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

Defying their Black King in order to rally an attack on the peaceful Blue Isle, warrior-prince Rugar and his fearless daughter, Jewel, do not suspect that the islanders, under young prince Nicholas, have prepared to defend themselves.

Somewhere in the galaxy, millions suddenly perish in a blinding instant of pain, anguish, and despair, a disruption of the Force so shocking, it is felt by Luke at his Jedi academy on Yavin 4 and by Leia at home on Coruscant. It is a deed that rivals the terrifying power of the Death Star, the long-destroyed weapon of the defeated Empire.

In the world of speculative fiction… Your favorite authors… Have selected best new voices of the year.

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 she's dived the ship, she'll either leave it for others to find or file a claim so that she can bring tourists to dive it as well. It's a good life for a tough loner, with more interest in artifacts than people.

Who better to narrate today's best science-fiction stories than today's favorite science-fiction stars? This exciting collection features many.

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.

Watch out - the Earth just fell into a dark sun's orbit! Or maybe you'd rather visit a theme park called Hell? These are just two of the strange and unnerving tales you'll find in this collection of great science fiction and fantasy stories.

Four 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 that begins with the murder of the mayor, and spreads across the moon itself.

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.

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 even if it means destroying Arianna's very essence in the process. And when the queen's body is not her own, it spells trouble for a warlike empire already beginning to chafe under the strictures of peace. Worse, it seems that the only person who can help Arianna is her brother, Gift, the legitimate heir to the Black Throne - and the one the Throne itself has chosen as ruler.

Blue Isle, scene of a violent clash between its human native and the magical Fey, has now become the center of attention of the Fey king, Rugad. He is returning to finish the Fey invasion begun years ago but thwarted by the discovery that Blue Islander holy water was fatal to the aggressors. That stalemate has produced a wary coexistence, even intermarriage between royal families of the two races, but Rugad wants only one thing: total domination--and he will stop at nothing to get it

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, years after discovering that first ship, Boss has put together a large company that finds Dignity Vessels and finds "loose" stealth technology. Following a hunch, Boss and her team come to investigate the city of Vaycehn, where 14 archeologists have died exploring the endless caves below the city.

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.

Ten people signed up to help Squishy in her fateful mission. Only five returned. Paired up in teams of two, they set out across the Enterran Empire to infiltrate and sabotage the Empire’s bases used to back up their stealth tech research. But what exactly happened on those bases? Who survived? Squishy’s Teams provides the answers to those burning questions and reveals twists to the ongoing saga no one sees coming.

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.

Stashie is a heart reader. She wields a dangerous magic: one that reveals the truth at the heart of a person. So when the old king needs to know which of his sons has he pure heart, and which must be killed, he turns to heart readers to tell him the truth. But Stashie is a victim of vicious Gerneral Tarne, the country's military leader. The empire's killing machine ruined her life - this is her chance for revenge.

Retrieval Artists help the lost find their way back home, whether they like it or not. Specialized private detectives, they investigate the most unusual crimes in the galaxy. But Miles Flint isn't a Retrieval Artist. He's just a cop, trying to do his job.

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....

The conflict on Blue Isle is rapidly reaching a head when one unexpected event suddenly gives the Islanders a fighting chance. Adrian's son Luke, chafing under Fey rule, leads a group of his fellow farmers in a secret strike against a Fey outpost.

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-grandchildren: the fiery Arianna and the gentle Gift. For one of them will inherit the Black Throne, and Rugad will not rest until he owns them both, body and soul. Yet, in the wily and courageous Arianna, this legendary warrior may have met his match.