An original collection of interwoven short stories set in the Wild Cards universe, where an alien virus mutates some and grants superpowers to others, created by the #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Game of Thrones

An alien virus ravages the world, with effects as random as a hand of cards. Those infected either draw the black queen and die, draw an ace and receive superpowers, or draw the joker and are bizarrely mutated.

Croyd Crenson is the Wild Card's greatest failure -- and its greatest success. Dubbed "The Sleeper," he randomly undergoes hibernations that can span days, weeks, or even months. After each hibernation, he awakens with a new appearance and set of powers -- sometimes a joker, sometimes an ace, and sometimes a combination of both -- until exhaustion claims him and his next inevitable sleep shuffles the cards anew. Ever since his initial infection in 1946, he's awoken in a singular body -- until now. His latest awakening has left him split into six different incarnations, each of them a self-contained piece of the original and each with a unique look and ability.

One of them, at least, recognizes this for the disaster that it is, and tasks the clever and elusive Tesla -- a joker with ace powers -- to locate and gather the remaining five versions of himself before sleep claims them again and leaves Croyd permanently fractured.

What follows is a journey through Croyd's long and colorful life, through the lens of some who have encountered the world's most unusual wild carder. And as Tesla delves deeper into the investigation, he'll have to work fast, because not every Croyd is as amiable as the first -- and they'll do whatever it takes to survive.

Featuring stories from:
Christopher Rowe ? Carrie Vaughn ? Cherie Priest ? William F. Wu ? Walter Jon Williams ? Stephen Leigh ? Mary Anne Mohanraj ? Max Gladstone ? Edited by George R. R. Martin ? Assisted by Melinda M. Snodgrass

• We started tracking this book on June 12, 2023.
• This book was $14.99 when we started tracking it.
• The price of this book has changed 6 times in the past 619 days.
• The current price of this book is $11.99 last checked 16 hours ago.
• This lowest price this book has been offered at in the past year is $1.99.
• The lowest price to date was $1.99 last reached on January 4, 2025.
• This book has been $1.99 one time since we started tracking it.
• The highest price to date was $14.99 last reached on July 11, 2024.
• This book has been $14.99 2 times since we started tracking it.

• Science Fiction & Fantasy

• Text-to-Speech: Disabled
• Lending: Disabled
• Print Length: 402 Pages
• File Size: 2,896 KB