Writing with Mike Shepherd
Page 4
You know, the fun things you do when you're over 70. I've pretty much settled that for now, three books a year is all I can do. Indomitable was one of three that year.
Stalwart
Kris Longknife - Stalwart
Kris Longknife Series Book #19
Publisher: KL & MM Books
Date: December 5, 2019
* * *
The foolish Iteeche clans that hauled Grand Admiral Kris Longknife back to the Iteeche Capital and interrupted her campaign against the rebels, are dead. Very dead. Their clans are disgraced and their palaces in ruin.
However, while Kris was handling that noise, the rebels took back one of the planets she had recently captured, Arteccia, and are planning to take more.
Now it's time once more again for Kris to kick butts and take names. However, life is never easy for a Human in the Iteeche Empire. The Clan Chiefs expect Kris to retake what the rebels took from the loyalists because that is the Iteeche Way. That is a tune she will not dance to. So, the Clan Chiefs play their ace: Do what we want, or we won't give you command of our ships.
To their consternation, Kris does not give in. She gives them a literal middle digit salute and invites every minor clan to join the fun and games of capturing planets and gaining plunder.
Unfortunately, the rebels have used their time well and they have their own plans for Kris, plans that should leave her fleet in ruins and the young Iteeche on the throne dead.
Unfortunately for them, their plans can't really hold back Grand Admiral, Stalwart Kris Longknife.
This was the first book to feature our artist, Lee Moyer.
Years before, when I wrote Furious, I really wanted Kris on the cover in a kimono. ACE said no, and they put her in fatigues with a really big gun, because bottom line, “girl with big gun sells.” I have always wanted Kris in a kimono and was very thrilled Lee could make that dream come true.
We got a bit of criticism for the different face and “Buck Rogers gun.” I was quick to remind people that we don’t really know what Kris looks like. We know she is tall, pushing six feet, thinner, with blond hair and blue eyes. She’s not curvy, but lean and athletic, a soldier. Aside from that, I left it for the artist’s interpretation. I thought Lee did a fantastic job.
As I was writing the book, it seemed to take forever. I was going through a cancer scare (of all things on my ear, from getting sunburned as a kid!) and my dear wife was ill. There were weeks when I didn’t write at all. Once things evened out, I was able to finish the book. I realized at the end that I didn’t showcase the grandparents well enough - Gramma and Grampa Trouble. I had to write their book - Longknives Defend the Legation right away!
I also have to say that with this book, I felt my age. While I was writing this story, I was diagnosed with osteoarthritis in several places, the most troublesome being the small fingers of both my hands. That's definitely making for a slower writing schedule. Sorry about that.
Part II
Longknives
This is the birth of a new series; Kris, but not Kris. In this series, Kris takes a back seat and lets her kids become the main focus. If you’ve read Defending the Legations, you’ll know what sort of antics and danger they get into.
I also created it as a way for Kris’s kids to begin to shine in their own ways, as a part of, yet separate from their parents. There is plenty of room for growth with this series.
Defend the Legation
Longknifes - Defend the Legation
Longknifes Book #1
Publisher: KL & MM Books
Date: April 15, 2020
* * *
Grand Admiral Kris Longknife is rampaging across the stars, kicking butt and taking planets away from the Iteeche rebels. She asks her grandparents, Gramma and Grampa Trouble, to came out to spend time with Kris's kids while she is gone.
Meanwhile, back on the Iteeche Imperial Capitol planet, intrigue and power plays continue. Within fifty kilometers of the Imperial Palace are a dozen clan factions who dream of seizing the purple from the hand of the young Emperor. The Human Embassy once more comes under siege. This time, however, the entire Legation District, all thirty-six blocks and three million Iteeche must be protected.
Meanwhile, the kids are left on their own. Sneaky parents should not be surprised to discover that their kids are just as sly as they are.
Before too long, Little Ruth and Johnny, along with thirty of their Human and Iteeche friends, are in way over their heads.
Can Little Ruth keep her friends alive long enough for Gramma Trouble to race to their rescue?
Can Ruth, not yet eight, learn the hard lesson of being a Longknife?
This action-packed adventure of just under 100,000 words is a great parallel story for Kris Longknife Stalwart that shows just what measures need to be taken to keep the home fires burning, because - Longknifes do what they have to do . . . no matter the cost.
* * *
When I wrote Emissary, Kris took her grandparents, Grandpa Trouble and Grandma Ruth (who fought in the original Iteeche wars of 100 years before) along to make the journey with her. That way, the kids could have grandparent time while their mom and dad were off across the galaxy. I realized as I wrote Stalwart that the gang at the embassy was not getting much time with you readers. Thus, another story was born – under a different series - that can grow in its own right!
I had to struggle with the awful act of kidnapping innocent children and killing those around them (remember the innocent Iteeche girl?) and creating a very ugly under-core of corruption in Iteeche society that no one had seen before. As it happened, the kids got out alright, but not without a few bumps and scrapes, and much damage to a pallet loaded full of ancient MREs.
Something else - this book was written after Stalwart, but tells what was going on back at the Iteeche Embassy when Kris and her staff were off fighting. The adventure builds as you have tricky parents who have kids who are just as sneaky. I hadn’t planned on writing this so soon, but as you know there were just so many stories and unanswered things kicking around my brain.
While writing the rescue of the children, I also had to struggle with the really big question – do I put a weapon in the hands of a child? After much thought, I created the scene where the children are rescued and eight-year-old Ruth asks Grandma Ruth for a weapon. It’s a small handgun, that she has trained with under supervision, and Grandma gives it to her. I’ve not worked out yet what Kris’s reaction will be, but that’s definitely fodder for another book!
I decided to make this a separate series because it doesn’t deal with Kris directly, rather the children. There is plenty of room to grow this into a new series on its own.
I hope you enjoy this. It was fun to write.
Part III
Kris Longknife Novellas & Short Stories
People are often confused about the difference between short stories and novellas. A short story is just that - a short story with a single main focus or character. It is usually no more than 10,000 words. A novella, is longer than a short story, but not as long as a novel, anywhere from 30,000 - 60,000 words.
I’ve used them to fill out the story line and give background to characters in the Kris Longknife series.
Part I
Novellas
In the Kris Longknife series, novellas include:
Training Daze
Welcome Home/ Go Away
Bloodhound
Assassin
Bloodhound & Assassin Duology
Training Daze
Kris Longknife Training Daze: A Companion Novella to the Kris Longknife Series
Kris Longknife Novella #1
Publisher: ACE
Date: October 4, 2011
* * *
An original novella in the “fast-paced, exciting”* Kris Longknife series from New York Times bestselling author Mike Shepherd.
Proving herself a capable, if unorthodox, officer, Lieutenant Kris Longknife has been assigned to train inexperienced crews
in piloting the newest, fastest, and deadliest attack ships in the fleet. But Kris’s training tour has not gone unnoticed by her enemies—and their hired assassins...
Includes a teaser chapter from the Kris Longknife novel, Daring, and a letter from the author.
*Nebula Award-winning author Elizabeth Moon
This novella fits between Defiant and Resolute. It also gives Kris and Jack some time for character development. By the time it's over, Jack is in a Marine uniform and both of them know where Grampa Trouble got his name.
Ace picked this and Welcome Home/ Go Away as “short specials” so they are still being advertised and sold by Ace.
Welcome Home/ Go Away
Welcome Home/ Go Away
Kris Longknife Novella #2
Publisher: ACE
Date: September 25, 2012
* * *
Kris Longknife is back home from her galactic adventures, but her entire Fleet of Discovery has been annihilated. Now, humanity finds itself at war with an alien race more monstrous than anyone could have possibly imagined.
General Terrance “Trouble” Tordon, Kris’s great-grandfather, is given the task of calming the panicked politicians, some of whom blame Kris for the disaster and would like to eliminate the ever-bothersome Commander Longknife.
But as “Trouble” struggles to defend his Kris, the level of uncertainty among the civilians leads to more panic and a rush to judgment that makes him believe that he’s facing a fight he’s bound to lose…
Includes a preview of the newest Kris Longknife novel, Furious, available November 2012.
This novella is actually an alternate ending to Daring so it should be read right after that book. I got to use the viewpoint of Gramma and Grampa Trouble. It's nice to see them together and to get their take on Ray Longknife.
Bloodhound
Kris Longknife - Bloodhound
Kris Longknife Novella #3
Publisher: KL & MM Books
Date: September 6, 2013
* * *
It’s dangerous to get too close to one of those damn Longknifes. So, Senior Chief Agent in Charge Foile volunteers to get too damn close to the whole family of Longknifes. It seemed like a good idea at the time.
Kris Longknife feared the survival of the entire human race might hang on what her Grampa Al did next – but she couldn’t figure out what he was up to. After a career in the Wardhaven Bureau of Investigations, Foile was good at finding out what others wanted to keep hidden.
Exactly why Foile found himself volunteering, he’d never know, but soon he was spending his annual leave digging into what the powerful Longknife family wanted hidden and is up to his neck in trouble of every kind.
Note about cover photo: this is a file photo of Kris and Nelly when she was in college on the political stump for her father’s campaign. For the latest photo of Kris, check out Kris Longknife - Defender.
This novella takes place during the second half of Furious. You can read it immediately after Furious, or, if you wish, read it anytime while Kris is on Musashi, awaiting trial. The ending for Furious is dependent upon what Kris's Bloodhound is finding back on Wardhaven, but Furious can be read without this sub plot.
Assassin
Kris Longknife’s Assassin
Kris Longknife Novella #4
Publisher: KL & MM Books
Date: May 31, 2014
* * *
Kris Longknife killed Vicky Peterwald’s brother. So Vicky will kill Kris Longknife. Or try.
Raised in the shadow of her brother Hank, Vicky now finds herself heir to the Peterwald Empire and hell bent on killing Kris Longknife. When that doesn’t work out, she finds herself shipped off to the Greenfeld Navy as a boot ensign. There, she learns she can solve problems without taking her clothes off, and really feel good about it! When Kris Longknife crosses Vicky’s path again, Vicky has had a change of heart and is ready to do what is necessary to save her dad’s life.
Kris Longknife’s Assassin is a long novella, just 50 words short of a 40,000 word novel. It tells the story from Vicky’s perspective of her first run-ins with Kris Longknife as well as Vicky’s apprenticeship under Admiral Krätz. It will give the reader a good run up to Vicky Peterwald – Target coming from Ace June 24, 2014.
This is actually a short novel in Vicky Peterwald's viewpoint. It shows a lot of her life from her meeting Kris on New Eden, through her being banished to the Navy as a boot ensign through Kris saving her father's life in Intrepid. It's a fun but not essential read before starting the Vicky Peterwald trilogy.
Bloodhound & Assassin Duology
Kris Longknife’s Bloodhound & Assassin: A Duology
Kris Longknife Novella #5
Publisher: KL & MM Books
Date: May 1, 2020
* * *
I’ve been wanting to put together this duology for a while. However, with this COVID-19 pandemic spreading world-wide, I know that many people find solace in reading, just like I do. In solidarity of being home-bound for the foreseeable future, I wanted to put them together for you, so you could move through the entire adventure at once.
Bloodhound is the third of the Kris Longknife novellas, after Training Daze and Welcome Home/ Go Away. It should be read before Assassin and definitely before the Vicky Peterwald books published with ACE, Vicky Peterwald Target, Vicky Peterwald Survivor and Vicky Peterwald Rebel. Vicky Peterwald Dominator and Implacable are from my own press, KL & MM Books and follow after Rebel.
Assassin is actually a short novel in Vicky Peterwald's viewpoint. It shows a lot of her life from her meeting Kris on New Eden, through her being banished to the Navy as a boot ensign through Kris saving her father's life in Intrepid. It's a fun but not essential read before starting the Vicky Peterwald trilogy.
Enjoy the read!
This ad copy differed from all others because these two stories were already published, hence my note to readers above.
Part II
Short Stories
People are often confused about the difference between short stories and novellas. A short story is just that - a short story with a single main focus or character. It is usually no more than 10,000 words. I’ve used them to fill out the story line and give background to characters in the Kris Longknife series.
A few years ago, I did put them together into a collection, available on Amazon called “Kris Longknife’s Maid Goes on Strike and other Short Stories.” It is available in print and ebook.
All of the short stories here are owned by me and published under KL & MM Books. Here is the list:
Ruth Longknife’s First Christmas
Among the Kicking Birds
Kris Longknife’s Bad Day
Kris Longknife’s Maid Goes on Strike
Kris Longknife’s Maid Goes on Strike & Other Short Stories
Ruth Longknife’s First Christmas
Ruth Longknife’s First Christmas
Kris Longknife Short Story #1
Publisher: KL & MM Books
Date: December 23, 2016
* * *
Ruthie Longknife is seven-months-old and enjoying her very first Christmas in the arms of Kris Longknife. She's got a sparkling tree to taste, a lot of presents under the tree, oh, and because she's a Longknife, uninvited guests for the Christmas goose. This is a short story of 6,800 words and says a lot about Longknife holiday family dynamics, including grumpy old Grampa Al. It’s a must read for those of you who enjoy Kris's world.
Little Ruthie just had to have a first Christmas story, and, of course, being a Longknife, it would involve an assassination attempt. Kris also got to strut her stuff in front of her grandpa Alex and show him he's safer with her than his Tower of Insecurity. This story fits in right after Bold.
Among the Kicking Birds
Kris Longknife - Among the Kicking Birds
Kris Longknife Short Story #2
Publisher: KL & MM Books
Date: February 6, 2017
* * *
Princ
ess Kris Longknife is Viceroy for the Royal United Society government to the aliens of Alwa. She commands a fleet and an industrial base, and the humans manning the ships and working the factories would like some vacation time. They'd also like a stake in the world of Alwa they are defending. So, Kris finds herself approaching natives for land. Her Native American heritage balks at the thought of her trading a few beads for land, so she will handle these negotiations herself.
Of course, nothing ever goes down easy for a Longknife. She'll face beasties, angry natives, and an assassin before she's done, but hey, she's a Longknife. That's what she does.
This story was originally part of Kris Longknife - Unrelenting but these 7,600 words had to be cut because the novel was too long. Now you can read the full story that was covered in one short paragraph in Unrelenting.