Wild Cards

Wild Cards
George Raymond Richard Martin

The return of the famous shared-world superhero books created and edited by George R.R. Martin, author of A Song of Ice and FireFor decades, George R.R. Martin – bestselling author of A Song of Ice and Fire – has collaborated with an ever-shifting ensemble of science fiction and fantasy icons to create the amazing Wild Cards universe.In the aftermath of World War II, the Earth’s population was devastated by a terrifying alien virus. Those who survived were changed for ever. Some, known as Jokers, were cursed with bizarre mental and physical deformities; others, granted superhuman abilities, are known as Aces.Wild Cards tells the stories of this world.

Copyright (#u87dff998-180f-5323-9e64-e6bda2ca6117)

HarperVoyager

An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd

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London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)

First published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers 2018

Copyright © George R.R. Martin and the Wild Cards Trust 2018

See Copyright Acknowledgements page for further copyright information

Cover images © Shutterstock.com (http://www.Shutterstock.com) 2018 Cover design by Mike Topping © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2018

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 author’s 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: 9780008285203

Ebook Edition © June 2018 ISBN: 9780008239664

Version: 2019-03-01

Dedication (#u87dff998-180f-5323-9e64-e6bda2ca6117)

To Lezli Robyn

Contents

Cover (#u1d074ba5-724b-573e-bb25-515eabff9161)

Title Page (#u903b25fb-8a19-553d-989b-80d86a5a1caa)

Copyright

Dedication

Copyright Acknowledgments (#ue8408f83-804d-5a2d-824a-1453910fd3dc)

Low Chicago (#u0afdceb6-d389-50f6-b056-37b57a717b9e)

A Long Night at the Palmer House by John Jos. Miller: Part 1

Down the Rabbit Hole by Kevin Andrew Murphy

A Long Night at the Palmer House: Part 2

The Motherfucking Apotheosis of Todd Motherfucking Taszycki By Christopher Rowe

A Long Night at the Palmer House: Part 3

A Long Night at the Palmer House: Part 4

A Bit of a Dinosaur by Paul Cornell

A Long Night at the Palmer House: Part 5

Stripes by Marko Kloos

A Long Night at the Palmer House: Part 6

The Sister in the Streets by Melinda M. Snodgrass

A Long Night at the Palmer House: Part 7

A Beautiful Façade by Mary Anne Mohanraj

A Long Night at the Palmer House: Part 8

Meathooks on Ice by Saladin Ahmed

A Long Night at the Palmer House: Part 9

A Long Night at the Palmer House: Part 10

A Long Night at the Palmer House: Epilogue

The Wild Cards Universe

About the Publisher

Copyright Acknowledgments (#u87dff998-180f-5323-9e64-e6bda2ca6117)

Copyright © 2018 by George R.R. Martin and the Wild Cards Trust