Safety Tests

By Kristine Kathryn Rusch

Devlin trudges through his job on the space station waiting for retirement and hoping he won’t die first. A test pilot with Licensing and Regulation, he makes sure only the most qualified pilots make it to the test flight, let alone pass it. But sometimes, even the most jaded tester misses something. And the difference between life and death on a space station? Missing nothing. Nothing at all.

“Rusch takes a fairly mundane scenario and makes a most readable story. Through the well-observed downbeat and wry narrative voice of a spacepilot license examiner, we look at some of the issues in making a life out there in the solar system.”
—Best SF

“Safety Tests” by Kristine Kathryn Rusch puts the mundane role of the driver’s test instructor in space, increasing the danger and thus increasing the excitement. I had no clue where this story was going to go but was happy to go on the ride. In the end Rusch surprises! (A)
—Stainless Steel Droppings

“Kristine Kathryn Rusch has one of the most pleasant and easily readable styles in the sf field today. ‘Safety Tests’ is no exception...it’s a fun, quick read.”
—Tangent Online

“Devlin’s narrative is deeply toned with entertaining cynicism. Rusch pulls off a tough one, making the license tester [we've all met this guy] sympathetic, the regulations [stoopid rules] make sense, and the story enjoyable.”
—Locus

“Kristine Kathryn Rusch's grimly comic ‘Safety Tests’ is all about how tremendously dangerous flying a spaceship is.”
—The Idea Refinery

• Language: English
• Publisher: WMG Publishing
• Release date: Sep 6, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301472277

Kristine Kathryn Rusch

New York Times bestselling author Kristine Kathryn Rusch writes in almost every genre. Generally, she uses her real name (Rusch) for most of her writing. 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.   

Reviews for Safety Tests

[J.L. Dobias · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Recommended for: SFF fans who like the procedural with some humor added
Read on April 26, 2014 — I own a copy, read count: 1


This is one more in my test drive of Scrb'd, it's a pity that the review I do here can't be placed also on smashwords where this came from, without buying this piece there; since I already checked it out of the library there. Yet another minus on the Scrib'd smashwords front. Also the window for the review is so tiny it's like I'm typing on to a ticker tape and there are only three lines of text while the thing wants to scroll five when it scrolls. As usual none of this counts against the work and this is a five star story.


Safety Tests by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

This is cute little SFF procedural drama comedy short.

This is the first I've ever read of Kristine Katheryn Rusch and probably not the last since I really did enjoy it. Comedy usually doesn't mix well for me because it's so subjective. But the main character, Devlin, has a specific attitude and comedic nature that brought the story to life.

The first part expresses Devlin's boredom with his 9 to 5 that seems to be somewhat dangerous; and how he and his assistant Connie try to control that. It reads like the typical nightmare of rules and regs that can send a first time driver into nervous fits when applying for a license to drive. In this case its a license to fly space craft. And Devlin and Connie are determined to cull the applicants down to as few if any for the real test.

But Devlin's about to get more than he bargained for and he probably deserves it in a small way though the reader can't be too upset with him when he seems to be right so many times when it comes to those qualified to fly.

The question is will he live to fly another day.

Great short in the SFF department with interwoven Procedural stuffing. A good place to start to get to know an author for the first time.

J.L. Dobias