More WILD CARDS

Tor.com has started a reread of the Wild Cards book series created by George R.R. Martin. The reread is being handled and written by a friend of mine and long-term fan of the series, Katie, and promises to be an excellent recap of the series and a way for new readers to jump on board. Some of the Wild Cards writing team, such as Walter Jon Williams and Jon J. Miller, are also jumping on board in the comments.

Meanwhile, Martin has confirmed that Tor Books have picked up the rights for additional books in the series. The next three books in the series proper, Mississippi Roll, Low Chicago and Texas Hold 'Em, will be released over the next year or two. At the same time Tor Books will re-release Books 8 through 12 of the original series (One-Eyed Jacks, Jokertown Shuffle, Double Solitaire, Dealer's Choice and Turn of the Cards). Significantly, this will bring the entire twelve-volume Bantam Books stretch of the series back in publication for the first time in almost thirty years.

There will be also be four brand-new books. Full House will be a full-on short story collection, collecting together short fiction that has been published on the Tor website over the previous few years along with some original stories. Following on from this will be three new books, comprising an original full-length novel, a new book set in space and another set in Britain.

Unfortunately, it appears that British fans may be out of luck in hoping for a complete reprint of the series. Gollancz have apparently declined to buy the rights to any of the new books or reprint any more of the original series, leaving it incomplete after the first seven volumes and then the later six (18-23). HarperCollins Voyager (who publish A Song of Ice and Fire) will instead publish the six new books (and perhaps Full House). The fate of the intervening volumes of the series in the UK remains unclear.

But back to the good news, Wild Cards co-editor Melinda Snodgrass has provided a detailed update on where she and the team at Universal are at with their planned TV adaptation of the franchise. Good progress has been made and hopefully we'll see a greenlight on that soon.