Maxima Library

30 years later, the victims of the gene-altering 'Wild Cards' virus face a new nightmare. From the far reaches of space comes The Swarm, a deadly menace that could very will destroy the planet. Aces and Jokers must form an uneasy alliance and prepare for a battle they must not lose. When a group of SF's most imaginative writers discovered they shared a secret love of the larger-than-life heroes of the four-colour comics and Saturday matinee serials, they gave each other a challenge: What would our world be like if these superhuman heroes and villains had been real flesh-and-blood men and women who lived through this century's most turbulent history? In WILD CARDS 2, the year is 1970. The place is New York City, home of Aces High, the glamourous lounge atop the Empire State Building, and Jokertown, the squalid residence of the city's underclass. The victims of the Wild Card Virus are no longer new and strange, but neither are they accepted by a world that still fears them. But as the '80s dawn, all eyes are drwn to the skies, and the Wild Cards may be the planet's only hope, as an abomination called the Swarm arrives to threaten Earth.

The alien ''wild card'' virus has left its legacy on earth in the form of powerful ''aces'' and deformed ''jokers.'' In 1986, a fact-finding commission of aces, jokers, and ''naturals'' tours the world in search of other victims of the disease that altered humanity. Encounters with voodoo sorcerers in Haiti, Islamic extremists in Syria, and Mayan activists in Central America lend an exotic air to this collaborative effort by 11 authors including Stephen Leigh, Victor W. Milan, and Melinda M. Snodgrass. Recommended for libraries that own previous Wild Card titles. JC

As the final battle between the Nats and Bloat rages on Ellis Island, the Turtle throws in the towel, Modular Man switches sides, Reflector faces defeat, and assassins reach Bloat's chamber.

An anthology of stories

“Martin has assembled an impressive array of writers… Progressing through the decades, Wild Cards keeps its momentum to the end… I’m looking forward to the next episodes in this saga of mutant Americana.” – Locus

“Well written and suspenseful and a good read… The authors had a lot of fun rewriting recent American history.” – Aboriginal Science Fiction

“Commendable writing… a zany premise… narrated with rueful humor and intelligence.” – Publishers Weekly

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The first fifteen volumes of the Wild Cards series concerned themselves primarily with aces (those given superhuman powers by the Wild Cards virus) and jokers (those whom the virus transformed into freaks and monsters). But in this all-new collection of Wild Cards stories, Deuces Down will focus on some characters less often in the spotlight: the deuces. In Wild Card slang, a deuce is an ace whose superpower is tiny, trivial, sometimes silly.

As with the other books in the series, Deuces Down is set in an alternate, shared-world universe. It's here that you'll find the never-before-told tales of the exciting 1969 World Series between the Baltimore Orioles and the Brooklyn Dodgers; the first moon landing, when the whole world wasn't watching; the Great New York City Blackout of 1977; and Grace Kelly's mysterious disappearance during the filming of The French Lieutenant's Woman.

An original novel set in the widely popular Wild Cards world created by science fiction scion George R.R. Martin. Edited by Hugo award winning and New York times bestselling author, George R.R. Martin. It's really quite simple. Mr. Nobody wants to do his job. The Midnight Angel wants to serve her Lord. Billy Ray, dying from boredom, wants some action. John Nighthawk wants to uncover the awful secret behind his mysterious power. Fortunato wants to rescue his son from the clutches of a cryptic Vatican office. John Fortune just wants to catch Siegfried and Ralph's famous Vegas review. The problem is that all roads, whether they start in Turin, Italy, Las Vegas, Hokkaido, Japan, Jokertown, Snake Hill, the Short Cut, or Yazoo City, Mississippi, lead to Leo Barnett's Peaceable Kingdon where the difference between the Apocalypse and Peace on Earth is as thin as a razor's edge and where Death himself awaits the final terrible turn of the card. Wild Cards: Death Draws Five is an original novel set in this shared world utilizing characters from other Wild Card adventures. John J. Miller Splitting his life between the Empire State and The Land of Enchantment, John J. Miller currently resides in Albuquerque, NM, with his wife Gail, five cats, two dogs, two goldfish, and too many books to count, approximately ten of which he's written. He's contemplating getting more goldfish, and, probably, books. George R. R. Martin was born in 1948 in Bayonne, NJ. Four-time winner of the Hugo Award, two-time winner of the Nebula and editor of over two dozen novels and anthologies, and the writer of numerous short stories. His New York Times bestselling novel, A Storm of Swords (the third volume in his epicfantasy series "A Song of Ice and Fire" (was published in 2000. Martin lives in Sante Fe, New Mexico.

In 1946, an alien virus that rewrites human DNA was accidentally unleashed in the skies over New York City. It killed ninety percent of those it infected. Nine percent of those who survived mutated into tragically deformed creatures. And one percent gained superpowers. The Wild Cards shared-universe series, created and edited since 1987 by New York Times #1 bestseller George R. R. Martin along with Melinda Snodgrass, is the tale of the history of the world since then—and of the heroes among that one percent.

Originally begun in 1986, long before George R. R. Martin became a household name among fantasy readers ("The American Tolkien"—Time magazine), the Wild Cards series earned a reputation among connoisseurs for its smart reimagining of the superhero idea. Now, with Inside Straight, the Wild Cards continuity jumps forward to a new generation of major characters, entirely accessible to Martin's hundreds of thousands of new readers, with all-original stories by Martin himself, along with Daniel Abraham, Michael Cassutt, and Stephen Leigh, among others.