Wild Cards
This is an excellent treatment of the pulp scifi genre. I especially like the way it embraces pulp without being self-referential. Breaking the story up between different writers also helps add to the feeling that the world of the Wild Card virus is a dynamic world, with numerous goings-on that can relate to each other in all kinds of ways.The stories are by turns intensely interpersonal, or action oriented, but they all juxtapose noir with the giddiness inherit to shared scifi - "Look at all these opportunities! Let's play in this collective sandbox!"
I had originally read this series when it came out; I was in highschool at the time. The book stands up to a couple decades of experience; I know I got more out of the book on a personal level than I did the first time. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the series.
