Previous SFF Author: Jessie Mihalik
Victor Woodward Milán is an American writer known for libertarian science fiction and an interest in cybernetics. In 1986 he won the Prometheus Award for Cybernetic Samurai. He has also written several shared universe works for the Forgotten Realms, Star Trek, and Wild Cards Universes. He has also written books under the pseudonyms Richard Austin (Jove Books The Guardians series), Robert Baron (Jove Books Stormrider series), and S. L. Hunter (Steele series with Simon Hawke, who used the pen name J. D. Masters). He also wrote at least 9 novels under the “house name” of James Axler for the Harlequin Press/Gold Eagle Books Deathlands series & Outlanders series.
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The Dinosaur Lords by Victor Milán
It takes no effort at all to imagine what the “elevator mash-up pitch” for Victor Milán’s The Dinosaur Lords was: “It’s Jurassic Park meets Game of Thrones!” And darned if that wholly predictable selling phrase isn’t the main blurb (provided by none other than George R.R. Martin himself) sitting right above the title of my copy. And herein lie two of the problems with The Dinosaur Lords.
Bill Capossere´s rating: 2.5 | Victor Milan | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
The Dinosaur Knights by Victor Milan
I’m always a bit iffy about reading a second book in a series whose first book I didn’t much care for, but I guess it’s the optimist in me that overrules my better judgment. Optimism, and the fact that while rare, occasionally the second book does reward that optimism. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case for Victor Milan’s The Dinosaur Knights (2016). As I noted in the review of book one, The Dinosaur Lords,
Bill Capossere´s rating: 0.1 | Victor Milan | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Aces High edited by George R.R. Martin
Aces High is the second volume of George R.R. Martin’s long-running WILD CARDS anthology. In the first volume, Wild Cards, we learned how aliens from the planet Takis decided to test their new virus by using humans as their guinea pigs. In the 1960s, they let loose what has now become known as the Wild Card virus on Manhattan. Much of the world population died and many of the survivors became grossly deformed and are now referred to as “Jokers.” A much smaller proportion of those who were infected gained one or more superpowers and are now known as “Aces.” In Wild Cards,
Kat Hooper´s rating: 3.5 | George R.R. Martin, Melinda Snodgrass, Roger Zelazny, Victor Milan, Walter Jon Williams | Audio | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Aces Abroad edited by George R.R. Martin
Aces Abroad is the fourth WILD CARDS anthology edited by George R.R. Martin. It was originally published in 1988, released in a new print edition by Tor in 2015, and released in audio format by Random House Audio in March 2016. It would be best to read the previous volumes (Wild Cards, Aces High, Jokers Wild) first, not only because they introduce the most important characters and provide a lot of background information that you’ll need to fully appreciate Aces Abroad,
Kat Hooper´s rating: 3 | Carrie Vaughn, George R.R. Martin, Melinda Snodgrass, Victor Milan | Audio | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Ace in the Hole edited by George R.R. Martin
Ace in the Hole (1990), the sixth WILD CARDS mosaic novel, is a vast improvement over the last two novels (Aces Abroad and Down and Dirty). Down and Dirty, especially, lacked cohesion due to George R.R. Martin’s lack of editorial control over his authors, something he laments in that book’s afterword. I suspect the experience was a good lesson because he’s fixed the issue in Ace in the Hole.
Kat Hooper´s rating: 4 | George R.R. Martin, Melinda Snodgrass, Victor Milan, Walter Jon Williams | Audio | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Busted Flush edited by George R.R. Martin
Busted Flush is the nineteenth entry in the Wild Cards series of mosaic novels edited by George R.R. Martin. The previous book, Inside Straight is something of a new beginning for the series, a new trilogy with new characters and a couple of new writers. It’s a good point to get started. Unfortunately Busted Flush falls a bit short of the standard set in the first book of the Committee trilogy.
The story picks up some time after the events in Inside Straight.
Rob Weber´s rating: 2 | Carrie Vaughn, George R.R. Martin, Ian Tregillis, Melinda Snodgrass, S.L. Farrell, Victor Milan | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Suicide Kings edited by George R.R. Martin
Suicide Kings is the third part in the latest reincarnation of the long-running WILD CARDS series. Together with Inside Straight and Busted Flush it forms the Committee trilogy. I guess you could consider this trilogy WILD CARDS the next generation. These books are meant to be an entry point for new readers. Like most of the previous novels, Suicide Kings is a collaborative effort. This volume is written by six authors — Daniel Abraham,
Rob Weber´s rating: 3 | Daniel Abraham, George R.R. Martin, Ian Tregillis, Melinda Snodgrass, S.L. Farrell, Victor Milan | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Fort Freak by George R.R. Martin
Fort Freak is the twenty-first entry in the WILD CARDS universe, a long running series of mosaic novels edited by George R.R. Martin. It is not necessary to have read the previous twenty volumes to read this one; Fort Freak works fine as a standalone. There are numerous references to earlier books and cameos by characters that starred in them, but nothing that makes it absolutely necessary to have read earlier volumes. That is probably a good thing.
Rob Weber´s rating: 4 | Cherie Priest, David Anthony Durham, George R.R. Martin, Melinda Snodgrass, Paul Cornell, Victor Milan | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Previous SFF Author: Jessie Mihalik
I might say "formulaic" actually.
Your review made me curious, so I looked this book up. Sure enough: Tor. Tor seems to specialize in these…
It's a tightrope act for sure.
[…] Stuart (2 December 2015). “Roadside Picnic: Russian SF classic with parallels to Vandermeer’s Area X | Fantasy Lit…. fantasyliterature.com. Retrieved 8 […]
yes, I mean, there are certainly lots of good sci-fi/fantasy novellas out there, so they aren't impossible to do, but…