on a voyage in the vicinity of Venus. The full reasons of this particular voyage are something Arabella... and the reader... do not find out until a fair way into the book so, I wont spoil that little surprise here but, despite the reasons, the Captain has been captured by the French and he and his crew, not forgetting his vessel Diana with it’s mysterious navigational automatum Aadim, are prisoners somewhere on the planet.

Yes, it’s a time of war and, despite being defeated and exiled to the dark side of the moon, Napoleon Bonaparte has escaped captivity and is waging war against the English around Venus. And not only that but he’s developing... oh wait, yeah, I’m not going to tell you that stuff because it’s spoilerific and you won’t want to know until it comes up. Whatever he’s doing there though, with the news that a particularly ruthless prison governor will be turning up to take charge at Captain Singh’s prison, Arabella bails out of debt a roguish but charming privateer named Captain Fox and persuades him and his crew to take their vessel Touchstone, accompanied by her and a chaperone, in a race to get to Venus before the new prison warder gets there... and try and break Captain Singh and the crew of the Diana out of captivity. Well that’s the initial plan anyway.

And, it’s all very well written and brilliantly entertaining but, after a while, I was getting just a little worried that this novel was going to be a repeat of the first one. Of course, more of a good thing is never unwelcome but I was concerned the whole novel was once again, more or less, going to take place on board the Diana. Indeed, there’s even an argument about the fine points of navigation wagered as a bet between her and Fox with a kiss and a dinner at stake, something which might be scandalous should Arabella lose her bet. As it happens though, Levine knows exactly when to change tack and about a third of the way through the book, Arabella and the crew of the Touchstone are also captured by the French around Venus and, through some smooth talking by Arabella, sent to work hard labour in the same compound as Captain Singh.

At this point, of course, the book becomes a prisoners of war story... which is not usually my favourite kind of tale, to be honest but... Levine once again proves himself a master of this particular kind of prose and it's riveting. And, once a certain bit of information comes Arabella’s way as to what Captain Singh was really doing in the vicinity of Venus, it becomes a rush to stage a prison break from the compound. This, in itself, is an impossible task with the penalty for people trying to run being a firing squad and with this particular compound on Venus being located so far away from anywhere else and in the midst of swampland, that it’s not really worth trying to escape it in all honesty. However, there’s another, more pressing reason to leave and ‘warn the British fleet’ as soon as possible (yeah, I’m really not telling you what, okay?) and so Arabella, Singh, Fox and their respective crews, not to mention a fair number of Venusian slaves... whose language Arabella has been trying to learn... make a bold bid for an escape under cover of the prisoners' amateur dramatic production of a Shakespeare play.

And the book is a delight. There are little surprises which turn up as the story takes slight turns throughout the course of the narrative, including Arabella attending a dinner party with Napoleon, an unusual navigational manoeuvre and a meeting with another famous person of the times in which this alternate reality is set, although, once again, it wouldn’t be such a surprise if I mentioned it here. There’s even a more darker, more permanent incident which visits itself upon one of the regular characters here which is, it is more than hinted, fixable and in such a way that the person who is victim to this particular blight would probably approve, as best they could, of this crippling misfortune.

Arabella And The Battle Of Venus is an absolutely enthralling read and, once the initial voyage to the shores of Venus is done with (and yes, even before that, truth be told) a real page turner. I was absolutely absorbed in the story pretty much from start to finish and my only question is in what direction can the writer possibly take his readers next? Well, I’ll hopefully know at some point sooner or later because I have the next volume in the saga,  Arabella, The Traitor Of Mars, on order as I type.

Arabella of Mars

Martian Manhunter

Arabella of Mars
by David D. Levine
TOR Books ISBN: 978-0765394750

Long term readers of this site who are more familiar with my fictional reading tastes may recall that one of my favourite book series is of those detailing the Martian tales of Edgar Rice Burroughs, from the early 20th Century… so when I saw this book, Arabella Of Mars, floating by on my Twitter timeline sometime last year, it was one that definitely lit up my radar. I quite enjoy female focussed fiction and the cover showed an old style sea ship sailing through the skies, presumably in the atmosphere of either Earth or Mars… so this was definitely something I was going to have to look into at some point. I was, therefore, delighted to receive a copy of this for Christmas and it was a regular companion for my first week of my latest shift of jury service a short time ago.

And, I have to say… it’s absolutely great.

Now, the various reviews located on the back and inside cover of the book are quite keen to let the potential reader know that the story within these nicely illustrated covers is a mixture of the aforementioned Mr. Burroughs, Jules Verne, Jane Austen and Patrick O’Brian. Well, despite the consistency of these different review quotes... I wouldn’t say that’s entirely accurate, although it’s close.

Now I’d have to take these people at their word on the O’Brian references because I’ve never read them or seen anything based on them. I can vouch for the fact that there’s a strong nautical feel to the book however and I would personally invoke the spirit of C. S. Forester’s Hornblower books in this context because, well, I’m getting on a bit in years (although, to be sure, I haven’t read any of those books either but, I realise the similarity of the content to say that this is probably an appropriate call).

Similarly, I’ve not read anything by Jane Austen but my understanding of the subject matter of her books and the concerns and expectations of marital status on behalf of the title character in this very tome do lead me to expect that this is also a good conclusion to draw.

Ditto for Mr. Burroughs and it would be impossible for me to not discern a certain heavy influence when it comes to his martian tales on this book. Although they only have the same number of limbs as human folk in this novel, from what I can tell, the Martian creatures do tend to bear a certain descriptive resemblance to the Tharks in Burrough’s yarns, for sure. Also, mention is made of the effect on the human body in the transition, between Earth and Mars and vice versa, in terms of the side effects of the gravitational pull. More precisely, where Burroughs highlights the superhuman prowess by his heroes such as John Carter and Ulysses Paxton due to the lighter forces of gravity found on Mars, Levine flips it on its head and talks about the devastating effect of humans in terms of gravitationally challenged prowess when returning, or indeed first setting foot, on Earth. Arabella Ashby, the lead heroine of this book, was born on Mars and doesn’t visit England until a number of years have passed.

As far as Jules Verne is concerned; as an admiriing reader of his work I was less convinced that he could be called a direct stylistic influence on this book. Despite being set in Victorian times and having some interesting passages during the narrative concerning the minutia of navigational calculations, the language in which the book is couched is perhaps less Verne and more something another period writer might attempt, in all honesty.

None of this stuff devalues this novel in any way whatsoever, though... so while some of these comparisons may at least serve as a guide to give potential readers a taste of the content of the book, it in no way hamstrings the pace of the narrative or takes away from the fact that Arabella Of Mars is a damned good modern take on the Victorian science fiction pulp novel and fans of all or any of the above listed writers (yeah, alright, even Verne to an extent) should love this sprawling adventure which starts off with a brief section highlighting the spirit and nature of Arabella’s relationship with her family of settlers on Mars - her father, mother, sisters and, most importantly in this case, her brother - and also her knowledge and friendship with the Martians who now share their planet, to an extent, with the English settlers. The novel then, after Arabella, her mother and two sisters find themselves in circumstances where they return to England, jumps from 1812 to 1823 as we find ourselves embroiled in the family politics with distant cousins after the death of one of Arabella’s close family.

During these specifically Austen like passages, the adventure that drives Arabella and the novel gets underway as stakes are raised and it is incumbent on her to find safe passage back to Mars in the most dire of circumstances. Which she does by disguising herself as a male and gaining passage, through her prowess with her hobby of maintaining automatons, on a sailing ship which is to fly to Mars when Earth and that distant red planet are at their most convenient... entering the shipping lanes between these worlds at a time when the journey should only take two months as opposed to the year it could take in less ideal positions. Taking the job of Cabin Boy to a Captain who has invented and uses an automaton to navigate his ship, the Diana, out of danger and on a true course, we are subjected to all the kinds of exciting adventures that one might find on a normal sailing voyage of this period... with the added element of space travel and the navigational aids to progress the course of their ship towards the planet that Miss Ashby must reach in a race to be reunited with a specific family member on the plantation of Mars before the nefarious devices of the main villain of the book can be successfully executed. This of course contains details of rigging and ship’s politics, not to mention pirates, privateers, space storms and, when she finally reaches her destination, a less than welcome reception due to events that have recently taken place on Mars in her absence.

And it’s a truly exciting read and, as I mentioned before, quite definitely infused with at least some of the spirit of Edgar Rice Burroughs' adventures on Barsoom (aka Mars).

Of course, me being me, I had a few minor criticisms. The first of which being the reference to one of the moons of Mars as being Phobos. Now I know the events of the book obviously take place in a fictional universe far different from our own reality, where sailing ships in the Victorian era can fly to Mars and back through specific atmospheric routes between the worlds but I can’t shake the fact that Phobos wasn’t discovered, in reality, until the year 1877. The majority of this book, however, is set in 1823 and, while I’m quite happy to take on board the fact that things in an alternative reality could be called identical names more than 50 years before they were really discovered, I wondered why the author did this. Burrroughs, of course, retitled the planet  Mars as Barsoom, in sympathy with the languages of the inhabitants and it’s a neat trick to name specific things as something 'other worldy' to avoid certain clashes with other realities, should they arise. Alas, the position of the author here is that it’s Phobos and that’s that? But, like I said, a minor point and who am I to say the inhabitants of this alternate reality weren’t taking the same inspirations as the real discoverer of Phobos did in 1877?

Something which really did get on my nerves a few times, however, in an adventure novel which seems to me is not intended solely for children, is the lack of swearing in the book. Or to be more precise, not the actual lack of swearing as there are a fair few times when characters let rip with their vocabulary... but with the refusal to spell the entire word out in the text and use only the first and last letter of the word (thus implying the knowledge of the content of the word in the reader’s vocabulary anyway). So you will have words like f______g turning up or even, bizarrely, g_______d. Now it could be that this is a very specific stylistic flourish which the writer has employed to maintain a certain aesthetic continuity which has somehow flown under my radar but... it does certainly raise the question as to why you would want to use this kind of dialogue but then be unwilling to actually show it.

That being said, these were genuinely the only two, very small, concerns I had with the book and I have to say I absolutely loved this maiden voyage of Miss Arabella Ashby of Mars and I already have the next tome in this series on the way to me here in the UK at some point soon. It’s a shame that a Kindle version of this truly marvellous novel has not been issued in the United kingdom because I’m absolutely sure my father, who is not able to hold books open and turn the pages for any great lengths of time anymore, would absolutely love this book too. Alas, so far the Kindle variant seems to only be available in America so... that’s a bit of a shame as far as I’m concerned.

However, if you are a fan of science fiction pulp adventure and are looking for a new sequence of books to start, you could certainly do a lot worse than entertaining the notion of giving Arabella Of Mars a spin. A truly wonderful novel with a story which I hope to continue with in the next volume, fairly soon. Seriously give this one a go... it’s truly excellent story telling.