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 Santa himself? The darker side of Santa shows up in two of the Christmas stories in this collection, "Doubting Thomas" and "Rehabilitation." Real criminals-the scary kind-make an appearance in "Snow Angels" and "Substitutions." And just to add a bit of the proper Christmas sentiment, "Nutball Season" closes the volume-with a not-so-sinister Santa, a...

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," which was a finalist for the Best Fiction Maggie Award given by the Western Publications Association, and "The Moorhead House," which was chosen as one of the top ten stories of the year by the readers of Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine.

"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 ex-husband calls her to help with a mass grave unearthed at the site of his resort-restoration project in the Oregon desert. Her investigation unearths more questions than answers-about the bones and about the past. Winner of the UPC Special Award, The End of The World explores the complexities and range of the human condition.

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 stories include Edgar nominees "Cowboy Grace" and "Spinning" and Shamus nominee "Discovery" as well as two stories considered among the best in their year of publication, "Patriotic Gestures" and "Jury Duty."

In this WMG Writer's Guide, international bestselling author Kristine Kathryn Rusch discusses the destructive ways peer workshops and the quest for perfection derail many writers' careers. Listening to critics and academics-amateur and professional-often strips out the joy of writing. And a failure to recognize writing as a business furthers the potential damage. But Rusch offers hope for writers who have suffered at the hands of critique-external and internal-and outlines a path to healing.

Most writers run their careers the same way they did in the 1990s. But publishing has changed so much since then that any writer who works on the old model will no longer make a living. In this WMG Writer's Guide, international bestselling writer Kristine Kathryn Rusch shows you how to think about the new world of publishing, who to trust, and who not to trust. She also gives you a blueprint for survival-what to learn, what to ignore, and how to find help. If you are a successful professional writer-or hope to become one-then this book is for you. -I have friends who have absolutely relied on...

Former journalist turned journalism teacher Larissa Johanssen moved back to her hometown to escape the violence she once covered on a national stage. Until that violence strikes her high school, her students. Now, she must help her students deal with the type of coverage that drove her to the breaking point. And she must revisit parts of her past she thought long buried-and separate truth from fiction to finally begin to heal. -A well-conceived, well-executed novel.- -The New York Times Book Review on Alien Influences - Rusch's] writing style is simple but elegant, and her characterization...

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" (a Seavy Village story), "Discovery" (a Shamus Award nominee), "Stomping Mad" (a Spade story), "Dragon Slayer" (a fantastic tale), and "The Retrieval Artist" (a Hugo Award nominee).

The second original anthology in the Fiction River line, How to Save the World brings together eleven of today's brightest authors, presenting their answers to solve a pressing problem facing the human race. From the growing energy crisis to women's rights to overpopulation to the survival of humanity in the future, the stories in this anthology examine the issues facing our planet today-and offer hope for our survival tomorrow. "Fiction River is off to an auspicious start. It's a worthy heir to the original anthology series of the 60s and 70s. ... It's certainly the top anthology of the year...

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 never caught the Sniper and his failure defined the rest of his life. In 2005, bestselling crime writer Sofie Branstadter receives permission to use modern forensic investigative techniques on the Sniper's victims. She believes she can figure out the identity of the Sniper, but she needs the help of Runge's great-grandson, classical pianist Anton Runge....