Even from the opening page I could sense that this book (the eleventh Wild Cards instalment) would be a return to form for GRRM’s superheros and mutants shared-world saga. The writing had a sparkle to it, and the narrative was a much more effective multiple viewpoint, third person limited mosaic novel. And Martin was a contributing author for this volume.

Which is just as well, as an important part of the plot concerns his creation, Tom Tudbury, the Great and Powerful Turtle - one of the best Wild Cards characters. Also along for the ride are Bloat and the denizens of the Rox, Billy Ray (Carnifex), Australian shaman Wyungare, and another old favourite, Modular Man.

As the book opens, the Turtle has recently seen Dr Tachyon, Jay Ackroyd and Mark Meadows off on their journey to Takis - a story which is told in book ten, Double Solitaire and takes place over a good few months. By contrast, Dealer’s Choice covers a period of about three days (or less). The military is intent on dealing once and for all with the joker and jumper base on Ellis Island; meanwhile, Bloat, governor of said base, is equally determined to fend off anything the government can throw at them. Dealer’s Choice is the story of that fight.

It’s pretty intense, with the story darting back and forth between the sides, each having a moral imperative to win, while the individuals waging the war struggle with their consciences and come to desperate conclusions. There are two or three incipient romances in amongst all the fighting, and the climactic scenes provide heart-rending experiences all round. And, unlike, say, the conflict with the Swarm earlier in the series, there is no obvious division between a good side and a bad side - which raises the tension still further as this four-book sequence within the the Wild Cards series draws to a close.

This was by far the best of the Wild Cards books I’ve read recently. However, after reading four in a row, I’m going to take a break before I move on to volume twelve.

‘You’re bleeding,’ she said to Ray.

He looked down at his side. ‘Yeah,’ he said. ‘I do that a lot.’

Pugnacious Billy Ray (AKA Carnifex) has super-strength and heals much more quickly than normal.

Source: Dealer’s Choice, edited by George R R Martin.

The DHL van came to pick up my package of documents for Korea yesterday. The driver turned out to be the same bloke who came in 2006. And I think he encountered the same minor problem with my documents as he did last time. Essentially, I think the issue was caused by me putting a value for the package on the online DHLitNow form - making it an export, rather than just documents. Everything got there safely last time, so I’m confident they will this time as well.

The past few days, I’ve been sent away to my sister’s ex-partner’s place while he and the kids are away on holiday. While there I had various phone calls - including a couple of interviews with two branches of Reading Town. One was with a Korean and was a real interview; the other was with what sounded like an American - although, from her name I guess she’s a ‘gyopo‘ - and that wasn’t a real interview, just a bit of information about the hagwon and a few questions from me (so, in a way, I was interviewing her). This racial difference in interviews is typical in my experience. I was offered the second job but not the first.

I also had a phone call from someone called Min in relation to the position I’d been offered previously. She was calling about the contract and was apparently going to send it to me. If she did, I didn’t receive it. After a couple of days of waiting, I finally got the contract this morning from Mi Young. Min then called me again, and I discovered that the e-mail address she had for me was completely wrong.

I headed back up to my sister’s house, where she and her boyfriend were apparently preparing for a weekend at his place. I printed off the necessary documents: three copies of the contract, my resumé, a health statement I’d been sent (consisting of a number of tick boxes to show that I don’t have HIV/AIDS, I don’t use drugs, am not an alcoholic, have not been treated for mental health problems, and have not had a serious disease or injury in the past five years; I ticked no all the way down - I’m not counting my colitis as serious - I wasn’t going to die from it).

My sister said she’d be leaving around one o’clock. I headed out again to collect my things and came back at about 1:15 ready to complete the DHLitNow online form. I’d already called DHL and found that the cut-off time for same-day pick-ups was 11am; I also vaguely remembered having to print out a label for the envelope last time and that even though I missed the cut-off time they still picked it up the same day. So basically, today, I needed the printer and to be prepared for a pick-up. When I got back to my sister’s house - well, the car was there, the door was locked with the key in the lock and there were noises coming from the main bedroom.

I left my backpack in the shed and walked back down to the village, hoping my sweat-soaked top would dry out a little. It looks like I won’t be getting the paperwork off until Monday. And then there’s another wait as it goes to the recruiter’s office, then to Korean Immigration, then my visa issuance gets sent to me, then I have to go to London to get the visa …

Ready to go, but still not able.

 A last lexeme from Dracula.

voi·vode /ˈvɔɪvoʊd/
-noun
(in Eastern European history) a local ruler or governor, esp. the semi-independent rulers of Transylvania, Wallachia, or Moldavia before c1700.

Also, vaivode.

[Origin: 1550-60; ≪ Slavic; cf. Pol wojewoda, Russ voevóda, Serbo-Croatian vȍj(e)voda, OCS vojevoda commander, governor (translating Gk hégemn and stratégós), equiv. to voj- base of voinŭ warrior + -e- var. (after j) of -o- -o- + -voda, n. deriv. of voditi to lead; vaivode < Hungarian vajvoda (now vajda) < Slavic]

 Source: Dictionary.com.

 Another word from Dracula.

qua /kweɪ, kwɑ/
-adverb as; as being; in the character or capacity of: The work of art qua art can be judged by aesthetic criteria only.

[Origin: 1640-50; < L quā fem. abl. sing. of quī who]

 Source: Dictionary.com.

 More vampiric verbiage.

pto·maine /ˈtoʊmeɪn, toʊˈmeɪn/
-noun any of a class of foul-smelling nitrogenous substances produced by bacteria during putrefaction of animal or plant protein: formerly thought to be toxic.

[Origin: 1875-80; < It ptomaina < Gk ptôma corpse + It -ina -ine]

-Related forms
pto·main·ic, adjective

Source: Dictionary.com.

 If I remember rightly, this word is used in Dracula in the context of wax dripping down a candle.

Sper`ma*ce”ti\, n. [L. sperma sperm + cetus,gen. ceti, any large sea animal, a whale, Gr. ???. See Sperm, Cetaceous.] A white waxy substance obtained from cavities in the head of the sperm whale, and used making candles, oilments, cosmetics, etc. It consists essentially of ethereal salts of palmitic acid with ethal and other hydrocarbon bases. The substance of spermaceti after the removal of certain impurities is sometimes called cetin.

Source: Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary quoted on Dictionary.com.

When I finally got to the front of the queue at Manchester’s Odeon cinema and asked for a ticket yesterday it was about 2:15. Screenings began every hour so I asked for a ticket for two o’clock - on the basis that there’d be ten minutes each of adverts and trailers before the film started. The ticket person said I’d miss the first five minutes of the film; I didn’t think he was right about that, but anyway I deferred to his infinite wisdom and got a ticket for three. It was actually a good move. I had time to use the toilet first, and then the trailers constitued a geek’s wet dream. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, The Dark Knight, Prince Caspian and The Incredible Hulk … mmm.

Robert Downey Jr as a superhero is an unlikely bit of casting, but it works perfectly. Jeff Bridges in his role is also none too obvious, but he too was great, and, with his full beard and shaven head looked positively archetypal as the evil industrialist. In fact, facial hair seems to be a major theme in Iron Man - there’s a full range of moustaches, goatees and beards.

The best part of the film is the first half, where Stark is kidnapped by the Afgan terrorists and begins transforming himself into Iron Man. His tests, helped - and hindered - by the AI that runs his house are certainly the movie’s comedic highlight. The crux of the story, where Stark realises the true intent of his business partner, didn’t work so well for me. From then on, the story loses some of its emotional and narrative dynamic and just becomes a lead up to a fight scene between two men in exoskeletons.

And then that fight didn’t seem all that good. After spending so much time on Stark’s journey to superhero-hood, this climactic scene felt as if it had been condensed to prevent the film as a whole being too long. Also, sitting in the fourth row from the front, I wasn’t best-placed to see it. The antagonists fill the screen and the action is so fast that it often appears as a big blur.

In fact, all the action scenes were fairly modest. After the pyrotechnics of Die Hard 4.0 and the robotic choreography of Transformers last year, action films have a new benchmark - and Iron Man doesn’t reach it.

But it is very good - it’s engaging, it’s humorous, it looks a million dollars … well, make that about $200 milion (not counting the dye on Downey’s moustache in the close-up shots). And if you stay right to the end fo the credits you get to see Samuel L Jackson as Nick Fury providing a prelude to the sequel (although I don’t believe the rumours that it will be a Rastafarian-themed film entitled I an’ Iron Man).

This chapter of the Wild Cards saga employs the now-familiar technique of dividing the narrative in two and presenting the bifurcated story in separate volumes. It’s happened before in this series (books six and seven) and George R R Martin has also done it with the last and next volumes of A Song of Ice and Fire. Here in Wild Cards book ten the story leaves Earth and moves to Takis, home of Dr Tachyon and destination of his sociopathic grandson.

Tachyon, or Tisianne to give him is Takisian moniker, was previously jumped into the body of a young woman called Kelly. This body was then raped by his grandson, Blaise - so now Tachyon is heavily pregnant with his own great-granddaughter. (Melinda Snodgrass uses pronouns appropriate to the bodies of Tachyon and Kelly. While this doesn’t cause any confusion (except occasionally for the characters themselves), I would have thought the mind is more important than the body.) Also along for the ride are Jay Ackroyd and Mark Meadows - two of the most likable characters in the world of the Wild Card virus.

Unlike any of the preceeding volumes, Double Solitaire has only one author, and the resulting unified narrative addresses my previous complaint about the linked short story format. On the other hand, earlier on in the series, Snodgrass did strike me as probably the weakest writer of the Wild Cards team. Her turn of phrase tends towards cliché, and something about the way she portrays characters seems a bit superficial - too much like easy soap opera weepiness.

Double Solitaire isn’t bad, but none of the Wild Cards books I’ve read recently have lived up to the high standards of the earlier volumes. I’ve already started on book eleven (which runs parallel to book ten, and tells the story of Bloat and the Rox back on Earth), though, and, from the first 30 or so pages, it looks like the return to form I’ve been waiting for.