Showing results by author "Kristine Kathryn Rusch" in All Categories

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 races to discover the identity of the masterminds behind the attacks before it's too late. Desperate to find answers, DeRicci turns to Retrieval Artist Miles Flint and Detective Bartholomew Nyquist for the kind of help only Flint and Nyquist can provide.

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 bombings compel Earth Alliance Frontier Marshall Judita Gomez to launch an unauthorized investigation into a case from her past involving the murder of clones. An investigation that might cost Judita not only her career but the lives of her crew.

Officer Noelle DeRicci is investigating a murder in Armstrong, the domed colony 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, believing she was no longer in danger.

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 inhabitant by an army of clones.

Are vampires a bloodthirsty menace to mankind? Or simply misunderstood creatures struggling to survive? After hearing these seven stories, you'll be able to decide for yourself. From the horrifying to the humorous, some of today's finest authors share stories about one of mankind's oldest imagined evils, the vampire. From F. Paul Wilson's title story to Esther Friesner's comic tale of rival teens trying to best one another, these stories bring vampires to (un)life, in all their majesty and terror.

Are vampires a bloodthirsty menace to mankind? Or simply misunderstood creatures struggling to survive? After hearing these six entertaining stories, you'll be able to decide for yourself. From the horrifying to the humorous, some of today's finest authors share stories about one of the oldest imagined evils, the vampire. From Tanith Lee's chilling story to Esther Friesner's comic tale of rival teens trying to best one another, these stories bring vampires to (un)life, in all their majesty and terror.

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 30 years ago with her children.

In the years following the invasion of the Fey, Blue Isle has maintained an uneasy peace. But the marriage between the Islander prince, Nicholas, and the Fey king's granddaughter, Jewel, has not brought their peoples together in true unity, as they had hoped. And worse, the firstborn son that Nicholas and Jewel had hoped would bring the Fey and the Islanders alike to accept their union has proven to be an empty husk of a child, seen by both races as an ill omen.

While survivors search for missing loved ones and the rich and powerful set plans in motion to capitalize on the Moon's misfortune, one ruthless man vows to uncover those responsible for the attacks on the Moon. Luc Deshin, the most feared man in Armstrong, knows all too well the bombings could have killed the wife and son he loves more than life itself. To protect his family, Deshin immerses himself in a criminal network he fought long and hard to leave behind.

Urban fantasy offers a diverse playground for some extremely powerful stories. Professional writer and editor Kerrie L. Hughes pulled some fantastic tales out of 14 top writers for this fifth installment of Fiction River. Set in urban lands from modern Portland, to a future Detroit, to a wild Washington, D.C., and ending the tour in London, these top writers take the idea of "Hex" and stretch and twist it into stories with a magickal grip on the imagination.

Two different best of the year collections, including the prestigious Best American Mystery Stories, chose G-Men as one of the best stories of 2008. Part police procedural, part political thriller, this clever tale features real life characters interacting with fictional ones.

Short novels are movie-length narratives that may well be the perfect length for science fiction stories. This audio collection presents the best-of-the-best short science fiction novels published in 2015 by current and emerging masters of this vibrant form of storytelling.

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, whom Spade thought was only a rumor. Paladin needs help finding a teenage boy whom she says vanishes whenever she approaches him.

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. Convinced the experience in the Boneyard proves the Fleet still exists, Yash buries herself in her work, interested in little else. Ivoire Captain Jonathan “Coop” Cooper notices Yash’s growing obsession with finding the Fleet and joins her in her search. For the first time in six years, the crew of the Ivoire feels real hope. Coop and Yash know all too well the dangers hope can pose.

To pay off her law school debts, Kerrie works in the public defender's office at the Interspecies Court. She has more clients than she can defend, most of them from cultures she does not understand. The public defender's office loses almost all of its cases, but sometimes it gets a win. Kerrie thinks she has a winner. But does she? Or will winning the case mean she loses at everything else?

The answers Captain Jonathan "Coop" Cooper and the crew of the Ivoire seek lie in the Boneyards. But an encounter from Coop's recent past shows up to haunt him, an encounter he never told Boss about, an encounter that could threaten her future, his life, and the fragile peace between the Alliance and the Empire.

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 discover if the Fleet still exists. Boss and Yash, while exploring the Boneyard, discover a small ship with a powerful and dangerous problem: the ship's active anacapa drive.

On the sun-scorched planet Bountiful, human colonists live peacefully alongside natives known as Dancers until an unspeakable disaster devastates the colony. Six children found dead, their bodies marked in a bizarre parody of a Dancer ritual. The crime's solution makes the situation worse, sending ripples throughout the sector, shattering lives. One man tries to heal those lives. But can he heal everyone involved, and still save himself?

Everyone has dreams, but most people don't know how to achieve them. Goals help people achieve their dreams, but how do you know if you've set the right goals? In this book-length excerpt from the massive Freelancer's Survival Guide, international best-selling author Kristine Kathryn Rusch will help you set the right goals to achieve your dreams. She also has tips for staying positive and remaining patient while you're on the road to success.

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 operate the ship’s firepower. Harder still, she must battle her own past to become captain in more than just name alone.