Writing with Mike Shepherd Read online

  Writing with Mike Shepherd

  Mike Shepherd

  Published by Mike Shepherd, 2020.

  This is a work of fiction. Similarities to real people, places, or events are entirely coincidental.

  WRITING WITH MIKE SHEPHERD

  First edition. August 1, 2020.

  Copyright © 2020 Mike Shepherd.

  ISBN: 978-1642110470

  Written by Mike Shepherd.

  Writing with Mike Shepherd

  Author Commentary on the Kris Longknife Series & Other Writings

  Mike Shepherd

  Copyright Information

  Published by KL & MM Books

  August 2020

  Copyright © 2020 by Mike Moscoe

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including photocopying, recording or any other information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the publisher.

  This book is a work of fiction set 400 years in humanity’s future. Any similarity between present people, places or events would be spectacularly unlikely and is purely coincidental.

  This book is written and published by the author. Please don’t pirate it. I’m self-employed. The money I earn from the sales of these books allows me to produce more stories to entertain you. I’d hate to have to get a day job again. If this book comes into your hands free, please consider going to your favorite e-book provider and investing in a copy so I can continue to earn a living at this wonderful art.

  I would like to thank my wonderful cover artist, Lee Moyer. His skill created our cover illustration and design. I also am grateful for the editing skills of Lisa Müller, and as ever, my wife Ellen Moscoe.

  Version 1.0

  Cover Illustration and Design © Lee Moyer

  Ebook ISBN-13: 978-164211-0470

  Contents

  Introduction

  I. The Kris Longknife Series

  Mutineer

  Deserter

  Defiant

  Resolute

  Audacious

  Intrepid

  Undaunted

  Redoubtable

  Daring

  Furious

  Defender

  Tenacious

  Unrelenting

  Bold

  Historical Note

  Emissary

  Admiral

  Commanding

  Indomitable

  Stalwart

  II. Longknives

  Defend the Legation

  III. Kris Longknife Novellas & Short Stories

  I. Novellas

  Training Daze

  Welcome Home/ Go Away

  Bloodhound

  Assassin

  Bloodhound & Assassin Duology

  II. Short Stories

  Ruth Longknife’s First Christmas

  Among the Kicking Birds

  Kris Longknife’s Bad Day

  Kris Lognknife’s Maid Goes on Strike: Life on Alwa Station

  Kris Longknife’s Maid Goes on Strike & Other Short Stories

  IV. The Iteeche War Stories

  Rita Longknife - Enemy Unknown

  Rita Longknife - Enemy in Sight

  V. Grand Admiral Santiago on Alwa Station

  Kris Longknife’s Replacement

  Kris Longknife’s Relief

  Kris Longknife’s Successor

  VI. The Vicky Peterwald Series

  Target

  Survivor

  Rebel

  Dominator

  Implacable

  VII. The Jump Universe Series

  First Casuality

  The Price of Peace

  They Also Serve

  To Do or Die

  VIII. The Lost Millennium Trilogy

  Lost Dawns - Prequel Novella

  First Dawn

  Second Fire

  Lost Days

  The Lost Millennium Anthology

  IX. Short Story Collections

  A Day’s Work on the Moon

  The Job Interview

  The Strange Redemption of Sister MaryAnn

  X. Foreign Language Publications

  German

  Spanish

  Japanese

  Polish

  About the Author

  Release Information

  Books by Mike Shepherd

  Introduction

  Dear Reader,

  I’ve been writing for almost thirty years. My first short story was published in 1991. When I look back, I remember struggling as a writer and I recall what was very helpful to me. One of the things that served me best was reading author commentary and taking their advice to heart.

  As I’ve been writing, my short stories sold and I began to write novels. The series that grew popular was Kris Longknife. You know the story – a rich politician’s kid joins the Navy and finds herself along the way. She starts out as a boot ensign and works her way up to “the fightingest admiral in the galaxy.”

  We now have almost 20 Kris books. That’s not including the spin-off stories of the Grandma and Grandpa Trouble, Granny Rita, Sandy Santiago, and Vicky Peterwald. One of the questions I'm often asked is the order these books should be read. I'm also frequently asked to give Kris's genealogy, especially since she tends to call both her great-grandfather and her grandfather "Grampa," a frequent family practice.

  For years, I've made a habit of listing in my books, pretty much in reading order, all the books in the Kris Longknife and Jump Point Universe stories. However, there are some places where it gets a bit confusing. For example, when Daring spins off both Furious and Vicky Peterwald: Target. When you throw in Kris Longknife's Assassin it can be really interesting.

  Over a year ago, I discovered that someone had stolen that opening list and was selling it on Amazon for $2.99. I asked Amazon to take it down. It took some convincing, but they gladly did. Since then, every few months I have my assistant do a sweep and ask the same thing - for non-authorized versions of my work to be removed.

  Since that time, I've been thinking of how to best fill that need. I decided to expand the book list idea, but also give author commentary on each of the books so you, the reader, can understand something of what happened in my life as a writer around each of these fun projects. I’ve included personal notes, anecdotes about the writing, and will update it on an annual basis, so you will always have the latest inside information about Kris’s universe. So, for those of you who have enjoyed Kris Longknife's adventures, here is the story about what was happening during the creation of the books.

  There are two places to start the story of Kris Longknife, at Mutineer or First Casualty. I'm going to suggest Mutineer. It has sold over 70,000 copies in English, Spanish, Japanese, German, and Polish. I also learned a lot more about writing when I wrote it.

  You will find the various series grouped together, with the book description beneath the publication information, then my comments in italics. When possible, I have included other language editions, but finding valid hyperlinks for those editions can be problematic. If you ever have any questions about whether a particular book exists in a certain language or why something happened or didn’t happen, do drop me a note on Facebook or my website.

  Enjoy this commentary, and thank you for reading my work. Your comments and readership make it very worthwhile.

  Please know that this will only be offered in eBook form, not print, and will be updated annually. Do check Facebook and/or the website for more information as updates become available.

  Mike Shepherd

  Part I

  The Kris Longknife Series

  Mutineer

  Kris Longknife – Mutineer

&nbs
p; Kris Longknife Series Book #1

  Publisher: ACE

  Date: January 27, 2004

  * * *

  Kris Longknife is a daughter of privilege, born to money and power. Her father is the Prime Minister of her home planet, her mother the consummate politician’s wife. She’s been raised to be beautiful and to marry well. But the heritage of the military Longknifes courses through Kris’s blood—and, against her parents’ objections, she enlists in the Navy.

  She has a lot to live up to and a lot to prove in the long-running struggle between her powerful family, a highly defensive—and offensive—Earth, and the hundreds of warring colonies. And then an ill-conceived attack brings the war close to home, putting Kris’s life on the line. Now she has only one choice: certain death on the front lines of rim space—or mutiny.

  There is a lot of story behind Kris's first book. For one thing, it's written by Mike Shepherd, not Mike Moscoe, like the first three Jump Point books. Why?

  My first three books were a time travel trilogy. For some reason, the third book sold only 4,000 copies. Computers decide how many, if any, the big stores like Borders (Rest in Peace) Crown (Rest in Peace) and Barnes & Noble buy. The computer held the low sales of my third book against me. Borders would order only two books from me and not reorder when those sold. That dragged down the good sales of First Casualty, Price of Peace, and They Also Serve. Consequentially, Mike Moscoe couldn't sell more than 10,000 books.

  Still, my editor at Ace, Ginjer Buchanan, had faith in me. Rarely does a writer get a second chance, but she persuaded the publisher to give me one. But, I had to change my name to sneak past the computer. I chose my mother's maiden name, Shepherd, and thus, Mike Shepherd was born. Mom loved that I was writing as Shepherd. Of course, it also meant that was one security question I could never use.

  Ginjer was also very definite about some aspects of Kris's books. One, they had to be single viewpoint books. Previously, I'd used a lot of viewpoints. I'd used them well, but they still diluted some of the power of the book. Whose story was it? With Kris, there was never any question.

  Secondly, Ginjer insisted I retire the grandparents to Florida and keep Kris center stage. That was hard, but I did it. In the end, I'd come to realize just how much shade they could cast on Kris. Even after Mutineer was accepted, I juggled the last three chapters around and had the final meeting on Kris's home turf. It seems to have worked out very well.

  One more thought: Kris could have been a male or female. As I scoped out and proposed the story, I stayed vague. So, I got a call from Ginjer asking me about Kris's sex. The day before her call, my kids told me that I was going to be the grandfather of a granddaughter, so Kris became a girl.

  Elizabeth Moon told me once that she loved the Heinlein juveniles as much as I did. BUT, every time she got a new one, she had to choose one of the main characters and switch his sex, so she would have a girl to relate to in the story. That really hit me in the gut, but she was right. Now, with a granddaughter on the way, I wanted to write something that would make sure she had a strong woman to relate to without doing a sex change. Yay, Kris! Go girl!

  Deserter

  Kris Longknife – Deserter

  Kris Longknife Series Book #2

  Publisher: ACE

  Date: November 30, 2004

  * * *

  Kris Longknife had no choice about growing up rich and pampered. When she did have a choice, she joined the Navy. But now, a friend needs help halfway across the galaxy – and with military heritage coursing through her blood, it’s time for Kris Longknife to be a hero.

  When Kris Longknife’s best friend vanishes, she boards the next ship to Turantic, the last place he was seen alive. But there’s more to the rescue than meets the eye. Turantic is not only the most twisted hellhole in the galaxy, it’s also under quarantine because of a deadly plague. And after a sudden, suspicious loss of communication with the outside world, Kris realizes the length some enemies will go to for a life-threatening bait-and-trap. But she is willing to go even further – and deeper into Turantic’s secrets to survive.

  Whereas Ginjer had required a twenty-page outline for Mutineer, when I asked about Deserter, all she said was "surprise me." As it turned out, it surprised me, as well.

  For example, I had no idea who that dusky figure was waiting on the stairs for Kris. Abby was totally unknown, and I was just as surprised as the reader with the multiplication of steamer trunks and what Abby could produce from them. Penny was also a delight to discover.

  Best of all, Jack, who'd been a walk-on character in Mutineer, succeeded in working his way into a position at Kris's elbow. One laugh lead to another, and the story just kind of flowed out of my fingers. I'm glad it was as much fun to read as it was to write.

  Defiant

  Kris Longknife – Defiant

  Kris Longknife Series Book #3

  Publisher: ACE

  Date: October 25, 2005

  Born into a family of wealth and political power, Kris Longknife turned her back on high society and followed a different family tradition by joining the Navy. But now she finds herself relieved of duty. She’s gotten in the way of someone’s agenda – to bring down her father, the Prime Minister of Wardhaven.

  Now, with the fleet off on a propaganda mission, Wardhaven is left vulnerable to enemy warships that establish orbit around the planet demanding surrender. With the remains of the fleet ordered to stand down, Kris declares herself Commander-in-Chief and plans a desperate gambit to defend her world. Commandeering every space-worthy vessel she can get her hands on, and recruiting every able-bodied person willing to risk their life, Kris leads the most important mission of her career – and it may be her last.

  This was a very difficult book to write. During the time I was writing it, my brother's youngest boy walked up to Baghdad with the 101ST Airborne and spent the next year scratching days off a calendar. Back home, we sweated and sent boxes of books, comic books, and cookies. That tension slipped into the story.

  Originally, the book title was going to be Relieved of Command. I'd wanted to write the relief scene since I started writing Kris. However, my nephew was back home by the time I delivered it and shared that his sergeants really didn't approve of him reading books with Mutineer and Deserter on the cover. I called Ginjer and we changed the name to Defiant.

  That decision almost got me killed. It seemed that John Hemry, a good friend at Ace, had also been offered a chance to write under a new name, Jack Campbell. He's spent a year writing Lost Fleets – Defiant. He turned it in two weeks after me . . . only to discover the name was taken. I got an irate e-mail demanding a challenge with sabers at the next WorldCon. Since John's an Annapolis grad who took two years of fencing, I knew I was dead. Fortunately, our friendship survived that speed bump and we agreed to go over British Battleship names at each WorldCon and stay a few years ahead on book naming.

  There were some sections of this book that really moved me. Kris's handling of her relief and her feelings. The massacre of the Coast Guard Auxiliary launches was a real kick in the gut. From the middle of the book, I knew that Penny and Danny were star-crossed lovers. I also knew that one of them would die in the final battle. Being an old gamer, I was ready to roll a die or flip a coin. However, I was a mature writer, fully-grown, at that point. Tommy's death would be the worst thing that could happen to both Kris and Penny. I hate for people to die senselessly. Tommy fought his ship to the end, then gave up his life to save his wife's. What greater measure of a man is there?

  There were other scenes that were just plain fun. Kris meeting Santiago, and earning Sandy's respect. Kris's blackened body armor getting scraped off so she had a white bunny tail at the march off. Yeah, this book was hard and funny at the same time.

  Here, also, Jack became more prominent, at least at first. Unfortunately, at the climax, he got stuck riding herd on a gossip columnist far from Kris. I needed to change that. This is where the novella Training Daze comes in. It fills in the stor
y between Defiant and Resolute of how Jack ended up a Marine, one promotion subordinate to Kris, but with the key to her bedroom.

  Also, this was the first book where I was able to use multiple viewpoints again. Also, the battle tension between Kris and the Greenfeld admiral was critical to the story. I'm glad it all came together.