70 thoughts on “Retrieval Artist Series”

  1. Just finished reading “The Impossibles: a Retrieval Artist” short story (translated on the Italian Magazine “Robot”, issue 94). I wanted to say, amazing fiction and use of the short format. I’m looking forward to read more of your work and who knows, maybe steal a trick or two.

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  2. Just finished relistening to the entire Retrieval Artist series and it’s still as good as I remember! I’m curious when you’re going to come back to the Universe. As I’ve been listening to the series a term from another sci-fi series for what the clone laws add up to occurred to me. Genetic slavery.

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  3. Kristine,

    I’m a newcomer to the Retrieval Artist Series. I’ve just read The Disappeared and Extremes and reviewed them for my blog. I’m really enjoying the interplay between Miles and Noelle.

    I have planned to read the rest of the series and review it for my blog. Thanks again for creating a thought-provoking sci-fi mystery series.

    http://kammbia1.wordpress.com/2013/11/17/book-review-47-the-disappeared-by-kristine-kathryn-rusch/

    http://kammbia1.wordpress.com/2013/12/20/book-review-48-extremes-by-kristine-kathryn-rusch/

    Marion

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  4. I was just wondering if you the new Retrieval Artist or Diving universe books will be available in MP3 format from Tantor or Downpour or perhaps Barnes and Noble? I don’t purchase from Audible due to their DRM. I don’t want to get into a pro or con DRM discussion, as minds are made up there, I just wanted to buy your new books if they were available now or in the future in a format I support. If not, OK, my loss. I will never buy anything from Audible. Keep writing, I like your books. Best wishes, B. H. Giza

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    1. Sorry, B.H. I don’t have the books available through those organizations if they’re not associated with Audible in some way. Audible does do other formats which go to different markets, including CDs, so there is a possibility that they are affiliated with those companies, but if so, I’m not aware of that. Wish I could be more helpful.

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  5. hi just a quesion iif i may when is Kristine Kathryn Rusch – Retrieval Artist #10 going to be released? is it going to be end of 2013? last book was dec 2012..

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    1. Yeah. It’s bigger than I thought it would be. There will be news on all this shortly (a month or two). The next book will be in 2014, but exactly when won’t be set until later this year. Thanks for the interest. Oh, and there will be a novella in the RA universe in Fiction River #6 Moonscapes.

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  6. Just finished reading through the series for the… 4th time, I believe. It was interesting to see how things hit me differently this time around, since it was the first time I’d read them since I became a father. It’s one of my very favourite series, and one I’ve been following since the beginning. I eagerly look forward to each new volume as it arrives, and am very pleased that the opportunities in the changing world of publishing mean that they’re back in print and can once again be recommended to friends without having to lend out my own prized copies.

    In honour of the announcement of Voyager 1’s departure from the solar system, here’s a location that figures prominently in both a novel and novella:

    http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Valhalla_crater_on_Callisto.jpg

    Take care
    -Justin-

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    1. Oh, thank you for the link, Justin! That’s so cool!

      I’m very glad you’re enjoying the series. More books soon, I promise! And yes, I’m so happy to have them all in print at the same time.

      Thank you for the kind words.

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  7. I heard about the Retrieval Artist series from Orson Scott Card’s blog and I’m glad I followed his advice. I’ve blown through the first 8 audiobooks in a week. You have NO idea how much sleep I have lost not being able to push the pause button. I love the fact you don’t use an over abundance of foul language. Now it’s time to start Blowback and lose more sleep in the process!

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  8. Hey, Kris. I’m one of the four big spenders who ponied up less than the price of a latte & pastry for the Electronic edition of a Special Retrieval Artist Short Novel. I’m trying to convince myself I’m not whining too hard about the delivery date, as that enticement proved not to be a popular one. I’ll settle for a declaration of series order, if it has one, and continue to wait, cheerfully.

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  11. I’ve heard that the next Retrieval Artist story is expected later this year. What about the Diving Universe (another great series)? I really want to know what happens next!

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  12. Wow! I enjoyed these books very much and when they stopped showing up on book store shelves I just assumed the series was on hiatus. Saw a link over here from John Scalzi’s web site and stumbled across the pointer to the new volumes. Very cool…I’ll be ordering them shortly to catch up with the series…

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  13. Hi,

    I adore the Retrieval Artist series. I see in the comment above you may take time out to write a YA series focusing on Talia. I’m sure it will be as good as everything else you write, but don’t forget about those of us who love Miles Flint and all the great mysteries in that series. I think we’re hooked forever, which I’m perfectly fine with.

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    1. I won’t forget, Holly. Miles and the mysteries are what I call my 87th precinct series. Ed McBain wrote those from the early 1960s until his death earlier this decade. I hope to do the same.

      Thanks so much for the comment and I will keep that in mind. 🙂

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  14. Ms. Rusch…I’ve love Si-Fi since I was a teen and found Robert Heinlein’s Red Planet Mars..that was ..ahem..about 1956. So I’ve been reading for quite a while.

    A couple of years ago I had eye-surgery and daughter hooked me up with Audible. I love that I can listen to a book and be creative, do housework, drive..basically be able to listen t novels and do other things.

    Recently Audible had a special-I think-and I picked up the first of your Recovery Man novels. I was totally hooked! Mystery and Si-Fi all in one. And Mr Snyder is fantastic as a narrator. He allows me to imagine each character as he reads.

    Needless to say, I couldn’t stop at one book and ended up with the whole series, listening straight through and wanting more.

    During the story of Talia (I may have names spelled wrong because I don’t see them in writing) there was a discussion of bullying and clones. I happened to be in my car with my 8 year old grand daughter, who had been listening to her book, “The Magic Tree House” on my old iPhone which I basically turned into an iPod for her when I got a new one.

    She stopped to listen to the story about clones and we ended up having a real deep discussion of clones vs twins, bullying-something that is very much an issue in schools now as you obviously knew, and she became so interested in the story she wanted to listen to all the books.

    I’m very glad that the novels are family friendly for the most part..I don’t have to wear my headphones for fear she will hear too much violence or sex..I may enjoy it but she’s not ready and doesn’t need it.

    Thanks for this great series. I’m looking forward to more books and grand daughter wonders if Talia is going to have a series of her own. She really likes the spunky attitude, and as grand daughter has parents both into computers, she understands the lingo and connected with Talia doing computer research.

    Just a thought should you want to do a YA series….

    My very best wishes and deep thanks to you and Mr Snyder for the hours of entertainment.

    Elle Hayes..Beaverton Oregon

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    1. Thank you, Ms. Hayes. I’ll let Jay Snyder know how much you like what he does as well. 🙂

      Please tell your granddaughter, yes, Talia will have her own series. I just have to get there. I thought I was writing the background for that series when I started Anniversary Day. Instead, I have a three-novel arc plus some to get through first! I also have a bullying story that centers around Talia that I must write Real Soon Now.

      I am so happy to hear all of this. Thank you so much for the comment.

      Best,
      Kris

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  15. I know you are horribly, horribly busy, but I thought that I would point out that this web page (Retrieval Artist Series) is very out of date. Many of the “coming soon” books have been out for some time.

    I am enjoying the series, as time permits. Thanks!

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    1. Hi, Kris
      I have always enjoyed fantasy, which is why your “Fey” series has been my favourite all time series.

      I had never been a SciFi fan, until I started reading The Retrieval Artist series. I must say, you have converted me.

      And, WHOA! I think Blowback has been my favourtie book of the series. I have enjoyed every page from the start of The Disappeared, but I couldn’t put down Blowback. It was so exciting to read right from the first chapter. The pace was so fast, that I felt dizzy. You have really outdone yourself with this story, and I look forward to reading more as you continue taking us on this wild journey.

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  17. Argh, I just finished reading Anniversary Day, & I didn’t realize I would be left hanging. When’s the rest of the story coming?! Soon, please! :>

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  18. OK Kris, I finished listening to “Blowback” over the weekend. Great book. Always leave them wanting more… except now I have to wait, like another YEAR before the next book becomes available? :p Arrggh!!! I am NOT good with delayed gratification, LOL.

    I solved my listening problem by doing mindless stuff like laundry, cleaning the garage, cutting the lawn, all while listening to “Blowback” on my iPhone. Even taking Zuni, my trusty border collie for long walks was a good excuse to listen to 45 minutes or so at time. So it is officially YOUR fault for starting a trend. Zuni now expects that as soon as the earphones go on that it is time to GO!! LOL.

    Have a great week! I’m starting “Diving the Wreck” so I have at least three books set up for my week. Cheers, Kelly!

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    1. I’m sure Audible is happy that I trained your dog this way. 🙂 Glad you liked it. I know, I know, on this particular story. It’s too big for one book. I’m hoping the third will wrap up this sequence…

      Thanks.

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  19. I just wanted to drop you a short note regarding your “Retrieval Artist” series. I really enjoyed the books and the characters. I started by reading the short story “The Retrieval Artist” and then went back and purchased each of the books and short stories as Kindle books. I just finished “Anniversary Day” and purchased “The Impossibles”, but what I am curious about is the release date of “Blowback” on Kindle (or iBooks, or Kobo.) It appears that “Blowback” is only available as an audio/audible book. Is this a publishing strategy of which I am not aware? So this is my long way of asking when will “Blowback” be available as a Kindle e-book?

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      1. Thanks for responding so quickly! Unfortunately I was not willing to wait the 90 days for the Kindle edition, so I bought the audible book, against my better judgment. What’s wrong with audible books? Nothing, I have been listening to “books on tape” for 25 years – but mostly when I am driving, particularly long trips.
        I originally started listening to John D. MacDonald’s “Travis McGee” novels (abridged, of course) and to this day I will always associate Darren McGavin’s voice as that of Travis McGee. But I digress.
        At a certain point in my life I spent a large portion of my day driving to and from work (1:10 minutes each way if traffic wasn’t too bad) at 120 kilometres per hour on a superhighway. Few distractions, it was like listening to the old radio dramas, albeit without the sound effects and different character voices. I could drive and let the story unfold in my mind. Unfortunately when I tried to listen to books without the driving or some other activity, things didn’t go so well. Basically if I was listening and sitting in a chair I would tend to get drowsy and fall asleep. I know – it sounds like I’m either getting too long in the tooth (I’m 53 this month) or worse.
        So I am willing to try out the audible book thing again and see what happens. I still would have preferred the print (or more correctly “e-print”) version, but I am impatient to see how things are developing with Noelle, Miles, Taila, so for the sake of my curiosity I am going to concentrate really hard and “listen” things through.
        As you may have gathered, I live in Canada, specifically the Toronto area. You may or may not be aware that in Canada the main bookstore business is dominated by Indigo / Chapters book chain. For many reasons, including the belief that the Canadian consumer has, for years, been screwed by the exchange rate and the higher sales prices on books sold in Canada, I began buying from Amazon.com. As you mentioned in your “Bookstore” post I often find that the Chapters stores, while large, seem to have a limited number of titles in stock.
        As an example take your book “Diving Into The Wreck” – while Indigo/Chapters indicates that it is in stock on their website, it is not in stock in any of the 8 bookstores near my home. I have encountered the same thing numerous times over the last six years – they have stock – in their warehouse. You can order it and they’ll have it within a week. This is fine, except that I can order from Amazon and get it just a fast – AND – cheaper. How? Because Amazon’s prices tend to be lower AND are not subject to the Goods and Services Tax. Depending on where the exchange rate is, I’ll still save money. It might only be a few cents but it is still cheaper and easier. This of course assumes that I want the physical copy of the book – but for the last year I can count the number of physical books I have purchased on one hand. Most I buy the Kindle edition (first choice), or the iBooks version (second choice) or the Kobo version (last choice). Kindle gives me the greatest selection, competitive or lower prices, and the greatest options for reading (iPhone, iPad or PC) versus the others. Oh, and with Kobo I have to pay the tax, not so with Kindle or iBooks.
        I have been working my way through your blog on the business of publishing. It is fascinating reading and a great view not just for new wannabe authors but even for the general public. I confess that I assumed that all bestselling authors (not necessarily NY Times bestselling) did well, after all their books seemed to be everywhere. I had not realized how the traditional publishing industry had been screwing authors for years. I was extremely surprised that when negotiating with publishing houses authors did not have contract lawyers reviewing the contracts as a matter of course!
        I’ve taken enough of your valuable time. Write on…
        Cheers, Kelly

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        1. And that’s why Audible wanted the exclusive, Kelly! They figured some folks would try the audio books. I’m really pleased with Jay Snyder’s readings, and happy to have him interpret the books. I hope you enjoy it.

          Glad you’re enjoying the blogs as well. Yeah, it’s all in flux. I appreciate the confirmation on what’s happening in Canada. Each country is going through changes, and it’ll be interesting to see how it all changes.

          Thanks again.

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  20. My husband started reading DISAPPEARED & EXTREMES and was interested in any others in this series. I would like the list please. If you have the time. Thank You.

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  21. I just wrote a long reply about how much I enjoyed your books .I got to the end, hit the wrong button, and erased it all.Ah,such is Life.This reply will be much shorter.I look forward to the continuation of the story line of “Anniversary Day”.I’m kinda hoping Talia makes some sort of connection with her “Sisters”.Thank you for many hours of great reading.

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    1. Larry, you’re just a little ahead of me. I planned to announce the publication dates of Blowback, the next Retrieval Artist book, over the weekend. (It’s already announced on http://www.retrievalartist.com) That book will continue the storyline in Anniversary Day. Eventually, I will get to Talia’s sisters. Ironically, I started that book, realized she had to graduate from school, went back to try to figure out what happened in those years, and good old Nyquist popped up, wanting to tell me about his day on that first bombing–and suddenly, I had Anniversary Day. (Well, not suddenly.) So I must finish that up before I get to the book I’m tentatively calling Talia’s Revenge.

      I’m so glad you’re enjoying the books, because I’m having fun writing them. 🙂 Thanks for letting me know.

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  22. Just finished Buried Deep. While I’ve enjoyed all of the Retrieval Artist series so far, this one really got to me. I know when a story is great when I have to put it down for awhile to get my emotions and identification with characters in check.

    Thanks for a another very good read.

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  23. Just picked up both Paavo Dershin and Anniversary.

    And now I saw on Dean’s site that you’re coming out with Blowback sometime in the fall!

    Excuse me while I do my Snoopy dance and fan grrl squee! 🙂 I don’t think I’ve been so excited about a series…except maybe the Harry Potter series. 🙂

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  24. Kris,

    I just got through Anniversary Day from audible, the narrator does a great job reading the story, and it was fun seeing how Mile’s life has gotten complicated with his daughter and all the relationships but I was a little disappointed how a lot of the major threads were left hanging when it finished. When can we expect the next Retrieval Artist book. I’ll be reading Boneyards next.

    Thanks – Dave

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    1. Later this year, Dave. The story’s too big for one book. It’ll spread over three. And if my friend Bill hadn’t died, you would have had the second book by now. I’m behind because of that.

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    1. The hold-up is me, Crucis. “Coordinated Attacks,” is a shorter version of parts of Anniversary Day. I’m not sure readers would be satisfied to read something they have before. The next novel, however, is coming in a few months. I’m tangled in all the plot threads and hoping to resolve them soonest!

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  26. I’ve started the Retrieval Artist series a while back, not in order, and I like it a lot. I love the setting, the omnipresent technology and the very clearly drawn background. I was amazed at some ideas, especially the Moon Marathon in Extremes (and the mindset of the people around it). And I appreciate the characters, especially the supporting cast which gets to stick around a bit and develop. The only book that I didn’t take to was the first, The Retrieval Artist, because I felt Miles Flint was way too much in control (and way too much into control as well). That said, every other Retrieval Artist book that I’ve read so far has been great fun.

    I’ve also tried some more fiction from you and I found things I like a lot.

    Just one small problem. I read on Kobo, and I couldn’t find some Retrieval Artist books (namely, Consequences, but others as well I think). It says above that this book is available on Kobo, though. Now Kobo’s search algorithms sometimes leave me perplexed, but I really tried. Is there anything you can do about it ?

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    1. Hmmm, Rémi, that is the first I’ve heard of the Kobo problem. We use a distribution service with them. Kobo doesn’t allow us to go direct yet. So I’ll see what I can find out through the service. You might try a different search: book title or Retrieval Artist or just two of my three names. Sometimes that works. (You might also try spelling Rusch without the “c” It doesn’t matter how many times I tell other places to spell my name sch, they spell it sh.) Good luck and thanks for letting me know. I’ll see what I can do from here.

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  27. Just discovered “A Retrieval Artist” series last Monday (16 April). I am now reading “Duplicate Effort”, Will find “Anniversary Day” next. I love a prolific writer who does not make you wait months (and even years) for the next book in a series. Also one who finishes a plot with each book. I wish writers with all those “continued” plots would finish the complete story and then publish the books, one right after the other. Love your stories and will become a big fan or your writing.

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    1. Thanks, Richard. I’m glad you’re enjoying the books. Unfortunately Anniversary Day doesn’t wrap as nicely as the others, but there are two more books that are to come (hopefully soon) which will wrap up that storyline. Then I’ll get back to the individual stand-alones. I hope you’re picking up the short novels as well. They add to the novels, I think.

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  28. Love the Retrieval Artist series. Read the first ebook and then ordered the next four. Glad I found your website and books!

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  29. Thanks for the info and I know this is probably in the wrong section but are the Diving Universe stories also going to be printed like this or it seems some parts are in the first two trade paperbacks?

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    1. Ox, I’m mixed about what to do with some of the Diving universe novellas. Some of them, like “Diving into the Wreck” and “Room of Lost Souls,” are in different form in the book. So I’m not sure if readers would get angry at me if they bought the book & the novella not realizing that they’re parts of the same story. Really on the fence there, and until I figure it out, those novellas won’t stand alone. But… There are others, like “Becalmed” that are already e-books. They too are part of the Diving universe, but not in the novels. And those novellas will be published as individual trade paper. Just this afternoon, I was working with some of the WMG folks, trying to get a firm print production schedule. I’ll let you know as soon as I know. Promise. 🙂 (And more of those books will come along in the next 12-18 months as well.)

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  30. I am assuming when you say trade paperback of the short novels of The Recovery Man’s Bargain and The Possession of Paavo Deshin these will be hardcopies and do you still plan on doing them? or for Coordinated Attacks?

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    1. Ox, thanks for the question. They will become short paperbacks by fall. WMG has finally hired a dedicated paper book person, so once she gets up to speed, the trade papers will come fast and furious.

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  31. Today is a fantastic day. I found and read the first 7 Retrieval Artist in January of last year. I was just googling “books like disappearance service” to try and find other book like the amazing series and low and behold there is a new one! I have just purchased Anniversary Day from Audible and I am 30 minutes in and loving it.

    I have unceremoniously pitched The Count of Monte Cristo back onto the bookshelf everything comes a distant second to Miles Flint!

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    1. LOL, Ricarn. Poor Dumas. 🙂 Thank you so much for the comments. I hope you enjoy the new book. The next will be out this summer, with luck.

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  32. Oh, I’m embarrassed. I didn’t even see the big “Retrieval Artists series in chronological order” header. Chalk it up to too much work and a sinus infection.
    🙂

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  34. The retrieval Artist is now one of my all-time favorite series. Finished reading all the books in Spring 2011 and had to wait until the next release in December 2011. I made it! Received Anniversary Day (signed) for Christmas and it is great. TY(just posted review on Amazon.)

    I am also exploring all your other books as well and have yet to find one I haven’t liked. My wife is even reading the “Charming” series and loves it. I admit I haven’t tried those…

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