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    Year of the Rat
    Year of the Rat
    Year of the Rat
    Ebook35 pages27 minutes

    Year of the Rat

    By Kristine Kathryn Rusch

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    About this ebook

    The family business: Some embrace it, some reject it. But for one family whose “business” means accepting science and religion, each sibling takes a side. Can something as simple—and complicated—as a rat settle the most important questions in life?

    “[A] wonderful tale.”
    —Errant Dreams Reviews

    USA Today bestselling author Kristine Kathryn Rusch writes in almost every genre. Generally, she uses her real name (Rusch) for most of her writing. Under that name, 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 has appeared in eighteen 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 keep up with everything she does, go to kriswrites.com. To track her many pen names and series, see their individual websites (krisnelscott.com, kristinegrayson.com, krisdelake.com, retrievalartist.com, divingintothewreck.com, fictionriver.com). She lives and occasionally sleeps in Oregon.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherWMG Publishing
    Release dateOct 11, 2013
    ISBN9781301482856
    Year of the Rat
    Author

    Kristine Kathryn Rusch

    USA Today bestselling author Kristine Kathryn Rusch writes in almost every genre. Generally, she uses her real name (Rusch) for most of her writing. Under that name, 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 has appeared in eighteen 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. Publications from The Chicago Tribune to Booklist have included her Kris Nelscott mystery novels in their top-ten-best mystery novels of the year. The Nelscott books have received nominations for almost every award in the mystery field, including the best novel Edgar Award, and the Shamus Award. She writes goofy romance novels as award-winner Kristine Grayson, romantic suspense as Kristine Dexter, and futuristic sf as Kris DeLake.  She also edits. Beginning with work at the innovative publishing company, Pulphouse, followed by her award-winning tenure at The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, she took fifteen years off before returning to editing with the original anthology series Fiction River, published by WMG Publishing. She acts as series editor with her husband, writer Dean Wesley Smith, and edits at least two anthologies in the series per year on her own. To keep up with everything she does, go to kriswrites.com and sign up for her newsletter. To track her many pen names and series, see their individual websites (krisnelscott.com, kristinegrayson.com, krisdelake.com, retrievalartist.com, divingintothewreck.com). She lives and occasionally sleeps in Oregon.

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      Book preview

      Year of the Rat - Kristine Kathryn Rusch

      Copyright Information

      Year of the Rat

      Copyright © 2013 by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

      First published in Intelligent Design, edited by Denise Little, Daw Books, September, 2009

      Published by WMG Publishing

      Cover and Layout copyright © 2013 by WMG Publishing

      Cover design by Allyson Longueira/WMG Publishing

      Cover art copyright © Cammeraydave/Dreamstime

      Smashwords Edition

      This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. All rights reserved. This is a work of fiction. All characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission.

      TABLE OF CONTENTS

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      About the Author

      Copyright Information

      THE FIRST RAT I ever saw belonged to Barb Bellill, who lived just down the block.

      Barb’s house was a marvel, because it was messy (ours wasn’t), because her dad had all these souvenirs from World War II (like skulls and pistols and Nazi uniforms), and because Barb had cool pets, like this rat.

      The rat had a name, which I’ve forgotten, and its own cage. The cage smelled like rodent droppings, and was filled with sawdust, a water tube, and a food dish.

      But the coolest thing about that cage was the rat itself.

      It had pure white fur, beady red eyes, and small pink feet that looked like miniature hands. The rat, which was an albino, used to come when Barb called it. It would climb along her arm up to her shoulder and nest in her hair. Sometimes it would run from hand to hand, using her shoulders and arms like an oversized version of its little rodent wheel.

      That spring, Barb and her family went on their annual spring vacation. We never went on a spring vacation. Spring vacation always coincided with Easter Week, and we spent Easter Week in church—first rehearsing for the big Easter Service, and then attending services—on Thursday night, Friday afternoon, and twice on Sunday morning. Yes, there were new dresses and chocolate bunnies and colored eggs. But no long drives to Grandmother’s

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