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Retrieval Artist Universe
Immondizia disumana
Ambientato nel commonwealth galattico denominato “Alleanza Terrestre”, dove trattati interplanetari regolano la convivenza tra le razze, e gli umani, che cercano di espandersi sul suolo di altri pianeti e sistemi solari, devono sottostare alle bizzarre usanze extraterrestri, questo romanzo breve, autonomo nello svolgimento e nella lettura, si svolge nella cupola lunare di Armstrong e ci propone la detective Noelle de Ricci alle prese con un mistero legato a un cadavere ritrovato in un cassonetto usato per i “compost” delle immondizie. L’investigazione, cui partecipa anche il coroner Ethan Broduer, si rivela subito assai complicata, sia per l’identificazione del corpo, sia perché nella vicenda risulta implicato un potentissimo boss della mafia lunare. Ma Noelle non desisterà, e porterà avanti l’indagine, nonostante pericoli e cospirazioni, anche a costo di mettere in palio la sua futura carriera, e forse la sua stessa vita.
94 pages, ebook
First published March 1, 2015
72 people want to read
About the author
Kristine Kathryn Rusch
1,368 books722 followersKristine Kathryn Rusch is an award-winning mystery, romance, science fiction, and fantasy writer. She has written many novels under various names, including Kristine Grayson for romance, and Kris Nelscott for mystery. Her novels have made the bestseller lists –even in London– and have been published in 14 countries and 13 different languages.
Her awards range from the Ellery Queen Readers Choice Award to the John W. Campbell Award. In the past year, she has been nominated for the Hugo, the Shamus, and the Anthony Award. She is the only person in the history of the science fiction field to have won a Hugo award for editing and a Hugo award for fiction.
In addition, she's written a number of nonfiction articles over the years, with her latest being the book "A Freelancer's Survival Guide".
She has also published as:
Sandy Schofield (collaborations with husband Dean Wesley Smith)
Kristine Grayson - romances
Kathryn Wesley (collaborations with husband Dean Wesley Smith)
Kris Nelscott - mysteries
Kris Rusch - historical fiction
Kris DeLake - romances
Her awards range from the Ellery Queen Readers Choice Award to the John W. Campbell Award. In the past year, she has been nominated for the Hugo, the Shamus, and the Anthony Award. She is the only person in the history of the science fiction field to have won a Hugo award for editing and a Hugo award for fiction.
In addition, she's written a number of nonfiction articles over the years, with her latest being the book "A Freelancer's Survival Guide".
She has also published as:
Sandy Schofield (collaborations with husband Dean Wesley Smith)
Kristine Grayson - romances
Kathryn Wesley (collaborations with husband Dean Wesley Smith)
Kris Nelscott - mysteries
Kris Rusch - historical fiction
Kris DeLake - romances
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
November 22, 2016
Murder mystery aboard a space station!
A dead body has been discovered, secreted in a recycling bin. Upstanding detective Noelle DeRicci is motivated and determined to solve the case. Unfortunately, from her perspective, no one else seems to be. Her partner is fine with slip-shod work. She certainly doesn't trust the coroner who's assigned to the case. The deceased woman's employer is a suspect - after all, he's reputed to be involved in organized crime, and he had just fired her, non-amicably. The recycling magnate who reported the body may be hiding something. And her boss seems to want to just drop the case.
Detectives struggling against obstacles and opposition is nothing new in crime fiction - but what makes this story really fun is that we get to see each of these characters' individual perspectives on the situation. As it turns out, there are more facets to this crime than DeRicci guesses.
This is apparently part of the 'Retrieval Artist' series; after reading this I'm definitely interested in exploring more in this universe.
eBook PDF available for free, here: http://www.asimovs.com/assets/1/6/Inh...
A dead body has been discovered, secreted in a recycling bin. Upstanding detective Noelle DeRicci is motivated and determined to solve the case. Unfortunately, from her perspective, no one else seems to be. Her partner is fine with slip-shod work. She certainly doesn't trust the coroner who's assigned to the case. The deceased woman's employer is a suspect - after all, he's reputed to be involved in organized crime, and he had just fired her, non-amicably. The recycling magnate who reported the body may be hiding something. And her boss seems to want to just drop the case.
Detectives struggling against obstacles and opposition is nothing new in crime fiction - but what makes this story really fun is that we get to see each of these characters' individual perspectives on the situation. As it turns out, there are more facets to this crime than DeRicci guesses.
This is apparently part of the 'Retrieval Artist' series; after reading this I'm definitely interested in exploring more in this universe.
eBook PDF available for free, here: http://www.asimovs.com/assets/1/6/Inh...
December 20, 2016
Pretty good concepts, like clone's rights, using human waste for creating food in the Moon, etc. Very well written, good pacing.
The "problem" is that it seems a tiny bit of something much larger, as the ending leaves so many loose ends or unexplored avenues.
As I found out now, it is indeed a novella from a larger universe. Now I'm not sure if I got spoiled something if I ever get to the series, if this is a prequel, post-end or just related to the setting.
Not the author's fault, obviously, but this was included in the Best SFF Novellas of 2016 and I wanted something more "standalone" than related to a large (?) series.
The "problem" is that it seems a tiny bit of something much larger, as the ending leaves so many loose ends or unexplored avenues.
As I found out now, it is indeed a novella from a larger universe. Now I'm not sure if I got spoiled something if I ever get to the series, if this is a prequel, post-end or just related to the setting.
Not the author's fault, obviously, but this was included in the Best SFF Novellas of 2016 and I wanted something more "standalone" than related to a large (?) series.
October 15, 2016
This novella taking pace in the lunar dome-city of Armstrong fits into the larger Retrieval Artist world, but stands alone quite well [in the opinion of this reviewer who's never read anything by Rusch before, nor heard of this series].
The novella opens with the promise of a tight detective tale with alternating POVs between detective Noelle DeRicci and coroner Ethan Broduer as they both investigate a body dump in a crate of compost slated to be spread over the dome-city's food farms. Things get more complicated in the identification process in this world of natural humans, aliens, and both slow-grow and fast-grow clones. Laws are different around each with clones merely counting as property for their creator.
While the larger human rights issues surface, especially as it deals with clones, the tale zeroes in on the convoluted politics of the crime families, ruling Earth Alliance, and the dirty city politics. Surprisingly and disappointingly, more POVs are added to the rush of narrative pulling the tale cleanly away from DeRicci and Broduer. The head of the main crime family whose fired nanny was the composted body, his head of security, and DeRicci's politically motivated boss take over the narrative leading to a largely unsatisfying non-ending.
This tale appears in The Year's Best Fantasy & Science Fiction Novellas: 2016 edited by Paula Guran, which I received directly from Prime Books.
The novella opens with the promise of a tight detective tale with alternating POVs between detective Noelle DeRicci and coroner Ethan Broduer as they both investigate a body dump in a crate of compost slated to be spread over the dome-city's food farms. Things get more complicated in the identification process in this world of natural humans, aliens, and both slow-grow and fast-grow clones. Laws are different around each with clones merely counting as property for their creator.
While the larger human rights issues surface, especially as it deals with clones, the tale zeroes in on the convoluted politics of the crime families, ruling Earth Alliance, and the dirty city politics. Surprisingly and disappointingly, more POVs are added to the rush of narrative pulling the tale cleanly away from DeRicci and Broduer. The head of the main crime family whose fired nanny was the composted body, his head of security, and DeRicci's politically motivated boss take over the narrative leading to a largely unsatisfying non-ending.
This tale appears in The Year's Best Fantasy & Science Fiction Novellas: 2016 edited by Paula Guran, which I received directly from Prime Books.
July 28, 2024
Kristine Kathryn Rusch is a major talent. I was definitely tempted to slip in another half-star or so of rating. Her protagonists and other characters are very realistic and show considerable depth. Great title too!
My rating system:
Since Goodreads only allows 1 to 5 stars (no half-stars), you have no option but to be ruthless. I reserve one star for a book that is a BOMB - or poor (equivalent to a letter grade of F, E, or at most D). Progressing upwards, 2 stars is equivalent to C (C -, C or C+), 3 stars (equals to B - or B), 4 stars (equals B+ or A -), and 5 stars (equals A or A+). As a result, I maximize my rating space for good books, and don't waste half or more of that rating space on books that are of marginal quality.
My rating system:
Since Goodreads only allows 1 to 5 stars (no half-stars), you have no option but to be ruthless. I reserve one star for a book that is a BOMB - or poor (equivalent to a letter grade of F, E, or at most D). Progressing upwards, 2 stars is equivalent to C (C -, C or C+), 3 stars (equals to B - or B), 4 stars (equals B+ or A -), and 5 stars (equals A or A+). As a result, I maximize my rating space for good books, and don't waste half or more of that rating space on books that are of marginal quality.
May 10, 2021
This sharp, smart, thought-provoking novella was a gritty police procedural that looked at power-play in future Luna, with thoughts concerning ethics.
Recommended.
Recommended.
February 6, 2017
This novella was part of a collection, the 2016 edition of the Year’s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Novellas, edited by Paula Guran – the one containing Nnedi Okorafor’s “Binti” that I previously reviewed. As far as shorter stories go, not many of them worked out well for my tastes, Binti being the only one to stand out and truly shine, in my opinion.
Inhuman Garbage starts out in a very intriguing way, being a mix between science fiction and a police procedural: the police is alerted about a body being found in a garbage dumpster, which sounds like a far from unusual beginning, but the great difference comes from the fact that the dumpster belongs to a recycling plant based in the Armstrong dome, on Luna. Stories about human colonization of our Solar System, and of the way these settlements develop and grow, always exerted a strong pull on my imagination, so I was immediately drawn in: the detective called on the scene, the young and upward-moving Noelle DeRicci, launches herself in the investigation moved both by her strong sense of duty and the need to overcome some deep-seated phobias.
In a close environment such as a dome on an inhospitable planet, recycling is one of the most important factors: every bit of organic waste in Armstrong is sent to the Growing Pits, from where Luna-grown foodstuffs come from, and while DeRicci is aware of this fact, just like everyone else, she tries not to think too closely about it and what it implies. The fact that a body might end up in the compost heap that will promote food growth is not something she is ready to face: despite the fail-safes built in the system, a strong suspicion starts to insinuate itself in her mind, that this might not be the first time this happened, and that other bodies might have passed unnoticed into the system.
As the investigation progresses, we learn a great deal about what it means to live on the Moon, to build a viable outpost there and what kinds of problems humanity can take with it once it leaves the planet of its birth. At the same time, DeRicci’s character takes on substance and shape, and while she does not come across as totally likable, her dogged pursuit of the truth – as opposed to a more laissez-fare attitude from some of her co-workers – shows how some things never change, even when the environment is radically different from that of mother Earth.
The involvement of former mob boss Deshin in DeRicci’s investigation, and the discovery of the true nature of the body found in the dumpster, add further points of interest: Deshin’s desire to try and go legitimate – at least on the surface – comes from having adopted an abandoned child he and his wife are raising on their own. Both of them come from dysfunctional backgrounds, and the possibility of giving this child the kind of life they did not have opens new possibilities for them: Deshin is an interesting character, and I would have liked to see more of him and the kind of organization he runs, both on the legitimate and the less savory side of it.
Furthermore, we learn about the existence of clones, and the quite intriguing detail about their status in this future society: they are not considered persons, but rather property. Any harm visited on a clone is not labeled as a crime, but rather as damage to property: killing a clone is tantamount as denting someone’s car – the perpetrator pays a fine and that’s that.
With all of this on the table, I expected a different kind of story, even taking into account the shorter medium it was told in: unfortunately, there were many tantalizing hints that could have worked far better in a novel-sized format and were instead barely outlined here. What’s worse, the ending appeared rushed, switching from the organic storytelling of the beginning to a “tell-vs- show” progression in the last part of the novella. I had the definite impression that the author realized she had put a great deal on the table, and didn’t know what to do with it as the constraints of the format closed on in, so that what had started as a fascinating story fizzled out in a very disappointing way.
A missed opportunity that deserved much better, indeed.
Inhuman Garbage starts out in a very intriguing way, being a mix between science fiction and a police procedural: the police is alerted about a body being found in a garbage dumpster, which sounds like a far from unusual beginning, but the great difference comes from the fact that the dumpster belongs to a recycling plant based in the Armstrong dome, on Luna. Stories about human colonization of our Solar System, and of the way these settlements develop and grow, always exerted a strong pull on my imagination, so I was immediately drawn in: the detective called on the scene, the young and upward-moving Noelle DeRicci, launches herself in the investigation moved both by her strong sense of duty and the need to overcome some deep-seated phobias.
In a close environment such as a dome on an inhospitable planet, recycling is one of the most important factors: every bit of organic waste in Armstrong is sent to the Growing Pits, from where Luna-grown foodstuffs come from, and while DeRicci is aware of this fact, just like everyone else, she tries not to think too closely about it and what it implies. The fact that a body might end up in the compost heap that will promote food growth is not something she is ready to face: despite the fail-safes built in the system, a strong suspicion starts to insinuate itself in her mind, that this might not be the first time this happened, and that other bodies might have passed unnoticed into the system.
As the investigation progresses, we learn a great deal about what it means to live on the Moon, to build a viable outpost there and what kinds of problems humanity can take with it once it leaves the planet of its birth. At the same time, DeRicci’s character takes on substance and shape, and while she does not come across as totally likable, her dogged pursuit of the truth – as opposed to a more laissez-fare attitude from some of her co-workers – shows how some things never change, even when the environment is radically different from that of mother Earth.
The involvement of former mob boss Deshin in DeRicci’s investigation, and the discovery of the true nature of the body found in the dumpster, add further points of interest: Deshin’s desire to try and go legitimate – at least on the surface – comes from having adopted an abandoned child he and his wife are raising on their own. Both of them come from dysfunctional backgrounds, and the possibility of giving this child the kind of life they did not have opens new possibilities for them: Deshin is an interesting character, and I would have liked to see more of him and the kind of organization he runs, both on the legitimate and the less savory side of it.
Furthermore, we learn about the existence of clones, and the quite intriguing detail about their status in this future society: they are not considered persons, but rather property. Any harm visited on a clone is not labeled as a crime, but rather as damage to property: killing a clone is tantamount as denting someone’s car – the perpetrator pays a fine and that’s that.
With all of this on the table, I expected a different kind of story, even taking into account the shorter medium it was told in: unfortunately, there were many tantalizing hints that could have worked far better in a novel-sized format and were instead barely outlined here. What’s worse, the ending appeared rushed, switching from the organic storytelling of the beginning to a “tell-vs- show” progression in the last part of the novella. I had the definite impression that the author realized she had put a great deal on the table, and didn’t know what to do with it as the constraints of the format closed on in, so that what had started as a fascinating story fizzled out in a very disappointing way.
A missed opportunity that deserved much better, indeed.
April 5, 2019
Le opere di K.K.Rusch mi piacciono sempre molto e questo racconto lungo non fa eccezione. Scritto ottimamente, con una storia assai avvincente e personaggi che non lasciano inifferenti ma che colpiscono l'immaginazione del lettore. Grande SF, sia hard che psicologica, ben si colloca in questa collana eccezionale curata dal sempre attento Sandro Pergameno, italico nume tutelare della SF di qualità.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews