30 years after the world changed, the victims of the gene-altering 'Wild Cards' virus face a new nightmare. The place is New York City, home of Aces High - the glamourous lounge for superheroes, high atop the Empire State Building - and Jokertown, the squalid residence of the city's deformed 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 a new decade dawns, all eyes are drawn to the skies, and the Wild Cards may be the planet's only hope. From the far reaches of space comes The Swarm, a deadly menace that could very well destroy the planet. Aces and Jokers must form an uneasy alliance and prepare for a battle they must not lose. Edited by George R. R. Martin, this volume features stories by Roger Zelazny, Walter Jon Williams, Pat Cadigan, Lewis Shiner, John J. Miller, George R. R. Martin himself and more!.