Tuesday, November 08, 2011

Diving into the Wreck -- Kristine Kathryn Rusch

Kristine Kathryn Rusch is a writer I admire tremendously. She's prolific in four of five genres and has won awards in all of them. For years she edited The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction and became the only person to win a Hugo for both editing and writing. Besides all that, she's been part of a small press, and she has a blog that's much more professional and ambitious than this one.

Diving into the Wreck is the first book in a new series about, well, wreck divers. Boss (that's her on the cover, I assume) is the professional wreck diver, which means that she gathers crews to salvage wrecked and long-abandoned spaceships. When she discovers a wreck far from where it should be, from a time when faster-than-light travel was impossible, she knows she has an unusual find. Little does she know. The crew she puts together finds out that the ship possesses stealth technology far beyond anything known to current science. It's the kind of tech that could shake up the whole galaxy.

Bad things happen. Boss loses crew members and leaves the wreck. She becomes a shuttle for tourists who want to dive safe, well-known wrecks and tries to forget the dangerous ship. Fat chance. A stranger comes to hire her to go back. Her estranged father is involved, and so is a lot of Boss' past that she'd rather forget.

Wreck diving is a cool concept, and Rush has a fine storyteller. If you like SF adventure, this is one you need to check out for sure.

7 comments:

Mel Odom said...

I read this one and enjoyed it. There is a sequel.

Unknown said...

I knew about the sequel but don't have it yet. I'll have it eventually, though.

Anonymous said...

I put this on my list. Sounds good. I like her series of shorts set behind the scenes at genre conventions.

Jeff

Unknown said...

I like those shorts, too, Jeff. I singled them out for a mention in my Mystery Scene column.

Bud said...

Haven't read yet, but will. You've rightly pegged Rusch as a very good writer indeed!

George said...

Sounds like my kind of book. I'm ordering it and the sequel!

Todd Mason said...

Call it special pleading if you will, but Avram Davidson did win the Hugo for writing short fiction and F&SF won under his editorship...

A good year for magazines, 1963...the shortlist:

Best Professional Magazine

The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction ed. by Avram Davidson
Analog Science Fiction and Fact ed. by John W. Campbell, Jr.
Galaxy ed. by Frederik Pohl
Fantastic ed. by Cele Goldsmith
Science Fantasy ed. by John Carnell