So there’s this new Wild Cards novel called KNAVES OVER QUEENS, and it has a cover and a release date for the UK edition:
It’ll be out on June 28 from Harper Collins Voyager UK, and it’s the first time a Wild Cards novel sees publication in the UK before the US. There’ll be a US edition too, of course, but UK booksellers will gladly ship to the US as well if you don’t want to wait another year or so for the Tor version to appear on shelves here.
For KNAVES OVER QUEENS, I came up with a new ace called Archimedes, and then sent him right off to war on his very first assignment. If you’ve been reading my blog, you can probably guess which war that is, considering it’s a British-themed book with British aces.
Here’s the promo text from the publisher:
“The return of the famous shared-world superhero books created and edited by George R. R. Martin, author of A Song of Ice and Fire
For decades, George R.R. Martin – bestselling author of A Song of Ice and Fire – has collaborated with an ever-shifting ensemble of science fiction and fantasy icons to create the amazing Wild Cards universe.
In the aftermath of World War II, the Earth’s population was devastated by a terrifying alien virus. Those who survived were changed for ever. Some, known as Jokers, were cursed with bizarre mental and physical deformities; others, granted superhuman abilities, are known as Aces. Now the virus has reached Britain…
Queen Margaret rules over a country in which such legendary figures as Herne the Hunter, Spring-heeled Jack and Babh, the goddess of war, roam at will. Her Prime Minister, Sir Winston Churchill – gifted with extraordinary longevity – together with the Enigma ace – Alan Turing – set up a special organization named the Order of the Silver Helix. They will need all the wild cards they can find if they are to deal with the terrifying mutations thrown up by the virus.
KNAVES OVER QUEENS – the first ever Wild Cards novel set in the UK, and a perfect jumping-in point for readers new to this shared world – features a stunning collection of original stories from such luminaries of the world of science fiction and fantasy as Paul Cornell, Marko Kloos, Mark Lawrence, Kevin Andrew Murphy, Emma Newman, Peter Newman, Peadar O Guilin, Melinda M. Snodgrass, Caroline Spector and Charles Stross.”
June also marks the release of another Wild Cards novel in the US. That one is LOW CHICAGO, and I have a novella in that one as well, so June marks the first month in which I have two stories out. (Coincidentally, both are novellas, and almost the same word count in length.) I’ve never had a novella published–the Frontlines story MEASURES OF ABSOLUTION is technically a novelette at around 12,000 words–so this just doubles the awesome.
I know most of you are here for the military SF, but I have to tell you that I love working on Wild Cards stories, and I feel that the stuff I’m writing in that world is some of the best material I’ve ever written. I’ve done short stories, but I am primarily a novelist, and the constraints of the novelette/novella length of my Wild Cards contributions have made me much better at pacing and structure for the longer works as well. I hope you give the Wild Cards books a shot.