Kristine Kathryn Rusch

Author Information
Kristine Kathryn Rusch's Latest Book

Newest Release

  • Bibliography:
    472 Books (5 Series)
  • First Book:
    January 1988
  • Latest Book:
    January 2024
  • Author Rating:
  • Share:

Full Series List in Order

Abracadabra Incorporated

1 - The Assassin's Dagger (Feb-2004)
2 - Dragon's Tooth (Jul-2010)
3 - Disrupt Magic (Apr-2017)

Black Throne

1 - The Black Queen (Sep-1999)
2 - The Black King (Aug-2000)

Diving Universe

1 - Diving into the Wreck (Nov-2009)
2 - City of Ruins (May-2011)
3 - Becalmed (Jan-2012)
4 - Skirmishes (Apr-2013)
6 - The Runabout (Sep-2017)
7 - Searching for the Fleet (Sep-2018)
8 - The Falls (Oct-2016)
9 - Thieves (Feb-2021)
10 - Squishy's Teams (Nov-2020)
11 - The Renegat (Sep-2019)
13 - The Court-Martial of the Renegat Renegades (Jun-2023)
14 - Thieves (Feb-2021)
16 - The Chase (Sep-2021)
18 - Ivory Trees (Nov-2023)
The Spires of Denon (Aug-2012)
Becoming One with the Ghosts (Apr-2013)
Stealth (Apr-2013)
The Room of Lost Souls (Apr-2013)
Strangers at the Room of Lost Souls (May-2013)
The Application of Hope (May-2014)
Escaping Amnthra (Mar-2020)
Maelstrom (Mar-2021)

Fey

1 - The Sacrifice (Jan-1996)
2 - The Changeling (Jun-1996)
3 - The Rival (Apr-1997)
4 - The Resistance (Jun-1998)
5 - Victory (Nov-1998)

A Retrieval Artist Novel

1 - The Disappeared (Jul-2002)
2 - Extremes (Jul-2003)
3 - Consequences (Apr-2004)
4 - Buried Deep (Apr-2005)
5 - Paloma (Oct-2006)
6 - Recovery Man (Sep-2007)
7 - Duplicate Effort (Feb-2009)

Multi-Author Series List

Star Wars

The New Rebellion (Dec-1996)

Book List in Order: 472 titles

  • Traitors

    Vowing to destroy those responsible for killing his family, Diate joins the secret police so as to arrange the assassination of Sheba, until he falls in love with her and realizes he has risked his chance for happiness. Original....

  • Five Starving Cats and a Dead Dog

    in Cat Crimes 2
    • / General Fiction
    • Buy Buy

    From the pens of today's most prolific, popular, and feline-fancying mystery writers comes CAT CRIMES 2, a chilling collection of original stories that will leave cat- and mystery-lovers purring for more. Inside you'll encounter the Bogart drawl of P...

  • Little Miracles

    in More Mystery Cats

    Cats and crime make an irresistible combination in this second volume of Mystery Cats. Bestselling author Lilian Jackson Braun uses her favorite breed, the Siamese, to chill us with a tale of a sinister violin-playing villain who gets his comeuppance...

  • Afterimage

    Just as the Joan of Arc killer--a rapist who burns his victims before murdering them--is murdering her, Rebecca Tamerlane finds her soul snatched by a group of shapeshifters, who transform it into the likeness of her killer. Original....

  • Facade

    Thomas fell in love with the Oregon Coast while filming his signature role as Anthony Short. Then his estranged daughter, Heather, died there, and Thomas fled. Now, he returns, not to solve his daughter’s murder, but to see if he can live with hims...

  • Heart Readers

    A TWIN CURSE -- OR A KINGDOM'S HOPE? Long had the King's line been cursed by fate with one prince too many. In each generation, twin boys were born, heirs to a throne only one could hold. But King Pardu decreed that when the time was right, he wou...

  • The White Mists of Power

    An innocent excited boy, a prince and heir, takes his first journey to the city. The streets teem with merchants in velvet robes, magicians, half-mad preachers, with life and color, poverty and noise. He doesn't want to miss any of it.But this marks...

  • Sins of the Blood

    The worlds that Cammie and her brother Ben live in collide, when she, a vampire slayer, and he, a beautiful and deadly predator, find each other after many years, separated since she drove the stake through her own father's heart. Original....

  • The Sacrifice

    Fey - 1

    THEIR ARMIES HAVE ESTABLISHED DOMINION OVER HALF THE WORLD. NOW THE RE ST IS WITHIN THEIR GRASP... Legendary for their bloodlust, sorcery, and fierce, dark beauty, the Fey have swept across three continents and never faced defeat. But now, in def...



  • The Devil's Churn

    Fifty years after a young man dies in Devil's Churn, a tourist attraction that is credited with being the most evil place in the sea, the man returns, alive and well, and looking no older than the day he disappeared. Original....

  • The Changeling

    Fey - 2

    A UNION MADE IN THE NAME OF PEACE WILL SHATTER IN BETRAYAL AND DEATH...AND BLUE ISLE MAY ONCE AGAIN ERUPT IN WAR In the years following the invasion of the Fey, Blue Isle has maintained an uneasy peace. But the marriage between the Islander prince...

  • The New Rebellion

    Star Wars

    Somewhere in the galaxy, millions suddenly perish a disruption of the Force so shocking it is felt by Luke at his Jedi academy and by Leia on Coruscant. While Leia must deal with an assassination attempt, a rumored plot against the New Republic, and ...

  • The Rival

    Fey - 3

    A LAND SCARRED BY WAR MUST FACE A CONQUEROR WITHOUT MERCY Twenty years after their first attempt, a new Fey invasion threatens Blue Isle, headed by the ruthless Black King Rugad. The island is more than a stepping-stone to conquest of the continen...

  • Alien Influences

    Bountiful is a sun-scorched, inhospitable planet, offering only one comfort to its small band of human colonists: the powerful intoxicant they create from native plants an export to other worlds. But an unspeakable disaster devastates the colony. Six...

  • Hitler's Angel

    This much is true: Hitler was obsessed with his young niece, Geli Raubal. On 19th September, 1931, two years before he came to power, Geli was found dead of a gunshot wound in Hitler's apartment in an exclusive area of Munich. Her death was ruled...

  • The Resistance

    Fey - 4

    FOR A CONQUERED PEOPLE, A LONG-FORGOTTEN MAGIC HOLDS THEIR ONLY HOPE Blue Isle's capital lies in ruins, leveled by the new invasion force of Fey. But to hold his conquest, Black King Rugad must capture his two half-Islander, half-Fey great-grandch...

  • Victory

    Fey - 5

    TWO ROYAL CHILDREN MUST UNLOCK AN ANCIENT SORCERY TO SAVE A PEOPLE AND CLAIM AN EMPIRE Hidden in the Cliffs of Blood lies a cavern that pulses with long-lost power. Here King Nicholas and his children, Gift and Arianna, have taken refuge from Blac...

  • The Black Queen

    Black Throne - 1

    The Fey Empire has been at peace for fifteen years. But Queen Arianna, who holds the Black Throne, has become increasingly troubled by a mysterious presence that is waking in her mind. It is a force of ruthless power, determined to seize the throne e...

  • The Black King

    Black Throne - 2

    ONE OF FANTASY FICTION'S FOREMOST CREATORS CONCLUDES THE EPIC BLACK THRONE SAGA WITH THIS MAGNIFICENT TALE OF A WORLD COVETED BY A RUTHLESS SPIRIT, RETURNED TO LIFE IN THE MIND OF AN INNOCENT MONARCH. For Gift, who has renounced the Black Throne t...



  • Folk Lure

    in Single White Vampire Seeks Same

    The personals ads are certainly a prime source for people's private fantasies, some of which end in happiness, while others turn into total disasters. But what if there was something "special" about either the placer of the ad or the one who answered...

  • Stories for an Enchanted Afternoon

    The first story in this collection of the author's best short fiction, Millennium Babies, looks at the losers, the infants who are not the first born in the New Year. Then in the novella The Gallery of His Dreams, a finalist for the Nebula, Hugo, and...

  • Little Miracles and Other Tales of Murder

    2001, hardcover edition, Five Star, Waterville, ME. 222 pages. Collection of mystery short stories. Fantastic, very personal introduction by the author, 7 pages. 7 total stories, all of them in the mystery-suspense line. Very nicely printed....

  • The Disappeared

    A Retrieval Artist Novel - 1

    In a world where humans and aliens coexist, the future can be altered forever. In a world where murder is sanctioned, the rules of humanity no longer apply. In a world where no one can guarantee safe haven, one man has found a job. Retrieva...

  • Searching for the Familiar

    in Familiars

    KRISTINE KATHRYN RUSCH * JODY LYNN NYE LAURA RESNICK * P. N. ELROD * VON JOCKS JEAN RABE * ANDRE NORTON * BILL MCcAY LAURA ANNE GILMAN * DIANE A. S. STUCKART GARY A. BRAUNBECK * SUSAN SIZEMORE JOSEPHA SHERMAN * JOHN HEIFERS MICHELLE WEST The...

  • The Retrieval Artist and Other Stories

    Military SF fans of the Falkenberg legion saga will need to be in fighting trim to lug home The Prince, by Jerry Pournelle and S.M. Sterling. This hefty compendium includes the four novels Falkenberg's Legion, Prince of Mercenaries, Go Tell the Sp...

  • Extremes

    A Retrieval Artist Novel - 2

    While searching for the Disappeared - criminals on the run for commiting unspeakable acts of violence against alien cultures - Retrieval Artist Miles Flint investigates two suspicious deaths, leading him to a demented scientist who is now one of the ...

  • Fantasy Life

    Strange things have always happened in Seavy County, the most rugged stretch of Oregon's coastline. Violent storms spring up like magic, even when the rest of the state enjoys sunshine; unearthly beings are sometimes glimpsed in the twilight; and tho...

  • Hero Dust

    in The Many Faces of Van Helsing

    An all-original anthology of short stories captures the diverse faces and feats of Van Helsing, the famed vampire hunter from Bram Stoker's Dracula, in works by such authors as Katherine Dunn, Elizabeth Hand, Kathe Koja, Tanith Lee, Kristine ...

  • The Assassin's Dagger

    in The Magic Shop
    Abracadabra Incorporated - 1

    SUSAN SIZEMORE * P. N. ELROD JODY LYNN NYE * INDIA EDGHILL LAURA RESNICK * ELIZABETH GILLIGAN MICHELLE WEST * BRADLEY H. SINOR JOSEPHA SHERMAN * BILL McCAY KRISTINE KATHRYN RUSCH * MEL ODOM GARY A. BRAUNBECK * VON JOCKS ROSEMARY EDGHILL Eve...



  • Consequences

    A Retrieval Artist Novel - 3

    Officer Noelle DeRicci is investigating a murder in the domed colony of Armstrong on the Moon. The victim was one of the Disappeared--outlaws in hiding who are wanted for crimes against alien civilizations--whose family had her brought home, believin...

  • Buried Deep

    A Retrieval Artist Novel - 4

    Forensic anthropologist Aisha Costard has been summoned to Mars.to examine skeletal remains recently discovered beneath a building erected by the Disty aliens. The bones belong to a human woman who vanished thirty years at/with her children. She is b...

  • Paloma

    A Retrieval Artist Novel - 5

    As a Retrieval Artist, Miles Flint helps the Disappeared, saving the lives of those oppressed under the Earth Alliance regime. He owes his livelihood, and his very sense of honor, to a woman known as Paloma. It was she who was responsible for setting...

  • Recovery Man

    A Retrieval Artist Novel - 6

    On Jupiter's moon Callisto, a mysterious Recovery Man kidnaps Rhonda Shindo after he terrorizes and then abandons her brilliant thirteen-year-old daughter, Talia. While authorities on Callisto search for Rhonda, her employers at the Aleyd Corporation...

  • Duplicate Effort

    A Retrieval Artist Novel - 7

    When a journalist working with him is murdered and his daughter Talia goes missing, Retrieval Artist Miles Flint, on a mission to destroy a corrupt law firm, discovers that Talia's quest to find her other five clones and his search for a killer are s...

  • G-Men

    The acclaimed short story that inspired the award-winning novel, The Enemy Within.​

    February, 1964: Two men die in a squalid alley in a bad neighborhood. New York Homicide Detective Seamus O’Reilly receives the shock of his life when he ...

  • Diving into the Wreck

    Diving Universe - 1

    Boss loves to dive historical ships, derelict spacecraft found adrift in the blackness between the stars. Sometimes she salvages for money, but mostly she’s an active historian. She wants to know about the past -- to experience it firsthand. Once s...

  • Recovering Apollo 8: And Other Stories

    Perspectives on technology, space, and aliens, and how they might affect humanity are explored in this collection of short science fiction. In the title story, a near-future is examined in which an eight-year-old, at the time of the loss of the Apoll...

  • Broken Windchimes

    The Pané expect perfection of their living windchimes. The difference between a performer’s life as the biggest star on Djapé and a ruined career comes down to one mistake. When a child prodigy loses everything familiar, he must learn how to surv...

  • Cowboy Grace

    After receiving a great shock, Grace, a CPA who always lived a cautious life, decides to sell her business and move west, not realizing that the man who bought her business deceived her. Her departure looks like guilt, and suddenly Grace, who only wa...



  • Paparazzi of Dreams

    In a world that sells and records dreams, a celebrity will do anything to guard his privacy. But the paparazzi try to steal a celebrity’s dreams anyway. And who do the dreams belong to? The person who dreamed it or the person who recorded it? And w...

  • The Poop Thief

    Portia Meadows runs one of the few pet stores that sells familiars to the magical. Familiars -- delicate, moody creatures -- keep magic clean and pure. To lose a familiar means losing magic. And on a bright afternoon, Portia’s assistant discovers t...

  • Say Hello to My Little Friend

    A handsome man walks into a bar…and can’t pick up women. Sounds like a joke. Or a bar bet. Or maybe, just maybe, a bit of magic follows him everywhere. A short, somewhat malicious bit of magic, with a fondness for Piña Coladas.“Rusch’s short...

  • The Secret Lives of Cats

    Homer Ziff wanted to know how his outdoor cats spent their days, so he attached a tiny digital camera to their collars -- and discovered a mystery in his own backyard.Winner of the Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine Readers Choice Award for 2008, this Ant...

  • Victims

    Reese Catton manages campaigns. The dirty side of campaigns. And he has dirt suggesting that his candidate’s opponent serves as a vampire’s slave. But in politics -- as in life -- nothing ends up as it seems. Not even the relationship between vam...

  • What Fluffy Knew

    Fluffy leads the perfect life. Her cat bed, her kibble, a human to wait on her. Until they come. And they will change everything -- unless she finds a way to stop them. One of award-winning writer Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s most popular stories.“R...

  • What the Monster Saw

    Everyone thinks of Kyle as the good-for-nothing only son of Jackson Worthington. But Kyle keeps his real nature hidden: from his father, from his classmates, from everyone. Until he discovers a body in an alley on the way home from school. The police...

  • Coolhunting

    Steffie makes her living as a coolhunter -- someone who discovers an interesting look and makes it fashion, often overnight. She’s escaped her stifling upbringing, but her sister KD has not. KD, genetically altered to remain a child, asks Steffie t...

  • Destiny: A Story of the Fey

    Written as a prequel to Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s popular Fey saga, “Destiny†follows the Shapeshifter Solanda on Nye. The Black King wants her to use her special abilities on a job that will change the Fey forever. But Solanda wants to change t...

  • Details

    George has lived a full life as a decorated WWII veteran, high-end attorney, family man. But the incident that haunts him only took five minutes -- five minutes when he shared a Coke with a woman on her way to California, a woman who would die hours...



  • Discovery

    Pita Cardenas finds herself with the toughest case of her career. The only attorney in the small town of Rio Gordo, she decides to fight the biggest railroad company in the state to get compensation for the widow of a man who might have raced a train...

  • Domestic Magic

    At a high school for the magical, the most picked-on kid dreams about J. Rutherford Wisenhaur II killing people with a fire spell. She knows her nightmares portend the future, but her domestic magic lacks the power to do most difficult spells. To mak...

  • Five Fantastic Tales

    The five magical stories in this short collection include stories of fairies and shapeshifters and magic shops. In this collection, you'll find the heartwarming "Flower Fairies," the whimsical "The Poop Thief," the outrageous "Say Hello To My Little ...

  • Flower Fairies

    Funeral directors deal with everything at a funeral, but only a few must handle an influx of flower fairies. Or worse: the arrival of a flower fairy child, alone and unsupervised. Flower fairies are unpredictable…except when they get angry. And th...

  • The Moorhead House

    Dusty’s Cleaning specializes in cleaning houses where horrible things happen. Suicides, murders, Dusty’s seen them all. But she can’t forget the scene at the Moorhead House. So, when Dusty receives an invitation to a Christmas Party being held ...

  • The One That Got Away

    The regulars at Spirit Winds’ Thursday night blackjack tournament never call attention to themselves. Some are retired, some are a little shady, some have seen too much. But none of them believed in UFOs. Until that night when the lights went out i...

  • Scrawny Pete

    Crime reporter Atkins discovered Scrawny Pete at the scene of a murder-suicide. The hard-bitten reporter took to the cat, and the cat took to him. Together they travel through the city on the police beat -- until the day they come across another crim...

  • Dragon's Tooth

    Abracadabra Incorporated - 2

    Tara, a former agent of Abracadabra Incorporated, once helped shut down black magic all over the world. She retired from that world for a quieter life of running a little magic shop. But black magic finds her anyway. On a trip to Paris, she discovers...

  • Echea

    Sarah thinks she has the perfect family. She and her husband decide to share that perfection with Echea, an orphan from the Moon Wars. But after Sarah adopts Echea, she realizes that Echea has problems. Serious problems. Problems that might change Sa...

  • Pudgygate

    Imagine a dinner party in an English country manor with an American cook named Bubba making a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, waiters from Cal Tech, British royalty among the guests, a cat named Pudgy, and a thief. Honestly, what could go wrong?This...

  • Jury Duty

    Pamela Jackson’s secrets forced her to change her identity and move to the Oregon Coast. When Pamela finds herself called to jury duty -- and worse, selected for the jury on a murder trial -- she fears she must see it through to keep up appearances...

  • Spinning

    Patricia Taylor’s spinning class instructor hates her. Maybe it’s the extra eighty pounds she carries on her frame. Maybe it’s the way she struggles while everyone else in class does just fine. But when her instructor ends up dead, Patricia ...

  • Elites

    Rowena runs the House, a place for homeless Sky veterans. The House, open only to the women who compose the Elite Squad, has only a few rules: No names, no details, no weapons. The problem? Anything can become a weapon -- even a toilet bowl scrubber....

  • Familiar Territory

    Buster's final wish - a Viking funeral. Although Winston, a small magician with a small talent, wants to give his familiar his ideal funeral, he can't imagine how he'll manage a burning boat at sea. Still, a Viking funeral is a small price to pay for...

  • Her Mother's Secrets

    When tragedy took everything from Violet, she left home and never looked back. Until now. Her mother’s funeral.

    Violet hopes she can settle her mother’s affairs and quietly return to the life she built after that day. Until she sees him....

  • The Women of Whale Rock

    Whale Rock’s sheriff, Dan Retsler, considers himself a practical man. But he has no explanation for the horrible deaths that take place on his beach. Nor does he know why so many locals fear the sea. The answer lies in legends of mermaids -- not th...

  • Advisors at Naptime

    Carol wants a nap. Carol needs a nap. And no one will let her have one because the grown-ups need her. But the grown-ups underestimate Carol. And they fail to realize that Carol will do anything to get her nap. “Rusch is a great storyteller.†-- ...

  • Boz

    Boz got his job on the colony ship The Beautiful Dreamer because he’s a competent introvert. He enjoys the fact that he’s spending years completely alone, monitoring the passengers passing the time in cold sleep. So when he wakes up one morning t...

  • The Case of the Vanishing Boy

    Secret Master of Fandom and Private Detective Spade gets a strange request: A tiny woman with pointed ears asks him to help her with a case at FleshCon, a California science fiction convention. The tiny woman turns out to be the infamous Paladin, wh...

  • Disaster Relief

    Ruby had the idea - help the magic users in New Orleans survive Hurricane Katrina. Pretty charitable for a tiny cat. Winston thought he knew why. The southeast asia tsunami scared her, made her realize her home on the Oregon Coast was vulnerable to n...

  • Ghosts

    He calls himself Ben…sometimes. Mostly he doesn’t think of his name so other people won’t either. He kills people for a living, but he has standards. He uses astrology to help him follow the right path. Only now, someone is following his path -...

  • Loop

    On the first Christmas since her husband Tyler died, Amelia goes to the lab to revisit their research. After all, what could it hurt? One little leap into the past, just to touch an old memory. To see him one last time. Only time travel isn’t easy....

  • The Perfect Man

    Paige Racette has spent her entire career imagining the perfect man. She’s described a different version of him over and over in her romance novels. But when Josiah Wells starts using her novels as a blueprint for the way to romance her, she finds ...

  • Saving Face

    A beautiful but scared woman tries to hire Winston Karpathian, but wonders why. Winston possesses only small magic, nothing spectacular, and certainly nothing helpful for a woman like that. But when she turns up dead, Winston must work with a detecti...

  • Stille Nacht

    Christmasâ€a time of family, tradition, togetherness. But what happens to a single mom when her parents are dead, and her daughters worry that Santa, like Daddy, won't show up? Is the magic of Christmas an illusion? Or will that magic appear on Chri...

  • Strange Creatures

    When the storm of the century hits Whale Rock, Sheriff Dan Retsler does everything he can to prevent hundreds of deaths. Everything except the thing that could have prevented the storm in the first place. He should have listened to the beautiful woma...

  • Substitutions

    Silas has worked for Death in Nevada for 150 years. He gets Christmas and Christmas Eve off. Only this year, his substitute finds him in a Las Vegas casino. His substitute, who is little more than a boy, a boy whose task terrifies him. If the boy fin...

  • Blind

    When they were boys, Scott and Richard went into Felton Woods in the middle of the night and took pictures of a mysterious phenomenon, it changed their lives. Scott went to MIT and used his science background to be come a crash site detective. Richar...

  • Corpse Vision

    Joe Decker drinks because he can. In 1920s Paris, alcohol flows freely unlike Prohibition America. He thinks he has come to Paris to write his novel, but he has come to Paris to block his visions with alcohol. The visions that started when he touched...

  • Dark Corners

    Solae has kept his family alive during the horrible years of Paris’s occupation by hiding in the catacombs. Solae’s father, who had a gift for glamour, was murdered by the Germans in the first days of the occupation, as the lights went dim in the...

  • Dragon Slayer

    Fifteen dragons have died in less than a century. Rumaad, a different kind of dragon, collects information about the killings the way some dragons collect jewels. So he’s perfectly suited to see the differences in the latest crime scene, the murder...

  • Judgment

    Tyrone has come home, if home still exists. Once upon a time, he was part of the People, the faerie people that hide in plain sight throughout Europe. He grew up in Nuremberg, only to leave centuries ago to live with the humans. Now he returns to pho...

  • The Light in Whale Cove

    Sheriff Dan Retsler finally believes in magic. He has to, after all he’s experienced in Whale Rock. But he can’t take it any longer, so he’s moving away from the magical town. His successor has arrived just as the ghosts return to the lighthous...

  • Scheduling Conflict

    The woman who calls Police Detective Riley Scott possesses a voice he finds incredibly sexy. He wants to keep her talking.She wants to set up an appointment so that he can arrest her for robbing the National Bank and Trust.Just one problem: No one ha...

  • Subtle Interpretations

    Robert Cooper is in Paris to find translators for the International Tribunal in Nuremberg. He finds a beautiful, talented woman working at the Paris Telephone Exchange. Her gift with languages seems magical -- and maybe it is. Or maybe the magic come...

  • Thrill of the Hunt

    Her family called her Hilda, before the war, before the Great Wulf murdered them all with his mind. Now the war is over, Europe is in ruin, and the remaining Nazis have scattered. Hilda hunts them, but really, she hunts him. And thanks to an old frie...

  • The Death of Davy Moss: A Love Story

    TEEN IDOL DAVY MOSS DIED ALONE ON A MOUNTAIN ROAD. NO ONE EVER FOUND HIS BODY. Davy Moss died fifteen years ago, but his fans keep him alive. They “see†him everywhere. They hold reunions, listen to his music over and over again. They encourage h...

  • Five Diverse Detectives

    Detectives come in all shapes and sizes -- and in Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s five-story collection, they work the mean streets everywhere from a science fiction convention to the Moon to a world filled with dragons. Stories included are “Blind†(...

  • Five Goofy Science Fiction Stories

    Readers know Hugo-award winner Kristine Kathryn Rusch for her serious, deeply thought-out science fiction. But the former editor of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction also has a silly side, one in evidence in the five stories in this collectio...

  • Flowers and the Last Hurrah

    Colin hates his job at the online entertainment site, Gossip Hourly, but he does what he can to make money. And what he does involves clones of celebrities, although he doesn’t tell anyone that. Detective Frank Forino suspects, but can’t prove an...

  • The Questing Mind

    J. Reed Brasher knows he has forgotten something important. A lot of somethings, actually. The memory of his entire life slips through his grasp save for bits and pieces. Age, they tell him. And at 90, maybe he should believe them. But he doesn’t. ...

  • Reflections on Life and Death

    Sarah finds herself faced with a terrible decision. Her dying mother insists that if she goes to the extended care facility, they will kill her. She wants to go home with Sarah. But Sarah, a single mother with her own children to care for, can’t af...

  • Without End: A Short Story of Hope

    When Dylan’s wife, Geneva, dies, Dylan refuses to believe it. Not because he believes in ghosts, but because he believes in science. Geneva, a physicist, believed humans could overcome the perception of linear time. If her theories hold true, Dylan...

  • City of Ruins

    Diving Universe - 2

    Boss, a loner, loved to dive derelict spacecraft adrift in the blackness of space... But one day, she found a ship that would change everything -- an ancient Dignity Vessel -- and aboard the ship, the mysterious and dangerous Stealth Tech. Now, ye...

  • Jackie-O

    Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis -- former first lady, editor, mother, grandmother -- lives a life of mystery. But she wants to solve a mystery of her own: who changed the world on November 22, 1963? Oswald? A group of conspirators? Originally written for ...

  • Unknown Baby Girl

    A former LAPD homicide detective, Carolyn moved to Oregon to escape crime. Yet when she takes a job making houses energy efficient, she discovers a baby’s skeleton in a crawl space. She can’t ignore the forgotten bones; they speak to her. She use...

  • June Sixteenth at Anna's

    Leta’s death leaves her husband Mac with his memories and one famous holorecording. On June 16, 2001, Leta ate at a restaurant called Anna’s, and a time travel recording made of that day later became a sensation. Leta collected all of the versio...

  • Fifteen Minutes in Mercy General

    An emergency: a bleeding teenage girl in ripped clothes on a gurney in a hospital corridor, her mother hastily brought in by the investigating police officer. An emergency, a girl, a family, and a crime so horrible that no one understands until it’...

  • Kindred Souls

    She calls herself Linda, although it’s not her name. She travels from nursing home to nursing home, fixing problems, helping others. Until she meets Eloise Mortimer. Rich, famous Eloise Mortimer. Dying Eloise Mortimer, who fancies herself a latte...

  • Models

    Kendall Dee disappears on her first day as a professional hairdresser at a New York Fashion Week runway show. When she turns up murdered, her friend Corry Lindstrom decides to find out what happened. Because Corry, a professional fashion photographer...

  • Monuments to the Dead

    When Mount Rushmore suddenly disappears -- no more presidents gracing its face -- The American Observer sends Emelia Sunlake to give the California perspective.Emelia wants to put “a white, middle-class, female California perspective†on the expe...

  • Scars

    Rena lost everything when her husband and son died in a fiery car accident. Now she has only her daily swim at the rec center, where she hopes no one pays attention to her horrible burn scars. But someone noticed -- the same someone who murders a lif...

  • Scars Plus the Perfect Man

    Two Short Mystery Novels by the award-winning mystery writer Kristine Kathryn Rusch Scars and The Perfect Man. Scars....Rena lost everything when her husband and son died in a fiery car accident. Now she has only her daily swim at the rec center, whe...

  • Strays

    In the first days of the Clinton administration, Ransom, a DC private eye specializing in Republican dirty tricks, falls on hard times. He finds himself investigating the murder of a local celebrity -- Bob the Weather Cat. Ransom finds it hard to ta...

  • Christopher's Crummy Christmas

    Eleven-year-old Christopher always spends Christmas alone. This year, he plans to change that. This year, he’ll find a way to make his parents stay home. Everyone tells him he’ll ruin Christmas, but he doesn’t care. He wants a good Christmas...

  • The Last Christmas Letter

    Joanne makes her home the perfect place for Christmas so her grandchildren will always remember the holiday. She even puts her Christmas cards on the banister.

    But this year, she faces a dilemma. Her father has been in a coma since Thanksgiv...

  • Boneyards

    The final installment in the exciting, fast-moving, and passionate space opera. Searching for ancient technology to help her friends find answers to the mystery of their own past, Boss ventures into a place filled with evidence of an ancient space...

  • The Karnikov Card

    Secret Master of Fandom and Private Detective Spade faces an impossible mission: He must save Celebcon Five from itself. The convention that’s trying to out Comic-con Comic-con has decided to make Dmitri Karnikov its guest of honor. Spade doesn’t...

  • Spirit Guides

    Kincaid always shows up at a crime scene before the crime happens. Except at the Burger Joint. He got stuck in Los Angeles traffic and arrived just after the shooting ended. Now he must deal with carnage, carnage he couldn’t prevent -- carnage he h...

  • Becalmed

    Diving Universe - 3

    Mae, chief linguist on the Ivoire, heads a diplomatic mission to Ukhanda. Her handling of relations with the Quurzod lead to a battle that causes the Ivoire’s anacapa drive to malfunction, stranding the ship in foldspace. Mae can’t remember what ...

  • E-Male

    Gavin spends his morning reading the email of his ex-girlfriend, Stella. Thanks to a restraining order, he can’t approach her. So, the email has to do. Until it stops. Until Stella disappears from the world. Gavin thinks he knows what happened to h...

  • Red Letter Day

    Graduation Day at Barack Obama High School. The day the Red Letters arrive, the day that students get a glimpse into their own future. But a handful never get a letter and no one knows why. One teacher has an idea though: a teacher who never got a Re...

  • Cat Nap

    Triwell doesn’t adopt strays. He feels like a stray himself, a man who has lost everything even though he has a house and an antiquarian bookstore in Seavy Village on the Oregon Coast. But the cat adopted him. And she proves a mystery. A mystery wh...

  • The Observer

    They send the best and brightest to war, then observe them when the soldiers return. Only someone else observes, too -- someone closer to the soldier, someone quite surprising… “A thoughtful and thought-provoking story…†-- RT Book Reviews...

  • Songbirds

    Prince Tadeo has his heart set on a Songbird for the coronation. He sends Reynaldo, the best magic hunter in the business, after it. Once upon a time, Songbirds served the king. Now Reynaldo must convince one Songbird to return. Just one. Or he will ...

  • Death on D Street

    D Street -- the closest thing Hope’s Pass has to a red light district. Three whorehouses and a few independents to service the miners who survived the mines outside of town. When someone murders a prostitute, Will, the mayor, must fill in for the d...

  • Elegy for Piano and Three Voices

    When Alzheimer’s takes Stacey’s mother, Stacey gives up everything -- her career, her music -- to take care of her. Until one lonely night, when caretaking becomes too much, Stacy sits at the piano and plays Bach. She hopes to escape into the com...

  • Star

    Long ago, before the dawn of civilization, they were banished to the realm of nightmares. Now the terrors are real . . .A generation ago, another Starship EnterpriseTM fought off a ship of exiled aliens intent on conquering all of the Alpha Quadrant....

  • Bring Me the Head of Anne Boleyn

    Before her twenty-fifth year, she was both a princess and a prisoner, a royal daughter and the daughter of a traitor. Now Elizabeth Tudor has become queen of England and, in her private moments, cannot quite believe she survived. She has to figure ou...

  • Burial Detail

    The battle ended ten months ago, the war ended two weeks ago, and still the battleground remains a dangerous place -- at least for one man. A man who sees everything, and can say nothing. A man no one else notices. A man who must bury the dead in ord...

  • Forest for the Trees

    Centuries ago, a tsunami hit the Oregon Coast, destroying miles of coastline. When beach erosion reveals the stumps of a dead forest from that disaster, Anne and Louisa cut school to see the trees. But they freak Louisa out. She sees faces trapped in...

  • Good Genes

    When Dr. Wyatt calls Ro and Gil into his office, they fear the worst for their baby. But Dr. Wyatt thinks he has good news. Ro knows better. This news means choices that could change their future -- choices Ro and Gil never wanted to make for their c...

  • Physical Therapy

    After a particularly brutal attack, Sydne needs physical therapy for her knee. The therapists try a new technique that involves repairing the damaged muscles, but the damaged emotions as well. Sydne hates the procedure. She hates the therapists m...

  • Results

    Percentages. Chances. Opportunities. Before Bryan marries Jess, he needs to know what kind of children they’ll have. Fortunately, tests exist for that. The results have arrived, and now they must choose: babies, percentages, or each other? “…wh...

  • Turbulence

    Every frequent flyer shares a nightmare -- trapped inside a plane in trouble. The key? Don’t think about it. Until you sit next to the wrong woman on the wrong flight on the wrong day…“‘Turbulence’ by Kristine Kathryn Rusch is a brief, but ...

  • Valuables

    For his entire life, Willard Harrison envied Mrs. Rose Grenlauer, but never more than now. Willard lost his arm, his wife, and everything he owned to the Yankees. Now the Yankees hold Memphis, and he can’t do anything. Except think of Mrs. Rose Gre...

  • The Japanese Sword

    Wedding photos capture a lot of things they shouldn’t. Including Susan’s husband Russell necking with one of his colleagues. Susan goes ahead with her plans for Russell’s birthday, plans that include a Japanese sword he’s always wanted. Only ...

  • Present

    Mason Evers’ thirtieth birthday depresses him, so his wife Roxy decides to give him a present he will never forget. Only the present malfunctions. Should Mason and Roxy fix the present? Or should they simply enjoy it?“A joy of clarity and lyricis...

  • Remodeling

    When Ada’s neighbor angrily bangs on her door one morning, she assumes he wants to yell at her husband, again. Rick’s sensitivity to neighborhood noise drives them out of home after home to appease his quest for a peaceful life.

    But once...

  • Thorns

    Shelton believes flowers save people, so he’s appalled when Ruth-Anne Grant demands he remove her name from his floral delivery list. The roses he spent his morning crafting came from her stalker. Shelton, embarrassed and frightened for her, gives ...

  • Watching the Music Dance

    Suze loves her music. She hides in it when her parents fight.

    But when the fights end in divorce, the divorce brings an end to the music -- obtained illegally by Suze’s mother.

    Now Nils, Suze’s father, must quickly find a way to sa...

  • Worlds Enough...And Time

    Whenever things get rough, Roxanne escapes to other worlds. She possesses a talent that skips generations, a talent that no one else believes exists. Except her granddaughter Marissa, who exhibits the same talent. Marissa, w...

  • The Beautiful, The Damned

    The second Nick Carraway in a family where the name Nick Carraway has a certain mystique finds himself in New York, just like his grandfather before him. Carraway quickly learns that the go-go 1980s have a lot in common with the hard-partying 1920s, ...

  • Canopy

    He expected a joyous wedding on Christmas Eve. But when the justice of the peace arrives, he finds a pregnant bride, no congratulatory family, and reluctant witnesses. What joy can the future hold for this young couple? Unless they can find someone, ...

  • Fit to Print

    When veteran New York Times reporter Frank Butler vacations at his grandmother’s old house in Bonner Bay, Oregon, he ignores the town’s strange goings-on. The locals usually appreciate his discretion. Except this year. This year, everyone has an ...

  • Something Blue

    For Amelia’s second marriage, Gram gives her a visit to a wedding counselor. Not a marriage counselor, but someone who will advise how to achieve a perfect marriage through the perfect ceremony. Superstitious nonsense, Amelia thinks, but she doesnâ...

  • Cats Cats Cats

    8 Cat Tales for the Feline Lovers In All of Us!- Disaster Relief- A Hearth Witch at Chisolm Keep- Curse of the Second Date- Beautiful- The Mouse Who Laughed- Androcles the Christmas Lion- Coyotes, Cats and Other Creatures- Little Miracles...

  • Clay Feet

    After a decade of trying to get a statue of Mercury for her museum’s antiquities department, Harper finally succeeds. But then the statue arrives -- broken -- and a spectacular forgery. Her boss -- impressed -- calls the statue the ultimate forgery...

  • Crunchers, Inc.

    Edith works for Number Crunchers Incorporated. Her job? Determine the monetary worth of each human being. But her corporation faces a nemesis -- the EISHies. The ridiculously sentimental organization sabotages Crunchers, Inc. and other places just li...

  • Dispatches from the Front: Number Sixty-One

    War correspondents and soldiers possess one thing in common: They only see pieces of the war -- even a magical war. Everything rests on a single magical weapon, dispatched by Pixie Air, which the soldiers believe will solve everything. One war corres...

  • Elvis at the White House

    Psychic investigator Chelsea LaFronde’s secret vice? The handsome young Elvis of the 1968 comeback special -- Chelsea’s idea of a Real Man. So when a handsome Elvis impersonator -- the young Elvis, not the old, fat Elvis -- shows up at her door t...

  • Five Feline Fancies

    Five of Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s most popular cat stories. They run the gamut from the award-winning “The Secret Lives of Cats†to the whimsical “The Poop Thief.†Other stories in the collection include reader favorite “What Fluffy Knew,â...

  • Love and Justice

    The Princess -- once named Cinder Ella -- murdered. The Prince missing. The King demanding justice. Only the sheriff knows that justice means destroying the kingdom. Can he do it? Can he convince the King to go along?With complete bonus story, “Dis...

  • Parking Space Vigilantes

    Stacy calls herself a Parking Space Vigilante. As a member of the city’s program to ticket able-bodied drivers who park in handicapped spaces, Stacy believes she serves as protector for her small corner of the world from the insensitive, the stupid...

  • The Spires of Denon

    Diving Universe

    Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s novel Diving Into The Wreck spawned a universe so vast that one novel can’t contain it. The Spires of Denon doesn’t involve Boss or her crew. Instead, this powerful short novel follows Meklos Verr, hired to guard an arc...

  • Amelia Pillar's Etiquette for the Space Traveler

    As you prepare to embark on your yearlong space cruise, this excerpt from Amelia Pillar’s popular Etiquette for the Space Traveler will provide you with the skills you need to make your trip enjoyable for you and your fellow travelers. With tips su...

  • Chameleon

    The kids at school call Wilhelmina “Cry-Baby Witch.†Kinda true. At least about the witch part. But they don’t know that, and Willi still struggles to control her magic. So, when she gets caught using her magic to help one of the animals in Mrs...

  • Dunyon

    In a rundown bar on a space station at the end of the universe, a customer asks for passage to Dunyon. But the owner and bartender have never heard of Dunyon. When the next night, more and more people show, Dunyon, that little bar, and the entire spa...

  • Homecoming

    Fortan’s space mission ends ten years later (for him) and one hundred years later (for everyone else). He expects changes when he returns to the good old U.S. of A. He doesn’t expect to get arrested upon landing. He really doesn’t expect all th...

  • The Impossibles

    To pay off her law school debts, Kerrie works in the public defender’s office at the Interspecies Court. Her workload includes more clients than she can defend, most of them from cultures she does not understand. The public defender’s office lose...

  • The Possession of Paavo Deshin

    All of his short life, Paavo Deshin has seen ghosts. The same two ghosts who have now approached him on the school playground, ghosts who look older and actually smell bad. Paavo’s cry for help brings the authorities, a few lawyers, and Retrieval A...

  • The Recovery Man's Bargain

    Hadad Yu “recovers†things for a living. Things, not people, not animals. Things. Until he gets in trouble and must work for the alien Gyonnese. They want a person to answer for her crimes, and they want to use Yu to get her. He reluctantly agree...

  • The Retrieval Artist

    The short novel that started the entire Retrieval Artist series, The Retrieval Artist introduced Miles Flint to the world. Hugo-nominated, chosen as one of the best stories of the year, The Retrieval Artist created an entire universe, and Flint himse...

  • Doubting Thomas

    Six-year-old Tommy Ulrick saw Santas enter the Sutter house on Christmas Eve, the night the house got robbed. Tommy said Santa stole. No one believed him, thinking robbers dressed as Santa emptied that house. But Tommy believed. And when Tommy turns ...

  • The Hook

    Urban legends have their basis in fact. Some people know that better than others. That story about the hook teenagers tell each other at parties? It’s not just a legend. It’s true. Just not in the way you’d expect…Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s s...

  • Pandora's Box

    The police often show up at science fiction conventions, but not because Secret Master of Fandom and private detective Spade calls them. Although he has this time. Paladin has found a box with a note, a box she believes contains a bomb. Spade and Pal...

  • Stomping Mad

    When a dead body turns up at the first ever Dinocon, Secret Master of Fandom and Private Detective Spade knows just who might be behind it all: Lucinda Danielle Stanhope, who calls herself the Martha Stewart of Science Fiction. Now he just has to pr...

  • The Taste of Miracles

    Hayes loves the Earth to the Moon route on Christmas Eve. It pays triple. But Trish, his companion on this Christmas Eve flight, offers a perspective that mixes history and the future and the meaning of Christmas all into one.“This is science ficti...

  • Anniversary Day

    Book One of the Anniversary Day SagaFour years ago, a bomb destroyed part of the dome protecting Armstrong, the largest city on the Moon. Now, as the city celebrates its survival with an event it calls Anniversary Day, a larger threat looms -- one th...

  • Blowback

    The Moon, shaken by the Anniversary Day tragedies, deals with devastation. The Earth Alliance believes another attack imminent, but no one knows where or when it will strike. Just like no one knows who ordered the attacks in the first place.The Moonâ...

  • The Disappearance of Wicked

    The entire neighborhood hates Wicked the dog. Wicked, the aptly named baggage that arrived with Ike’s daughter and granddaughter after they escaped his bastard son-in-law. Wicked barks all the time -- until the day he gets kidnapped, and the entire...

  • Dread Unlocks

    In Los Angeles, everyone knows Ms. Tarbell dispels dread. She finds an amazing amount of it in that sunlight-filled city, but nothing like the unnamed horror she faces on her current case. It arrives in a van. It has cameras, an agenda, and the abili...

  • Fate

    She calls herself his luck, but Grif Petrie doesn’t feel particularly lucky. Alone on Christmas Eve, he haunts a casino like he always does. Then he meets Alli, and even though she tells him she has come to Vegas for someone else, he spends time wi...

  • Five Mystery Stories

    Kristine Kathryn Rusch, famous for her range as a writer, shows her amazing diversity in this collection of short mystery stories. From the examination of a crime scene in “The Moorhead House†to “Pudgygate,†a cat cozy set in Princess Dianaâ...

  • Incident at Lonely Rocks

    Oscar cleans portable toilets for a living. He loves the job -- it takes him to beautiful isolated places, like the Lonely Rocks Wayside on the Oregon Coast. Nothing really grosses him out either -- until he discovers the body, slashed to death, with...

  • Millennium Babies

    Winner of science fiction’s prestigious Hugo Award.From the moment of her birth, Brooke Cross was a loser. Conceived to win a First Baby of the Millennium contest, Brooke came five minutes late. Her mother never let her forget it. So Brooke, est...

  • Nutball Season

    According to Officer Nick Mantino, Nutball Season runs from Halloween to Christmas. This Christmas season, he has more than his usual number of nutballs. First, there’s the geezer who thinks he’s been cast in Miracle on 34th Street. Then thereâ...

  • Rehabilitation

    The man who calls himself Matt Sturtz only connects with other human beings at Christmas. He takes a job as a mall Santa, and marvels that no one checks his resume, or his identification for that matter. But this year, something goes wrong. Something...

  • Snow Angels

    Bobbert got his name from his little sister Sarah. He likes her okay. But she can be annoying, like when she wants to make snow angels at the Christmas tree farm. Bobbert wants to cut the tree himself. He has a knife, but Dad won't let Bobbert near t...

  • Updates

    Election night -- the busiest night of the year, at least for the newsroom at the local listener-sponsored radio station. Marisa, the news director, has no time for anything, certainly not for the death threats that some idiot insists on calling into...

  • Well-Chosen Words

    Legend has it that Abraham Lincoln scrawled the Gettysburg Address on the back of an envelope as he traveled to the battlefield to dedicate a cemetery. But the legend belies Lincoln’s struggle to carefully choose the right words. Words that must so...

  • Five for the Winter Holidays

    Christmas stories abound, but hardly anyone writes stories based on Thanksgiving or New Year’s Day. This collection of five stories has two Christmas stories, “Boz†and “Loop,†but it also has a Thanksgiving story, “Pudgygate,†a post-C...

  • Ghosts of Christmas Present

    Alone for Christmas, Michela longs for the past, the future -- anything but the present. The present holds pain, loneliness, longing, loathing. The present offers nothing but ghosts and nightmares about deeds that cannot be undone. To see her son aga...

  • Santa and Other Christmas Criminals

    Think about it: Santa sneaks in during the dead of night. He steals cookies, drinks some milk, maybe tracks ashes all over the living room. Yeah, he leaves presents, but maybe that’s just a cover for more nefarious behavior. Who knows…besides San...

  • Silent Night

    These ten stories all appeared at Christmas time. Kristine Kathryn Rusch, called one of the best short story writers of her generation, has compiled ten of her best favorite Christmas stories into one volume. These stories run through a variety of ge...

  • The Amazing Quizmo

    At night, Darren dons his secret identity. He becomes the Amazing Quizmo, the Great God of Answers. He presides over bar trivia contests and no one can beat him. Until a girl appears. A pretty girl. A very pretty girl who just might be smarter than D...

  • Five Oregon Stories

    Oregon provides the setting for all five stories in this collection. The stories range from the whimsical “The One That Got Away†to the moving “Patriotic Gestures.†The collection also includes “The Amazing Quizmo,†“Going Native,†w...

  • The Front Porch

    The Front Porch: the place, literal or figurative, where Americans watch the world go by. Journalists help expand America’s front porch to a worldwide stage. They put on a pretty face and soften the blow of ugly news. They must hold the line betwee...

  • Going Native

    Everyone wants the ability to teleport from one place to another in an instant. But what happens if something goes wrong? And what happens if the government refuses to listen? When a journalist on assignment visits a convention held by a fringe group...

  • Improvements

    As a Medieval woman, Maude knows her place. But her husband’s death shortly after the birth of their son means she must fulfill his duties until their son comes of age.

    But when a woman appears on her doorstep bloodied and broken, Maude mu...

  • Kuchen

    Lawyer F. Reed Hamlin has everything -- money, success, a small amount of fame. But no close relationships, and no family. Until he hears on the news that police have caught a Vietnam protester who bombed a munitions site. An anti-war radical who has...

  • Mr. Alibi

    No-nonsense private eye Belinda Sweet, the only person in Los Angeles who wants no part in fame, avoids cases that bring her attention. Until she stumbles on one in a bar, when a barfly asks her to act as his alibi for killing his wife. When the cops...

  • Patriotic Gestures

    Crime scene investigator Pamela Kinney hears the bad guys outside her house and smells smoke, but only realizes the next morning the crime they committed -- burning the flag that had covered her daughter’s casket. Her police colleagues call it a sm...

  • Unnatural Disaster

    Whale Rock Police Chief Jaclyn Tadero faces the Oregon Coast’s version of the perfect storm: a tsunami warning during a winter squall. And thanks to Seavy County Coroner Hamilton Denne, she finds herself scouring the beach for idiots drawn to the t...

  • Bleed Through

    Why can’t Larissa remember the man who says she saved his life? Larissa Johanssen has spent her adult life running from her own memories of trauma. As a top-notch journalist, she immersed herself in stories of violence and disruption in other peopl...

  • Craters

    In the future, humans retain the capability to commit acts of terrible violence. For the reporter known as Martha Trumante, determined to find the truth behind the horrors, that truth raises questions so disturbing she might never find a way to repor...

  • The End of The World

    “Kristine Kathryn Rusch ventures into (darker than) Zenna Henderson territory in her effective and atmospheric two-track story ‘The End of the World.’†-- SF Site Small-town detective Becca Keller must struggle with her own demons when her e...

  • Flower Man

    Talia and Max seldom work together at a crime scene, but on this one they must, not just because of the lives lost or the way they died, but because of the memories the crime brings up. Now, Talia must employ her best forensics skills to solve the mu...

  • Hitchhiking Across an Ancient Sea

    Denny and Nikki share a similar history. Or so it seems to Denny when Nikki shows up, bruised and withdrawn, in the quiet Oregon Coast town he now calls home. But history creates a powerful pull on the psyche. Sometimes in good ways. Sometimes in bad...

  • Hitchhiking Across and Ancient Sea

    Denny and Nikki share a similar history. Or so it seems to Denny when Nikki shows up, bruised and withdrawn, in the quiet Oregon Coast town he now calls home.But history creates a powerful pull on the psyche. Sometimes in good ways. Sometimes in bad....

  • Renn and the Little Men

    In the Wild West, gunslingers populate the legend of many a dime novel. And Renn knows her way around a gun -- and a book -- better than most of them, including her famous brother, who can credit his skills to Renn. So, when the strange little men sh...

  • The Tower

    So many mysteries in the past. So many opportunities as well. As Portals, Inc. uses historians to test its time travel devices, historians use Portals to test their theories. Neyla believes the 17th century discovery of the dead Princes near the Bloo...

  • A Helping Hand

    Jamal knows his father has struggled to support the family since Jamal’s mom died. So, when eleven-year-old Jamal finds something shiny in the snow on his way to school, he wonders if he can ease his dad’s burden. But his discovery could put the ...

  • Five Female Sleuths

    Five different women -- a CPA, a lawyer, an Internet service provider, a bookstore owner, and a crime scene investigator -- find themselves in the middle of crimes, crimes so personal that they threaten the women’s lives. These five acclaimed stori...

  • The Life and Deaths of Rachel Long

    When Devon discovers Rachel Long’s music for the first time, it changes him. Her music inspires people. It draws crowds to her, no matter where she performs. But it draws something else, as well. A longing. A compulsion. A need. And for Devon, Rach...

  • Recovering Apollo 8

    In a world where Apollo 8 veered tragically off course, the event sent the astronauts, and the space program, hurtling into space, lost and helpless. The tragedy so affected eight-year-old Richard Johansenn that he dedicates his life -- and the fortu...

  • Sing

    Dirk wants to learn how to sing like the natives, but they have no word for singing nor a concept of it. Until Dirk tries to show a young child her people’s beautiful music. Intrigued, she offers to help -- only to discover that teaching Dirk to si...

  • Snipers

    The Carnival Sniper -- as famous as Jack The Ripper. And like Jack The Ripper, never caught, his identity lost to history. In 1913, the Carnival Sniper terrorized Vienna, murdering the famous and not-so-famous alike. Police Detective Johann Runge nev...

  • Death and Taxes

    People often misquote Benjamin Franklin on the only certainties in life -- death and taxes. But Patrick wonders about the truth in that. Once, young and foundering, he embarked on a quest to challenge life’s inevitabilities. Now, older and jaded, h...

  • Moments

    When a cargo ship in distress docks at International Space Station 3 near Mars, Hoa Nguyen leads the security team. It only takes her a moment to realize something went seriously wrong. The lack of sound, the smell. She’s never encountered anything...

  • Murder, She Workshopped

    You know that famous mystery writer? The one whom death stalks wherever she goes? Turns out bad luck doesn't cause death to follow her. She provokes it all -- for a reason. And this time, someone will stop her. A student at a writing workshop has a s...

  • Spree

    Two days ago, Moira escaped the Midwest with Kasey and her Barbie doll in the back seat of a beat-up van. Now, on sun-drenched Highway 95 in nowheresville Nevada, she wonders if she escaped at all. The residents of Hawthorne, one of the few towns in ...

  • Story Child

    In the years after the Abandonment, the event’s survivors face yet another devastating struggle. Michael does his best to treat the persistent illness, but he secretly wonders if it marks the end of them all. Until the child shows appears. A child ...

  • Becoming One with the Ghosts

    Diving Universe

    The Fleet. In Boss’ time, a thing of legend. Long before Boss and her crew found their first Dignity Vessel, long before the Room of Lost Souls claimed its first life, the Fleet used its advanced technology to explore the galaxy. But even in its he...

  • The Room of Lost Souls

    Diving Universe

    Boss remembers the Room. It haunts her. Her mother died there. Now, a client wants her to go back. She wants Boss to help her uncover the Room’s mysteries. But the truths she discovers might destroy everything Boss holds sacred. The Room of Lost So...

  • Skirmishes

    Diving Universe - 4

    The answers Captain Jonathon “Coop†Cooper and the crew of the Ivoire seek lie in the Boneyards. But they must wait for Boss and her team to dive it, explore the wrecks, and piece together what happened in that faraway place. Boss loves the chall...

  • Stealth

    Diving Universe

    Stealth tech: a lost science everyone wants to reclaim. The woman who helped Boss dive the Dignity Vessel, known then as Squishy, claims a long and storied history with stealth tech. Her research into the lost science caused deaths before, and she fa...

  • The Destruction of a Goddess

    Vi thought trying to teach complicated choreography to inexperienced middle-aged men made for a bad day. But when a Portland homicide detective shows up at Vi’s dance rehearsal, she quickly realizes that bad dance moves pale in comparison to the sc...

  • Flitting Away

    When a vicious attacker leaves Nicole Walker for dead, she fights against the odds to survive. And to succeed, she must remember-the attack, the attacker, even her own desire to live. Her mind wants to flit away and escape the horrors of the atta...

  • Heroics

    Maxwell Scobel writes about heroes for a living. He studies them, imagines them, imagines being them. But when a routine drive turns into a fight for his life -- and the life of his soon-to-be-adopted three-year-old daughter -- he must rise to the oc...

  • Shadows on the Moon

    Justin needs something to believe in. At a crossroads in life, he arrives in New York City reminiscing about the past but uncertain of the future. Until he meets Wendy, who inspires him to take a leap of faith. But soaring into the unknown might prov...

  • Tribute

    Lt. Kenyon serves his country and the war effort by censoring the crew’s letters home, even if his shipmates hate him for it. But when the crew begin writing about a ghostly vision -- a vision impossible to believe but inadvisable to ignore -- he m...

  • Strangers at the Room of Lost Souls

    Diving Universe

    Starbase Kappa. The Room of Lost Souls. An abandoned space station with different names but one certainty: People die there. Still, a soldier can’t argue with orders, no matter how bad a place’s reputation. Enterran Empire Operations Commander El...

  • The Best Defense

    John Lundgren loves the challenge of defending his clients. As a public defender in the great city of Chicago, he defends them all: the guilty, the not-so-guilty, and the bug-eyed crazy.

    But when he gets assigned Richard Palmer, a highly int...

  • Show Trial

    When Robert Cooper first sees Nathalie Renard, he finds himself drawn to her. She seems ethereal, magical. And when he finally meets her, he finds her even more beguiling. But Robert has a job to do, and Nathalie seems the best candidate from the Par...

  • Stained Black

    Simpson will do anything for his art. In a quest to truly understand color, Simpson buys the Alter Ego of a blind man, and begins to explore. Soft yellows, rich reds, decadent browns, and black: every color and no color all at once. But the deeper he...

  • After the Fall

    Peter enjoys his solitary life in the Montana countryside. Higher mathematics, greater thought, sustain him more than companionship. But after a solitary walk along his isolated property’s borders results in a potentially deadly fall, he fights lik...

  • Local Knowledge

    When Detective Webster Coninck arrives at the murder scene outside Tups Tavern, he quickly identifies the body: Tom Johanssen. Former classmate, full of charisma, and a man with enough enemies to line up interviews into next week. Webb finds himse...

  • Twenty Years Later, By Separation Peak

    From early on, Devin Culhane navigates the political world like a pro. When President Milan handpicks Devin as an intern, he comes to idolize Milan as a sort of demigod. Until Devin finds himself confronted with Milan’s past. Devin’s response to ...

  • Waltzing on a Dancer's Grave

    When Greta arrives at Grayson Place with her ballet company, her memories haunt her. Karl Grayson died there twenty years earlier, but she returns to the mansion for the company’s fiftieth-anniversary gala anyway, just as he wished. Karl’s death ...

  • The War and After

    The entire world convulsed in the middle of the 20th century. Everything changed -- even the magical universe. From faerie to mages, from wizards to war criminals, the Second World War touched every single life. The War and After explores the effect ...

  • Without End

    Dylan’s wife Geneva has died. Only Dylan doesn’t believe it. Not because he believes in ghosts, but because he believes in science. Geneva, a physicist, believed that linear time was just a perception, one humans could overcome. If she was right,...

  • Fifteen Minutes at Mercy General

    An emergency: a bleeding teenage girl in ripped clothes on a gurney in a hospital corridor, her mother hastily brought in by the investigating police officer. An emergency, a girl, a family, and a crime so horrible that no one understands until it’...

  • SeniorSource

    For seniors who need a comfortable place to live, SeniorSource fits the bill. Zero-g, medical care, even a work exchange program for those who can’t afford it otherwise. For one former NYPD detective, SeniorSource provides a lifeline. But if he fai...

  • Solo for Concert Grand

    Emily Trencheon lives life as a prodigy -- and a successful experiment. She provides a shining example for the Academy of Universal Languages to continue its program with the Miaslan. But she alone knows the truth. And she fears her final act of comm...

  • Blood Trail

    Detective Zack Wheldon solves cases. The tough cases no one else figures out. So, when the FBI comes seeking his help, he must decide which to choose: the serial killer he desperately wants to catch or the as-yet-unknown cases that will grow cold in ...

  • Controlling the Sword

    Because he lost his arm in the war against Napoleon, Nicholas cannot return to Society. The ton will reject him. Now, he lives in solitude on his estate, claiming he prefers it. Then a child arrives. A young boy who reminds him of his past. A boy who...

  • Five California Tales

    California, a land of mystery, a land of magic. Assassins walk the streets alongside angels. Romance blossoms in the City by the Bay, while death stalks a Los Angeles science fiction convention. In this collection, find the first story featuring Rusc...

  • Killing Time

    Paula finds herself living a memory. Transported back in time, she straddles then and now. She must choose: Relive the past or accept the present. But what if Paula wants a third option -- one no one thought she’d ever choose.“Rusch writes humani...

  • Skin Deep

    When Cullaene learns the colonists want to question him about a murder, he fears for his life. But he must also think about the daughter of the people who took him in. She appears sick, and Cullaene soon realizes only he can help her. But helping her...

  • Coin of the Realm

    Rosalind, a princess of Orsem, believes the kingdom values her less than a coin of the realm. Her father the King confirms her belief when he decides to marry her to a prince from a neighboring kingdom, despite the threats of assassination that pour ...

  • The Dead Line

    Andersonville. The name strikes horror in the memory even now. But before Lieutenant Nathaniel Garrison lost two years of his life to that place, he fell in love with a beautiful Confederate -- and married her at the exact wrong moment. Even fifty ye...

  • Safety Tests

    Devlin trudges through his job on the space station waiting for retirement and hoping he won’t die first. A test pilot with Licensing and Regulation, he makes sure only the most qualified pilots make it to the test flight, let alone pass it. But so...

  • What People Leave Behind

    Detective Andrea Donovan follows her hunches. But hunches without evidence don’t hold up in court. And she refuses to stop digging to prove her latest hunch. A hunch that leads her to disturbing conclusions about a disturbing crime -- one that will...

  • Fumes

    Ernie wants to forget. His short life marred by pain he struggles to understand, he hopes the sirens will blast the thoughts of his mother, his father, of life and death from his brain. Thoughts too serious for someone so young. Thoughts that can sca...

  • ProtectVision

    Sixteen-year-old Sharyn just wants to have fun. But her overprotective father wants to control her life. He uses the latest technology, ProtectVision, to make sure she follows his rules. But technology comes with a price -- one she, her father, and e...

  • Trick or Treat

    The teenage girl wrapped in a sheet calls herself Casper (as in “The Friendly Ghostâ€). But Secret Master of Fandom and private detective Spade doesn’t find her friendly, and she’s definitely not a ghost. Still, Paladin demands that Spade baby...

  • The Voodoo Project

    Rebekah uses her Sight to fight for good. She works for the Voodoo Project, although her work involves psy ops, not voodoo. She fears retirement and a normal life. So she keeps working, going on missions, never knowing when she will face her last mis...

  • Year of the Rat

    The family business: Some embrace it, some reject it. But for one family whose “business†means accepting science and religion, each sibling takes a side. Can something as simple -- and complicated -- as a rat settle the most important questions ...

  • The Arrival of Truth

    Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s alternate history stories have won or been nominated for every award in the sf field. “The Arrival of Truth†shows why. In pre-Civil War Virginia, some slaves tell a story about Sojourner and the Truth. One young girl, ...

  • Harvest

    The almanac determines traditions in Kerry’s family. Only her granddaughter Amanda doesn’t want to follow the almanac. And if Amanda doesn’t, then the power, hidden inside those traditions, might destroy her -- and everyone she loves. Chosen as...

  • Roger, at Sunset

    September, 1963: Roger knows the future. Life in 1960s, the same as in the 1950s, certainly better than the 1940s. Roger’s future looks exactly like his present: the job of his dreams, the wife of his dreams, everything perfect and in a row. Roger,...

  • Trust

    When Carter finds an injured dog along a treacherous stretch of mountain road, he knows rescuing her puts him in danger. But he can’t leave the dog behind, no matter what the consequences. Even if it means revealing his secret. Even if it means los...

  • By the Chimney, With Care

    Punishments for elven crimes vary. So, when Rolf finds himself serving time as a toy on a mantel during the Christmas season, Rolf figures he got off easy. But when a lonely child asks him to deliver a message to Santa, he realizes his rehabilitation...

  • Drinking Games

    As Rikki tries to shove a dead body out of the airlock on a space yacht, she finds herself stopped by a stunningly attractive man. Not because he wants to arrest her for killing the guy, but because he wants to help her dispose of the body.Rikki does...

  • Heart Flesh

    In the months following Tim’s death, Sarah dreams. When a mysterious book with a strange dedication and an even stranger plot arrives at her home, her dreams turn to nightmares. Sarah no longer knows how to differentiate dreams from reality. Findin...

  • Losing Dolly

    Annabeth loses her Dolly three days after her daddy died. Little Annabeth searches everywhere, but she can’t understand why God would take away her best friend so soon after taking her daddy. And so close to Christmas. To heal, she must discover wh...

  • Secrets & Lies

    The ten stories in this collection revolve around secrets, lies -- and crime. Kristine Kathryn Rusch, called one of the best short story writers of her generation, has compiled ten of her best mystery stories into one volume. Here you’ll find cats ...

  • Three Wishes Before A Fire

    On Christmas Eve, Rob finds himself drawn to the set of his TV show. Jaded and disenchanted, Rob hopes to find something, anything, to bring a bit of joy back into his existence. What he discovers that lonely Christmas Eve will change his life -- aga...

  • Bonding

    Marisa relishes her undercover work -- it suits her loner nature. But when an assignment meant to bust a ring of Ce’nark poachers goes sideways, Marisa finds herself in a position she never wanted -- caring for another life form. But returning the ...

  • Chimera

    Gen wishes she could escape that horrible day, the day she lost her world. Medical advances can rebuild her body but not her devastated psyche. For that, she needs therapy. And her therapist insists that she care for another creature -- a chimera. So...

  • The Destroyer

    When a creature appears and offers the feral cat the Bargain -- 24 hours in another form -- the cat forms a plan. He must use the Bargain to his advantage to save the life he knows. But the Bargain comes with hidden perils. And if his plan fails, man...

  • A Little Night Music

    Andrew finds fitting in a problem. But for a change, he’d like to stand out for something he does well. If only the adults in his life will let him.“Rusch is a great storyteller.†-- RT Book ReviewsUSA Today bestselling author Kristine Kathryn ...

  • Skating in Time

    Mickey never imagined her life would turn out this way. But she learned the hard way that life holds many surprises. Seeking solace on the skating rink, she discovers that life’s changes hold hope for new beginnings -- if only she knows where to lo...

  • Second Fiddle

    Homicide Detective Ned Zaleski resents the chief’s decision to enlist Sherlock Holmes’ help in Zaleski’s latest murder investigation. Zaleski fails to see how Holmes, newly transported to the 1990s from his own time by the Santa Cruz Time Wizar...

  • Crime

    From a twisted tale of greed by masterful writer Kate Wilhelm to a dark tale of murder and betrayal by Shamus-award winner Brendan DuBois, Fiction River Special Edition: Crime covers the entire gamut of the mystery genre -- cozy to noir. New York Tim...

  • The Hanging Judge

    People fear Judge Esmé Morell. They call her The Hanging Judge because she actually uses the execution chamber she travels with from colony to colony. She places market value on lives. But she might come to regret that. Because not everyone fears he...

  • The Injustice Collector

    For two centuries, Injustice Collecting allowed for balance in a system populated by many sentient species. Everyone understood the system and its necessity. Until the humans arrived. They want justice for what happened to their children. But the hum...

  • Play Like a Girl

    Inspired with permission by Janis Ian’s song, “Play like a Girl†weaves Ian’s lyrics into a story of empowerment. Haunted by her mother’s ghost, a musician needs to vanquish not only the ghost but her own history, as well. Kristine Kathryn ...

  • The Gallery of His Dreams

    One of the most decorated and famous novellas of the 1990s, The Gallery of His Dreams remains a timeless tale of love, loss, and the power of art. Mathew Brady, the first great war photographer, died broke in service of his art. In The Gallery of His...

  • The Scottish Play

    Portia uses her magic to solve problems -- theatrical problems. She prefers to work alone, even though her two sisters possess magic, too. But her latest job, in London’s West End, poses problems not only because of the play being performed -- the ...

  • Sinner-Saints

    Brash, outspoken, Lillian Hellman follows her own truth. Even when that truth costs her love. From the thirties, where she lived in sin with Dashiell Hammett, to the fifties, where her political aspirations lead her to the U.S. Senate, Hellman stayed...

  • The Enemy Within

    One of Kristine Kathryn Rusch's most acclaimed short stories becomes one of her most original novels. February, 1964: Two men die in a squalid alley in a bad neighborhood. New York Homicide Detective Seamus O'Reilly receives the shock of his life whe...

  • Earth Day

    Albert Suttles’ mother championed Earth Day and its environmental causes. The cause became her first priority, almost an obsession. And Albert’s obsession? His mother. In her honor, he will Save The Earth. In this powerful little tale, Kristine K...

  • Perennials

    Grief often transports us to the past. But for one woman, the transportation becomes more literal. She lives more in the past than the present, her beloved grandmother often tells her. Until one final moment of grief changes her forever.A powerful ta...

  • The Diving Series

    Captain Tory Sabin knows all too well the dangers of the anacapa drive, and that sometimes ships enter foldspace never to return. The ships simply disappear, taking their crews with them.Responding to a distress call from Captain Jonathan “Coop†...

  • Game Testing

    When Jen DeAngelo picked up and moved for the umpteenth time, she didn’t know where she would end up, as per usual. But when she finds herself in a place with family history -- her family history -- she decides to stay and investigate her roots. Bu...

  • Hollywood Ending

    1946: Betty Nerenhauser works with the famous screenwriter Jackson Holden Carter in hopes of learning enough from him to earn her big break. But her break comes when she least expects it -- the day strange little men show up at Jackson’s office ask...

  • Shadow Side

    Dan Retsler left Oregon for a reason. He never planned to return. But something draws him to accept an interview for police chief in a small town near the Oregon Caves. After all, the caves call the mountains their home, not the coast, where Retsler ...

  • The Young Shall See Visions and the Old Dream Dreams

    Nell's determination drives her throughout her life. It allowed her to play baseball when only "tomboys" played. It allowed her to walk again when doctors said she never would. And now, even in old age, it will allow her to find answers to questio...

  • The Application of Hope

    Diving Universe

    Captain Tory Sabin knows all too well the dangers of the anacapa drive, and that sometimes ships enter foldspace never to return. The ships simply disappear, taking their crews with them. Responding to a distress call from Captain Jonathan “Coopâ€...

  • Common Sense

    In our time, Benjamin Franklin helped Thomas Paine emigrate to the colonies, where the two helped shape the creation of the United States of America. But what if Paine had never made it to the colonies. What fate would he have met if he remained in E...

  • Dancers Like Children

    Dr. Justin Schafer travels to the Bountiful colony to investigate a series of brutal murders. The colonists blame the Dancers, an alien species the colony relies on for its livelihood. But the more Schafer investigates, the more complicated the case ...

  • The Early Conundrums

    Spade: Secret Master of Fandom and Private Detective. Paladin: Spade’s enigmatic sidekick and infamous detective for hire. Together: Two of masterful author Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s most popular characters. Included are five Spade/Paladin Conundr...

  • Eating It Too

    Sophie pours love into her cooking. For years, she shared her gift with her husband. Now, she will infuse her baking with every feeling she possesses -- one final act as payment for everything Harold plans for their future. A compelling piece of fla...

  • Fast Cars

    The four musketeers plus one they call themselves: Johnny, Craig, Dale, Rennie and Carren. They want to make something of themselves, do great things after high school. So, they devise an experiment to guarantee their lives will amount to something. ...

  • One Small Step

    Nyalou Templeton serves on the council for Tranquility Base to give some meaning to her life. Liz Borra, on the other hand, wants to control council. So when meek little Nyalou stands up to Liz over the preservation of the Arrival Monument and its fo...

  • Rick the Robber Baron

    When Kita Ogude wakes up tied to a post in her simulation room, she knows marauders have tried to take her ship -- again. But this time something feels off, and familiar. She thinks she knows this marauder. And her desire to regain her ship becomes s...

  • The Silence

    Homicide Detective Spencer Gray knows he should feel grateful for the lack of work due to The Silence -- two weeks without a murder in Manhattan. But he misses the action. More, something feels off. When one of his colleagues suggests a wager to see ...

  • Trial

    A man stands trial for brutally killing a 12-year-old girl. But does a trial bring actual justice? And what can a father do to deal with the horror? A heart-wrenching story about those left behind to cope with the aftermath....

  • When Thomas Jefferson Dined Alone

    When Living History Professor Kimber Lawson’s least favorite student brings her a report of Mary Todd Lincoln conducting séances in the White House, Kimber brushes it off. But then more reports come to her attention -- of historical figures hearin...

  • Rose in Dreamland

    Coney Island in 1907, known for its freaks and spectacles. But for Rose, Coney Island becomes a place of wonder, a place that makes memories. A place that saves lives...A moving story that offers a glimpse at the Coney Island of old through an unexpe...

  • Trains

    In the late 1800s, trains bring with them a sense of mystery and comfort. For Corinne, they also bring Silas. When Corinne meets Silas the first time, she surprises him. When they meet again, she surprises herself. Finally learning the truth might br...

  • Uncertainty

    December 1944: Moe Berg, former major league baseball catcher and now spy for the Office of Strategic Services, finds himself on a mission that would make him something he never thought he’d be: assassin. Specifically, assassin of Werner Heisenberg...

  • FoL

    Jonathan Alexander Nicholas Ashworth the Fourth -- called Nico -- fears nothing. He lives a life of power, prestige, money. He makes his own way, but when that fails, he uses fixers, the best money can buy. Until FoL begins targeting him. Against FoL...

  • Glass Walls

    Beth pays for crimes she committed as a child while under alien influence. Languishing in indentured servitude, her employers use her to satisfy the needs of their alien guests. To cope, she withdraws. But when Beth meets an alien who endures the sam...

  • Heading West

    She heads west to escape. The old-timers watch her coming as the full moon fills the Montana skies. Strange things happen to women here during the full moon. And everyone here knows that but her.“Rusch’s short fiction is golden.†-- Kansas City...

  • Living the Legend

    A beautiful mermaid and a handsome man. Everyone’s read that story. A legend, a fairytale. But what happens when someone really lives that story? Merlisa and Nicholas know. They live the legend -- and maybe they will die for it… In “Living the ...

  • September at Wall and Broad

    September 1920, New York City: Phillipa D’Arco makes a living investigating the past for the United States Government. Bloodless, they call her, making her one of the best operatives. So, when Phillipa fails to return back to 2057 to report her fin...

  • September at Wall & Broad

    September 1920, New York City: Phillipa D'Arco makes a living investigating the past for the United States Government. Bloodless, they call her, making her one of the best operatives. So, when Phillipa fails to return back to 2057 to report her findi...

  • Children

    Dr. Justin Schafer travels to the Bountiful colony to investigate a series of brutal murders. The colonists blame the Dancers, an alien species the colony relies on for its livelihood. But the more Schafer investigates, the more complicated the case ...

  • Northern Correspondent

    Severson made a name for himself once, as a crack reporter. But now, years later, he hides behind his typewriter. Until the day Molly walks through the door looking for a job. Molly, with her ideals and her determination and her courage. Molly mig...

  • Notes from the Buffer Zone

    Mrs. Carpenter considers Tracy a lost cause, one of those students who cares little about school and even less about completing her writing assignments. Until the day Tracy offers her teacher a glimpse into the creative soul that lies beneath the tee...

  • Asset Protection

    Carla uses her thieving past for good. Hired by retailers to test the effectiveness of their security systems, she makes a good living, despite her felony conviction. But when she runs into the detective who busted her years ago, and finds out he, to...

  • Chains

    Jaime McKendrick hates his fame. That, and the ghost that haunts his dressing room at the Broadway theater where he stars in A Christmas Carol. So, when a lost teenage girl finds her way to that very same dressing room, Jaime assumes she’s a ghost,...

  • Commute

    She spends each day as two people: herself and Mr. Haworth’s secretary. Home, work, home, work. Then, a man on the subway train confides in her that he lost his job months ago and kept it from his wife. And somehow, that seemingly random conversati...

  • Harold Angel

    When Susan gave birth to her son on Christmas Day, she named him Harold, after her late father. All his life, Harold wanted to sing. And all his life, Harold met with disappointment. So, when his own son arrives on December 25 as well, Harold faces a...

  • Inspiration

    Cat’s love for John inspires the bestselling romances she writes. Her heroes and heroines experience what she cannot: John’s touch.John, too, longs for Cat’s touch. Instead, he protects her. But protecting the living comes with risks. If he goe...

  • Live Performance

    He loves live music. He lives for it. Once, live performances were an event: People dressed up, listened reverently, knew how to behave respectfully. No more. Now he must contend with coughs and whispers. Or does he…?“Rusch’s short fiction is g...

  • Snapshots

    Cleavon saw his first murder victim at his friend Emmett Till’s funeral. Cleavon fled Chicago to raise his family, but the violence followed him. Now, he worries that his grandson Ty will die as horribly as Emmett, and for no good reason. Cleavon w...

  • The Space Between Hope and Dreams

    Before he left to fight in World War II, Jack promised Myrtle he’d be home for Christmas. But Myrtle begged Jack not to make a promise he couldn’t keep. Christmas after Christmas, decade after decade, Myrtle thinks of Jack and his promise, of the...

  • Sweet Young Things

    Fala wants revenge. Revenge against Preston for ruining her life. Revenge for ruining so many other lives in the process. Preston thought she was just a sweet young thing. But Fala is not sweet. And Preston needs to learn that -- the hard way. “Kri...

  • My Real Cousin Ruby

    For as long as she can remember, she has had two cousins named Ruby. Her so-called cousin, who lives in this world and whom she can’t stand, and the cousin she meets in her dreams -- her Real Cousin Ruby. Her siblings all dream about Real Cousin Ru...

  • Theme and Variations

    Katie’s world revolved around Matthew: her love, her music, her telecollaboration inventions, all focused on him. Even gone, Matthew still dominates Katie’s world. Her memories hold the key to his masterwork, he says.But memories sometimes play t...

  • An Incursion of Mice

    Beautiful longhaired tom Wall T runs a tight household. But when the other cats in his pride begin reporting a mouse incursion, he launches an investigation. What he uncovers might change everything he thought he knew about crime and leadership.This ...

  • A Murder of Clones

    A deadly conspiracy…The Anniversary Day bombings on the Moon sent shockwaves throughout the Earth Alliance. No one knows who created the clones responsible and turned them into ruthless killers. No one knows where or when they’ll strike next.The ...

  • Purity Test

    At the Keep, women serve one purpose: pawns for greater power. Power belonging to Micheline’s father. He uses magic to achieve that goal, but that magic serves another purpose, as well. It tests a woman’s purity. And what Micheline learns about t...

  • Track 61

    Kessa possesses only small magic. But her skills allow her to help those who wield bigger magic. Her latest job takes her deep into the bowels of New York City’s subway system, hunting for bits of history long since forgotten. And what she finds de...

  • The Best and the Brightest

    In a 1960s Chicago where Bobby Kennedy serves as president, Mayor Daley rules the city and Martin Luther King, Jr. finds himself victim to a failed assassination attempt, the African-American community hoped Willis would change the world. But when hi...

  • Hearts

    David loved Kari from the moment he first saw her. That love inspired his art. But something more, something darker might prove his greatest inspiration of all -- if only he can finally look within his own heart.“[Rusch’s] short fiction is golden...

  • Search & Recovery

    Amid the ruin, heroes emerge from the unlikeliest places...The Anniversary Day bombings devastated the Moon, killing thousands. While survivors search for missing loved ones and the rich and powerful set plans in motion to capitalize on the Moon’s ...

  • Courting Rites

    When Silas loses his banjo, he seeks help from a P.I. She takes the job to fill her pockets and the never-ending loneliness of her days. But this job might prove much harder than she thought. Because Silas reminds her of moments in her past -- and sh...

  • War Cake

    Elle believes in the war cakes she bakes. She believes they will help her loved ones return home safely. But not everyone in Elle’s family believes in their power. And that lack of belief can mean the difference between life and death.A story about...

  • Crossing the River Styx

    Edith never wanted to visit the caves. But Frank insisted. Now, Frank lay in a pool of blood in those caves, and Edith wants to know why.When Albert sees Edith emerge from the caves covered in blood, he has no idea what to think. He barely recognizes...

  • The Peyti Crisis

    The Moon barely survived the devastation of Anniversary Day. The second round of attacks planned to kill millions more. With the life of every human and alien on the Moon hanging in the balance, the Moon’s chief security officer, Noelle DeRicci, ra...

  • Phantom

    Stabbings mar the Dixon Theater’s reputation. No one knows who committed them or why. And they only happen on nights where soloists play classical music. Nights when the piano won’t tune. Nights when victims and witnesses see shadows in every cor...

  • Voyeuristic Tendencies

    Maggie knows things. She reads a person’s thoughts and uses that information to make a living. But when she meets the old man, everything changes. He knows things he shouldn’t, things that threaten Maggie’s sense of security. He also says he kn...

  • The Boy Who Needed Heroes

    When Ben’s wife leaves him, taking little Casey with her, he feels lost. Ben just wants to read to Casey, to tell her stories, and he knows just the one: a fairy tale his father read to him as a boy -- before things went bad. But finding the story ...

  • Fighting Bob

    When an African-American woman arrives whipped and tortured at the Club on Lake Superior, she interrupts a meeting of powerbrokers setting up the 1924 senate election. Russell hoped to use the meeting to garner support for his candidate, Joe Stanisla...

  • Playing with Reality

    Charles Myloft Martin the Third arrives at the shadow golf pro-am with a plan. But her plan quickly forces her into a hazard. First, the club refuses to let her play because of her gender. Then, she finds help in the unlikeliest place. And that help ...

  • Precious Moments

    Linameyer prides himself on his open-mindedness. So, when Martina challenges that belief, and wants him to interview her roommate on the radio to prove it, he agrees to meet Rosaura. But the meeting makes matters worse. Even though it’s 1989 and Ro...

  • Sole Survivor

    From the award-winning, bestselling Retrieval Artist Universe comes a story about a pulse-pounding race for survival and a foreshadowing of dangerous events yet to unfold. Takara Hamasaki made plans to leave the far-flung starbase for weeks, but some...

  • Vigilantes

    A shocking act of violence...The looming threat of another attack spurs the Moon’s chief security officer, Noelle DeRicci, to uncover the identity of the masterminds behind the Anniversary Day bombings before they strike again. Armed with informati...

  • Starbase Human

    Can the fate of a forgotten starbase hold the key to the Moon’s survival?Long before the Anniversary Day bombings brought the Moon to its knees, a far-flung starbase became the testing ground for a diabolical plan: the annihilation of every human i...

  • The Streets Where We Live

    When Portia receives a call from an old friend she hasn’t talked to in years, she knows something terrible has happened. But when Portia realizes just how terrible -- fifty kids missing from a Chicago theater with millions of dollars in damage left...

  • Looking for Miriam

    Ben knows Miriam exists, even if his shrink insists he’ll never find her. Ben must let her go, the shrink says, if he hopes to recover from his injury. Still, he looks everywhere, until one day a memory of where she works comes back to him. But jus...

  • Spaceships in the Desert

    Laurel helps many people who return from the desert shaken by what they’ve seen -- or think they’ve seen. But Mark seems different. He listens to her, and he makes her obsession with finding the strange silver objects -- and discovering their sec...

  • Masterminds

    The fate of the Alliance hangs in the balance as the masterminds behind the Anniversary Day bombings trigger the final stages of a plan decades in the making. A plan that will bring about the total destruction of every dome on the Moon. As Moon Secur...

  • The Midbury Lake Incident

    Mary Beth Wilkins knows she made a mistake the moment she sees her beloved library burn. She also knows what she must do next to protect herself and her secret. And although she failed to save this library, she has a more important purpose to fulfill...

  • Children of the Night

    No one told Cammie about the children. She finds out on her sixth eradication. The fear in the little girl’s eyes, the horror at Cammie’s approach, brings on the dreams. She trained hard to become a vampire slayer, but now she questions everythin...

  • Rats

    Nic hunts rats. The kind of rats no one else can find. But while hunting his latest target, he finds more than he bargains for. And these rats might prove the sneakiest vermin Nic has hunted yet.This engrossing detective tale by USA Today bestselling...

  • Christmas Eve at the Exit

    As Rachel decides on a place to spend Christmas Eve, she can’t shake the feeling of being tracked. She knows well how hard they will search for her and Anne-Marie. Rachel knows they will never stop. But Rachel also knows she needs to focus on the p...

  • Midnight Trains

    An American in Paris, Alex faces Christmas alone -- alone and lonely. Hopelessly lonely. He wanders the streets and train stations searching -- for something, for someone, for hope. Until Christmas Eve, when he meets a strange woman in an abandoned M...

  • The Really Big Ka-Boom

    Secret Master of Fandom and private detective Spade thought he would be spending Christmas Eve alone -- until a strange call from Paladin changes his plans. And just when he thinks the evening can’t get any stranger, a huge blast sends his world in...

  • Embedded

    As a long-time embedded reporter, Khalil thinks he’s seen it all. But during his latest assignment -- against an enemy he doesn’t understand and in a conflict he understands less -- Khalil finds himself in the middle of the action, but not in the...

  • After the Wedding

    When Keisha married Ruben, she planned the perfect wedding -- and the perfect wedding cake. But when an uninvited guest ruins the reception, it unravels not only Keisha and Ruben’s perfect day, but everything about their relationship. Keisha’s ...

  • Handfast

    When Ry gave her the gun, she thought it the most romantic gift she’d ever received. But after his death she had to put the magic gun in her past or risk losing her future.Until the day she can no longer keep the gun at bay. It demands answers. Ans...

  • Fiction River

    Our dreams demonstrate their power over us every day. We tell ourselves to dream big. We dream impossible dreams and follow our dreams to the ends of the earth. And sometimes life crushes our dreams or simply snaps them in two.This volume from some o...

  • The Last Surviving Gondola Widow

    In an alternate post-Civil War Chicago, the citizens still remember the day the Gondolas sent by the South died and the city burned -- again. Lou, a Pinkerton detective, uses magic to hunt down the Gondola pilots, now called Gondola widows. She thoug...

  • Primitive Area

    By the time Sara finds herself in the middle of the Idaho Primitive Area, she knows she made a huge mistake. Her decision clouded by the blush of new love, she agrees to accompany Travis on a weeklong hike. Sara, the city girl, in the woods, camping....

  • Night of the Dancing Champions

    Gertie lived by her dancing. The contests earned her a living in those dark days of the Great Depression and acclaim in the days leading up to World War II. But the competitions took their toll -- in haunting ways. Now, decades later, Gertie finds he...

  • The First Step

    Harvey DeLeo spent most of his long career working on one thing: a time machine. Now, he fears he might run out of time to use it. And if that happens, all of his work, all of the time spent will prove meaningless. Because his whole life comes down t...

  • The Island of Lost Priests

    The Catholic Church saved him. At the moment he needed someone most, Father Joe offered him salvation. And he spent his life, and career, trying to live by the rules and order of Catholicism.But when he returns to Brooklyn to work for the Church afte...

  • The Most Recent Madame Fortuna

    Carol grew up with the carnival and its attractions. Like the fortune teller: Madame Fortuna. Now Carol runs carnivals and their employees, including Madame Fortuna.When the screaming begins, Carol doesn’t need a fortune teller to predict trouble. ...

  • Salem Week

    Shanika never wanted to pursue a career in magic. Her mother dreamed that up for her. So, when she makes it to the finals of the American Magic reality show, she figures she’ll do it for her mother -- and the money.But her talent might just garner ...

  • Women of Futures Past

    A collection of wonderful SF carefully selected by ground-breaking editor and author, Kristine Kathryn Rusch. Stories by Andre Norton, Anne McCaffrey, Lois McMaster Bujold, CJ Cherryh and more. Meet the Women of Futures Past: from Grand Master And...

  • Inhuman Garbage

    Years before the Anniversary Day crisis, Armstrong Police Detective Noelle DeRicci investigates a body dumped in a compost bin. But what seems like a regular murder case suddenly puts everyone she knows at risk. And it poses a very political question...

  • Un-Familiar

    Winston’s familiar Ruby, a small black cat, avoids dogs whenever possible. So when Winston finds her in cahoots with a toy poodle-Chihuahua mix, he wants to know why. Ruby, usually so vocal, says nothing. Her silence, that dog, and a storm in the O...

  • The Year's Best Crime and Mystery Stories 2016

    The Year's Best Crime & Mystery Stories contains the best crime and mystery stories that were originally published in 2015 in either print or electronic format as selected by editors Kristine Kathryn Rusch and John Helfers.

    Reading through ...

  • The Falls

    Diving Universe - 8

    Fleet sector bases close as the Fleet moves on. Everyone knows and expects it. But still, the announcement that Sector Base E-2 will close -- although still thirty years in the future -- breeds a mood of tension and anxiety. So, when Rajivk Agwu find...

  • Racing the Clock

    The latest volume of Fiction River Presents makes the heart race. From one woman’s desperate attempts to escape her kidnappers to another woman’s attempts to escape a doomed space station, this volume takes off at a pulse-pounding pace and refuse...

  • Helmie

    When Helmie -- a pampered Persian cat worth millions -- goes missing, the estate hires not one but two investigators to find him. Kelsie uses magic to track down lost animals. But in this case, even she wonders if she can find Helmie.Travis normally ...

  • Fashion and the Snarkmeisters

    Fashion and the SnarkmeistersCaro, once considered the most beautiful woman in the world, had a daughter with a relatively ugly magician. Caro’s daughter, unfortunately, inherited her father’s looks -- and his magic. She uses that magic to help p...

  • Still Life, With Cats

    After covering too many war zones, Joshua returns to his grandparents’ place to find the house neglected and the patio filled with cats. He wanted a refuge from the death he witnesses, but the cat yowls remind him of the cries of the wounded. No...

  • Disrupt Magic

    Abracadabra Incorporated - 3

    Pascal protects magical items for Abracadabra Inc. But when he finds his latest job thwarted by disruptive magic, he decides to find its source.Because Pascal knows how much powerful magic runs through Paris. Old magic. New magic. Wild magic. Dangero...

  • The Museum of Modern Warfare

    When the Ambassador to the Dylft System -- a veteran of the Dylft Wars -- receives orders to lead a diplomatic mission to Craznaust, she wonders at the wisdom of accepting the assignment. Still, when she arrives at the controversial Museum of Modern ...

  • Petra and the Blue Goo

    Petra loves books. And she loves her job at Nuovo Italiano Rare Books Library. So when a group of Bathybobles threatens to destroy those precious books-and to win a game, no less-Petra must stop them. Once she gets the slime...

  • At The Crossroads

    When Kailani arrives in Greenwood, Mississippi, for her latest job, she knows she faces a daunting task. With her job at Abracadabra Inc. on the line, she determines to rise to the challenge.But when she tries to find the magic shop she has been sent...

  • The Runabout

    Diving Universe - 6

    A graveyard of spaceships, abandoned by the mysterious Fleet thousands of years earlier. Boss calls it “the Boneyard.†She needs the ships inside to expand her work for Lost Souls Corporation. Yash Zarlengo thinks the Boneyard will help her disco...

  • Ghosting

    Cudahay tracks ghosts. Not the ethereal kind. The regret-dating-you-so-they-disappear kind. He makes a business out of it with his partner, Serena. She deals with the losers and their sob stories, he tracks down the rather-not-be-found to provide...

  • Oathbreaker

    Nils wants nothing to do with his family or their magic. He hopes for nothing more than to live a normal life. Kasey offers him that life, but more importantly, she offers him love. When Nils’ father warns him against marriage, Nils refuses to list...

  • Sword Wielders

    11 Tales Of Wielders and the Swords They Bear!1. Controlling the Sword by Kristine Kathryn Rusch2. Twice Against the Dragon by Stefon Mears3. A Sword's Poem by Leah Cutter4. In the Waste Places by Kate MacLeod5. First Chosen by M. Todd Gallowglas6. B...

  • Warlocks

    Enjoy the urban fantasy stories of the "Uncollected Anthology: Warlocks" now collected in this bundle.Grab yourself a shot of magic or call up the last dredges of magic. Discover what comes through an open portal or how an undercover assignment leads...

  • Mysterious Christmas

    Murder, mayhem, and all manner of crimes set during the holiday season give this anthology a bite that serves as a delightful change from the sweetness that often dominates this time of the year.This volume contains an abundance of thieves, a few mur...

  • Snow Day

    When Gabriella finds herself stranded at O’Hare airport because of an epic snowstorm, she hopes she will still make it to Thanksgiving dinner with her family. But as the storm rages on, she begins to look for new ways to entertain herself. Until th...

  • Fantastic Feline Heroes

    Who doesn't love cats? And what cat doesn't have a great cat story of their heroism, even if it's only saving their owner from a spider?From honorable feline assassins to compassionate feline dreamwalkers, these cats are saving the world--at least fo...

  • Overworked

    When Detective Mick Hanrahan finds himself subpoenaed back to Seavy County, Oregon, for a homicide case involving his former job, he dreads every minute of it. But Mick quickly discovers the case, which he thought a slam-dunk, involves angl...

  • The City's Edge

    To cope with his wife's death, Petras must come to terms with the reality of it. He needs to see her body, visit the place where she died. understand why she died. But the closer Petras gets to the place Hedie died, the more questions he f...

  • Familiarity

    Winston: A kind and quiet wizard possessed of small magic. Ruby: A familiar with a big mouth and even bigger heart. Together: Two of masterful author Kristine Kathryn Rusch's most beloved characters. Included are five Winston...

  • Research and the Research Librarian

    Stacey lives in the past, writing kick-ass bestselling historical books. When she researches a topic, she loses herself in her work.She knows the Chicago Public Library inside and out. And she prefers to work alone. Until Greg—handsome, compell...

  • Matilda

    Devi follows orders, even if she hates them. Like her orders for this mission: pilot a single ship-The Matilda-on a fact-finding mission in the middle of a war zone. Despite Matilda's apparent fondness for Devi, Devi feels the opposite abo...

  • Little (Green) Women

    JoAnne May Michaels hates Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women. With a passion. And essay assignments? She hates them, too.

    Ironically, when J-May sits down to write an English essay assignment about her most unusual day of the year, only one ...

  • FantasyLife and Other Stories

    AUTHOR PREFERRED EDITIONWhen Lyssa Buckingham left her hometown of Anchor Bay, Oregon, she never planned to return. She thought she could escape her family's legacy. She thought wrong.To help Lyssa's daughter, 10-year-old Emily, Lyssa must rejoin her...

  • Searching for the Fleet

    Diving Universe - 7

    An epic search sparked by a dangerous hope.

    Leaving Boss behind to continue diving the Boneyard, Ivoire Engineer Yash Zarlengo returns to the Lost Souls Corporation’s headquarters to analyze the data from the runabout they discovered there...

  • At Witt's End

    When legendary science fiction fan Brendan Witt dies, Secret Master of Fandom and private detective Spade finds himself planning a memorial charity auction to honor Witt's final wishes.But when some very rare and highly collectible fanzines go missin...

  • On the Trail

    Can love blossom in the world of politics?

    An accomplished political correspondent, Leni knows the challenges of her job. The week before her wedding, she cancels her bachelorette party to cover a presidential candidate. So, when a local bro...

  • Thinkers

    In 1970, a group of Weathermen bombed a statue of Rodin’s The Thinker, where it sat outside the Cleveland Art Museum. The perpetrators were never caught.In 2016, the museum celebrates its 100th anniversary. When Erika begins her internship at the m...

  • Eclectica

    From fantasy to space adventure, pirates, mystery, horror, historical fiction, romance and coming of age you'll find short, snappy reads herein. There is something for everyone in this lucky dip. 19 short stories and collections from multiple authors...

  • Sales. Force.

    Kaylee uses her magic to help her boss, Nia, keep the balance when Nia needs someone with Kaylee's particular talents. But when Kaylee returns to work shortly after her fiancé dies, the assignment Nia proposes leaves Kaylee puzzled.Nia wants K...

  • The Wedding Ring

    When Serena meets Dylan in a casino hallway, she embraces the fairy tale. Whirlwind romance, Vegas wedding, all of it.But when the fairy tale ends abruptly, she vows to find out why. And what she discovers proves more shocking than winning big in Veg...

  • Killing the Angel of Death

    When Roderigo and Izzy form a group to stop the Angel of Death from taking more innocent lives, they realize they need help. One by one, Roderigo recruits people who see the Angel, who know its evil magic, who suffer from the damage the Angel wrea...

  • Sorcery & Steam

    Steampunk and sorcery offer fantastic flights of imagination in this latest volume of Fiction River Presents. From the merciless march of Lovecraftian prose to the echoes of Russell Hoban's Ridley Walker, these nine authors create convincing and comp...

  • The Renegat

    Diving Universe - 11

    As a young recruit, brilliant engineer Nadim Crowe accidentally destroys an entire Scrapheap full of ships. Now, decades later, he ends up on the crew of the Renegat, the only ship in the Fleet ever sent on a mission backwards to investigate an an...

  • The New Crop

    Mary-Louise protects her family's interests. She does what needs doing—like taking care of the racoons that threaten her property and pose a nuisance.But any good leader needs to delegate. Mary-Louise hopes her niece, Emma, will prove worthy of...

  • Once on the Blue Moon

    As Collette's parents take her on an outdated luxury starliner called the Blue Moon to yet another boarding school, she sees this as just one more crappy turn of events.But when the guys with guns show up, she knows boarding school pales in compariso...

  • Midwinter Fae

    Dance with the Fae on the shortest day of the year!On the day of the shortened sunA battle between two kings has begun.The old year dies, and the Oak King rulesWe celebrate with logs of Yule!But the Holly King is defeated, not deadTo Caer Arianrhod h...

  • Rehab

    Caitlin Carter seeks purpose. She needs to, or so her counselors at the VA keep telling her. Find a reason to live. Forget the past.The past haunts her, especially because she lives in her old hometown. The place where the trouble started.Until she f...

  • The Trendy Bar Side of Life

    When the newcomer walks into D's bar, she wonders why. Strangers don't walk into D's bar often. But something about this stranger seems familiar. Reminds her of her past. And just might threaten her future.Kristine Kathryn Rusch's crime stories are e...

  • Escaping Amnthra

    Diving Universe

    "

    When the captain and senior crew abandon the Renegat, linguist Raina Serpell assumes command. She needs to get the ship and remaining crew home.

    As the ship comes under attack from the planet below, Raina must first figure out how to operat...

  • Four Conversations

  • Transport

    When a teenager disappears on the Starlight, the starship captain and crew assume they know why.But one passenger decides to dig deeper. Rostifican uses his many skills to investigate the ship's history—one with a number of suspicious incidents...

  • The Year of the Cat

    In A Cat of a Different Color, the first volume of WMG's The Year of the Cat series, editors Dean Wesley Smith and Kristine Kathryn Rusch worked to find stories that featured cats that were just a little surprising (an impressive feat for cats, anyon...

  • Shadows and Heartstrings

    In an unexpected twist from the tradition of classic romance, these talented writers take us to strange worlds. But even in strange worlds filled with shadows, where time has no boundaries, love pulls at the heartstrings. Kristine Kathryn Rusch opens...

  • A Cat of Disdainful Looks

    Cats possess the ability to snub you faster than anything alive. They turn on the charm when it suits them, but then freeze your soul into an apologetic lump of ice with a single look.The cats in these stories go to sea, work in the mines, foil burgl...

  • The Holiday Spectacular #1

    Read a story per day from the end of November to January first...or binge the entire collection. Stories that center around holidays from American Thanksgiving and Black Friday to St. Nicholas Day, Hanukkah to Boxing Day, and of course, the worldwide...

  • Meeting at the Rise and Shine

    Susan never planned to become a spy, but her fears drove her to it. Now, in the middle of the Nevada desert, she questions her decision.She knows her secrets wield power. But she fears no one listens.Susan must summon the courage to find out.Rusch's ...

  • Stories From The Scratching Post

    Scratching Post? Yes... scratching post. Get swept up in the world that cats rarely let us know even exist. Enjoyment at the turn of every page. Captivating stories penned by some of today's most creative writers.Kristine Kathryn Rusch: Little Miracl...

  • Stolen

    Theft. Our reaction to it can vary based on what was stolen. We might crave stolen moments but fear stolen possessions. We might delight in a stolen kiss but feel the loss of stolen time. The thirteen stories in this volume explore theft in many diff...

  • Totality

    When the first solar eclipse in years arrives on the Oregon Coast, Bryce Walker faces west, away from the eclipse. Instead of watching the sun go dark, he sees a woman wade into the dark, dangerous ocean. Alone.He needs to help her. Because no one el...

  • Bloody Christmas: A Holiday Anthology

    Take stories detailing all the nastiest parts of human behavior, from theft to murder to mayhem, throw in some of the lesser darkness that humans can provide during the holidays, and assemble them into one volume—welcome to Bloody Christmas.The...

  • A Cat of Heroic Heart

    Everyone knows dogs save people. Cats do too, in a different way.Although cats feign an aloof detachment, they possess great heart. A cat rescue comes on its own terms and in its own time, and always with dignified heroism.From a fantastic Midnight L...

  • Squishy's Teams

    Diving Universe - 10

    Diving readers know that Squishy enlisted others to help her destroy stealth tech in the novel Boneyards. But exactly what happened to those teams remained a mystery-until now.Ten people signed up to help Squishy in her fateful mission. Only five ret...

  • Politicians, Lost Causers, and Abigail Lockwood

    1912—In a world where President Andrew Johnson's impeachment trial conviction guaranteed that Reconstruction not only had teeth but also continued into the 20th century, South Carolina stands out as a leader in change, a pioneer of laws that ch...

  • Chances

    Lovers take chances. History and literature both bubble over with stories of chances and mischances, of love lost as often as love won, and even of wars launched in retaliation for stolen chances and illicit rendezvous.The stories in this volume tug ...

  • Death Stopped for Miss Dickinson

    Poet Emily Dickinson writes about death like one who knows it well. But how she knows it proves a mystery to most who know her.Most, but not all.One knows her secret. One who loves her. One whose meeting she might come to regret for an eternity.A dar...

  • Stories from Pulphouse

    Pulphouse: The Hardback Magazine changed the publishing landscape when the anthology series first appeared in 1988. The series won the World Fantasy Award as a recognition of the power of its fiction and the transformative nature of the publication. ...

  • Thieves

    Diving Universe - 9

    A race against time.Weeks after Boss' injury from the runabout dive, she continues the mission to salvage Fleet wrecks for the Lost Souls Corporation. But Boss feels like she lost something after that fateful dive.Until something happens in the Boney...

  • Thieves

    Diving Universe - 14

    A race against time.Weeks after Boss' injury from the runabout dive, she continues the mission to salvage Fleet wrecks for the Lost Souls Corporation. But Boss feels like she lost something after that fateful dive.Until something happens in the Boney...

  • Dark & Deadly Passions

    Dark and deadly passions fuel crime. Often violent crime.The stories in this compelling volume traverse an emotional rollercoaster. Some revenge stories uplift, while the very darkest stories shine a light on the disturbing underbelly of human nature...

  • Maelstrom

    Diving Universe

    Nedda Ferguson-Lithe lost her father on the Gabriella's final mission. The ship's disappearance remains one of the great mysteries of the sector.But as Nedda interviews the crew's survivors, she finds more questions than answers.No one knows who or w...

  • Fun House Mirrors

    When Cassandra's career in politics takes a turn she doesn't expect, she struggles to accept her new reality.So, when she starts seeing things in mirrors that shouldn't appear, Cassandra knows what she sees could prove gift or curse. Or both.Rusch is...

  • Puckish Behavior

  • Colliding Worlds, Vol. 1

    The First Volume in the Acclaimed Series!For more than four decades, New York Times and USA Today bestselling writers Kristine Kathryn Rusch and Dean Wesley Smith wrote professional science fiction short stories that won awards and sold millions of c...

  • Colliding Worlds, Vol. 2

    The Second Volume in the Acclaimed Series!For more than four decades, New York Times and USA Today bestselling writers Kristine Kathryn Rusch and Dean Wesley Smith wrote professional science fiction short stories that won awards and sold millions of ...

  • Colliding Worlds, Vol. 3

    The Third Volume in the Acclaimed Series!For more than four decades, New York Times and USA Today bestselling writers Kristine Kathryn Rusch and Dean Wesley Smith wrote professional science fiction short stories that won awards and sold millions of c...

  • Colliding Worlds, Vol. 4

    The Fourth Volume in the Acclaimed Series!For more than four decades, New York Times and USA Today bestselling writers Kristine Kathryn Rusch and Dean Wesley Smith wrote professional science fiction short stories that won awards and sold millions of ...

  • Colliding Worlds, Vol. 5

    The Fifth Volume in the Acclaimed Series!For more than four decades, New York Times and USA Today bestselling writers Kristine Kathryn Rusch and Dean Wesley Smith wrote professional science fiction short stories that won awards and sold millions of c...

  • Colliding Worlds, Vol. 6

    The Final Volume in the Acclaimed Series!For more than four decades, New York Times and USA Today bestselling writers Kristine Kathryn Rusch and Dean Wesley Smith wrote professional science fiction short stories that won awards and sold millions of c...

  • The Watch

    The justice system fails many. So, sometimes victims take matters into their own hands.But the quest for justice sometimes hinges on the smallest detail—and a great deal of patience.A riveting story from Edgar Award-nominated author Kristine Ka...

  • The Holiday Spectacular #2

    Read a holiday story per day from the end of November to January first...or binge the entire collection.This volume contains 37 stories—ranging in genre from mystery to fantasy to romance—that center around traditional holidays such as Ch...

  • Paperwork to Come

    The closing hangar doors haunt Alaina. They represent failure.But Alaina refuses to fail again. Not on this mission. Not with the fate of a child on the line.For a decade, SYT launched missions to rescue women. But this new organization—with a ...

  • A Matter for God

    George manages funerals for his church. The flower arrangements, the food, even the air temperature.But when a parishioner that nobody likes dies, he finds himself facing a moral dilemma—questioning everything he ever believed.[Rusch's] short f...

  • The Chase

    Diving Universe - 16

    On the run.After fleeing pursuers from two different missions, Boss and Coop reconvene at the Lost Souls Corporation headquarters. Both share exciting but troublesome news.And a whole lot of questions.But before they begin to even scratch the surface...

  • The Demise of Snot Rocket

    All serious runners know about snot rockets. At least in pre-pandemic times, they did.But one particularly talented runner relishes snot rockets more than others.When he turns up dead, the list of potential murderers runs longer than the list of meda...

  • Fantastic Christmas

    Venture forth into the delightful adventures of ghosts and elves and imps and more found in the magical worlds of Fantastic Christmas.Enjoy sweets for the sweet romantics, charming ghosts and imps to capture the imagination, and stories both heartwar...

  • Stories for the Cold of Winter

    Light-hearted holiday stories abound, but when the days turn cold and bracing, darker tales tempt the senses. This collection of five stories from award-winning and bestselling master of short fiction Kristine Kathryn Rusch fits that bill.All centere...

  • Ten Little Fen

    When Secret Master of Fandom and private detective Spade agreed to step in as director of SierraCon, he thought the job under control.Until a snowstorm traps all the fannish attendees inside. Then the con gets really interesting…But when fen s...

  • Unity Con

    When Paladin calls Secret Master of Fandom and private detective Spade and asks him to come to a new con he swore he'd never attend, he agrees. Because he can't say no to Paladin.But what Spade finds when he arrives at the con makes him immediately r...

  • And a Cup of Good Cheer

    Gail looks forward to her annual Christmas shopping trip to the high-end specialty foods store. Until her phone keeps interrupting with news alerts and a barrage of texts from her husband, Ron.Ron never texts her, and the messages grow increasingly w...

  • The Blitz Experience

    Tenesha McGuire misses her Grand immensely. She wishes she could visit her great-grandmother more often, but Grand lives in London and Tenesha in Chicago.So, when an opportunity to chaperone a school trip to London allows her to spend time with Grand...

  • The Reflection on Mount Vitaki

    Groundbreaking, intriguing, and captivating, New York Times bestselling author Kristine Kathryn Rusch's The Reflection on Mount Vitaki sets the stage to launch her acclaimed Fey series into exciting new territory.When Kyra Row Kirilli feels the pull ...

  • Alien Ball

    Frank loves basketball. His long career covering basketball puts him in high demand. His purist views on the game well-known.So, when the Ashtenga seek to form an Ashtenga/Human League for basketball, the Interglobal Sports Network wants Frank to giv...

  • The Dark Man

    An investigative reporter trying to survive the collapse of the news industry, Condi now works for the Organization of Strange Phenomenon Ancient and Modern. They pay really well and respect her terms. Terms like allowing her to expose the strange ph...

  • Reunion

    Jenn remembers August DuLac. Her high school sweetheart. Her ideal for the perfect man.August broke her heart. And then life broke her spirit.So, when Jenn attends her thirty-year high school reunion, she questions why she came. But when she runs int...

  • The Holiday Spectacular #3

    An Annual Holiday Celebration!Read a holiday story per day from the American Thanksgiving to New Year's Day...or binge the entire collection.This volume contains 38 stories—ranging in genre from mystery to romance and in tone from dark to joyfu...

  • Human Business

    Rémy uses his magic to help people. Fae and human.But as World War II intensifies and threatens even the coastal sanctuaries in France, he knows that precious little time remains to save anyone.Rémy's magic gives the Allies and the fae ...

  • DNF

    Runners do not finish races for a lot of reasons. But when a runner does not finish at the first Night Frights Run in Las Vegas, Warren worries that the Halloween-themed race might prove far more pulse-pounding than anyone intends.With just the right...

  • Mistletoe Moments

    Romance and holidays go hand-in-hand. In this year's sweetest WMG Holiday Spectacular anthology, award-winning editor Kristine Kathryn Rusch offers a lovely collection of romantic holiday stories to add a bit more heart to the season.From traditional...

  • A Weird Holiday Season

    Forget run-of-the-mill holiday stories. In this cleverly creative WMG Holiday Spectacular anthology, award-winning editor Kristine Kathryn Rusch offers a carefully curated collection of unexpected holiday stories to add a delightful twist to the seas...

  • Vigil

    When Rhonda holds a vigil for World Aids Day in the tiny Oregon Coast town of Rickets Rock, she hopes to find someone, anyone, to mourn with her.But she just might wind up saving someone instead.This powerful story about compassion and acceptance dem...

  • Frank's Corner Bar

    Frank's Corner Bar boasts a long history. And traditions. Especially Christmas traditions.But this year, Christmas might just hold a few surprises for everyone.Kristine Kathryn Rusch's crime stories are exceptional, both in plot and in style.—M...

  • Other People's Stupidity

    Rachel knows the law better than most judges, and the clients she defends pay her accordingly. Especially boneheaded clients, whom she charges a stupidity fee.But as New Year's Eve approaches, someone from her past needs her help. A sexy someone. Som...

  • Rocket Girls

    Angie achieved fame as a spacer. But when some fresh-faced interviewer asks Angie to tell the origin story of the Space Bimbos, the interviewer gets more than she bargained for. Instead, Angie tells the tale of a group of ambitious and talented ...

  • Ice Breakers

    Maya knows her job as mining supervisor, and she knows it well. But do the higher-ups listen to her? Of course not.But when the biggest ice storm yet hits Xeunite, Maya finds her incompetent bosses the least of her worries. As the storm rages, Maya f...

  • Serving Process

    Julia serves process in Corvallis, Oregon. One of the lawyers in her office warns her of the dangers her job poses, but she just needs two more years of interning to qualify for law school.But her last subpoena of the day offers more than she bargain...

  • The Kirilli Matter

    Gripping, imaginative, and a tour-de-force of thrilling storytelling, New York Times bestselling author Kristine Kathryn Rusch's The Kirilli Matter launches her acclaimed Fey series into exciting new territory.When the investigation of a brutal murde...

  • Fantasies Collide, Vol. 1

    The First Volume in the Acclaimed Series!For more than four decades, New York Times and USA Today bestselling writers Kristine Kathryn Rusch and Dean Wesley Smith wrote professional fantasy short stories that won awards and sold millions of copies.No...

  • Fantasies Collide, Vol. 2

    The Second Volume in the Acclaimed Series!Volume 2 takes the reader into the world of urban fantasy, where things seem familiar but quickly turn strange. Urban settings, twisted fantasy in twenty breathtaking stories.For more than four decades, New Y...

  • Fantasies Collide, Vol. 3

    The Third Volume in the Acclaimed Series!Volume 3 features dragons, fairies, cats, and more. Oh, so much more, including a talking oak tree named Fred. Rusch and Smith called this volume Creatures, but the twenty acclaimed stories in this book go far...

  • Fantasies Collide, Vol. 4

    The Fourth Volume in the Acclaimed Series!Otherworldly fantasies. Rusch and Smith create new fantasy worlds like no one else. Twenty stunning otherworldly stories in this volume.For more than four decades, New York Times and USA Today bestselling wri...

  • Fantasies Collide, Vol. 5

    The Final Volume in the Acclaimed Series!Volume 5 ends the series with twenty dark fantasy stories. And Rusch and Smith do dark fantasy better than any two writers working today.For more than four decades, New York Times and USA Today bestselling wri...

  • Our Opera Singer

    At times, many seek ways to change their existence. Some take classes.Our Opera Singer shows up in a voiceover class. A decision everyone in the class might come to regret. Perhaps most of all, her.Our Opera Singer perfectly captures Kristine Kathryn...

  • The Court-Martial of the Renegat Renegades

    Diving Universe - 13

    The Renegat Renegades finally learn their fate in New York Times bestselling author Kristine Kathryn Rusch's The Court-Martial of the Renegat Renegades, the gripping new novel in her award-winning Diving series and an Asimov's Readers' Choice Award w...

  • The Holiday Spectacular #4

    An Annual Holiday Celebration!Read a holiday story per day from American Thanksgiving to New Year's Day...or binge the entire collection.This volume contains 39 stories—from mystery to romance to time travel, that range in tone from joyful to s...

  • Drinking in the Afternoon

    People disappear for many reasons. Sometimes, for reasons only they know.And sometimes, the missing will do whatever it takes to stay missing.A poignant story about grief, loss, and finding a way to cope, Drinking in the Afternoon demonstrates Kristi...

  • Candy Cane Kisses

    What pairs better than peppermint and hot chocolate? Romance and the holidays, of course!In this year's most charming WMG Holiday Spectacular anthology, award-winning editor Kristine Kathryn Rusch offers a sweet collection of romantic holiday stories...

  • Crooked Little Christmas

    Crime threads its way through everything, including the holidays. But for writers, that just adds some spice to their creativity.Take this WMG Holiday Spectacular anthology, in which award-winning editor Kristine Kathryn Rusch offers holiday tales fr...

  • The Thanksgiving After

    Kimi enjoys her new life and her new job at the outlet mall, even during the Thanksgiving shopping rush. But Kimi hides secrets. And she fears she might need to run. Again.Kristine Kathryn Rusch's crime stories are exceptional, both in plot and in st...

  • Time Travel Holidays

    Time travel might not seem like the standard holiday story fare. But in the hands of talented writers, you'll find yourself transported to new places and new world .In this incredibly creative WMG Holiday Spectacular anthology, Hugo and World Fantasy...

  • Ivory Trees

    Diving Universe - 18

    Ancient tech draws dangerous unwanted attention in New York Times bestselling author Kristine Kathryn Rusch's Ivory Trees, the thrilling new standalone novel in her award-winning Diving series.When the discovery of a bunker reveals a treasure trove o...

  • New Beginnings

    New Year's Eve at the hottest party in the city. Until a bomb at midnight shatters everything.One guest should have known what was coming. Now, she must decide what to do next. Her life depends on it.Kristine Kathryn Rusch's crime stories are excepti...

  • Every Little Thing

    After sixteen hard years sober, Charlotte feels her sobriety threatened in an instant when she sees her former lover's obituary. Gage. Handsome Gage. The secrets they shared. Dark secrets…Kristine Kathryn Rusch's crime stories are exceptional,...

  • Except the Music

    Max finds himself distracted at this year's music festival on the Oregon Coast by a strange woman who seems to know him. He can't make sense of her.But he needs to, for reasons he can't explain. His music depends on it.A deeply moving story, Except t...

  • Morning Shift

    1974. Jane loves working the morning shift at the diner. She loves the people she works with, too. But when Jane's past catches up with her, she will need to rely on her own skills to save herself. And just maybe a little help from her co-workers.Kri...

  • Olivia's House

    When a notorious local developer claims to own the home of the late Olivia, her neighbors band together to stop him. But as they each work to thwart the developer, secrets pile on secrets until everyone finds themselves with something to hide.Kristin...

  • Stealth Bloggers

    After the murder of an antisocial regular at a neighborhood coffeeshop, Portland homicide detective Addy Shaefer catches the case. The victim proves as obnoxious online as he did in person, leaving plenty of motive but few suspects. Until Addy enlist...

  • Take Your Daughter to Work Day

    Garrett loves his brilliant, sullen daughter. But when Garrett's wife insists he take their daughter to work with him, Jocasta's brains might just prove more than he bargained for. Because Jocasta seems to know exactly what Garrett does for a living....

  • The Viral Video Guy

    Law firms expect their lawyers to represent paying clients. So, when Bryce Bowson refuses to represent a wealthy client's daughter who faces a murder charge, Bryce stands to lose everything. Bryce knows what losing everything feels like. Will he surv...

  • Beneath the Waves

    • / Science Fiction
    • Buy

    Water has always intrigued humanity. We walk along the shores and banks of oceans and waterways, take boats across the surface, or swim in the waters.But water hides secrets - including those of the creatures that live in its depths...- What if merma...

  • Cold-Blooded Christmas

    • / General Fiction
    • Buy

    Scrooges unite! In this crime-filled WMG Holiday Spectacular anthology, award-winning editor Kristine Kathryn Rusch offers a darker and more disturbing take on holiday stories to add a bit of mischief and mayhem to the season.From characters fighting...

  • Finding Kristine

    • / General Fiction
    • Buy

    After spending 2020 searching for hope and enjoyment... Finally 2021 has arrived and with it Finding new roads to hope and enjoyment have arrived. This genre busting collection of stories and characters comes from some of the world's most amazing wri...

  • Joyous Christmas: A Holiday Anthology

    • / General Fiction
    • Buy

    Joy abounds during the Christmas season. A sense of magic threads through everything, and the spirit of make-believe becomes almost commonplace.The authors in this anthology capture that joy with stories marked by fun, goofiness, touching sentiment, ...

  • Sunset With Her

    • / General Fiction
    • Buy

    12 Stories Of Women's Bravery And LoveSweet Young Things By Kristine Kathryn RuschMake Myself Just One More By Dean Wesley SmithPoisoned Pearls By Leah CutterTainted Waters By Leah CutterBroken Women By Anne HaganRelic By Anne HaganA Simple Love Stor...

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Kristine Kathryn Rusch has published 472 books.

Kristine Kathryn Rusch does not have a new book coming out soon. The latest book, Except the Music, was published in January 2024.

The first book by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Traitors, was published in January 1988.

Yes. Kristine Kathryn Rusch has 5 series.
Pseudonyms / Co-Author
Author Series
Multi-Author Series
Top Authors in Aliens
No ads, please...

$20 / year

FictionDB Premium Membership

Subscribe