The next anthology in George R. R. Martin's ongoing Wild Cards
alternate-history series, Three Kings.
In the aftermath of World War II, the Earth's population was devastated
by an alien virus. Those who survived were changed forever. Some, known
as jokers, were cursed with bizarre mental and physical mutations;
others, granted superhuman abilities, became the lucky few known as
aces.
Queen Margaret, who came to the English throne after the death of her
sister Elizabeth, now lies on her death-bed. Summoning the joker ace
Alan Turing, she urges him to seek the true heir: Elizabeth's lost son.
He was rumored to have died as a baby but, having been born a joker, was
sent into hiding. Margaret dies and her elder son Henry becomes king and
at once declares he wants to make England an "Anglo-Saxon country" and
suggests jokers be sent "to the moon." Dangerous tensions begin to tear
the country apart. The Twisted Fists--an organization of jokers led by
the Green Man--are becoming more militant. And Babh, goddess of war,
sees opportunities to sow strife and reap blood...