Kristine Kathryn Rusch sold more than 35 million books worldwide. She publishes bestselling science fiction and fantasy, award-winning mysteries, acclaimed mainstream fiction, controversial nonfiction, and the occasional romance.

Her novels have made bestseller lists around the world and her short fiction appeared in more than twenty best-of-the-year collections. She has won more than twenty-five awards for her fiction, including the Hugo, Le Prix Imaginales, the Asimov's Readers' Choice award, and the Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine Readers' Choice Award.

To find out more about her work, go to her website, kriswrites.com or sign up for her newsletter here.

What If... Volume #1 by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

What If…

Volume 1

Two of Kristine Kathryn Rusch's most acclaimed novels, together in one volume, exclusively for Storybundle.

Snipers

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.

Together the two of them plunge into a world of scientific evidence and fantastic clues, all leading to one unbelievable conclusion.

Consecrated Ground

One of Kristine Kathryn Rusch's most acclaimed crime novels returns to print after 15 years with its original title restored. Set in two timelines—the ill-fated 1972 Munich Olympics and the rise of Nazism in the 1930s, Rusch deftly blends the past and the present in a tale of criminality and missed opportunity.

When the ambitious American reporter Annie Pohlmann tracks down former police detective Fritz Stecher, she doesn't want to talk about his most famous case. She wants to talk about his most famous failure, a failure tied to the most notorious events of the 1930s. Stecher talks, and reveals even more than Annie ever bargained for.

Sadly relevant today, Consecrated Ground explores the underlying evil of unchecked power and its effect on the entire world.

Consecrated Ground will not appear in print until September 2026, so right now, it is only available through this book bundle in StoryB

CURATOR'S NOTE

I tried something new with this bundle. I wanted to contribute an exclusive and I have with a bundle composed of my time travel/alternate history novel, Snipers, and the novel that started it all, Consecrated Ground. This bundle inside a bundle, What If…Vol. 1, also contains an essay that explains why I put these two books together. Another bonus: you'll be getting Consecrated Ground, one of my most acclaimed novels, in its author-preferred edition months before the actual volume hits print. – Kristine Kathryn Rusch

 

REVIEWS

  • "Rusch is best known for her Retrieval Artist series, but occasionally she gives us a standalone gem like Snipers…. Snipers is a riveting suspense tale and a fine SF story—what more could we want?"

    – Analog

  • "The new novel from Kristine Kathryn Rusch hits the ground running and never stops. "Snipers" opens in 1913, with a time-traveling assassin on the loose in Vienna's wintry streets….Rusch depicts a world just at the dawn of the 20th century with meticulous detail and then delights in dropping a man from the future into the middle of it. The ripples his anachronistic presence cause bring a kinetic heat to the story as a whole. This is one of a breed of speculative fiction novels that implies a much larger universe for storytelling, which is also a Rusch speciality. When the last page scrolls by, this story will still just be getting started in the reader's piqued, excited imagination."

    – The Edge Boston

  • "Told in roughly alternating chapters set in 1913 and 2005, [Snipers] is a deft mixture of SF and mystery with some very sharp plotting, some nice twists, and a trio of compelling characters."

    – Booklist, starred review

  • "Set in an alternate reality, this story switches from 1913 to 2005 as the reader follows along on the trail of a killer. Chilling murders, mind-blowing suspense, a touch of time travel and a bit of romance combine for a thought-provoking, entertaining vacation from reality."

    – RT Book Reviews

  • "…a short, powerful novel that proves the always impressive Rusch can successfully tackle any genre she sets her sights on."

    – BarnesandNoble.com Editor’s Pick

  • "… a fine historical thriller….It's a great story, cleanly told."

    – The Oregonian

  • "… a fascinating concoction of historical speculation, moral compass calibration, and an account of tough police work. Much as with Caleb Carr and Thomas Harris, Kris Rusch sails under her own flag."

    – Locus

  • "A serious novel structured around the reminiscence of a long-since retired Munich detective, Fritz Stecher, famed for solving one notorious murder, but trapped in the politics surrounding Geli's death."

    – Crime Time
 

BOOK PREVIEW

Excerpt

Excerpt from Snipers

Chapter 1

1913

THE ASSASSIN GOT LOST in the corridors of Ferstel Palace. He stood near a dark, dank stairwell, and allowed himself a moment of panic.

Maybe the prototype had malfunctioned again. Maybe he wasn't in 1913 at all. Maybe he was in some other year, some other century.

Then he took a deep breath and made himself take stock. The walls were covered with soot from the gaslights, and the air smelled faintly of oil. The heat was low, and he was cold. His hands, wrapped in woolen gloves with the fingers cut out so that he could handle his Glock, were clenched into fists.

He relaxed the fists one finger at a time. Gaslights were correct. Not all of Vienna had gotten electricity by 1913. And he had no real map of Ferstel's corridors. The building had been long gone—nearly a century gone—when he estimated where it had been and activated the prototype.

Then he ended up here, several stories up, uncertain and terrified that his memory had betrayed him.

The Ferstel Palace of the old photographs had bright rounded windows, decorated on the sides with multicolored electric lights. It had never been a palace, nor had it belonged to the Ferstel family, although it had been designed by Heinrich Ferstel.

Once it had been a bank and stock exchange, but by now, it had been converted into something else. The assassin had thought he would find a conference center, filled with shops.

But there were no shops. Only stairwells and more stairwells, doors after doors, and narrow little corridors that were so dark they seemed like the night outside.

He knew that the Café Central had to be inside Ferstel Palace. He had read more about Vienna in 1913 than he had about the history of the twentieth century. And he was an expert in that history.

He knew Vienna, even though he hadn't been able to check his details before this trip.

The Café Central had to be here. The question was where.

The assassin wrapped his woolen scarf tighter around his neck. The wool scratched his soft skin. Despite his chill, he was sweating beneath the four layers of clothing—the woolen overcoat covering a vested woolen suit, the heavily woven shirt as scratchy as the rest of it, not to mention the long underwear, also made of wool.

No wonder no one bathed in this era. Getting out of the clothing was a nightmare. He should have practiced shooting the Glock with his arms bundled in thick material. His aim might be off. Even a millimeter would make a horrible difference.

He stopped at the end of a corridor, near a wooden door with a brass knob, and forced himself to pause, to calm down.

It was different in the past. Of course it was.

And like always, he had been a fool not to expect it.