Escaping Amnthra, by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

[Asimov's]

★★★☆☆ Honorable Mention

(Military SF; Diving Universe) Raina commands the Renegat by default, the Captain and senior crew all having abandoned it. She just needs to get the ship and what’s left of the crew home—if she can get either to obey her consistently. (16,205 words; Time: 54m)

Recommended By: 👍STomaino+1 (Q&A)

This story is okay if you haven’t read other stories in the Diving Universe, but you’ll at least need to read “Rescue of the Renegat” to find out what happens next.

Ice Breakers, by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

[Anthology]

★★★★☆ Good Rescue Story

(SF Thriller) As Maya struggles to secure mining equipment before a huge storm sweeps in, something crashes into the ice nearby, with two life signs inside it. Can she save them and still escape the storm? (7,294 words; Time: 24m)

Transport, by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

[Asimov's]

★★★☆☆ Mixed

(SF Thriller) A teenage boy on an interstellar transport vanishes into thin air, and the investigation into his demise unravels an ugly old secret. (8,599 words; Time: 28m)

Joyride, by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

[Asimov's]

★★★★★ Moving story in a fascinating setting with lots of action

(Space Opera; Diving Universe) A Fleet training ship passes close to a “scrapheap” of abandoned ships, and Teenage Nadim, leads a group of his friends to “borrow” a scout ship and check it out. (18,409 words; Time: 1h:01m)

Recommended By: 👍RSR+2 👍STomaino+1 (Q&A)

Although this is set in the author’s “Diving Universe,” it shares no characters with the other stories, so you can enjoy this story without having read the rest of it, and you can read this one first without spoiling the rest of the series.

Once on the Blue Moon, by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

[Anthology]

★★★★☆ A Guilty Pleasure

(SF Adventure) Twelve-year-old Colette is scary smart and has an attitude to match. When hijackers take over the interplanetary cruise ship she and her parents are on, they don’t know what they’re getting into. (10,690 words; Time: 35m)

Recommended By: 👍RHorton.r+1 👍RSR+1 (Q&A)

Lieutenant Tightass, by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

[Asimov's]

★★★★★ Exciting story with good characters

(Space Opera; Diving Universe) Coop is eager to make a difference in his first mission as a new lieutenant on a search-and-rescue ship, but the rest of the crew doesn’t seem to work very hard or care very much, and they definitely don’t appreciate his meddling. (12,872 words; Time: 42m)

Recommended By: SFRevu+1 GTognetti+1

Although this story is set in the author’s Diving Universe series, it’s a prequel to the others, so it has no dependencies on the rest, nor does it spoil any of the later stories. This makes it an excellent starting point for the series as a whole, as well as a great stand-alone read

Dix, by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

[Asimov's]

★★★☆☆ Average

(SF Adventure; Diving Universe) An accident in foldspace stranded the Ivoire 5,000 years in its own future, and Dix, the second-in-command, had more trouble adjusting than anyone else. Maybe even enough to make him a threat to everyone else. (19,426 words; Time: 1h:04m)

Although this is an episode in a much larger universe, this story stands alone well enough to be read in isolation.

The Rescue of the Renegat, by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

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(SF Adventure; Diving Universe) A badly-damaged Fleet ship of long-obsolete design appears out of foldspace. There seem to be 200 people on board, but they’re not trying to communicate. Captain Dauber has to try to rescue them, even though it may be a trap. (22,034 words; Time: 1h:13m)

Rating: ★★★☆☆ Average

I’ve read the rest of the Diving Universe stories, but I’m pretty sure this one works just fine if you read it by itself

The Runabout, by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

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(Space Opera; Diving Universe) The narrator leads a team salvaging long-lost technology from a graveyard of starships, whose stardrives still disrupt the surrounding space in dangerous ways. (44,874 words; Time: 2h:29m)

Rating: ★★★★☆ Thrilling and Inventive

I have not read any of the earlier stories in the Diving Universe, but I still thought this one was great.

The City's Edge, by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

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(SF) Petras visits the ruins of the domed city where his wife died, determined to make sense of it. (6,593 words; Time: 21m)

Rating: ★★★☆☆ Average

Read an interview with the author about this story.

Petra And The Blue Goo, by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

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(SF Humor) Petra is all that stands between the rare books in the library and the alien scavanger hunt that threatens to destroy them all. (4,300 words; Time: 14m)

Rating: ★★★☆☆, Average

Matilda, by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

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(Military SF) The enemy are up to something in "blank" areas of space that sensors can't penetrate. Devi takes a "single ship" into one to find out what's there, but her ship has a mind of its own, and it's terrified. (9,199 words; Time: 30m)

Rating: ★★☆☆☆ Not Recommended

Recommended By: GDozois:4 Readers

The Museum of Modern Warfare, by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

Analog Science Fiction and Fact, December 2015; 6,567 words
Rating: 3, Good, ordinary, story  Recommended By:   SFRevu:4

The narrator, now a diplomat, returns to a planet where she and other humans had allied with natives to win a bloody victory. She's there to visit a new war museum and investigate complaints about it.

Mini-Review (click to view--possible spoilers)

Pro: As the story begins, she's still terribly scarred by the war psychologically. She tries to deny it, but it becomes very clear as the story progresses. At the end, the museum has helped her heal. It hasn't healed her entirely, but it has made a difference, and she finds a new purpose in helping others.

Con: It's not really clear what it is about the exhibit that helps her so much. It doesn't really sound very different from the D-Day museums you can find in Normandy today.

The Last Surviving Gondola Widow, by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

Clarkesworld Magazine, February 2015; 5,917 words
Rating: 3, Good, ordinary, story  Recommended By:   SFRevu:4

In an alternate history ~1880s steampunk+magic Chicago, a woman detective for the Pinkerton's investigates someone who might have been involved in a terrorist attack on Chicago.

Mini-Review (click to view--possible spoilers)

Pro: Although this alternate history is rather remote from ours, the author manages to make it come to life for us. The clues about how the gondolas used to work are enough that the ending isn't a total surprise.

Con: You'd think they might have exhumed a few gondola pieces from graves rather than staging this big public event. It also seems weird that any widow would attract pieces from any gondola--not just the one she had "married."

Inhuman Garbage, by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

[Asimov's]

★★★★☆ Recommended

A young woman is murdered in Armstrong City, Luna, and both the police and organized crime want to understand why. Captivating. (25,300 words; Time: 1h:24m)

Recommended By: 🏆Readers+1 📙GDozois+2 👍LTilton+2 👍NClarke.hm+1 👍RSR+1 👍STomaino+2 (Q&A)

The First Step, by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

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An aging scientist wants to be the first to use the time machine he's invented. (3,500 words; Time: 11m)

Rating: ★★★☆☆ Average