Marked Cards is the fourteenth volume (dubbed "Book II of a New Cycle") in the Wild Cards

Wild Cards

Wild Cards is a science fiction and superhero anthology series set in a shared universe. The series was created by a group of New Mexico science fiction authors, but it is mostly pulled together and edited by best-selling author George R. R. Martin with assistance by Melinda Snodgrass, also a...

 shared universe

Shared universe

A shared universe is a fictional universe to which more than one writer contributes. Work set in a shared universe share characters and other elements with varying degrees of consistency. Shared universes are contrasted with collaborative writing, in which multiple authors work on a single story....

 fiction series edited by George R. R. Martin

George R. R. Martin

George Raymond Richard Martin , sometimes referred to as GRRM, is an American author and screenwriter of fantasy, horror, and science fiction. He is best known for A Song of Ice and Fire, his bestselling series of epic fantasy novels that HBO adapted for their dramatic pay-cable series Game of...

. Published in 1994, it followed Card Sharks

Card Sharks

Card Sharks is an American television game show created by Chester Feldman for Mark Goodson-Bill Todman Productions. Two contestants compete for control of a row of oversized playing cards by answering questions posed by the host and then guessing if the next card is higher or lower in value than...

on the story of the conspiracy to kill all people infected with the Wild Card virus, with the development of a massive biological weapon called the "Black Trump

Black Trump

For the Cocoa Brovaz song, see The Rude Awakening.The fifteenth volume in the Wild Cards shared universe fiction series edited by George R. R. Martin. Published in 1995, it is the final book in the "Card Sharks" cycle, with the completion of the Black Trump virus and its release in the world...

".

Stories

Marked Cards contains the following short stories:

Story	Author(s)	Description
"The Color of His Skin"	Stephen Leigh Stephen Leigh Stephen W. Leigh is an American science fiction and fantasy writer, artist, and musician. He also works as a lecturer at Northern Kentucky University, teaching creative writing.Steve Leigh lives in Cincinnati, Ohio.- Works :...	Hannah Davis and Gregg Hartmann work together to expose the Card Shark conspiracy. Serves as interludes between the other stories.
"Two of a Kind"	Walton Simons	Jay Ackroyd and Jerry Strauss' joint detective agency finds out a dirty secret.
"My Sweet Lord"	Victor Milán Victor Milan Victor Woodward Milán is an American writer known for libertarian science fiction and an interest in cybernetics. In 1986 he won the Prometheus Award for Cybernetic Samurai. He has also written several shared universe works for the Forgotten Realms, Star Trek, and Wild Cards Universes...	In Free Vietnam Vietnam Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –... , a false god with sadistic intentions charms Captain Trips Captain Trips (Wild Cards) Captain Trips, also known as Dr. Mark Meadows, is a character from the Wild Cards series of books. Meadows is a renowned biochemist and a burned-out hippie, with the ability to use various drugs to transform into several other forms, each with their own powers and individual personalities... ... and his daughter.
"Paths of Silence and of Night"	Leanne C. Harper	Bagabond meets Peregrine Peregrine (Wild Cards) Peregrine is a fictional character from the Wild Cards series of books.-Character background:Peregrine might technically be considered a Joker, since the wild card virus left her with a visible "deformity" a pair of giant wings. However, the majestic nature of her wings, combined with her physical... 's husband in Guatemala Guatemala Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast... .
"Feeding Frenzy"	Walter Jon Williams Walter Jon Williams Walter Jon Williams is an American writer, primarily of science fiction.Several of Williams' novels have a distinct cyberpunk feel to them, notably Hardwired , Voice of the Whirlwind and Angel Stationn...	Black Shadow and Croyd Crenson seek revenge, each in their own way.
"A Breath of Life"	Sage Walker Sage Walker Sage Walker is a science fiction writer based in New Mexico. She contributed to the Wild Cards series and won the Locus Award for her first novel, Whiteout. She was one of several science fiction authors who attended a United States Department of Homeland Security conference on science and...	Introduces Zoe Harris. A fugitive ace learns about her own powers.
"A Dose of Reality"	Laura J. Mixon Laura J. Mixon Laura J. Mixon is a chemical and environmental engineer better known as a science fiction writer. She writes about the impact of technology and environmental changes on personal identity and social structures. Her work has been the focus of academic studies on the intersection of technology,...  and Melinda M. Snodgrass Melinda M. Snodgrass Melinda M. Snodgrass is a professional writer best known for her work in science fiction for print and television media....	Blythe Van Renssealer's granddaughter turns the Black Trump into reality... and then must destroy it.