George R.R. Martin Presents Wild Cards: Pairing Up Edited By George R.R. Martin – Thrilling Tales of Unconventional Love

In a world in which superheroes and supervillains have abilities beyond human comprehension or understanding, it is the human heart that still drives every action. While this is an anthology that compiles eight short stories each written by a different author, the stories are each connected through the element of love. These stories rely on both conventional and unconventional love tropes to develop a world in which humans with superpowers still wish to fit in with society and develop connections with other people: superpowered or not.  

George R.R. Martin Presents Wild Cards: Pairing Up is the thirty-first entry in a book series that dates to 1987. However, this anthology can stand alone on its own and works well to develop the world so that previous knowledge of the universe is unnecessary. Whether a fan of the series or someone who is a fan of Sci-Fi and interested in new books, this anthology may be perfect for you.  

Spoiler Free Plot 

George R.R. Martin Presents Wild Cards: Pairing Up takes place in an already established universe where an alien virus has infected millions in different ways. These infections are described as if they are a random deck of cards. Some drew what is known as the black queen and died, some drew an ace and received superpowers, and others drew the joker and have been mutated in strange and abnormal ways. The results of this catastrophe have led to a completely new world in which humans, known as “nats,” as well as jokers and aces all live together. While many nats see these superpowered beings as inhuman and without emotion, the truth is that jokers and aces wish to live normal lives and most importantly, yearn for love and connection with others.  

This anthology tells eight different short stories all centered around that idea: love. The stories themselves vary by place and time. There are stories from as far back as the 1910s about a shapeshifter who has time traveled into the past from the twenty-first century to create a successful film studio using filming techniques undiscovered in this time. There are stories in the mid to late 1900s about a jewel thief with the power of teleportation attempting to find lost treasure or about a fourteen-year-old boy whose body has transformed into that of a snail. Lastly, there are stories dating all the way up to 2023 dealing with most recent topics such as superhuman celebrity couples in the media or a man with a wolf inside him and a woman with the figure of a butterfly putting on a stage play.  

The stories themselves are all unique, but the central idea remains the same. In each of these stories, the central plot relies on its characters finding love, losing it, or maybe just experimenting with it. These jokers and aces have been given unbelievable abilities, and they each use their abilities in different ways: both for the good of humanity and for the bad. However, despite all their abilities, they still have that human desire to experience love. Due to the world in which they live, the stories in this anthology tell very unconventional stories of love, but these stories each possess familiar qualities of love seen every day in other stories and in the real world.  

My Take on George R.R. Martin Presents Wild Cards: Pairing Up 

George R.R. Martin Presents Wild Cards: Pairing Up shines in its ability to humanize characters that are extremely bizarre and peculiar. Whether it be a half-human half tiger who works as a bodyguard or a fourteen-year-old boy with the body of a snail, these outlandish characters feel real and possess true human qualities.  

The book accomplishes this by telling familiar human stories but with a superhuman twist. The anthology possesses stories of a money heist, college life, a detective who has experienced corruption and trauma on the force, and plenty of other archetypal plots that keep readers invested.  These familiar aspects help the reader connect with these characters. Readers can empathize with characters that are described as having six arms and butterfly wings or being a ten-foot-tall giant because they are still experiencing human emotions and have dealt with familiar adversity.  

A particular story that stood out to me was “The Wounded Heart” by Melinda M. Snodgrass. In this short story, an experienced detective, Francis Xavier Black, has been elevated to “hero status” based on his work to expose corruption and save lives. However, this work has turned him into a shell of who he was based on the trauma and PTSD he now experiences. This story excels in reversing the roles of humans and superhuman jokers and aces. Here, it is the humans acting strangely and the superhumans acting rationally. Detective Black is a human, but he makes detrimental decisions for both himself and others and his actions cannot be understood because he refuses to open up about his emotions. The two main romantic relationships he has in this story are with Abigal Baker, who is an ace, and Miranda “Rikki” Michaelson, who is a joker. Despite their inhuman abilities and physical features, these two characters are the ones who reach Black on a personal level and get him to admit he has a problem.  

The main problem I found with this anthology was that I did not buy every love story told in these short stories. There were some romantic relationships that I found endearing and believable such as “In the Forests of the Night” by Marko Kloos and “What’s Your Sign” by Gwenda Bond and Peter Newman. However, there were a few stories in which I found the central relationship a bit rushed or lackluster in writing. Particularly, in “The Long Goodbye” by Walton Simons, I found the story about a shapeshifter living in the past to be extremely exciting, but I never bought into the Jerry Strauss and Irina relationship because it never felt fully developed or believable. I found both characters to be likable, but I never felt like I truly understood why these two were in love.  

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