Mike Shepherd

Lieutenant Commander Kris Longknife has precise orders: seek out, engage, and destroy pirates, slavers, and drug lords operating beyond the rim of human space-without interfering in Peterwald family affairs. But when slavers kidnap a twelve-year-old girl, Kris's mission becomes personal. And if destroying the pirate compound flattens some Peterwald interests-well, to hell with politics.

Kris Longknife has been assigned to The Wasp, the best warship beyond the Rim of Human Space. But while hunting for pirates, Kris stumbles upon something. It's a plan to kill one of the members of the aristocratic Peterwald family--and the would-be killers are setting her up as the assassin.

Followed by trouble at every turn, Kris Longknife, commander of the remote system of Chance, captures the pirates responsible for sabotaging the buoys that mark the jump points of interstellar travel, exposing the location of a miraculous technology that she must risk her life to protect. Original.

Kris Longknife can kick, shoot, and punch her way out of any dangerous situation, * and her latest adventure in the New York Times bestelling series is as perilous as they come... Despite her role as a fleet Admiral and protector of a planetary system, Kris is still beholden to her great grandfather King Raymond s commands. She has been personally selected for a mission that, should she succeed, will save millions of lives. The Peterwald Empire is in the midst of civil war. On one side is the tyrannical Empress, on the other is the last person Kris ever wants to see again Grand Duchess Vicky Peterwald. Due to their shared history, the Emperor believes Kris can mediate between the factions and bring about peace. But before Kris even begins her mission, she survives multiple assassination attempts on her family home world. Someone doesn t want her interfering in the Empire s affairs. Kris immediately suspects Vicky or the Empress, only to learn that it could also be a traitor among her own people... *Sci Fi magazine"

Kris Longknife is back in the good graces of the brass--and to demonstrate that, they've promoted her to Admiral. Now her mission is to find the home base of the space pirates who are plaguing the fringes of the galaxy. But no mission is ever simple when your name is Longknife. And this time the complications range from the military to the personal, as Kris finds herself--reluctantly--having to make some command decisions about her future...

Kris Longknife encounters some peaceful aliens who have come to warn humanity of an unidentifiable force that is roaming the galaxy, obliterating everything in its path-a path now leading directly toward the human worlds.

As part of an agenda to oust her father from his political position, Kris Longknife is relieved of command. But when an alien enemy launches an invasion, she defies both government and military authority to lead a rag-tag fleet against the threat.

A search for her lost friend leads Kris Longknife, the female space warrior, into Turantic, a galactic hellhole with no way out that has been placed under quarantine because of a deadly plague. Original.

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 only 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 marines. 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...

Blood Wine Anthology contains numerous short stories about the author's experiences as an Air Force radio news reporter in the Vietnam War in 1967 and '68, and episodes he experienced after the war while traveling in Europe, and hitchhiking throughout the US. The anthology also includes many poems about various subjects, along with some character sketches about people he had become acquainted with over the years.

A Story of Salvation begins in Spunky Point, Illinois where the protagonist, Mick Scott, and his two younger sisters live with their grandparents after their parents split up. Their violent, suicidal, alcoholic mother is ruled unfit by a family court to care for them. She blames the court's decision on her ex-husband, so she enlists the assistance of her violent new lover to exact revenge on him and the children, thinking that they conspired against her in court. As the three siblings grow into adulthood, they, along with their father, are forced to deal with their mother's lover's vicious attacks against them. After all is said and done, do they succeed in ending his evil reign of terror, or do they succumb to it?

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 her 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.

Family memories, maps, photographs and newly-opened archives provide the untold story of how Dracula came to be written. Also includes an introduction by Dacre Stoker.

Grand Duchess Vicky Peterwald has everything. A loving fiance who's soon to be her husband, adoring crowds, and she gets to share her golden wedding carriage with Kris Longknife. What more could a girl want?Well, the Emperor, her father, could have showed up to walk her down the aisle, but she's not really bothered about that. Then suddenly, she is. It turns out that he didn't make the wedding because he's broke and living nearly homeless in an abandoned, half built, palace. How'd that happen?News isn't coming out of Dad's side of the Empire, so it looks like Vicky may need a battle fleet to go pay Daddy dear a visit. Oh, and four or six brigades of infantry and tanks. Somebody should have known better than piss Vicky Peterwald off. Now they have, and she won't let anything get in her way of being Vicky Peterwald: Dominator.

Kris Longknife has been ordered back to human space. Sandy Santiago is a woman with a whole lot of problems. She's ordered to replace Kris Longknife, but can any mere mortal fill the shoes of a Longknife . . . and Kris Longknife most of all? Follow Sandy as she's introduced to the mess on Canopus Station. Watch her as she meets cats (with nuclear weapons ), birds, and vicious alien raiders. Oh, and she has to share Alwa Station with Rita Nuu-Longknife. How does a gal get so lucky?

How do you win a war lost 6,000 years before you were born? Those are the orders waiting Launa O'Brian, fresh out of West Point. They want her to help peaceful farmers win a war they're about to lose and beat back the Horse Raiders that destroyed them. The Army has a time machine. They even tested it once. It didn't work, but trust them, they fixed it. With the whole army to chose from, they've assigned her Captain Jack Walking Bear as a partner. As a captain, he outranks her. As a guy, he's got a lot of different ideas about how to run this show. But the President put Launa in charge, because his old anthropology professor says women spoke first back then and guys paid attention. So how come the first thing they see is a war band of horsemen who want to hit them over the head and steal everything they brought? Did the time machine blow it? Were the anthropologists overly optimistic?