Reflections on Life and Death

By Kristine Kathryn Rusch

Sarah finds herself faced with a terrible decision. Her dying mother insists that if she goes to the extended care facility, they will kill her. She wants to go home with Sarah. But Sarah, a single mother with her own children to care for, can’t afford to care for her mother, too. And no one would kill the elderly just to save resources. Or would they?

“...what a writer [Rusch] is. Her subject matter may cover the normal topics of science fiction and other genres, but the main memory you take away is the way she approaches the story and her unique vision for the characters.”
—The Baryon Review

• Language: English
• Publisher: WMG Publishing
• Release date: Apr 3, 2011
• ISBN: 9781458011046

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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Copyright Information

Reflections on Life and Death

Copyright © 2015 by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

First published first published in Asimov’s SF Magazine, January, 1998

Published by WMG Publishing

Cover and Layout copyright © 2015 by WMG Publishing

Cover design by Allyson Longueira/WMG Publishing

Cover art copyright © Bialasiewicz/Dreamstime

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.

No, Sarah’s mother said, her voice barely more than a whisper around the tubes. You can’t. They kill people in there.

Sarah held her mother’s good hand—the one without the IV. Small chips dotted her mother’s face and body, each scanning vital signs. It made her mother look as if she had chickenpox.

The doctor was watching Sarah. The doctor was a thin thirtyish woman with nut brown eyes, and light brown skin. Her hair, a delicate blonde, was shoulder length and covered with a nearly invisible clean-net so no strands fell free.

Sarah? the doctor said, and it made Sarah wonder how a woman ten years younger than herself managed to make one word sound so condescending.

Sarah— her mother said again. You can’t.

You can’t go home, Sarah said.

"But you could take