Sorry, Game of Thrones fans, but writer George R.R. Martin's latest work helped expand on another fictional universe. While readers everywhere have been waiting patiently for the next book in the Song of Ice and Fire series, Martin has produced a physics paper associated with another franchise he's attached to.
In a report by Ars Technica, George R.R. Martin just co-authored a peer-reviewed paper in the American Journal of Physics. The paper focuses on a fictional virus that's prominently featured in the Wild Cards franchise (a series of books that Martin edits along with Melinda M. Snodgrass).
Martin worked with physicist Ian Tregillis to "tidy up the canon" by deriving a formula for the Wild Card virus featured in the franchise. Together, Martin and Tregillis' paper established several rules for the virus, including how it would theoretically spread and how its effects would be determined by a multivariate probability distribution.
George R.R. Martin Clarifies the Rules in the Wild Cards' Franchise
Now Has a Paper to Back the Virus' Theoretical Behavior
The Wild Cards series is a shared superhero universe that's edited by Martin and Snodgrass and centers around a fictional Earth that's been drastically changed by the Wild Cards virus. The alien virus kills 90% of those who contract it, while 9% of those remaining become mutated Jokers. However, 1% manage to acquire powers and become the Aces of the world (unless they develop powers too specific or trivial and are thus deemed Deuces). The franchise spun out of a campaign for the Superworld role-playing game before growing into a series composed of books, stories and anthologies, including comic adaptations.
Wild Cards has over thirty main books that have been worked on by over forty authors, and that's not even getting into the supplemental material. Martin's new paper might not be The Winds of Winter as many fans were hoping, but what he wrote with Tregillis is interesting nonetheless. Such a large series that's been around for so long is bound to get confusing the longer it's around. Having a paper that lays out the rules and laws of the Wild Cards virus not only helps clarify past books, it lays a framework for future Wild Cards books.
Martin's New Paper Helps Give Future Wild Cards Entries a More Solid Canon To Work Off Of
New Wild Cards Books Have a Formula to Reference the Series' Most Crucial Rule
Such a collaborative effort like Wild Cards can't be easy, even when someone as detail-oriented as Martin oversees things. This series has been around for years and newer writers have a lot of material to sort through when writing a new entry. Martin and Tregillis' paper is an in-depth look at the series' most critical aspect, the virus, and can tell writers everything they need to know so that they can write the best story to fit the Wild Cards' franchise. Maybe it's not what people expected from George R.R. Martin, but it's surely something Wild Cards' fans might appreciate.
Source: Ars Technica
