Product Description
WILD CARDS I, WILD CARDS II: ACES HIGH and WILD CARDS III: JOKERS WILD. 3 Trade Paperbacks published by iBooks, Inc. All have new Brian Bolland covers, new afterwords by George R. R. Martin and $14.00 cover price each. George R. R. Martin series creator and editor. WILD CARDS I (1st printing August, 2001, 432 total pages, multiple illustrations by Mike Zeck. ISBN: 0743423801), WILD CARDS II: ACES HIGH (1st Printing September 2001, 368 total pages, ISBN: 0743423917) and WILD CARDS III: JOKERS WILD (1st Printing, January 2002. 528 pages, ISBN: 0743434897). These are all collaborative efforts written by numerous authors including George R. R. Martin, Roger Zelazny, Jon J. Miller, Edward Bryant, Stephen Leigh, Victor W. Milan, Leane C. Harper, Pat Cadigan, Melinda M. Snodgrass and a few others. "An alien virus arrived on Earth just after World War II and the world was never the same. For those who become infected, there are two results: death, or transformation. And depending on the recipient, death is sometimes the preferable outcome. Only a few lucky ones become superhuman ACES as a side effect of the virus; the rest are turned into horrible, grotesque JOKERS. It's a strange and wonderful, terrible and terrifying world where anything can go. A world that, in a twist of fate, could lie just outside your door." ... Read more

Product Description
Third in series, winner of the 1987 Locus Poll Award, Best Anthology. Contents include Introduction: Summation: 1985, essay by Gardner Dozois; The Jaguar Hunter, by Lucius Shepard (nominated, 1985 Nebula Award, 1985 World Fantasy Award); Dogfight, by Michael Swanwick and William Gibson (nominated, 1985 Nebula Award, 1986 Hugo Award); Fermi and Frost, by Frederik Pohl (winner, 1986 Hugo Award); Green Days in Brunei, by Bruce Sterling (nominated, 1985 Nebula Award); Snow, by John Crowley (nominated, 1985 Nebula Award, 1986 Hugo Award); The Fringe, by Orson Scott Card ((nominated, 1985 Nebula Award, 1986 Hugo Award); The Lake Was Full of Artificial Things, by Karen Joy Fowler; Sailing to Byzantium, by Robert Silverberg (winner, 1985 Nebula Award; nominated, 1986 Hugo Award); Solstice, by James Patrick Kelly; Duke Pasquale's Ring, novella by Avram Davidson; More Than the Sum of His Parts, by Joe Haldeman (nominated, 1985 Nebula Award); Out of All Them Bright Stars, by Nancy Kress (Winner, 1985 Nebula Award); Side Effects, by Walter Jon Williams; The Only Neat Thing to Do, by James Tiptree, Jr. (nominated, 1985 Nebula Award, 1986 Hugo Award; winner, 1986 Locus Poll Award); Dinner in Audoghast, by Bruce Sterling (nominated, 1986 Hugo Award); Under Siege, by George R. R. Martin (1986 Locus Poll Award, 6th Place); Flying Saucer Rock & Roll, by Howard Waldrop (nominated, 1985 Nebula Award, 1986 Hugo Award); A Spanish Lesson, by Lucius Shepard (Locus Poll Award, 11th Place); Roadside Rescue, by Pat Cadigan; Paper Dragons, by James P. Blaylock (winner, 1986 World Fantasy Award; nominated, 1985 Nebula Award); Magazine Section, by R. A. Lafferty; The War at Home, by Lewis Shiner (1986 Locus Poll Award, 21st Place); Rockabye Baby, by S. C. Sykes (nominated, 1985 Nebula Award); Green Mars, by Kim Stanley Robinson (nominated, 1985 Nebula Award, 1986 Hugo Award). ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Not Free SF Reader
The earliest of these that I have come across. In fact, it would seen you could just about get secondhand every volume of this series for the price of the first two, with bonus books if you were in the USA.

Pretty much right on the standard, two, at a 3.77 average. Although some will be annoyed by the multiple instances of the dirty fantasy story low-blows thrown in, one of them even a World Fantasy short story award winner, apparently. Balanced by nothing disliked particularly, and a really cool Tiptree story.

This one is a secondhand book, and the story Green Mars provided a surprised - having read that elsewhere I had never bothered to look at the one in here, but it appears that it just may be autographed at the beginning by Kim Stanley Robinson himself! Very cool find if it is.

An interesting contrast is the length of the editor's summary, now roughly a novella, this one is only around 10 pages, or a short short story, and only a few pages of standard type story recommendations.

Perhaps this is a factor of more stuff out there, as the summary mentions around 1300 sf-type books published per year, and it may be closing on double that now I think I read.

Year's Best Science Fiction 03 : The Jaguar Hunter - Lucius Shepard
Year's Best Science Fiction 03 : Dogfight - Michael Swanwick and William Gibson
Year's Best Science Fiction 03 : Fermi and Frost - Frederik Pohl
Year's Best Science Fiction 03 : Green Days in Brunei - Bruce Sterling
Year's Best Science Fiction 03 : Snow - John Crowley
Year's Best Science Fiction 03 : The Fringe - Orson Scott Card
Year's Best Science Fiction 03 : The Lake Was Full Of Artificial Things - Karen Joy Fowler
Year's Best Science Fiction 03 : Sailing to Byzantium - Robert Silverberg
Year's Best Science Fiction 03 : Solstice - James Patrick Kelly
Year's Best Science Fiction 03 : Duke Pasquale's Ring - Avram Davidson
Year's Best Science Fiction 03 : More Than The Sum Of His Parts - Joe Haldeman
Year's Best Science Fiction 03 : Out Of All Them Bright Stars - Nancy Kress
Year's Best Science Fiction 03 : Side Effects - Walter Jon Williams
Year's Best Science Fiction 03 : The Only Neat Thing To Do - James Tiptree Jr.
Year's Best Science Fiction 03 : Dinner in Audoghast - Bruce Sterling
Year's Best Science Fiction 03 : Under Siege - George R R Martin
Year's Best Science Fiction 03 : Flying Saucer Rock & Roll - Howard Waldrop
Year's Best Science Fiction 03 : A Spanish Lesson - Lucius Shepard
Year's Best Science Fiction 03 : Roadside Rescue - Pat Cadigan
Year's Best Science Fiction 03 : Paper Dragons - James P. Blaylock
Year's Best Science Fiction 03 : Magazine Section - R. A. Lafferty
Year's Best Science Fiction 03 : The War at Home - Lewis Shiner
Year's Best Science Fiction 03 : Rockabye Baby - S. C. Sykes
Year's Best Science Fiction 03 : Green Mars - Kim Stanley Robinson


Man decides sexy werejaguar is better than bad American cop show.

4 out of 5


Gonna pay for the pilot enhancement.

3.5 out of 5


Immaturity means contact chances slim.

4 out of 5


Mini country definitely getting away from it all for engineer boy if the best his mates can get him is Foster's.

3.5 out of 5


Memorial replay random deterioration.

4 out of 5


Not quite up in cr1pple creek without a paddle.

4 out of 5


Reunion memory.

3.5 out of 5


Tedious travelogue and artificial lifetime constraints.

3 out of 5


Bioguru woman's Stonehenge drwg binge unhinges into cryogenic desperation.

4.5 out of 5


Leopard watch.

3 out of 5


We can rebuild him, better, faster, stronger. Also with bigger p33-33. Pity about the crazy, though.

4 out of 5


Aliens make me mad.

4 out of 5


Trial sc@m.

3.5 out of 5


Far Traveller broken by bitty brainbiter, makes combo decision to go out in early Pink Floyd style.

4 out of 5


Prophetic annoyance.

3.5 out of 5


Time to be chess champion, if I can save the world first.

3.5 out of 5


Blackout showstopper.

3.5 out of 5


Twin alternate traveller Disciple tunnel t3rror Tibetan exile ending.

4 out of 5


Sounds like p3rversion.

4 out of 5


Crabby about dead one.

3.5 out of 5


Feature stretched truth.

3.5 out of 5


Vietnam not memories.

3.5 out of 5


Quad replay memory records.

4.5 out of 5


High point achieved.

3.5 out of 5


5 out of 5

Dozois finds good sf stories for his readers.
Dozois's third Bluejay annual (1986, for 1985 work) follows the same format as his second.You can read no other sf-related book in a given year and still have a very good idea of what is happening in the current sfscene.Dozois believes that short fiction is the heart of the genre; ittakes as much originality to execute an effective story as it does a genrenovel, which generally spins out an equivalent concept at greater length. Moreover, the concentation of the short form forces writers into a concisepresentation of their material.In an age of elephantine media-based novelseries, that's a pleasure.This anthology picks up 24 stories, several ofthem long.I most liked Karen Joy Fowler's "The Lake Was Full ofArtificial Things," a haunting meditation on Vietnam in which a womaninteracts with a virtual version of a man she knew who died in the war. Another very good story included here, which won an award, is FrederikPohl's "Fermi and Frost," a less satiric than usual portrait ofsurviving beyond armageddon.Additional stories I liked here includeRobert Silverberg's long "Sailing to Byzantium," anotheraward-winner in which Byzantium turns out not what it seems to be; KimStanley Robinson's "Green Mars," which became the basis for hisMars trilogy; S. C. Sykes's "Rockabye Baby," a moving story abouta severely injured man who enters an experimental program to regenerate hisbody; and Lucius Shepard's "A Spanish Lesson," a picaresque moodpiece about an expatriate American in Europe who finally confronts his ownshallowness.Two other award winners reprinted are Nancy Springer's"Out of All Them Bright Stars" and James Blaylock's "PaperDragons."One of the tensions in genre fiction of this period was theconflict between the cyberpunkers and the rest of the writers.Robinsonwas accused of being a fuddy-duddy for not joining the punker bandwagon.Ithink he had the last laugh. ... Read more