Low Chicago

Wild Cards #25

by George R.R. Martin (Editor), Saladin Ahmed, Paul Cornell

In George R. R. Martin's latest Wild Cards adventure, a gang of criminals are scattered across time and threaten the stability of the world

Perfect for current fans and new readers alike, Low Chicago is an all-new time travel adventure that leads to the criminal underworld of 1920s Chicago, featuring a fresh cast of characters from the Wild Cards universe.

Edited by #1 New York Times bestselling author George R. R. Martin, Low Chicago features the writing talents of Saladin Ahmed, Paul Cornell, Marko Kloos, John Jos. Miller, Mary Anne Mohanraj, Kevin Andrew Murphy, Christopher Rowe, and Melinda M. Snodgrass.

Now in development for TV: Rights to develop Wild Cards have been acquired by Universal Cable Productions, the team behind The Magicians and Mr. Robot, with the co-editor of Wild Cards, Melinda Snodgrass, as executive producer.

Genres: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Superheroes, Short Stories, Time Travel, Urban Fantasy, Anthologies

352 pages, Hardcover

First published June 12, 2018

About the author

George Raymond Richard "R.R." Martin was born September 20, 1948, in Bayonne, New Jersey. His father was Raymond Collins Martin, a longshoreman, and his mother was Margaret Brady Martin. He has two sisters, Darleen Martin Lapinski and Janet Martin Patten.

Martin attended Mary Jane Donohoe School and Marist High School. He began writing very young, selling monster stories to other neighborhood children for pennies, dramatic readings included. Later he became a comic book fan and collector in high school, and began to write fiction for comic fanzines (amateur fan magazines). Martin's first professional sale was made in 1970 at age 21: The Hero, sold to Galaxy, published in February, 1971 issue. Other sales followed.

In 1970 Martin received a B.S. in Journalism from Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, graduating summa cum laude. He went on to complete a M.S. in Journalism in 1971, also from Northwestern.

As a conscientious objector, Martin did alternative service 1972-1974 with VISTA, attached to Cook County Legal Assistance Foundation. He also directed chess tournaments for the Continental Chess Association from 1973-1976, and was a Journalism instructor at Clarke College, Dubuque, Iowa, from 1976-1978. He wrote part-time throughout the 1970s while working as a VISTA Volunteer, chess director, and teacher.

In 1975 he married Gale Burnick. They divorced in 1979, with no children. Martin became a full-time writer in 1979. He was writer-in-residence at Clarke College from 1978-79.

Moving on to Hollywood, Martin signed on as a story editor for Twilight Zone at CBS Television in 1986. In 1987 Martin became an Executive Story Consultant for Beauty and the Beast at CBS. In 1988 he became a Producer for Beauty and the Beast, then in 1989 moved up to Co-Supervising Producer. He was Executive Producer for Doorways, a pilot which he wrote for Columbia Pictures Television, which was filmed during 1992-93.

Martin's present home is Santa Fe, New Mexico. He is a member of Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America (he was South-Central Regional Director 1977-1979, and Vice President 1996-1998), and of Writers' Guild of America, West.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/george...

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the 25th volume of the Wild Cards series, and it's still fresh and fun and vibrant. In fact, this one struck me as being a bit lighter and more fun than some of the other more recent books. It's pretty much unconnected from any existing narrative from previous volumes, so it would be possible to enjoy this one without being familiar with any of the others. It's the story of a card game (naturally) gone awry, with the players being scattered through time by Croyd Crenson's (Roger Zelazny's Sleeper from the very beginning of the series) latest ability. Croyd teams with Nighthawk to gather them back together, thus preserving the timeline from The Butterfly Effect proposed in the famous story by Heinlein... or was it Asimov... the delightful last line of this book solves the mystery. All of the castaways end up in historical Chicago settings, and we visit the fire, the World's Fair, the Democratic Convention of 1968, etc. I particularly enjoyed Paul Cornell's dinosaur story, the overall framing pieces by John Jos. Miller, and the 1968 story by Melinda Snodgrass. I'll admit that my initial reaction to the addition of time travel to the Wild Cards universe was that it was an unnecessary complication (like when they added the holodeck to the Enterprise), but it seems to be a one-time thing and it worked out to be an entertaining piece of the puzzle. (Twenty-five volumes... goodness, where does the time go?)

[Karl]

Page numbering is wrong, book has 429 pages.

Contents:

013 - "A Long Night at the Palmer House" by John Jos. Miller
034 - "Down the Rabbit Hole" by Kevin Andrew Murphy
077 - "A Long Night at the Palmer House" Part 2
099 - "The Motherfucking Apotheosis of Todd Motherfucking Taszycki" by Christopher Rowe
138 - "A Long Night at the Palmer House" Part 3
145 - "A Long Night at the Palmer House" Part 4
157 - "A Bit of a Dinosaur by Paul Cornell
190 - "A Long Night at the Palmer House" Part 5
198 - "Stripes" by Marko Kloos
248 - "A Long Night at the Palmer House" Part 6
264 - "The Sister in the Streets" by Malina M. Snodgrass
329 - "A Long Night at the Palmer House" Part 7
337- "A Beautiful Facade" by Mary Anne Mohanraj
371 - "A Long Night at the Palmer House" Part 8
377 - "Meathooks on Ice" by Saladin Ahmed
407 - "A Long Night at the Palmer House' Part 9
412 - "A Long Night at the Palmer House" Part 10
425 - "A Long Night at the Palmer House" Epilogue

Cover art by Michael Komarck

[Jean · Rating 4 out of 5]

I admit I only read this book because I saw George R.R. Martin on it. Didn't matter that he was just the editor. I was a little nervous jumping into this series since this is #25 in the Wild Cards series and I had not read any of the previous books. But it had time travel and poker so I was all in :) This can definitely be read as a stand-alone. There were a lot of characters but I didn't feel lost. It was entertaining and a fun read. Each story was written by different author but they flowed nicely together.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge for a copy of "Low Chicago" in exchange of an honest review.

[Roger · Rating 4 out of 5]

True confession time: With a few notable exceptions (Tim Powers' The Anubis Gates comes to mind) I hate time travel stories. I found myself liking Low Chicago despite my hatred of the genre-books in the Wild Cards series are almost inevitably a lot of fun. This book (25th in the series) proved that rule, plus during various jaunts to the past we got to run into a lot of characters who have been...written out. (That means they're dead, folks.) So I got too see some favorites I did not think I would be seeing again. I am happy to report that two more Wild Cards novels should be winging my way shortly if all goes well-this is one fictional universe I love to keep up with.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is exactly the kind of delightful camp that you get when the Wild Cards universe is at its best.

A number of wealthy people gather in a Chicago suite for a poker game with a million dollar buy-in apiece. Naturally, if you're showing up with a million dollars cash, you want to show up with some security as well, and in the Wild Cards world, where the lucky and unlucky have had superpowers and/or physical deformities since the release of an alien virus in 1946, that means showing up with aces. A fight breaks out as an outside party attempts to settle an old score with the host, and whoops, wouldn't you know it, one of the aces had a time travel power and most of the competitors and bodyguards are accidentally scattered through the winds of time.

In the usual Wild Cards style, the stories of the time-displaced are told in connected short stories written by different authors focusing on different characters, with one story running throughout the whole volume, representing the pair of aces who are left with the task of trying to make sure that there isn't a rupture in the space-time continuum. These turn out to take us through some of the greatest and worst hits in Chicago history: the Great Fire, the World's Fair serial killer, the Black Sox, the Valentine's Day Massacre, the Manhattan Project, the opening of the first Playboy Club, the protests at the Democratic convention in 1968. There are, at other times, woolly mammoths, dinosaurs, and aliens. Most of the people find themselves wrestling with how to avoid the butterfly effect. A few get crazier ideas. One young woman thinks she can stop JFK from getting assassinated. Another character thinks he can stop the Vietnam War if he only stops Humphrey from getting nominated in 1968.

It's a lot of fun. For the dedicated Wild Cards reader, it's enjoyable to revisit some of the Wild Cards old days. There are a lot of nods to the rich history of the world. This includes one story whose whole conceit is the old, no-longer-active Hardhat from the 1960s ending up meeting the new Hardhat, who was introduced and died seven books ago. It's a neat enough story even for someone who's familiar with neither ace by that name.

The rest are the same way. There's in-jokes and references, but mostly it can be a fun introduction to the universe for anyone who's willing to roll with the idea of the alternate Earth that's mostly, but not entirely, like our Earth. This does include the obligatory roll-your-eyes weird Wild Cards sex that I don't understand why, 25 books in, the series can't shake, but I guess that's just the way it is. It's worth putting up with that to get to the rest, which I continue to think of as the best version of what the TV show Heroes could and should have been.

[Bonnie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having never read any of the books in this series, I love that I could jump right in and not feel the loss of not being as familiar with the world as I should be. As always, George R.R. Martin delivers in SPADES! (no pun intended!)

[Chris Bauer · Rating 5 out of 5]

First off, I've been faithfully reading the entire Wild Card series since its introduction way back in 1987. I was a junior in high school, obsessed with comics, role-playing games and storytelling. The first book in the series hooked me immediately and I've been a junkie ever since. While not the first mosaic novel i'd read (I think that was Thieves' World, IIRC) this one stuck ever since.

The quality of the stories has waxed and waned over the years but I've remained a fan. I've also had the pleasure of meeting several of the original authors over the years - special nerd bonus points to me!

Over the years, the basic premise of Wild Cards has not changed. Isolation, fear of the "Other", human rights, tough decisions made by heroes and villains alike - those elements have remained constant for the most part. And is what continues to draw me back.

The latest version of the Wild Cards universe NAILS IT on all fronts. The fact that "Low Chicago" takes place in my adopted hometown is just icing on the cake. The stories themselves are just fantastic, across the board. Contributions from the original crew (Melinda Snodgrass and others) just mesh perfectly with newer voices like Marko Kloos. Simply a very strong collection of great stories across time.

On the dust jacket, it states that this book is ideal for new readers and old. Perhaps that's true. There are fantastic "cameo" appearances by the Generation One heroes (Turtle, Golden Boy and others) but to really appreciate the entire mosaic, one needs to step back and go to the original trilogy - especially given the temporal theme of each story.

This book is a one I"m going to hang on to for quite some time.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Glad they tried something different this time, even if they cribbed from decades-old comic stories at times. You'll make it nearly to the end before Terrible Wild Cards Sex Scenes show up. Progress!

[Alex Sarll]

Just because I'm not into what sounds like the ever-more-wonky TV version of Song of Ice and Fire, doesn't mean I can't be getting myself some sub-par GRRM-branded content about now! The Wild Cards books he (co-)edits have been happy to range over decades before, but to the best of my knowledge this is the first time they've used time travel as conventionally understood (disclaimer - I know the start of the series, and the most recent stretch, but not the middle nine books, which have yet to be reprinted). In summary: because of some plot, a bunch of familiar faces from the series (plus a couple of new characters) get scattered through time, though always appearing in Chicago, or the place where Chicago now stands. Problem number one: the Wild Cards world's timeline diverges from our own with the release of an alien virus in 1946, if not before. The USA elects some of the same presidents, for instance, but not always at quite the same times. Celebrities live who died here, and others are changed. Castro gets into sport instead of politics. And so forth. So when you have a story about characters stuck in 1960 and threatening to derail JFK's election, the reader has to remember whether or not the JFK there was elected on our world's schedule even before the time travellers got involved. I mean, Hell, I initially assumed that having the Playboy Mansion in Chicago rather than California was a pre-established Wild Cards timeline tweak but no, turns out that was the case here too for a while. Which is the second problem with that particular story: the series has always been fairly free in its treatment of sex, with some incidents from early books feeling a bit dated to the modern reader, but this story's blasé take on that old sleaze Hefner comes across as a bit icky and exploitative in a way the recent books have generally done much better at avoiding.

And then we have the issues with that Wild Cards mainstay, the framing story, though these might be more specific to my own interests. Low Chicago opens with a high-stakes poker game, several powerful aces and deformed jokers (plus some edge cases) in attendance. Now, you might object that the series and novel are both named for poker terms so I can hardly complain about a bit of poker now, but again, in none of the other books I've read in the series, which are well into double digits, has this been an issue. Whereas here, it would really have helped to have some idea what was going on, and while I did once play a game of poker precisely so I would be able to get some grasp on scenes like this, it was a long time ago and has pretty much deserted me, especially once all the fancy variants on the game start getting involved. Oh well, thinks I; I'll just treat it like the baseball game in deLillo's Underworld, and skim through to get the other bits of the scene. And then wouldn't you know it, the next chunk of the story is a baseball game, which has also been mucked about by the time travellers. So I've got the above-mentioned problem with mucking up a timeline I can't remember in all its details in the first place, combined with the fact that it's specifically and plot-relevantly affecting baseball, and if there's one thing on Earth where I have less knowledge and less interest than sport, it's American sport. Still, this was apparently a famous and important bit of American sport, and yes, pretty much all of the stories will see us spotted around the last couple of centuries, always right in time for key bits of Chicago history. Which I don't by any means know well, but still know enough to be astonished at some of the dumb moves made by the characters when they eg meet that nice Dr Holmes at the World's Fair. Conversely, characters who do know anything about history mostly seem to get stuck right in to changing it, or otherwise making themselves conspicuous in exactly the way you'd think anyone with even the most glancing acquaintance with time travel narratives would not. In the case of some characters – the kids, the fuck-ups, the dreamers – this is annoying, but in character. However, there's one ace here who is always on the verge of doing my head in at the best of times, whose history means they really should know better how this sort of thing works, and yet whose story nevertheless sees them go angrily galumphing around the time-stream like a hippopotamus, resulting in a brief visit to an alternate timeline which, oh look, it's Days of Future Past. Again. Because that's not remotely played out.

Of course, after each bit of this we flip back to the linking story, at least one chunk of which doesn't need to be there at all, because plotwise it merely gets us back to the end of the preceding story from another angle, and in terms of character and mood everything which was doing any work there could as easily have been somewhere else. It's not always this bad, thank heavens, but can't help being a little repetitive, as each time the two aces headed back to fetch everyone else appear naked* in a new time zone, work out what's going on, and then zap the either relieved or reluctant moderns back to the present day. There's a desultory attempt to spin a subsidiary mystery, whose answer is never really in doubt, and some tension as to whether one of them can last the distance, but for the most part it doesn't do much more than it has to. Although there is a nice running joke about the butterfly effect, which slightly runs into the aforementioned problem (it's a concept from a 1952 story, so could have had a different writer anyway in the Wild Cards timeline), but still amused me. Because there is fun to be found here. I realise this has been a pretty negative review, and Low Chicago is by no means a highlight of the series, but it's not without its moments. My two favourite stories were those which used slightly less predictable/unlikely time zones than the general run of recent Chicago stuff: Paul Cornell has the Understudy, Abigail Baker, explaining how she was in no way responsible for the extinction of the dinosaurs, though admittedly certain mistakes were made – while also finding time to riff entertainingly on some of his own interests from other projects. And Saladin Ahmed introduces us to a new character and takes us through the guy's whole life, right up to his unplanned visit to somewhen in the millennia after humans but before Europeans came to North America. Even aside from these, there's Mary Anne Mohanraj advancing one of my favourite recent Wild Cards plotlines, and one I hadn't been expecting to see picked up in this volume. Plus, at least one of the debatably historical cameos is a delight.

*The last big time travel novel I read, The Rise and Fall of DODO, also worked on the basis that anyone sent through time wouldn't even be able to take their clothes with them. Is this a new trope, the opposite of the usual vaccinated time travel fantasy? Or was it just coincidence, or that the authors of these two particular books wanted an opportunity for farce?

[Jason · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh man was I having fun with Low Chicago. Time-hopping Wild Cards? Back to the Future-style "we have to fix the timestream!" hinjix? A half tiger/half man dude? Sign me up!

And then Lilith showed up and the entire flow of the novel was derailed.

Having suffered through Busted Flush, I was already aware of Lilith's status as Melinda Snodgrass' Mary Sue. I thought for certain there was no way she could Mary Sue the heck out of this insanely fun story. But yup, Snodgrass found a way to do it. I won't go into spoilery details here, but every single Mary Sue trope is checked off the list, except for finding a way to save everyone lost in time.

Fortunately every act in her overlong story was undone by our heroes in a few simple pages. In other words, if Lilith annoys you, you can skip her story you won't miss a thing since it doesn't harm the overall narrative. Had I done that, Low Chicago would have earned five stars.

Highlights for me included Meathooks on Ice, which I found insanely touching. It even includes an epilogue that doesn't rob Constant Readers of the emotional journey we experienced with Ali. Paul Cornell's entry was another fun story and Khan's adventure in 1920s Chicago quickly humanized an otherwise monstrous (inside and out) individual.

Low Chicago is being advertised as the perfect jumping on point for new readers, and I'd have to agree. But it's also another solid entry that longtime readers (like me) should find entertaining as hell.

Especially because of the half man/half tiger dude.

[Zedsdead · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wild Cards take on time travel.

The Sleeper has an oopsie with his new time beam and must bounce around a highlight reel of historical Chicago's greatest events collecting the assorted mobsters and heroes he inadvertently sent into the past.

--We finally meet Cameo's PI Nick at the opening of the Playboy mansion. (The most amusing of the stories. "Flashlights".)
--Tigerman Khan gets dropped in the middle of the St Valentine's Day massacre.
--A mobster takes advantage of the Black Sox scandal.
--Kavitha the Dancer encounters HH Holmes at the World's Fair.
--Meathooks finds peace in the paleolithic. (This was a surprisingly strong character study of a real piece of shit human being.)
--Birdbrain and some British ace tangle with aliens and dinosaurs at the cusp of the KT extinction event. (The weakest of the stories. I've never liked the instances of aliens in this series.)
--Lilith inadvertently takes America down a literally fascist path at the protest-ridden '68 Democratic National Convention. (A jarringly violent anti-violence take on the turbulent '60s.)
--Hardhat I inspires Hardhat II to help people.
--Cynder and Giovanni cause the Great Chicago Fire.

Wild Cards has always been at its best when exploring the intersection of superpowers with political influence and social issues. (See Aces Abroad and the Committee trilogy.) Eat your heart out, X-Men.

[Iain · Rating 5 out of 5]

I confess to being slightly disappointed by the previous entry in the series, but this is a return to form and then some. Entertaining and gripping, with contributions by a range of talent, both older Wild Cards hands and new blood, in a self-contained single entry. Wonderful.

[Craig Childs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Low Chicago is one of the wackiest and most fun entries in the whole Wild Cards series. The frame story "A Long Night at the Palmer House" by John Jos. Miller sets the stage:

There is a secret, high-stakes poker game in Chicago's fabled Palmer House hotel featuring rich, powerful players surrounded by ace bodyguards: Prince Siraj, Golden Boy, John Fortune, Charles Dutton, Giovanni Galante (mobster), Pete Flowers (Charlie Rose), and Will Monroe (son of Will O' Wisp and Marilyn Monroe)…

What no one knows is that one of those bodyguards is Croyd "The Sleeper" Crenson who just woke up with a new face and a new ace power that has never manifested before--in anyone. When a fight breaks out, Croyd accidentally scatters everyone in the room backwards through time…

The simultaneous ripples that result from alterations to the past begin to break space-time apart. John Nighthawk and the Sleeper must travel back and attempt to undo the changes. Their journey will take them to the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, the city's infamous Everleigh Club at the turn of the century, the Black Sox scandal in the 1919 World Series, the silent-film studios of the 1920's, and Project Manhattan…

The pair soon discover the rules of time travel are not exactly consistent. Sometimes small changes have huge consequences ("butterfly effects"), but at other times, it is the actions of the time travelers themselves that usher in the future we know. As Croyd becomes increasingly erratic and sleepy, Nighthawk is on his own to figure out which changes to prevent and which to allow…

The frame story features cameos from long-dead characters like Father Squid, Chrysalis and Fortunato in alternate timelines. It introduces new jokers and aces like Meathooks, Khan, Birdbrain and Cynder.

This volume is rumored to have given editor George R. R. Martin fits, so much so that he has declared time travel off limits for future stories. The established in-universe history of Wild Cards is already significantly different from our own history. Now, it gets changed again (repeatedly and unpredictably) by temporal hijinks.

The other stories are:

"Down the Rabbit Hole" by Kevin Andrew Murphy -- Will Monroe travels back to the 1950's and meets his father. Julie Cotton, a half-bunny joker, serves as Hugh Hefner's inspiration for the Playboy mascot. She also seduces JFK to derail his run for President and save his life.

"The Motherfucking Apotheosis of Todd Motherfucking Taszycki" by Christopher Rowe -- Hardhats I and II join forces in 2007 to save a kidnapped teenager from younger versions of Galante and Khan. This story informs readers what Hardhat I has been up to since the events of "Transfigurations" in 1970, plus it provides a great origin story for Hardhat II.

"A Bit of a Dinosaur" by Paul Cornell -- Abigail Baker and Birdbrain travel to the Jurassic era. They not only witness the extinction of the dinosaurs, but they meet Jube and the Network!

"Stripes" by Marko Kloos -- Khan finds himself looking for work in 1929, years before the world is ready to accept a half-Benghal joker. He intervenes in the Saint Valentines Day Massacre and steps directly into the conflict between Al Capone and Bugs Moran, with history-altering results.

"The Sister in the Streets" by Melinda M. Snodgrass -- Lilith (aka Noel Matthews, aka Bahir, aka Etienne) travels to the 1969 Democratic Convention, where she/he/they manage to assassinate both Hubert Humphrey and Richard Nixon. This is a fun story, but it leans into the series' annoying tendency to glorify the hippie movement of the '60's. Plus, Noel has never acted this impetuously and foolishly before.

"A Beautiful Façade" by Mary Anne Mohanraj -- Natya Kavitha arrives at the World Columbian Expo in 1893. She has a love affair with Nighthawk, who is still a nat at this point in time. She also runs afoul of Henry Holmes, one of history's first recorded serial killers, dubbed "Devil in the White City."

"Meathooks on Ice" by Saladin Ahmed -- After a lifetime of violence and isolation, Meathooks finds peace and family in the Ice Age.

In all these stories, several historical anomalies are created: JFK's love child is born in 2018; the Projectionist becomes a silent film legend; several of Capone's men are killed before their time; two of Holmes' victims survive; a teenage prostitute, a dinosaur, and an alien are stranded in eras not their own. Will any of these changes result in unintended ripples that will affect future books?

5 stars

Next up: Texas Hold 'Em

[Alan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Any long running series is going to have a glitch or two during its run, and for me this glitched and I'll explain the why after I go over the good and add some spoiler space.

I admit to not remembering all of the characters who have appeared in this series, but to the best of my recollection Khan and Meathooks were new. What I want to applaud the authors for in their novellas is trying to add character depth in the page count allotted to them. Khan is part Indian, and as he is half Bengal Tiger. So, it is a bit obvious and cliche to bring his Indian background into the story.

Saladin Ahmed does a very good job with Meathooks. his story is not a redemption arc per se, but one that fittingly describes the journey of a young Muslim man who's family immigrates to the U.S., and the difficulties that he has adjusting and finding his way in life. This includes life as a criminal and after his prison release.

Now the part that didn't work for me....












Time travel. Really I'm not a time travel story person except in very rare cases. The big hook here is that during a very high stakes poker game (that includes Aces, crooks, and lots of hired muscle) thing go kerfuffle and Croyd, aka The Sleeper uses his new power. which is to send people through time. This louses up the timeline so much that Croyd and Nighhawk have to find a way to use Croyd's power on themselves and then spend various parts of the narrative trying to avoid the butterfly effect.

And, sometimes they pretty much say the hell with the butterfly effect and let someone stay in the past.

See, this just doesn't work for me. I have a friend at work who would probably love this, but me...no.

[Theresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Low Chicago (Wild Cards, #25)
by George R.R. Martin
"A long night at the Palmer House" John Jos Miller
a dramatic start revealing old and new characters. great beginning to a convoluted story arc. I like some of the new powers introduced, and if this is the beginning what's to come next. Not every story starts with a high risk poker game that went terribly wrong. We learn that Typhoid Croyd may not be the last time that Croyd’s powers mess up things. Croyd and Nighthawk are sent throughout the past to collect people who are upsetting the timeline because of their accidental distribution through history. It's a race against the clock, and a personal struggle that will test their tolerance their ingenuity and their endurance. A great story with a poignant and wonderful end.

"Down the Rabbit hole" Kevin Andrew Murphy
if you could choose one moment in time in the history of the world what would you do to change it.. Kevin Murphy's choice maybe one of the most controversial in the series. His golden age of politics and penthouses, and the risk we would take to save the future sets up a beloved character into a new world we haven't seen before. the question is.. will it work out.

"The motherfucking apotheosis of Tod Mother fucking Taszycki " Christopher Rowe
"The Apotheosis of Todd Taszycki, the secondary Hardhat, gets a moment of breathing life before he joined the Wild Cards reality show. What it shows is his personal history that would create the hero that losses his life protecting the little man. What he faces is the question of does he fit the comparative history of his ideological idol."

"A bit of a Dinosaur" Paul Cornell
"A bit of a dinosaur, Paul Cornell
An interesting twist to the original story line. Having Jube will be a fan favorite, like Croyd seeing one of the original series of characters is always sensational. Those fans that love Dinosaurs will get a bit of what they missed, and we need to keep reading to see if the dinosaurs become something of importance later, BirdBrain may be our new Kid Dinosaur."

"Stripes" Marko Kloos
The introduction of the new heavyweight street fighter joker character to the series, looking at the formation of his character, and the testing of his abilities. Kahn is a new villain/hero who is half man half tiger right down the center, he learns to accept his abilities, and he learns his own faults in this poignant story about the underdog. This also shows the determination of how Croyd and Nightwing need to change the problems this jaunt caused

"The sister in the Streets"Lumina Enterprises
A nun, the turtle, and a whole bunch of protesters get a little bit of Noel, and all that entails to have a point to point teleporter, and a vengeful heart, its one of the test of Croyd and Nighthawk not to allow the storyline to change.

"A Beautiful Facade "Mary Anne Mohanraj
We get to see what happens to the third spoke of the triad of Michael, and his ladies Natya leaves their three way relationship, and finds that she has more love in her than she can ever say. This is a story of redemption, love and accepting who you are.

" Meathooks on Ice" Saladin Ahmed
Welcome Saladin and his character Meathooks, wow an interesting character, and one that allows Croyd and Nighthawk to learn that they do not have to fix everything, sometimes things are better left alone. Great tale of redemption and change of a criminal mind. It is a fresh new voice in the wild card series, bringing magic back into the world.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

For the first hundred pages, I wanted to hate this book. Everything starts out so sexist, by which I mean that women are regarded as sex objects. Yes, it's a representation of our culture, especially the subcultures in the book (lots of underworld settings and characters, not to mention Hef), and especially in the 19th- and early-20th-century timeframes. But still. Plus the book has a number of women who consider being a prostitute a good career choice. Sure, there weren't a lot of choices, but with all those skanky men as clients? Sounds very unpleasant to me. Most woman wouldn't write that way.

But once the poker game is broken up and the participants scattered, things get interesting. Time travel! And, towards the end, the only two segments by female writers (aren't there usually more in the series?) are some of the best. And Chicago itself is a main character; with the time travel, various characters revisit a number of Chicago's most famous people and events, sometimes delightfully.

Three and a half stars; two at the beginning and four starting somewhat later. I almost decided to give up on the series, but by the end, I was ready for the next book.

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

An OK wildcards compilation, all around the theme of time traveling in Chicago. Like other books in the series, there's a story thread that joins the various authors' tales together. As usual, some tales are better than others. You have to be OK with somewhat rebooting your attention each time as one author drops the tale and another picks it up.

A time snafu happens in a poker game and our main character/hero, John Nighthawk, goes through time with a buddy, sometimes going to great lengths to repair the time stream, other times ignoring or outright sabotaging it. That inconsistency in approach bothered me. Also bothering me was the dinosaur/aliens story and the story of the 68 Democratic Convention, which the author took huge efforts to argue as a pivotal moment in history. Hmmm... not in history as I learned it, but maybe in this alternate universe. Maybe the author was there, so it had great significance for him/her.

[Martin Maenza · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoy some good old time-travel exploits, and this collection of stories delivers on that well. The framing story "A Long Night at the Palmer House" puts all the players in place, then scatters them across time. "Down The Rabbit Hole" drops us then into the 1950's with some very famous figures - and plays into a classic time-travel scenario of altering a very specific key moment in US history (this time in a rather unique manner). "Stripes" focuses on a new joker character named Kahn, who is also featured on Michael Komarck's fantastic cover.

The authors do a good job of tying into past tales in the franchise with little Easter eggs for long-time readers. However, if someone were new to this universe, the stories still stand well on their own as they weave through Chicago history. And, after reading this book, I got a bit more understanding about one of the tales in the most recent book of the series Wild Cards: Pairing Up.

[Jon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have to say, I did not expect to have our heroes encounter Jeeves and Wooster. Hilarious.

[Brandt Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a very enjoyable read. I didn't think it was possible but I'm looking forward for the next two books in the Triad even more.

[Shannon Grant · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was one of my favourite wild cards books. I struggle with Melinda Snodgrass’ chapters in every book because somehow, they seem so much more dated, sexist, and unrealistic (from a character behaviour perspective not like…. I mean I know it’s science fiction). Anyway there was only one in this book, combined with the time travel theme, and it was just awesome.

[Lark Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Seven players buy into a million-dollar poker game that will forever change the course of history and threaten the stability of the world.

John Nighthawk and Croyd Crenson are on a wild goose chase throughout time after an unexpected accident sends several wildcards back to various points in history. As the duo move through time and space to fix the mistake, they find themselves in the midst of significant political events. Can they resist the urge to right the wrongs of the past?

The impending doom theme works really well throughout Low Chicago, and you really do feel like the stakes are high. As they jump from point to point you see the footprints they leave behind and you wonder the significance those footprints will have.

The characters are a mixed bag of fun and exhausting. You will LOVE Khan and the complexity of his character, you may also want to just rip Julie Cottontail's ears off!

The timeline does get confusing at times, and because so many of the scenes are independent of each other, there is a lot to take in. It really is like reading a bunch of independent short stories that are casually linked.

I do recommend Low Chicago to those who like sci fi, but be prepared to do a little homework first, it makes the read a lot more enjoyable.

[Brian Palmer · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Wild Cards universe is one of favorite "superhero" universes -- the setting is fleshed out in a way that's both interesting and relevant, avoiding genre tropes while being well written enough to avoid the problems that gave rise to them. That's still true ... but this was one of the most disappointing entries in the series I've read.

The book explicitly relies on nostalgia and revisiting the past, as it takes on time travel. It even goes to some pains to ensure that this is a one-shot time travel adventure. So, you'd think that using a number of existing characters from previous adventures would help, but instead it felt like belabored cameos. In fact, that was the biggest problem with the book: too many characters and too many situations.

I'm sure most readers have spent time on annoying alternate history novels, where the protagonist meets every significant historical figure who was relevant at the time? Well, the big events in Chicago history all show up here, and the time travellers end up taking part.

So, cameo characters, cameo events, even a Cameo-esque cameo, all of which got a few pages and on to the next.

[Russ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoy the Wild Cards series--it's kind of a gritty super hero world where there's mostly grey with some shockingly vivid flashes of white and black. Some of the books in this series have been phenomenal, and I think Low Chicago ranks up there with the best of them. There is a time travel element to it that is handled very well, and by focusing on one location--Chicago--the authors are able to cover some very interesting events and personalities. I think a reader new to the series would definitely have trouble getting up to speed with the series and characters, but this book might be the most new-reader friendly that I can think of.

[Jamie Revell · Rating 5 out of 5]

The second in a triad of books exploring the Wild Cards universe outside of New York, this consists of seven short stories in each of which characters are sent back to a different point in the history of Chicago. Although the cover claims that it's "perfect for new readers" I'd argue that, while this it's certainly possible to follow without having read anything else, the segments set after 1946 include a lot of references to other events in the series. Characters return that we haven't seen in a long time and it's clear that the world does have its own distinct history from that point on. Having said which, in terms of the triad, it's a self-contained set of stories, neither directly following on from anything else nor ending on a cliffhanger.

Down the Rabbit Hole - The first story is a bit of sexy fun set in the original Playboy Mansion shortly after it opened in 1959. But there's more to it than that, since it not only explores the Wild Card prejudice of the time but also introduces the question of whether the time travellers should be attempting to change history for the better, given that they know what's coming - in this case by trying to prevent a real-world tragedy that happened not much later. As is appropriate for the first story in the set, it's also the most standalone, featuring all-new characters and beign placed before the reader fully knows what's going on.

The Mother***ing Apotheosis of Todd Mother***ing Taszycki - (Yes, the book doesn't blank that out). I confess to having forgotten that Todd Taszycki was the real name of an ace who hasn't been seen, and in a minor role at that, since the first book in the series. But this cleverly melds his story, following on from where we last saw him, with that of a character from the modern books. It's also arguably the most timey-wimey of the stories in the book, given that it includes the younger selves of two of the other characters in the book (it's set in the recent past). It manages to fill in some blanks from previous books while still being fun and including some of the dark themes that the series deals with from time to time.

A Bit of a Dinosaur - In some ways, this feels a little out of place, being a rather different sort of story, although admittedly still about one of our time travellers. Once again, it brings back elements from a much earlier book in the series, and seems to lay hints that they might be featuring again in an upcoming plot arc - although who knows, at this point? It's these connections, and the well-rounded depiction of the viewpoint character that help to raise this above the average, but the plot itself doesn't particularly go anywhere.

Stripes - Well, what would be a book about time travelling through Chicago's history without at least one story being set during the Prohibition? Clearly not much, given how prominently this features on the covers of both the US and UK editions. Here, a modern-day gangster finds himself transported back to just before the St Valentine's Day Massacre and into a violent blood-filled tale that seems to be heading towards inevitable tragedy. It's a good contrast with the stories that precede it, from the viewpoint of a rather different kind of character, albeit one who isn't entirely unsympathetic.

The Sister in the Streets - The darkest story of the set, set around the 1968 Democratic Party Convention which, as American history fans will know, wasn't exactly the city's brightest hour. Characters from previous books turn up, as we see what this looked like in the Wild Cards universe and then things get, if anything, even bloodier than they did in the previous story. It's a story of injustice and good intentions going awry and perhaps the most memorable in the book.

A Beautiful Facade - This time, we visit the rather brighter setting of the Chicago World's Fair, although there's clearly something creepy going on in the background. It's possible that Americans will figure out the full details sooner than I did, since it features a real historical figure that I'd not actually heard of and who is crucial to events. But either way, it's good story of late 19th century America with the dark-skinned central character finding herself subject to racial prejudice, something that also features in some of the other stories in the book. And, perhaps, less dark than the nature of the villain might imply.

Meathooks on Ice - And then, finally, an upbeat story about redemption for another gangster, set in a much earlier time period. It's interspersed with his life story and how he became forced into the life he leads and it really wasn't what I expecting by this point in the narrative arc. Nonetheless, it's a good way to end it, another effective contrast in this collection of rather disparate stories.

A Long Night at the Palmer House (interstitial) - Tying the whole thing together we have a framing device that focuses more directly on the time travel itself. It shows some of the other stories from the perspective of outsiders, as well as adding its own snippets about time travellers not significant enough for their own viewpoint stories, and including probably the most famous event in Chicago's history that isn't covered in the others. There's also some stuff about baseball, a sport I gather is quite popular in America. And, honestly, even that fits with the larger theme.

[Sarai Henderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Its kinda fun to read a book with many different authors writing about the same thing. It's like fan fiction, but so much better. Each story was unique, with its own take on the same world. Even though I haven't read any of the other books in this series, I was able to jump right in without any problem with the world building. I'm excited to start the series from the beginning.

[Catherine Book · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the newest installment in the decades-long-running series called Wild Cards; this is either the 25th or 29th book depending on whether you count the three ebooks and graphic novel.
For those of you who have not yet encountered Martin’s Wild Cards universe, here’s a brief background: in the 1940s, some aliens decided to use Earth as a proving ground for a virus designed to create super-powered humans. The virus was released over New York City and can have one of four effects: mostly normal-appearing but super-powered known as Aces; mostly normal-appearing with a less-than-impressive superpower known as Deuces, a completely non-human, deformed appearance known as Jokers or death by drawing a Black Queen. The stories have followed different groups of characters since the 1940s. The series is unique in that each story is a composite done by several authors; it is not an anthology, it is a complete novel.
This is another standalone story as was the last one, Mississippi Roll but much, much better. It has a terrific save-the-world plot that is so much more engaging than the last novel. Lots of different characters in lots of different locales…and times.
The story starts with, appropriately, a poker game in an elegant Chicago hotel. But this is a pretty high-powered poker game both for the players and their bodyguards and entourages. There are more aces, deuces and jokers in a small room than you could shake a stick at. A veritable powderkeg waiting for the match.
Some familiar faces are John Nighthawk, Croyd Crenson, Lilith, the notorious Golden Boy, and Charles Dutton. Some nice new faces round out the cast such as Khan, a half-man/half-tiger; a young woman with some interesting attributes of a bunny rabbit, Marilyn Monroe’s love-child, and a young boy who can control birds.
While several people in the room are watching each other very, very carefully everyone is behaving well; until a waiter enters the room and all hell breaks loose. Things happen so quickly not everyone even realizes there is a problem…until there is. Nighthawk is quickest at discerning that things are not going well when the old waiter suddenly bulks up and attacks their host, a sleazy mobster. He quickly covers his employer, Charles Dutton, and is standing next to the fussy little man Meek when Meek gets injured, suddenly spraying rainbows all over the room. When all is quiet again, the only people remaining in the room are Dutton, Nighthawk and Meek.
Meek turns out to be Croyd Crenson whose power this time is time-teleportation. But even he isn’t quite sure where – or when – he sent everyone. This wouldn’t have been Nighthawk’s concern until a look outside the window reveals that the world outside their hotel is in chaos as alternate timelines clash. They decide that they are seeing the results of several upheavals in the time line obviously caused by the missing people – wherever and whenever they might be. The three realize they must find and retrieve all the missing people before they change history. Fortunately, Croyd has the ability to sense the people he transported and he and Nighthawk take off on a trip through the history of Chicago.
Oh, this was just so very much fun. A wonderful mélange of little stories occurring from the 1960s all the way back to prehistoric times. Did you know that Hugh Hefner started his first Playboy Club in Chicago? Here’s a take on why he decided to go with the bunny theme. Chicago is known, of course, for the days of Al Capone and gangsters – we have to stop there for a time. It was also the site of the World’s Fair in 1893; the same time as America’s first famous serial killer was discovered. And then there was that fire started by Mrs. Leary’s cow…or so the story goes.
As Nighthawk and Croyd travel about locating the missing people they discover that while many are relieved and delighted that they are to be rescued; not everyone wants to go home. They are also on a timer – at some point Croyd will be too tired to stay awake and we all know what happens when he finally sleeps: he changes his power.
I loved each little story and I really liked the final climax which was so very appropriate. This is the Wild Card story I’ve been waiting for after the last disappointment. It is a standalone so don’t expect a multi-book story arc. One of the side benefits of time traveling was the chance to see, albeit at a distance, some old favorites who have since left the series: The Turtle, The Radical, Father Squid, Chrysalis and someone who looks an awful lot like Jube, the walrus who sells newspapers in New York.
It was a well-constructed plot and each smaller story was well-plotted; the whole thing coming together quite well. Wild Cards isn’t usually about character development or world-building; it’s always been more about plot and this one doesn’t change that formula. It’s a wallow for anyone addicted to comicbook heroes and villains – as I am.

[Squirrel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read the main story first, starting, skimming, and skipping the other authors' interpretations of various characters. Those read like fan fiction to me, the transitions were abrupt, the narrative voices uneven when read in sequence.

I felt the main story had a rough start, with a boring long list of characters reading like script notes, excessive detail on the card game, and tired Wild Cards characters, the women skinny, busty, cute, scantily clad, available for sex to any man, (thrown in your face over and over), the men either movie-star gorgeous or grotesque.

Some of the writing and editing is sloppy to distraction. For example, in Part 4 two guys break into a car with a nightstick, hotwire it, park it away from an entrance so as not to raise questions. A few hours later they drive the same car to an even fancier destination, and "hand the keys to the valet. " Wow! Hotwiring magically produces car keys hours later? Wouldn't the valet notice the obvious signs of theft? Why bother writing such a detail and getting it wrong, and shouldn't the editors notice?

Also the telling is uneven. On and on about the poker game (omg, it's cards, we know what that's like), and we end up barely seeing ANY of the players again, so why do we need the details of how they play? We see characters with no background or history, but we have to sit through extended trivia on old-time baseball players?

Another weird choice - the book cover art features one of dozens of minor characters, Khan, and the two characters who lead us through the entire adventure are missing. Who signed off on that choice? Even other minor characters are featured much more than that one!

Perhaps the most annoying part is their constant wonder at who is leaving them supplies? I won't spoil the reveal, but DUH - it's TIME TRAVEL - they are moving in the past - wouldn't they think their future selves went back and left it for them? I'm not saying that's what happened, I'm just saying, wouldn't you at least consider the possibility? Once?

If you get past those rocks, its a fun tale. Some period history lessons, save-the-world heroics, easy escapes, superficial moral questions. You'll learn some things you didn't know about Chicago (whether or not you appreciate the trivia) and if you're a Chicagoan, you'll wonder why the author ignored all the cool things you do know.

In sum, 3 stars - worth a partial easy read, one time.

[David Berkowitz · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Good Entry in the Wild Cards Saga

I have been a big fan of the Wild Cards saga since the first book was published in the late 70s or early 80s. The group of authors who contribute short stories that are then woven together into a unified storyline are all masters of the SF genre. This book has all the sparkle that I have come to expect.

For those unfamiliar with the series, an alien virus infected the Earth in 1946. Of those infected, 90% die gruesome deaths very quickly. Of those who live, most are disfigured and appear monstrous in one way or another. The changes are unpredictable - like drawing randomly from a deck of card. Hence the virus became called the Wild Card virus.

Those who are disfigured are called Jokers. Some gain special powers to varying degrees. If the power is useful the person is called an Ace. If it's a useless ability the person is called a Deuce. Either of these may have been disfigured or not by the virus so there are Joker and non-Joker Aces and Deuces.

Low Chicago is loaded with characters that have appeared before in Wild Card stories. One of them, Croyd Crenson, made his Wild Card debut in the very first book in the series. Other on;y appeared later. Each character has a satisfying story in this collection.

The kick off point for this story is a high stakes poker game gone bad. The high rollers have all hired Aces as bodyguards. When the trouble starts, Crenson (whose abilities change every time he falls asleep) throws and scatters everyone in the room back in time. And not all to the same time. Each vignette happens in a different era, all centered in the Chicago area. Not coincidentally, several of the stories include real historical events warped, sometimes, to a world where the Wild Card virus is a thing. For example, one story happens during the 1968 Democratic Convention.

While it would add enrichment to the reading experience to have a few of the Wild Card books under your belt, I think a new reader to the series would still be able to enjoy this entry. If you have been a steady reader of the series you will get everything you love about the Wild Cards series here.

[Kati · Rating 2 out of 5]

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I am a lover of Game of Thrones so when I saw George R.R. Martins name come up I jumped at the opportunity. I had no idea this series had been going on for this many years. I feel my biggest downfall will be that I don't understand cards so I may have an issue understanding this book a little bit. But so far from what I've read just as an introduction of the many characters and their background to Nighthawk they are very interesting and complex. I really do hope that card games to not mix into what happens in this book or I will be questioning my boyfriend at every turn as my knowledge of card games is limited to Kings Corner, solitaire and go-fish and the like. It is very interesting to have a world based off of a society names after jokers, queens and such. The crazy characters are kind of cool. Some portions of of the first authors story doesn't make much since. Some parts remind me of Austin Powers. I hope these stories tie together because it kind of just drops off after the first story portion. The second one starts very slow and was more difficult for me to get into. Once it started explaining more I got into it. However, but had slow starts and then built up just before going into the next story. I feel like for the second one there was something I had read that actually given some information away about a character so that was slightly unfortunate for me. I want to like this book this book so much. But it was honestly so hard for me to read. I think I will love it as a show as much as I loved Games of Thrones as a show. At this time I suggest anyone who loved reading Game of Thrones to read this series and I will have to come back to this book at another time.