I am a big fan of the Wild Cards books. I have been since the late 80s when they were originally published. So, here's some great news from the author.
I read The Lost Symbol, by Dan Brown this week. Dan Brown is also the author of The DaVinci Code. Even if that fact hadn't been explicitly stated on the cover, I would have been able to tell quickly by reading the first few chapters.In his previous book, Brown paints an opening scene with a dead man in the center of a round room with clues. This book features an amputated hand in the center of a round room with clues. In his previous book, Brown describes in detail the symbolism in the art and architecture of Rome. In this one he describes in detail the symbolism in the art and architecture of Washington, D.C. In his previous book there was a secret society called Opus Dei operating to protect secrets. In this book there is a society with secrets (the freemasons) operating to protect secrets. In his previous book, Brown describes a singularly focused villain, steeped in ritual and obsessed with his target. In this book, there is a singularly focused villain, steeped in ritual and obsessed...Okay, do you get the point yet?
This book WAS The DaVinci Code. It is so similar in structure and plot, that Brown refers specifically to the familiar beats of his previous work whenever (and it happens often) his hero, Robert Langdon encounters identical situations. I could almost hear Dan Brown, as Chris Farley saying, "Remember that part in the DaVinci Code where Langdon does X? That was awesome. I think I'll do it again."
I admit that there's only so many ways you can go with a hero with such a limited scope of expertise, and that just means perhaps it's time to write about something else. If you liked The DaVinci Code, you should like this book. But only if you enjoy reading books twice.
A new triad of Wild Cards books began this past summer with Inside Straight, the first new Wild Cards book in over two years. 
In the fall of 1984, I took a course called Film Interpretation (ENGL 210) at Western Michigan University. It was a four-credit course, and part of my English minor course of study. Before you begin to think that it was a blowoff course, you need to understand something. It changed my life, and remains to this day the course I use most in my daily life. In this class, I not only had to watch the movies but had to write about them extensively. I learned technical terms like rack focus and non-musical sound bridge. I learned what each member of the credited crew list does. And I had to identify and write about themes and techniques presented throughout some of the greatest movies of all time. Included in the film list were Citizen Kane, Meet John Doe, Cheyenne Autumn, The Quiet Man, It's a Wonderful Life, The Seventh Seal, The Third Man, The 39 Steps, and Deliverance. "Movies and pictures of Indians on calendars gave me a general idea of what
to do, and I waved the paddle slowly through the water, down and along the left
side of the canoe. The nose with Drew in it--I saw now that I was moving
him to one side or the other, to turn the canoe, was going to be a big part of
the problem--swung heavily out toward midstream, where the current began to pick us up and move it a little faster. The sensation of pure riding could not have
been greater though we were doing not much more than drifting, bogged with the
weight of the gear, and with uncertainty."
That's some good stuff, right there. The book, as you might imagine, fills in all of the gaps left behind by a two-hour screenplay. The first chapter takes you behind the motivations for taking the trip in the first place, which admittedly, the dialogue of the film takes care of less-than-adequately. The reader finds out Ed's last name (Gentry), for example, which is never mentioned in the movie at all.
But, this is one time when seeing the movie will not spoil the book. In fact, I recommend seeing the movie first and then reading the book. There are hardly any inconsistencies between the two ("Squeal like a pig" is not in the book), and the cinematography of the canoe trip adds to the mind's eye when reading about it. Since James Dickey wrote both the movie and the book, you can consider the movie sort of a condensed finished draft with a little added material.
I LOVED this book!
The following part is not pleasant, but does have a happy ending.
75) My parents divorced when I was almost seven years old.
76) My mother remarried a man who abused me for five years.
77) All of my comic books were immediately burned.
78) I was punched.
79) I was kicked.
80) I was beaten every day except for my birthday and Christmas. Sometimes I didn’t even know why I was being hit.
81) I nearly drowned when my stepfather tried to teach me to swim.
82) The welts on my rear end and my (brother’s) were inspected when the police were called following one of the beatings. They did nothing.
83) My infected fingernail was torn off with pliers because my stepfather was too cheap to take me to the doctor. I ended up in the emergency room because it wouldn’t stop bleeding.
84) He gave me baths until I was 12 because I “didn’t wash well enough.” He would hold my head underwater to rinse my hair until I had to fight for breath.
85) I was made to lie to my teachers about the black eye he gave me in 6th grade.
86) I was beaten in the name of God because the bible says, “Spare the rod, spoil the child.”
87) I am an atheist.
88) I respect other people’s beliefs until they try to force them on me.
89) I was called a moron despite the fact that I got straight A’s.
90) I wasn’t allowed to sit on the furniture in our living room because it was “not for animals.”
91) I went to 11 different elementary schools.
92) I had to have my blood sugar tested when I was 11 because I was deathly thin from not being allowed to eat at dinner.
93) My mother let me move in with my father when I turned 12 because she thought my stepfather was going to kill me.
94) I couldn’t tell my father about the abuse because my stepfather said he would kill my brother (who stayed behind) if I told.
95) My grandparents had bought comics for me and kept them at their house so that I could read them when I visited. The stories of those heroes and how they overcame adversity inspired me to do the same.
96) After the death of my grandfather, my father and grandmother gave me guidance and morals and a sense of self-worth.
97) I had great junior high and high school teachers who believed in me.
98) I became a teacher because of them.
99) I am a success despite the fact that I was a victim of child abuse.
100) I am happy. Here's why:
H.I.V.E. Higher Institute of Villainous Education is a book by Mark Walden, a former game designer-turned author. It is the story of an orphan who is brought into a large school where the first year students are sorted into four different “streams,” distinguished by the colors of their school uniforms. The main character meets the boy who becomes his best friend on the trip to the school. They are confronted by two bullies at the first group meal. One of their professors has been transformed into a cat and one of their fellow students is a clumsy boy who just happens to excel at working with plants. His first name is Neville—I mean, Nigel.
Having just finished watching the first season of "Heroes," I can't help but draw certain comparisons to a great series of novels that came out beginning in 1987 called Wild Cards. 
