Card Sharks (anthology)

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The 1993 Baen printing of Card Sharks, featuring Hannah Davis.  Illustration by Barclay Shaw
The 1993 Baen printing of Card Sharks, featuring Hannah Davis. Illustration by Barclay Shaw

Card Sharks is the thirteenth volume (dubbed "Book I of a New Cycle") in the Wild Cards shared universe fiction series edited by George R. R. Martin. It was published in 1993 and dealt the investigation of a criminal fire at the Jokertown Church, leading to the discovery of a conspiracy of enormous proportions, with the intention of killing every Wild Card on Earth.

[edit] Stories

Card Sharks contains the following short stories:

Story Author(s) Description
"The Ashes of Memory" Stephen Leigh Introduces Hannah Davis. Serves as interludes between the other stories.
"'Til I Kissed You" William F. Wu Introduces Chop-Chop.
"The Crooked Man" Melinda M. Snodgrass Bradley Finn, Dr. Tachyon's joker assistant, meets a dark doctor in Nairobi.
"A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes" Michael Cassutt The United States' first attempt at putting a man in space ends in tragedy.
"A Wind from Khorasan: The Narrative of J. Robert Belew" Victor Milán The Wild Card solution to the Iran hostage crisis, and its aftermath.
"The Long Sleep" Roger Zelazny The Sleeper almost finds a cure for his sickness.
"Cursum Perficio" Kevin Andrew Murphy The real story of Marilyn Monroe.
"The Lamia's Tale" Laura J. Mixon A woman who turned into her greatest fear. Introduces Brandon and Clara Van Renssealer.
Preceded by
Turn of the Cards (book)
Card Sharks
1993
Succeeded by
Marked Cards