Cherie Priest

George R. R. Martin's Wild Cards multi-author shared-world universe has been thrilling readers for over 25 years. Now, in addition to overseeing the ongoing publication of new Wild Cards books (like 2011's Fort Freak), Martin is also commissioning and editing new Wild Cards stories for publication on Tor.com. In Cherie Priest's "The Button Man and the Murder Tree," it's Chicago in 1971, and Raul is a button man -- a professional ender of lives that the Mob needs ended. But something's odd about his most recent assignments. And then there are those mushrooms growing out of his skin... At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

A Tor.Com Original

The Button Man and the Murder Tree

Maggie Gordon

Another Wild Cards story, and this one feels very Jeff Vandermeer-ish because of the noir and fungus connection. As always, the world is place in which some people suffer from genetic mutations (that usually give you superpowers), and our protagonist starts growing mushrooms (on himself, of course, not in a garden). Knowing absolutely nothing about the Wild Cards universe, it seems like this is at an early point in the canon, when the laws and reactions are just starting to turn against the "jokers", though this particular story doesn't really fall into the discrimination allegory one would expect as our protagonist is a hired killer. In any case, it's intriguing and I really do need to get my hands on some of the larger works.

The Button Man and the Murder Tree A Tor.Com Original

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