Mississippi Roll
The return of the famous shared-world superhero books created and edited by George R. R. Martin, author of A Song of Ice and FirePerfect for current fans and new readers alike, Mississippi Roll is an all-new, adventurous jaunt along one of America’s greatest rivers, featuring many beloved characters from the Wild Cards universeEdited by #1 New York Times bestselling author George R. R. Martin, Mississippi Roll features the writing talents of Stephen Leigh, David D. Levine, John Jos. Miller, Kevin Andrew Murphy, Cherie Priest, and Carrie Vaughn.
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First published by HarperCollinsPublishers 2017
Copyright © George R.R. Martin and the Wild Cards Trust 2017
Cover design by Mike Topping © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2018
Cover images © Shutterstock.com
George R.R. Martin and the Wild Cards Trust 2017 assert the moral right to be identified as the authors of this work.
A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the authorâs imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.
Source ISBN: 9780008283551
Ebook Edition © August 2018 ISBN: 9780008286521
Version: 2018-07-03
Contents
In the Shadow of Tall Stacks by Stephen Leigh: Part 1
In the Shadow of Tall Stacks: Part 2
Wingless Angel by John Jos. Miller
In the Shadow of Tall Stacks: Part 3
A Big Break in the Small Time by Carrie Vaughn
In the Shadow of Tall Stacks: Part 4
Death on the Water by Cherie Priest
In the Shadow of Tall Stacks: Part 5
Find the Lady by Kevin Andrew Murphy
In the Shadow of Tall Stacks: Part 6
Under the Arch by David D. Levine
In the Shadow of Tall Stacks: Part 7
âIn the Shadow of Tall Stacksâ copyright © 2017 by Stephen Leigh.
âWingless Angelâ copyright © 2017 by John Jos. Miller.
âA Big Break in the Small Timeâ copyright © 2017 by Carrie Vaughn.
âDeath on the Waterâ copyright © 2017 by Cherie Priest.
âFind the Ladyâ copyright © 2017 by Kevin Andrew Murphy.
âUnder the Archâ copyright © 2017 by David D. Levine.
Mississippi Roll is a seven-card stud poker game.
The rules are as follows:
1 Seven cards are dealt to each player, facedown.
2 Each player passes one card to the player on his left.
3 Each player passes two cards to the player on his left.
4 Each player passes three cards to the player on his left.
5 Each player discards two cards from his hand, arranges the five remaining cards in the order he wishes to reveal them, and places his hand facedown in a pack before him on the table.
6 The players roll their top card. A round of betting follows, starting with the player with the high card showing.
7 The remaining cards are revealed one by one, with each roll followed by a round of betting.
8 The high hand and low hand split the pot.
Mardi Gras was long past â a full three weeks ago, which unfortunately meant that the bulk of the tourists had vanished back to wherever theyâd come from, which in turn meant that it had been a few weeks since the steamboat Natchez had last seen anything resembling a full house for its daily local cruises. At nine in the morning, it was sixty-seven degrees and ninety-seven percent humidity; not raining, though a thick, wet fog still cloaked the Mississippi and the wharf where the Natchez was docked near Jackson Square and the French Quarter. There was barely any breeze, and the fog seemed to squat on New Orleans like some gigantic and foul specter, muffling what little noise the not-quite-awake city mustered.
Wilbur Leathers, captain and owner of the Natchez, wasnât entirely awake himself, admittedly. The steamboatâs engineer, Patrick OâFlaherty, had roused him an hour ago; heâd wanted to fire up the boilers and check questionable pressure readings in several of the lines before they left the dock to head upriver. The engineerâs knock had also awakened Eleanor, Wilburâs wife. Wilbur had told OâFlaherty to go ahead, then dressed, kissed the sleepy Eleanor, and gone down intending to supervise the work. Heâd also â at Eleanorâs request â started a pot of coffee in the tiny crew mess on the main deck. He held two steaming mugs in his hands as he emerged onto the foredeck. Wilbur heard the boilers to the rear of the main deck already producing a good head of steam and hissing through the âscape pipes up on the hurricane deck. He sniffed the curling steam from the coffee mugs: his own simply black, Eleanorâs au lait and flavored with chicory.
