Wild Cards is a series of science fiction superhero shared universe anthologies, mosaic novels, and solo novels. They are written by a collection of more than forty authors (referred to as the "Wild Cards Trust") and are edited by George R. R. Martin and Melinda M. Snodgrass. Set largely during an alternate history of post-World War II United States, the series follows humans who contracted the Wild Card virus, an alien virus that rewrites DNA and mutates survivors. Those who acquire crippling and/or repulsive physical conditions are known as Jokers, while those who acquire superhuman abilities are known as Aces, and those few who acquire minor, insignificant powers not worthy of being called aces are known as Deuces.
The series originated from a long-running campaign of the Superworld role-playing game, gamemastered by Martin and involving many of the original authors. The framework of the series was developed by Martin and Snodgrass, including the origin of the characters' superhuman abilities and the card-based terminology.
The first installment, Wild Cards, was released in January 1987 by Bantam Books and, as of February 2025, thirty-three books have been released through four publishers. The series has been adapted to comic books, graphic novels, and role-playing games.
Premise Set during an alternate history of post–World War II United States, the series follows events after an airborne alien virus is released over New York City in 1946 and eventually infects tens of thousands globally. The virus, designed to rewrite DNA, was developed as a bioweapon by a noble family on the planet Takis. It is taken to Earth to test on humans, who are genetically identical to the people of Takis. Dr. Tachyon, a member of this family, objects and attempts to stop them. However, his attempt crashes their ship, releasing the virus.
The virus affects each individual differently, and it becomes known as the Wild Card virus because of these "random and unpredictable" symptoms. It kills 90% of those who contract it and mutates the remaining percentage; 9% survive but become Jokers, who develop minor or crippling physical conditions. The remaining 1% become Aces, who remain human or mostly human in appearance but develop superhuman abilities; Aces whose abilities are too trivial or specific to be generally valuable are called Deuces.
Origin Wild Cards began as a two-year-long campaign of the Superworld role-playing game, gifted to George R. R. Martin by Victor Milán, in Albuquerque, New Mexico; the players were science fiction writers, including Gail Gerstner-Miller, Milán, John J. Miller, Melinda M. Snodgrass, and Walter Jon Williams, and Martin served as gamemaster. Because of the amount of time and creative energy put into the campaign, Martin initially thought to write a novel on his character, Turtle. However, he realized this would have "rescued one character from [the] SuperWorld campaign, but would have meant discarding all the rest". Since the game had been built by a group, he felt it should be a shared universe anthology, which were popular at the time. Martin invited other writers he believed would be interested in the universe, including Roger Zelazny, Lewis Shiner, Pat Cadigan, Howard Waldrop, Edward Bryant, and Stephen Leigh.
Martin said that the group loved comic books and superheroes but wanted to approach the material in a "grittier, more adult manner than what we were seeing in the '80s". He cited the series' "sense of history" as a strength and expressed frustration with the retroactive continuity of mainstream comics. Martin also felt that the multitude of sources for superpowers in comics strained suspension of disbelief when taken together, and he believed a single plausible source was needed. Snodgrass suggested a virus, which allowed for the superpowered Aces, the "monsters and freaks" Jokers, and a high death toll. Snodgrass and Martin also developed the card based terminology, and Milán developed the pseudoscience of the series.
The series was originally meant to be set in a then contemporary 1985, but Waldrop, who was to write the first story, insisted that his story take place right after World War II. This created a forty-year gap between the first chapter and the remaining stories, pushing later contributions to fill in the intervening decades. Martin noted that this forced the authors to write about events they would have otherwise ignored, particularly the House Un-American Activities Committee and the McCarthy hearings, which gave rise to characters and plot points that "added immeasurable richness to our world and depth of our characters". Waldrop's story also forced Williams to rewrite a new story, "Witness", which became the only shared world story to appear on the final ballot for a Nebula Award.
British writer Neil Gaiman met with Martin in 1987 and pitched a Wild Cards story about a character who lives in a world of dreams. Martin declined due to Gaiman's lack of prior credits at the time. Gaiman went on to publish his story as The Sandman.
Publishing history
Bantam Books (1987–1993) Bantam Books, under its Spectra imprint, published twelve books between 1987 and 1993, including two solo novels written by Melinda M. Snodgrass and Victor Milán.
1987 Wild Cards 1987 Aces High 1987 Jokers Wild 1988 Aces Abroad 1988 Down and Dirty 1990 Ace in the Hole 1990 Dead Man's Hand 1991 One-Eyed Jacks 1991 Jokertown Shuffle 1992 Double Solitaire (novel by Snodgrass) 1992 Dealer's Choice 1993 Turn of the Cards (novel by Milán)
Baen Books (1993–1995) Baen Books published a new triad between 1993 and 1995 subtitled of a New Cycle. In 2002, Martin commented that he felt the triad was creatively "three of the strongest volumes Wild Cards ever had" and that the series "came back strong" after stumbling with a previous storyline; he conceded, however, that the triad was "very dark", acknowledging it was a commonly-voiced complaint, and that he felt switching publishers was a mistake.
1993 Card Sharks 1994 Marked Cards 1995 Black Trump
ibooks Inc. (2002–2006) In 2000, ibooks Inc. purchased two new installments and the rights to reprint the first eight books of the series; the two new books were published between 2002 and 2006, including a solo novel by John J. Miller, and reprints for six of the first eight books were issued. The company filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in July 2005, shortly after the death of founder Byron Preiss. In December 2006, J. Bolyston & Co. Publishers, parent company of the Brick Tower Press imprint, acquired all of Preiss' assets, including those of ibooks, for $125,000. Brick Tower Press offered e-book versions of its titles, including Deuces Down and Death Draws Five via Humble Bundle in February 2016.
2002 Deuces Down 2006 Death Draws Five (novel by Miller)
Tor Books (2008–2022) Tor Books, an imprint under Macmillan Publishers, published the series in both print and e-book format. It released thirteen new installments from November 2008 to August 2022. Tor Books also reprinted the first twelve, sixteenth & seventeenth novels as of November 2021.
2008 Inside Straight 2008 Busted Flush 2009 Suicide Kings 2011 Fort Freak 2014 Lowball 2016 High Stakes 2017 Mississippi Roll 2018 Low Chicago 2018 Texas Hold 'Em 2019 Knaves Over Queens 2021 Joker Moon 2022 Three Kings 2022 Full House 2025 Aces Full
Tor Books also published online supplementary material. A multi-author blog supporting Inside Straight opened in February 2008. The blog followed American Hero, the fictional reality television show in the book, and posted in-character "confessionals" from the twenty-eight characters competing on the show. That supplemental material was republished by Tor as an e-book titled American Hero: A Wild Cards Novel on March 3, 2020.
Twenty-three short stories were published through the Tor Books website from January 2013 through July 2022:
2013 "When We Were Heroes" by Daniel Abraham 2013 "The Button Man and the Murder Tree" by Cherie Priest 2013 "The Elephant in the Room" by Paul Cornell 2014 "Nuestra Señora de la Esperanza" by Carrie Vaughn 2014 "Prompt. Professional. Pop!" by Walter Jon Williams 2016 "Discards" by David D. Levine 2016 "The Thing About Growing Up in Jokertown" by Carrie Vaughn 2017 "The Atonement Tango" by Stephen Leigh 2017 "When the Devil Drives" by Melissa Snodgrass 2018 "EverNight" by Victor Milán 2018 "The Flight of Morpho Girl" by Caroline Spector and Bradley Denton 2018 "Fitting In" by Max Gladstone 2019 "How to Move Spheres and Influence People" by Marko Kloos 2019 "Long Is The Way" by Carrie Vaughn and Sage Walker 2019 "The City That Never Sleeps" by Walton Simons 2019 "Naked, Stoned, and Stabbed" by Bradley Denton 2020 "The Visitor: Kill or Cure" by Mark Lawrence 2020 "Berlin is Never Berlin" by Marko Kloos 2020 "Hammer and Tongs and a Rusty Nail" by Ian Tregillis 2021 "Ripple Effects" by Laura J. Mixon 2021 "Skin Deep" by Alan Brennert 2022 "Hearts of Stone" by Emma Newman 2022 "Grow" by Carrie Vaughn
A short story, titled "Lies My Mother Told Me" by Caroline Spector, was published in the Dangerous Women anthology, also edited by Martin. The anthology was released in December 2013.
All but two of the Tor Books website stories ("Fitting In" and "The Visitor: Kill or Cure"), plus "Lies My Mother Told Me," were collected in Full House and Aces Full.
An additional short story, titled "I Have No Voice and I Must Zoom Meeting" by Paul Cornell, was published on the official Wild Cards website in July 2020.
Bantam Books (2023–present) The series returned to Bantam Books in July 2023.
2023 Pairing Up 2024 Sleeper Straddle 2025 House Rules
Bantam also began publishing original graphic novels featuring stories set within the Wild Cards universe.
2023 George R. R. Martin Presents Wild Cards: Now and Then: A Graphic Novel (Written by Carrie Vaughn with art by Renae De Liz) 2023 George R. R. Martin Presents Wild Cards: Sins of the Father: A Graphic Novel (Written by Melinda M. Snodgrass with art by Michael Komarck and Elizabeth Leggett) 2025 George R. R. Martin Presents Wild Cards: Ante Up: A Graphic Novel (Written by Kevin Andrew Murphy and John Jos. Miller with art by Jon Sanchez)
Contributors The collection of authors who have contributed to the Wild Card series is known as the Wild Cards Trust or the Wild Card consortium. As of House Rules , published in July 2025, forty-six authors have written for the series. Six authors have written for at least one novel released by each publisher of the series: Michael Cassutt, Stephen Leigh (often writing as S. L. Farrell), John J. Miller, Walton Simons, Kevin Andrew Murphy and Snodgrass. Every installment was edited by Martin, who has also contributed as an author to ten books; later installments were co-edited by Snodgrass.
+ Authors by publishing era Author Bantam Books (1987–1993) Baen Books (1993–1995) ibooks Inc. (2002–2006) Tor Books (2008 – 2022) Bantam Books (2023-) Daniel Abraham Deuces Down Inside Straight, Suicide Kings, American Hero, Full House Saladin Ahmed Low Chicago Gwenda BondPairing Up Edward Bryant Wild Cards, Jokers Wild, Aces Abroad, Down and Dirty, Dealer's Choice Pat Cadigan Aces High, Down and Dirty Michael Cassutt Aces Abroad Card Sharks Deuces Down Inside Straight, Lowball, American Hero, Joker Moon Chris Claremont One-Eyed Jacks Paul Cornell Fort Freak, Low Chicago, Knaves Over Queens, Full House Arthur Byron Cover Down and Dirty Bradley DentonPairing Up David Anthony Durham Fort Freak, Lowball, High Stakes, Texas Hold 'EmPairing Up Ty Franck Fort Freak Gail Gerstner-Miller Aces AbroadAmerican Hero Max Gladstone Texas Hold 'EmSleeper Straddle Leanne C. Harper Wild Cards, Jokers Wild, Aces Abroad, Down and Dirty Marked Cards Leo Kenden Joker Moon Marko Kloos Low Chicago, Knaves Over Queens, Full HousePairing Up Mark Lawrence Knaves Over Queens Stephen Leigh