Rusch, Kristine Kathryn 1960-(Kristine Grayson; Kathryn Wesley Kensington; Kris Nelson; Kris Rusch; Sandy Schofield)

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RUSCH, Kristine Kathryn 1960-(Kristine Grayson; Kathryn Wesley Kensington; Kris Nelson; Kris Rusch; Sandy Schofield)

PERSONAL: Born June 4, 1960, in Oneonta, NY; daughter of Carroll E. (a math professor) and Marian M. (a homemaker; maiden name, Beisser) Rusch; married Randall Thompson (divorced, 1986); married Dean Wesley Smith (a writer), December 20, 1992. Education: University of Wisconsin, B.A., 1982; Clarion Writers Workshop, Michigan State University, 1985. Hobbies and other interests: History, music, film, theater, needlework.

ADDRESSES: Home—P. O. Box 479, Lincoln City, OR. Agent—Merrilee Heifetz, Writers House, 21 West 26th St., New York, NY 10010. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Freelance journalist, 1978-86; WORT Radio, Madison, WI, reporter, 1980-86, and news director, 1983-86; owner, Shire Frame Shop & Galleries, 1981-84; editorial assistant, Wm. C. Brown Publishers, 1984; secretary in Eugene, OR, 1986-89; founder, with Dean Wesley Smith, of Pulphouse Publishing, Eugene, OR, 1987, and editor of Pulphouse: The Hardback Magazine, 1987-91; editor of Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, 1991-97; freelance author, 1982—.

AWARDS, HONORS: World Fantasy Award (with Dean Wesley Smith), 1989, for work with Pulphouse Publishing; John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, 1990; Locus Award for Best Nonfiction (with Dean Wesley Smith), 1991, for Science Fiction Writers of America Handbook: The Professional Writer's Guide to Writing Professionally; Locus and Homer Award for Best Novella, both 1992, both for Gallery of His Dreams; Hugo Award for Best Editor, 1994; Homer Award for Best Novelette and Readers Choice Award, Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, both 1998, both for Echea; Readers Choice Award, Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, 1998, for Details; Readers Choice Award, Science Fiction Age Magazine, 1998, for Cool-hunting; Herodotus Award for Best U.S. Historical Mystery, 2000, for A Dangerous Road; Hugo Award for Best Novelette, 2001, for Millennium Babies; Deadly Pleasures Best Books of 2001 citation, for Smoke-Filled Rooms; Reviewers Choice, Romantic Times, 2000, for Utterly Charming, and 2001, for Thoroughly Kissed.

WRITINGS:

The White Mists of Power (novel), Roc (New York, NY), 1991.

The Gallery of His Dreams (short novel), Axolotl Press (Eugene, OR), 1991, reprinted in The Year's Best Science Fiction: Ninth Annual Collection, edited by Gardner Dozois, St Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1992.

(With Kevin J. Anderson) Afterimage (novel), Roc (New York, NY), 1992.

Traitors (novel), Roc (New York, NY), 1993.

Heart Readers (novel), Roc (New York, NY), 1993.

Facade (novel), Dell Abyss (New York, NY), 1993.

Alien Influences (novel), Millennium [England], 1994.

(Editor, with Edward L. Ferman) The Best from Fantasy & Science Fiction: A 45th Anniversary Anthology, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1994.

Sins of the Blood (novel), Dell (New York, NY), 1994.

The Fey: The Sacrifice (novel), Millennium [England], 1995, Bantam (New York, NY), 1996.

The Devil's Churn (novel), Dell (New York, NY), 1996.

Star Wars: The New Rebellion (novel), Bantam (New York, NY), 1996.

(Compiler) Star Wars Diplomatic Corps Entrance Exam, Ballantine (New York, NY), 1997.

(Contributor) Margaret Weis, editor, Legends: Tales from the Eternal Archives, (collected works), Penguin (New York, NY), 1998.

(With Kevin J. Anderson) Afterimage; Aftershock, Meisha Merlin (Decatur, GA), 1998.

(Contributor, with others) Star Trek: Invasion! Omnibus, (collected works), Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1998.

(Under name Kris Rusch) Hitler's Angel (novel), St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1998.

(Contributor) Star Trek: Day of Honor Omnibus, (collected works), Pocket Books (New York, NY), 1999.

(Under pseudonym Sandy Schofield) Predator: Big Game, Spectra (Dillon, CO), 1999.

(Contributor) Strange New Worlds II, (collected works), Simon & Schuster, (New York, NY), 1999.

Black Throne: The Black Queen, Bantam (New York, NY), 1999.

(Author of introduction) Mike Resnick, A Safari of the Mind, Wildside Press (Holicong, PA), 1999.

The Black King, Bantam (New York, NY), 2000.

In the Shade of the Slowboat Man (radio script; adapted from Dean Wesley Smith's story of the same name), produced by Seeing Ear Theatre, 2000.

Stories for an Enchanted Afternoon, foreword by Kevin J. Anderson, Golden Gryphon Press (Urbana, IL), 2001.

Little Miracles and Other Tales of Murder, Five Star (Waterville, ME), 2001.

(Under pseudonym Kathryn Wesley Kensington) The Monkey King (novelization), Kensington (New York, NY), 2001.

The Retrieval Artist, and Other Stories, Five Star (Waterville, ME), 2002.

The Retrieval Artist: The Disappeared, Roc (New York, NY), 2002.

WITH HUSBAND, DEAN WESLEY SMITH

(Editor) Science Fiction Writers of America Handbook: The Professional Writer's Guide to Writing Professionally, Writers Notebook Press (Eugene, OR), 1990.

(Under pseudonym Sandy Schofield) Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: The Big Game (novel), Pocket Books (New York, NY), 1993.

Star Trek: Voyager: The Escape (novel), Pocket Books (New York, NY), 1995.

(Under pseudonym Sandy Schofield) Aliens: Rogue (novel), Bantam/Dark Horse (New York, NY), 1995.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: The Long Night (novel), Pocket Books (New York, NY), 1996.

Star Trek: Klingon! (novel), Pocket Books (New York, NY), 1996.

Klingon Immersion Studies (CD-ROM), Simon & Schuster Interactive (New York, NY), 1996.

Star Trek: Rings of Tautee (novel), Pocket Books (New York, NY), 1996.

Star Trek: The Next Generation: Invasion! Soldiers of Fear (novel), Pocket Books (New York, NY), 1996.

(Under pseudonym Sandy Schofield) Quantum Leap: The Loch Ness Monster (novel), Ace (New York, NY), 1997.

(With Nina Kiriki Hoffman) Star Trek: Voyager: Echoes (novel), Pocket Books (New York, NY), 1997.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine; The Mist: The Captain's Table, Pocket Books (New York, NY).

Star Trek: Day of Honor—Book Four (novel) Pocket Books (New York, NY), 1997.

Double Helix: Vectors, Pocket Books (New York, NY),

The Tenth Planet, Del Rey Books (New York, NY), 1999.

The Tenth Planet: Oblivion, Del Rey Books (New York, NY), 2000.

X Men, Ballantine (New York, NY), 2000.

Star Trek: Thin Air, Pocket Books (New York, NY), 2000.

Black Throne, Book 2: The Black King, Bantam (New York, NY), 2000.

The Tenth Planet: Final Assault, Ballantine (New York, NY), 2000.

Star Trek Voyager: Shadow, Pocket Books (New York, NY), 2001.

Roswell: No Good Deed, Pocket Books (New York, NY), 2001.

Roswell: Little Green Men, Pocket Books (New York, NY), 2002.

Star Trek Enterprise: By the Book, Pocket Books (New York, NY), 2002.

"THE FEY SERIES"

The Sacrifice: The First Book of the Fey, Bantam (New York, NY), 1996.

The Fey: The Rival, Bantam (New York, NY), 1997.

The Fey: The Resistance, Bantam (New York, NY), 1998.

Victory: The Final Book of the Fey, Bantam (New York, NY), 1998.

UNDER PSEUDONYM KRISTINE GRAYSON

Utterly Charming, Zebra Books (New York, NY), 2000.

Thoroughly Kissed, Zebra Books (New York, NY), 2001.

Completely Smitten, Zebra Books (New York, NY), 2002.

UNDER PSEUDONYM KRIS NELSON

A Dangerous Road, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 2000.

Smoke-Filled Rooms, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 2001.

Thin Walls, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 2002.

"STAR TREK VOYAGER COMIC BOOK SERIES"

Encounters with the Unknown, Wildstorm Productions, 2001.

Planet Killer: Book One, Wildstorm Productions, 2001.

Planet Killer: Book Two, Wildstorm Productions, 2001.

Planet Killer: Book Three, Wildstorm Productions, 2001.

EDITOR; PULPHOUSE ANTHOLOGIES

Pulphouse: The Hardback Magazine, Issues One and Two, Pulphouse Publishing (Eugene, OR), 1988.

Pulphouse: The Hardback Magazine, Issues Three, Four and Five, Pulphouse Publishing (Eugene, OR), 1989.

Pulphouse: The Hardback Magazine, Issues Six, Seven, Eight and Nine, Pulphouse Publishing (Eugene, OR), 1990.

Pulphouse: The Hardback Magazine, Issues Ten and Eleven, Pulphouse Publishing (Eugene, OR), 1991.

The Best of Pulphouse: The Hardback Magazine, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1991.

Pulphouse: The Hardback Magazine, Issue Twelve, Pulphouse Publishing (Eugene, OR), 1992.

Also author of Simply Irresistible (novel), Zebra Books; and Millennium Babies (novella); author, with Dean Wesley Smith, of Klingon! script for computer game, produced in 1996.

Contributor of short stories to anthologies, including Alternate Gettysburgs, edited by Brian M. Thomsen and Martin H. Greenberg, Berkley Books, 2002. Contributor of numerous short stories to periodicals, including Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, Analog Science Fiction, Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, Science Fiction Age, and Amazing Stories. Author of several booklets about writing style.

ADAPTATIONS: Star Trek: Klingon! was adapted to audiocassette, Simon & Schuster Audio (New York, NY), 1996.

WORK IN PROGRESS: Fantasy Life, for Pocket Books.

SIDELIGHTS: A prolific and popular writer, Kristine Kathryn Rusch has had a great deal of influence on the genres of science fiction and fantasy writing toward the end of the twentieth century. "In less than a decade," noted Sydonie Benet in St. James Guide to Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers, "she has risen from relative obscurity to a highly regarded presence as both an editor and an author."

The daughter of a college math professor, Rusch grew up in a literate home; two of her elder siblings became English professors. Rusch took the route of a writer instead, with stops in radio, retail, and office work. At age twenty-six, Rusch had completed the prestigious Clarion Science Fiction Workshop and an experimental writing course in Taos, New Mexico. In 1987 she published her first story, in Aboriginal Science Fiction, but more importantly, with Dean Wesley Smith, she cofounded Pulphouse Publishing.

For many years, Pulphouse's primary project was the publication of Pulphouse: The Hardback Magazine, a book-length anthology that came out quarterly. They also published other projects within or about the speculative fiction field, including a collaboration between Rusch and Smith on the nonfiction Science Fiction Writers of America Handbook: The Professional Writer's Guide to Writing Professionally, which garnered them an award from Locus magazine. After Pulphouse: The Hardback Magazine went on hiatus—to return briefly in the mid-1990s in a more conventional magazine format—Rusch served as the editor of another popular outlet for speculative fiction, the Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, until the middle of 1997. In 1991, she published her first full-length novel, The White Mists of Power. Since then, Rusch has penned many other novels and edited several anthologies.

In the same year that Rusch won Best New Writer acclaim, Pulphouse published her novella The Gallery of His Dreams. This tale, some eighty pages in length, concerns the historical figure Mathew Brady, famed for his photographic record of the U.S. Civil War. In his dreams, Brady travels through time to photograph the horrors of more modern wars, such as the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japan, and the massacre at My Lai in Vietnam. Tom Easton, reviewing The Gallery of His Dreams in Analog Science Fiction & Fact, observed that Rusch "is quite explicit in contrasting Brady's vision of his work as the production of cautionary documents with the visions of his contemporaries, of his photographs of death and destruction as commercial commodities . . . of those photographs as art." In the same article, Easton also reviewed The Best of Pulphouse: The Hardback Magazine, an anthology which Rusch edited during roughly the same period. He described it as "good stuff, the best of a good series. Often outrageous and provocative. Always interesting." Edward Bryant in the Bloomsbury Review labeled it "a fine anthology." In a previous issue of Analog, Easton described Rusch's nonfiction collaboration with Smith, Science Fiction Writers of America Handbook, as "thorough, useful discussions" of issues pertaining to writers in the genre.

In The White Mists of Power, readers become acquainted with Bard Byron, who is really the long-lost prince of Kilot, and his traveling companion Seymour, an inexpert magician. War in Kilot between the upper and lower classes is predicted by the magical being Cache Enos, but young Byron has a plan to preserve his country despite the fact that his father, the king, dies before Byron can be identified as the true prince. Voice of Youth Advocates reviewer Denice Thornhill wrote, "I just loved this book and have raved about it to several people." She went on to note the story's "good characters that grow," and called it "a must buy." Publishers Weekly liked The White Mists of Power as well, citing Rusch's "beguiling characters" and describing it as "a fine first novel."

Rusch collaborated with Kevin J. Anderson on the 1992 novel, Afterimage. The plot of this tale hinges on the existence of shape shifters who can help people jump from one body to another. One such being is able to save the life of Rebecca, left for dead after being assaulted and raped by the Joan of Arc killer. Unfortunately, she is spirited into the body of the last image left upon her mind—that of her attacker. She must conceal her temporary form from the police while she seeks a way to return to her old body. Jody Hanson in Kliatt thought Afterimage was "an excellent, thoroughly enjoyable book," though she did caution readers about the graphic rape scenes. Hanson felt, however, that these were not gratuitous depictions, but rather that they helped readers understand "the horror of these crimes."

Traitors, Rusch's next novel, was published in 1993. Its protagonist, Diate, reluctantly gives up his talent for dance, a compromise he makes in order to live in safety among the island people of Golga. On Golga he waits for the right time to seek revenge upon the rulers of his native land, whom he believes slaughtered all his family members. Observing that the novel contains "elements both modern and medieval," Kliatt reviewer Joseph R. DeMarco wrote that "what [Diate] does to fulfill his desire for revenge is laid out neatly" by Rusch. A Science Fiction Chronicle reviewer described Traitors as "entertaining" and "a well concocted mix."

With Edward L. Ferman, the previous editor of the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Rusch edited 1994's Best from Fantasy & Science Fiction. Gary K. Wolfe in Locus recalled that the magazine from which the anthology sprang "was bending traditional genre boundaries decades before . . . others broadened the scope of the competition," cited many stories as worthy of attention, and concluded: "In all, this latest addition to a distinguished series honors both the magazine's rich tradition and its interesting new directions." Deborah A. Feulner, writing in Voice of Youth Advocates, wrote that "readers . . . will be pleased with the variety of stories presented."

Rusch tried her hand at vampire fiction in the 1994 novel Sins of the Blood. This book proposes that in the United States everyone acknowledges the existence of vampires. In some states, they are treated as victims of disease; in others, they are legally hunted down and killed, primarily through the efforts of bounty hunters. One such killer is the protagonist in Sins of the Blood, a woman whose own father is a vampire. During the course of the novel, she seeks to find her long-estranged brother, and protect him from joining the vampiric world. A Science Fiction Chronicle contributor noted "the well delineated central character" of Sins of the Blood, and described Rusch's vampire world as "tantalizing."

In 1996, Rusch began an epic work about an evil people known as "the Fey" with The Sacrifice. In this novel, the target of the Fey is the magical Blue Isle, and Prince Rugar, the son of the Black King of the Fey, leads the attack. Because of the Blue Isle's magic, the attackers are repulsed by its denizens, but the Fey are unlikely to give up their quest for world domination. Though she warned readers about what she saw as "gruesome" warfare descriptions, Karen Ellis of Kliatt Young Adult Paperback Book Guide recommended The Sacrifice, saying that "the diversity of characterization, as shaped by contrasting cultures, is fascinating."

As for the origins of the Fey, Rausch told Interzone interviewer Jayme Lynn Blaschke that "I just tend to accumulate weird facts. . . . I got the idea for The Fey somewhere in 1981 or '82, but it wasn't anything really developed." When she began work in earnest, Rusch described the work to her editor as "a Hundred Years' War. Now, if you've read [the series] you realize I haven't gotten anywhere close to a hundred years." As she began volume one of the series, Rausch said she realized "I'd started in the wrong place. Essentially, I'd started in year fifty of my hundred years' war, and to explain what was going to happen, I had to go back. So really, we're talking 150 years, but I don't want to scare people."

In the same year The Sacrifice hit bookstands, Rusch also published a novel in the popular Star Wars series created by filmmaker George Lucas. Titled The New Rebellion, the story takes familiar characters such as Princess Leia Organa Solo into the first year that former leaders of the evil empire are allowed to hold seats in the Senate. Booklist contributor Roland Green assured readers that "everybody snatches triumph from the jaws of disaster in the nick of time and in the approved fashion." Rusch described her Star Wars and Star Trek tie-in books to Blaschke as "the ultimate fan fic[tion]." Such sagas, she added, "have taken over our love of space opera in many, many areas. Kids will come in and they'll start reading those books first."

Rusch entered the romance field in 2000 with the novels Utterly Charming, Thoroughly Kissed, and Completely Smitten, a trio written under the pseudonym of Kristine Grayson. She's also written historical fiction, most notably Hitler's Angel, which began, the author told Blaschke, as "a historical, alternate history novella. Hitler's niece was murdered, in his apartment, under suspicious circumstances in 1931. If that case had been solved and Hitler had been found guilty—I have no doubt he was guilty of that murder—the entire history of the Western world would've been changed, and millions of lives would've been saved."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

St. James Guide to Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers, 4th edition, St. James Press (Detroit, MI), 1995.

PERIODICALS

Analog Science Fiction & Fact, September, 1991, review of Science Fiction Writers of America Handbook: The Professional Writer's Guide to Writing Professionally, p. 161; May, 1992, Tom Easton, review of The Gallery of His Dreams, p. 161.

Bloomsbury Review, December, 1991, Edward Bryant, review of The Best of Pulphouse, p. 27.

Booklist, October 1, 1996, Roland Green, review of Star Wars: The New Rebellion, p. 292; April 15, 2001, Green, review of Stories for an Enchanted Afternoon, p. 1543.

Bookwatch, May, 1991, review of Science Fiction Writers of America Handbook, p. 6; April, 1992, review of The White Mists of Power, p. 6.

Kirkus Reviews, July 15, 1991, review of The Best of Pulphouse, p. 896.

Kliatt Young Adult Paperback Book Guide, November, 1992, Jody Hanson, review of Afterimage, pp. 18-19; January, 1995, p. 19; March, 1996, Karen Ellis, review of The Sacrifice, p. 20.

Library Journal, November 15, 1991, review of The White Mists of Power, p. 111.

Locus, February, 1991, review of Science Fiction Writers of America Handbook, pp. 38, 58; March, 1991, review of Science Fiction Writers of America Handbook, p. 25; May, 1991, review of Science Fiction Writers of America Handbook, p. 29; June, 1991, review of The Best of Pulphouse,p. 29; July, 1991, review of The Gallery of His Dreams, pp. 23, 27, 48; September, 1991, review of The White Mists of Power, p. 25; October, 1991, review of The White Mists of Power, p. 15, and The Best of Pulphouse, p. 52; December, 1991, review of The White Mists of Power, p. 55; January, 1992, review of The White Mists of Power, p. 59; September, 1992, review of Afterimage, p. 62; October, 1992, review of Afterimage, p. 23, and The Best of Pulphouse, p. 54; October, 1994, Gary K. Wolfe, review of Best from Fantasy & Science Fiction, p. 58.

Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, October, 1992, review of The White Mists of Power, p. 23.

Publishers Weekly, August 16, 1991, review of The Best of Pulphouse, p. 51; October 4, 1991, review of The White Mists of Power, p. 84; September 24, 2001, review of Little Miracles and Other Tales of Murder, p. 73.

Science Fiction Chronicle, April, 1991, review of Science Fiction Writers of America Handbook, p. 30; August, 1991, review of The Gallery of His Dreams, p. 24; November, 1991, review of The Best of Pulphouse, p. 33; March, 1992, review of The White Mists of Power, pp. 20, 30; August, 1992, review of Afterimage, p. 49; October, 1993, p. 36; February, 1995, p. 38.

Voice of Youth Advocates, April, 1992, Denice Thornhill, review of The White Mists of Power, pp. 46-47; December, 1994, Deborah Feulner, review of Best from Fantasy & Science Fiction, pp. 282-283.