Anyone remember these mosaic novels? I found the early ones quite enjoyable. Then Tachyon left, and I never enjoyed 'em much after that. I remember they started a new series, but that petered out in a few books. What was the last book anyway, and are any more planned? Martin’s web site didn’t even mention these works.
They just started reprinting the novels in a trade paperback form.
I was totally addicted to these back around age 13 or so. Think i stopped reading after around the 9th book or so. How many did they actually end up making?
12 books in the 1st series, and I saw 3 in what was called a “new cycle”.
BTW, what’s up with krypto? Are we talking superman’s dog here, or cryptosporidium? I saw enough people sick with that infection to make me take it seriously.
Yep, there were a total of 15 books.
I started reading them when they were up to the third or fourth book and eagerly got each new one as the rest came out. I re-read the entire series again a couple of years ago.
What a great group of characters! Dr. Tachyon, Golden Boy, Fortunato, the Sleeper, Popinjay, Yeoman, the Puppetmaster, the Great and Powerful Turtle and many, many more.
My favorite period in the series was the arc with the Jumpers and the trip back to Tach’s home world. I also really liked how they were able to blend the work of several differnt authors into each book. The three books that made up the ‘new cycle’ had a somewhat different feel than the earlier books, but they were still great.
I really wish they would begin publishing new books…
Eric
It’s kind of an inside joke among bicyclists (and, more specifically, bike messengers). The “Krypto” refers to the Kryptonite U-Lock, damned near unbreakable and makes for a good impromptu defensive weapon. The phrase could be directed at either would-be bike theives or overzealous cab drivers.
And for the record, i’ve never actually wielded one maliciously.
IIRC he was talking about a new book, but was trying to talk to the other writers and try to schedule something. I’ll cite if I can remember where…
2 more coming…
GRRM: I might mention that we are going to be reviving the WILD CARDS series. Reissuing the first eight books and adding two all-new ones.
lurkernomore thanks for the info!
Fortunato kinda summed up the whole feel of the series for me. (At least, what books of the series I managed to read.) We’re talking about a superhero who gets his powers from coitus interruptus, fer cryin’ out loud!
I absolutely adored Wild Cards – up until they introduced the new series. The whole Marked Cards series (what were there, three of them?) was absolutely horrible and totally devoid of the talent and thought that went into the first series. I thought the characters in the first series were so inventive (Fortunato, for example) and very complex. They weren’t your one-dimensional four-color superheroes - and that’s what really drew me into the series. I especially enjoyed how the events of the different time periods were altered to fit the ‘aces’ and ‘jokers’ – Senator McCarthy going after the aces, an ace as the Lizard King… What a fun series!
I’m completely jazzed that they’re redoing the series in trade paperback – it’ll be expensive to pick them up again, but it’s worth it.