Playing With a Full Deck: Stories of Hope in Hard Times: An Aces High, Jokers Wild Collection

by O.E. Tearmann

Sometimes life deals a bad hand. But it’s all about how you play the cards.

Solidarity in the face of oppression. Songs in the dark. Finding hope in spite of the odds. Thirteen stories set in the dystopian universe of the Aces High, Jokers Wild series keep fighting the good fight in the darkest of times. Characters from the pens of O.E. Tearman, Michael G. Williams, Alex Silver and their colleagues haven’t been dealt good cards in life. But in this book, they show us how to play the game.

Maybe they can even show us how to win.

INCLUDING THESE INCREDIBLE STORIES

Burn Card

Tomorrow Will Come

After Hours

The Square Dance Rap

Bad Hand

Follow The Lady

Midwives

Bottom Dealing

Draw Out

Come Tell It To The Mountain

Fill The Pot

All Amped Up

Call the Clock

368 pages, Paperback

Published December 31, 2023

About the author

Bringing their own experiences as a marginalized author to the page with flawed but genuine characters, O.E. Tearmann’s work has been described as “Firefly for the dystopian genre.”
Tearmann is a member of the Science Fiction Writers of America, the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers, a finalist for the Cygnus award and the winner of the 2022 Feathered Quill award. They live in Colorado with two cats, their partner, and the belief that individuals can make humanity better through small actions. In their spare time, they teach workshops on writing GLTBQ characters, plant gardens that showcase sustainable agricultural practices, and play too many video games.

Reviews

[Lori Alden Holuta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Now and then, loyal readers of a favorite series are rewarded with gifts from the author. When the series happens to be one that focuses on found family, acceptance, love, diversity, celebrations (and silliness, rebellion, pranks, terrible movies... you get the idea) then those gifts mean even more. They're a 'thank you' from the author, a reminder that books don't just spontaneously appear on a shelf, they are someone's labor of love. And when we love them back, a connection is made. It's magic.

I'm waxing poetic, but I can't help it. The "Aces High, Jokers Wild" series is dear to my heart. It's my literary found family. The release of Playing With a Full Deck is special. It's absolutely fine for a new reader to dive into, as it's filled with short stories that focus on a variety of characters. But it's even more rewarding for readers that have stuck around for the long haul. Some of the stories will be familiar as they were previously published as standalone novellas, separate from, but still connected to, the series of novels. I enjoyed re-reading those, and it's nice to have them all in one handy edition.

But what really amped up the lovefest for me was the inclusion of seven short stories written by fans of the series. Yes you heard me right, fanfiction! These stories come from the heart, written about characters that have endeared themselves to readers strongly enough to come to life for them. They are well done, and manage to strike a balance between outrageous and respectful. (I need to mention that there's some sexytimes in these.)

Of course, I'd rather you start with book one of the series and work your way through all of them before reading this collection, but I'd still be quite happy if you dove in here, too. I have a feeling that if you do, you're going to want to grab the novels to see how it all began and where it's all going.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating collection of stories from the Aces High series with some stories from other authors.

All Amped Up
This was a great "slice of life"/average person short story. Amp has reasons for not wating the corporations in charge abd for wanting the contracts to change. Sherry has to decide does she accept the way things are or support thier lover.