Weaving the various threads together in a fashion that is both expert and crafty in every sense of the word, is "Double Helix" from Melinda M. Snodgrass. The story here centres on British Secret Service ace Noel Matthews. An hermaphrodite with multiple identities, Matthews plays several interconnected roles including Bahir, the teleporting killer at the command of an Arab potentate, and Lilith, the teleporting seductress who is part of the Committee. As if that wasn't enough, Matthews is also seen caring for his dying father. Scenes which I found particularly touching and realistic, having done the job myself a few years back. "Double Helix" allows this book to soar and swoop, sometimes flying high, at other times diving so low it nearly scrapes the ground. The quality and imagination of the central theme makes it easier to forgive when some of the lesser ideas don't work quite as well as their writers intended. I was delighted to see the Radical, a form belonging to one of the oldest Wild Carders, playing a pivotal role. As long-time fans will know, the Radical is probably the nearest thing Wild Cards has to Superman, and is one form of Dr. Mark Meadows, a hippie ace originally known as Captain Trips. In this book, however, he is trapped in his alter ego and about as far away from hippie ideals as it is possible to get. The Radical has become the power behind an African leader, brutally taking control over large sections of the Dark Continent. Concurrent with this story is the least interesting of the main threads, which sees Committee members deployed in New Orleans and the Middle East. These segments rarely caught light for me, with two exceptions; the development of the most interesting of the newbies from the last book, Drummer Boy, and an entirely new character, Hoodoo Mama. The third element of the mosaic is the tale of a plump teenager named Drake, code named Little Fat Boy, which will make sense to students versed in the history of nuclear weapons. Drake, has a devastating Wild Card power, the ability to create fallout free nuclear explosions centred around wherever he stands. Unfortunately, it is an ability which he cannot control. Various individuals and groups recognise his potential, and seek to use him as a deadly pawn. Only Niobe, an American ace abused and imprisoned by her own government, takes Drake's side. Until, that is, an unlikely romance brings her a lethal ally. This relationship is in sharp contrast to the wishy-washy love triangle between John Fortune, Curveball and Drummer Boy. Both dalliances with romance, however, include an interesting twist.

Busted Flush is a meaty, absorbing, highly entertaining read, which successfully meshes the old with the new. Stock has obviously been taken, and the editor has realised that some of the newbies are simply not as interesting as other characters available within this world. The lesson learned between books, it would seem, is that great characters cannot be manufactured by a process as crass as the American Hero TV show used in Inside Straight. Great characters, such as Noel Matthews, Carnifex, and Drummer Boy, leap from the minds of their creators, and develop along their own paths. What Busted Flush does is renew my belief in this process, the writers new and old, and the possibility that Wild Cards can still be an evolving, vibrant creation for another twenty years.