Wild Cards

"Wild Cards is the first novel in the Wild Cards series edited by George R.R. Martin. It was first published in 1987 and was nominated for a Hugo Award in the following year. The [original] novel contains ten short stories [an expanded version contains thirteen short stories] introducing the Wild Cards universe: an alternate Earth history in which an alien virus is released over the skies of New York City in 1946, transforming a few individuals into superhuman aces, and mutating many more into monstrous jokers. Applying unrelenting realism into superhero traditions, the novel imagines an altered 20th century in which superhumans interact with historical events. Besides the ten stories, there are also several interludes written by Martin, mimicking real newspaper articles, book excerpts, or magazine retrospectives presented in a in-world style."--Wild Cards Wiki.