Tis the Season for 14 magical, macabre and merry tales to make your Holidays Fantastic.

Gingerbread houses, caroling carolers, brightly trimmed trees, big family dinners, pristine snowfalls-the familiar pleasures of the season.

But what better pleasure is there than a good holiday story? So open this winter solstice sampler and indulge in fully festive fantasies, nightmares before Christmas, and stunning space-age celebrations. These stories will warm hearts and minds like a blazing Yule log.

Fantastic Holiday Stories by Kevin J. Anderson, Mercedes Lackey, Mike Resnick, Kristine Rusch, Jonathan Maberry, Eric James Stone, Nina Kiriki Hoffman, Quincy J. Allen, Ken Scholes, Sam Knight, David Boop, Heather Graham, Brad R. Torgersen, and Patricia Briggs.

A race against time.

Weeks after Boss’ injury from the runabout dive, she continues the mission to salvage Fleet wrecks for the Lost Souls Corporation. But Boss feels like she lost something after that fateful dive.

Until something happens in the Boneyard to catch her attention. Something that sparks her interest with an intensity she thought she lost.

Now, Boss must assemble a team—her old team—to dive this new discovery.

But Boss worries that someone knows her plans. That the Boneyard might prove more sentient than she knows.

She feels the clock ticking—and she worries time will run out once and for all.

A thrilling new adventure, Thieves provides pulse-pounding new developments in Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s award-winning Diving series.

“By mixing cerebral and investigative elements, emotional character segments, and the adrenaline of action, Rusch tells a complete yet varied tale that will please science fiction readers looking for something different from the usual fare.”

—Publishers Weekly on Searching for the Fleet

“Think of the Diving universe as an exciting mystery saga, pitting the drama of ship salvage against the dangers of space.”

—Astroguyz

“Kristine Kathryn Rusch is best known for her Retrieval Artist series, so maybe you’ve missed her Diving Universe series. If so, it’s high time to remedy that oversight.”

—Don Sakers, Analog

“[The Runabout] is so good, it will make you want to read the other stories.”

—SFRevu

“Amazing character construction, building a plot that riveted me almost from the moment it began. I will now absolutely have to read the preceding titles and I cannot wait to see what will come as a result of The Runabout.”

—Tangent Online

Nedda Ferguson-Lithe lost her father on the Gabriella’s final mission. The ship’s disappearance remains one of the great mysteries of the sector.

But as Nedda interviews the crew’s survivors, she finds more questions than answers.

No one knows who or what causes the maelstroms that make exploring Nájar Crater on Madreperla so dangerous. But everyone knows that the rumors of the crater’s riches prove far too tempting despite the danger.

Every time a ship ventures into that crater, a maelstrom drives it out. Or destroys it. Nedda hopes to find out which fate met the Gabriella—and her father.

Nominated for the Asimov’s Readers Choice Award for best novella, Maelstrom proves a heart-wrenching addition to Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s award-winning Diving Series.

“Like everything [Kristine Kathryn Rusch] writes, the story is beautifully-told and has a lot of heart. Who could ask for anything more?”

—SFRevu

Diving readers know that Squishy enlisted others to help her destroy stealth tech in the novel Boneyards. But exactly what happened to those teams remained a mystery—until now.

Ten people signed up to help Squishy in her fateful mission. Only five returned.

Paired up in teams of two, they set out across the Enterran Empire to infiltrate and sabotage the Empire’s bases used to back up their stealth tech research.

But what exactly happened on those bases? Who survived? Squishy’s Teams provides the answers to those burning questions and reveals twists to the ongoing saga no one sees coming.

Note: Before reading Squishy’s Teams, please read Boneyards.

“Rusch follows Diving into the Wreck and City of Ruins with another fast-paced novel of the far future.”

—Publisher’s Weekly on Boneyards

“Filled with well-defined characters who confront a variety of ethical and moral dilemmas, Rusch’s third Diving Universe novel is classic space opera, with richly detailed worldbuilding and lots of drama.”

—RT Book Reviews on Boneyards

Asimov Science Fiction Readers’ Choice, and RT Reviewers’ Choice.

Hurtling through the blackness of space, Boss detects a mysterious blip from an unknown source that sets her heart pounding…

Boss dives derelict space vessels, for money, yes, but more for their historical value. So, when she uncovers the find of a lifetime, she enlists the best divers she knows to help her pursue it—off the grid and under the Empire’s radar.

Boss’s discovery leads her and her team to the Room of Lost Souls. Boss remembers the Room. It haunts her. Her mother died there. Now, a client wants her to go back to help uncover the Room’s mysteries. But the truths they discover might destroy everything Boss holds sacred.

Because the more they discover, the less they realize they know—and the more it will cost them all.

Read all 8 novels in the Diving Universe!

Diving Into the Wreck

City of Ruins

Boneyards

Skirmishes

The Falls

The Runabout

Searching for the Fleet

The Renegat

“This is classic sci-fi, a well-told tale of dangerous exploration. The first-person narration makes the reader an eyewitness to the vast, silent realms of deep space, where even the smallest error will bring disaster. Compellingly human and technically absorbing, the suspense builds to fevered intensity, culminating in an explosive yet plausible conclusion.”

—RT Book Reviews Top Pick

“Diving into the Wreck has much to offer, including what even Boss—the avid researcher into lost forms of science—describes as ‘secrets which, if understood, can teach us more about ourselves than any science can.’”

—Locus Magazine

 “Rusch delivers a page-turning space adventure while contemplating the ethics of scientists and governments working together on future tech.”

—Publisher’s Weekly

Kristine Kathryn Rusch is a New York Times bestselling author whose fiction has won dozens of awards and critical accolades.