The alien virus arrived on Earth just after World War II—and the world was never the same. For those who become infected, there are two results: death, or transformation. And depending on the recipient, death is sometimes the preferable outcome. Only a few lucky ones become super-human "aces" as a side effect of the virus; the rest are turned into horrible, grotesque "jokers." It's a strange and wonderful, terrible and terrifying world where

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"After the alien virus struck humanity in the wake of World War II, a handful of the survivors found they possessed superhuman powers. The Wild Cards shared-world volumes tell their story. Here in book two, we trace these heroes and villains through the tumultuous 1980s, in stories from SF and fantasy giants such as George R. R. Martin, Roger Zelazny, Pat Cadigan, Lewis Shiner, Walter Jon Williams, and others"--

Told from two viewpoints, Derek Fitzpatrick, kicked out of boarding school, must move with his stepmother to her childhood home in Illinois, where he meets Ashtyn Parker, who may be able to achieve her dream of a football scholarship with bad boy Derek's help.

"The journey into high adventure soars on! Let the secret history of the world be told--of the alien virus that struck Earth after World War II, and of the handful of survivors who found they now possess superhuman powers. Some were called Aces, endowed with powerful mental and physical prowess. The others were Jokers, tormented by bizarre mind or body disfigurements. Some served humanity. Others wreaked terror. Now, forty years later, under the streets...

Bad boy Vic Salazar breaks all the rules except one: Don't make a move on your best friend's girl. It's a guy code that Vic lives by. It doesn't matter that he's had a crush on her for years. Monika Fox is off limits. Monika has a secret of her own, and when a tragedy throws her and Vic together, the only boy she trusts is the one she shouldn't confide in. Vic. As Vic struggles to keep his distance, and Monika struggles with her secrets, will their...

After the suspicious death of a crew member on the historical steamboat Natchez, retired NY police detective Leo Storgman seeks to discover the ship's secrets, including the truth behind ghostly sightings of its first captain.

When students gather at the nation's top high school jazz competition in San Antonio, Texas, the musicians at Xavier Desmond High, teenagers with strange abilities, start going wayward in their efforts to outplay their rivals.

For over 25 years, the Wild Cards universe has been entertaining readers with stories of superpowered people in an alternate history. The saga continues with Mark Lawrence's short story The Visitor
The visitor comes... but she needs to be invited in.
Ever since she woke up in the hospital with the ability to generate heat, Ruby Johnson, a.k.a the Dragon, has built a reputation as an unstoppable force of nature. She makes her

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In this revised collection of classic Wild Cards stories, the spotlight is on the most unusual Wild Cards of them all--the Deuces, or people with minor superpowers. But their impact on the world should not be underestimated, as they've affected the course of Wild Cards' alternate history.tory.

"The next anthology in George R. R. Martin's ongoing Wild Cards alternate-history series, Three Kings. In the aftermath of World War II, the Earth's population was devastated by an alien virus. Those who survived were changed forever. Some, known as jokers, were cursed with bizarre mental and physical mutations; others, granted superhuman abilities, became the lucky few known as aces. Queen Margaret, who came to the English throne after the death...