"George R. R. Martin - Wild Cards 16 - Deuces Down" - читать интересную книгу автора (Martin George R R)

ideas and concepts nurtured by the series' writers have a way of coming to
fruition eventually.
Let me digress for a moment to explain how I was lucky enough to become a Wild
Cards author in the first place, since it beats to some degree on Deuces Down.
When George R.R. Martin. Melinda Snodgrass. and the rest of the blew Mexico
writers and garners were creating the foundation for the series. George
cleverly decided to expand his group of participating writers beyond the
borders of the Land of Enchantment. Being either incredibly insightful or a
masochist, depending on how you look at it. one of the first people George
turned to was his long time buddy Howard Waldrop, who wrote "Thirty Minutes
Over Broadway!" the lead story in Wild Cards. To know Howard is to love him,
but his artistic temperament can best be described as inflexible, so it
doesn't
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INTRODUCTION
make him ideal for team projects. Howard's plan was to write his one story and
jump ship, which he did. Master agreements and consortium points weren't part
of his game plan.
At that time. Howard lived in Austin (of which I'm a native and current
resident) and was one of the Turkey City writers. Turkey City was, and is, a
writers conference where friends sit around reading and then dismembering each
other's stories in turn. Given its Texas location. Turkey City was a bit more
of a rock-em. sock-em affair than some of the more genteel writers
conferences, but to date no fatalities have been reported among even the more
brutalized participants. Another then-Austinite and Turkey Citizen was Lew
Shiner. who George also quickly got on board for Wild Cards. Lew loved comic
books and was an up-and-comer on the science fiction scene, being (with Bruce
Sterling. also an Austinite and a Turkey City writer. I'm sure you're getting
the general drift of this by now) one of the core group in the newly formed
cyberpunk movement. Lew's character Fortunate, along with his antagonist. the
Astronomer, was an integral part of the first Wild Cards triad. Levi. Howard.
and I hung out a lot. including going on a weekly comic-buying run. Since I
was also a Turkey City regular. Lew knew I could write, and sold George on
giving me a shot at Wild Cards. How hard a sell he had to give George. I'm not
sure. George had met me several times. read one of my early (unpublished and
unpublishable) stories, and agreed to see vihat I could do. I wasn't entirely
without credentials, having done some work for DC Comics that eventually
showed up in World's Finest and Hone of Mystery as well as having a short
story or two published.
Incidentally. I did the comic book writing under the name Bud Simons, which is
what everyone calls me, although I'd been using Walton Simons for my fiction.
This created mistaken assumptions about my true identity later on, but how
vias I to know? In any case. I was completely psyched to be on the Wild Cards
team. The notion of being in the same book as Roger Zelazny filled me with
glee, but I vias going to have to earn it. The first book WHO Cards was
already full, so I went to wort on a Demise story for Aces
"hiINTRODUCTION
High that I cleverly tied into Levis Fortunato yarn. George bought it and I've
been lucky enough to be a Wild Carder ever since.
Novi in those days, if you got a couple of Wild Cards writers together, sooner