Wild Cards is the first novel in the Wild Cards series edited by George R.R. Martin. It was first published in 1987 and was nominated for a Hugo Award in the following year. The novel contains ten short stories introducing the Wild Cards universe: an alternate Earth history in which an alien virus is released over the skies of New York City in 1946, transforming a few individuals into superhuman aces, and mutating many more into monstrous jokers. Applying unrelenting realism into superhero traditions, the novel imagines an altered 20th century in which superhumans interact with historical events. Wild Cards covers four decades, from 1946 to early 1986, and introduces most of the main characters and sets up plot threads that continue to play out over the course of the rest of the series. Be