Recommended Reading List: August, 2018

Typos abound, even here on my website. I had this labeled August 2019 for the longest time. Who knew that I would be able to recommend books I would read a year from now? Seriously, though, August started out well, with the Amanda Quick book that I just devoured. I had a lot of other reading to do, and much of it was fun. I […]

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Recommended Reading List: April, 2017

First, apologies for the fact that the font changes sizes below. I have no idea why or how to fix it. I tried a bit, but life is too short. It’s a function of me writing different paragraphs at different times, importing links from other places. Sorry… April was a fascinating reading month for me. Dean decided to write a short story per day, so […]

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Free Fiction Monday: 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 that information could change the course of history—but sometimes change brings consequences too harsh to bear.

“Twenty Years Later, By Separation Peak,” by New York Times bestselling author Kristine Kathryn Rusch, is free on this website for one week only.

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Writing, Mysteries, Bundles, and the Contracts Book!

I have lots of fun stuff to share. I hope you saw that the latest Diving novel is out (and the Recommended Reading List has returned). I also have a story in The Best American Mystery Stories 2016, edited by Elizabeth George. I love her work, so I’m particularly flattered that she chose a story of mine. If you haven’t read “Christmas Eve at the […]

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Business Musings: Idle Thoughts

Late Saturday night, I finished teaching a writing workshop about history, alternate history, and time travel for professional writers. We read a bunch of books, worked on technique, and talked about turning points in history. Turning points are important for time travel and alternate history. Identifying turning points and then postulating what would happen if something went differently is an essential skill for the time […]

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Another Day, Another Bit of News

Today’s news? I’m in another bundle. This one, the Political Thriller Bundle, will be available until the day after the U.S. election. And while I seriously can’t wait for this particular election cycle to end, I don’t want this bundle to end too quickly—although it will. November 9 is only 61 days away.

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Free Fiction Monday: 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 after years as a Chicago detective, he finds himself investigating those he thought beyond reproach. And the deeper he digs, the more questions he finds—about his past, about himself, and about the future of the very faith he once considered his salvation.

This alternate history story originally written for the Vatican Vaults anthology takes place in a world where Pope John Paul (I) does not die a month after his accession in 1978 but instead reforms the Church and opens up the most secret parts of the Vatican Library to scholars. New York Times bestselling author Kristine Kathryn Rusch explores what might have happened if some Church secrets came to light years earlier than they have in our own reality.

“The Island of Lost Priests,” by Sidewise Award-winning author Kristine Kathryn Rusch, is free on this website for one week only.

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Free Fiction Monday: 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 thought she had caught them all. But when evidence comes to light that one last widow hides in the most public of places, Lou must […]

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Free Fiction Monday: 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, forced to give up her own children and nurse a white baby, wonders what the Truth will mean. Will it set her free? Or will it force her to make terrible choices of her own? “The Arrival of Truth” by Sidewise Award-winning author Kristine Kathryn Rusch casts light on the powerful struggle between right and wrong, slavery and freedom and is free on this website for one week only.

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Free Fiction Monday: 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 soothe a fractured nation, inspire change and chart the course for the nation’s future. Because his speech in Gettysburg will change history, but not necessarily in the way he hopes. “Well-Chosen Words” by Sidewise Award-winning author Kristine Kathryn Rusch is free on this website for one week only.

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