The White Mists of Power - Softcover

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. Her popular weekly blog on the changes in publishing has become an industry must-read. 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. 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.

This fantasy of manners has two concurrent plots. In one a brash bard named Byron is condemned to death by Lord Dakin but is saved by Seymour, an inept magician who had escaped Dakin's wrath years earlier. The pair travels to the palace in hopes of being employed as the King of Kilrot's entertainers, but Seymour suspects there is far more to Byron than he is telling. The second plot involves Adric, heir to Kilrot's throne, who is brought on a visit to the city of Anda by one of his father's advisers, only to get lost in the unfamiliar urban environment. Forced to work as a stable boy to survive, Adric hears an announcement of his own death. He and a fellow stable boy then set out for the palace to reclaim his birthright. The link between the stories is unexpected and elegantly handled. Rusch, editor of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction , moves at a whirlwind pace through the political intrigue, constantly switching perspective to different characters, most of whom are trying to figure out Byron. Rusch manages to integrate a remarkable amount of plot as well as beguiling characters in a fine first novel.
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