Short Fiction Friday: Nuestra Señora de la Esperanza
The Wild Cards universe has been thrilling readers for over 25 years. In Carrie Vaughn’s “Nuestra Señora de la Esperanza,” ace Ana Cortez discovers that sometimes to be truly healed, you must return to your roots.
There is one universe where I just cannot get enough of is the Wild Cards universe. So far there have been published over 20 books in this world and numerous short stories written by the different authors. The latest book Lowball, Wild Cards #22 will be published next month and just to get in the reading mode I picked up this recently release short story by Carrie Vaughn
Nuestra Señora de la Esperanza picks up after the events of the TV show American Hero which was the first storyline in the reboot series of Wild Cards and started with Inside Straight. Due to the publicity that the Aces got on the TV show they were assembled in a special team to quell some threats in Egypt. Nuestra Señora de la Esperanza shows the "aftermath" of it and raises some important questions for me. Because in the end aren't we all human?
The story focuses on the Ace Ana Cortez who goes by the handle of Earth Witch, her Ace powers allow her to manipulate Earth, creating holes in an instant or raising pillars just to name a few. After the events of Egypt Ana is stricken by the horrific scenes that she witnessed and things that she did with her own two hands and she seeks help and guidance by from God. Should she continue in the way that she is or should she swear of her powers? What is the best direction for her. She get the advice to stop using her Ace power as it is evil. Upon returning home she has her first real conversation with her father about her powers and convinces her to visit her grandmother in the Mexican desert. From this point onwards I will stop talking about the storyline as you will be in for quite a few surprises.
I really enjoyed this Wild Cards story as Carrie Vaughn plays very well into the make believes and the stereotypes of the Aces that the general population has. In many ways the Aces get a lot of praise but other would only care to see them removed from the picture and see them as freaks. It was great to see this brought to the front and more so by the personal emotions that Ana has about whether her powers are for good. I in particular enjoyed the confrontation between her and her grandmother and the things she learned and to which conclusions she came in the end. Carrie Vaughn has created a very powerful emotional story in these few pages.
Yesterday saw the release of the upcoming Age of Ultron movie, to be honest I am not impressed. All the current superhero adaptions are the same, I watched the first episode of The Flash and was underawed as well. Now what could bring a refreshing voice to this genre would be an adaptation of Wild Cards. I vote in favor! gogo.
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