Mike Shepherd

The victory parades are over and half the fleet is back in mothballs. The Navies better start getting them back in Commission Rita Longknife, commander of the heavy cruiser Exeter, has proof. Proof that there is something else out there. Proof we are not alone in the galaxy. Aboard her ship is evidence that we have blown up an alien ship, and they have blown up one of ours. So far, contact with the aliens is being made by pirates, the worst scum humanity has. How do the right people take over making contact? Is there already too much bad blood between us? Have we already blown first contact?

How do you win a battle lost 6,000 years before you were born? How do you make sure winning that battle doesn't lose you the war? The 21st Century is dead, killed by a runaway designer plague. Only two people survived the century. 2nd Lieutenant Launa Obrian and her sole subordinate, Captain Jack Walking Bear. There mission, travel back 6,000 years and help a peaceful band of farmers fight off the horse raiders from the steppe and maybe, just maybe, turn human history from death and conquest to cooperation and construction. They've won their first battle, but they know there is more to come. Some of the farmers walk after the soldiers. Some refuse to consider killing, even to protect themselves. Most of the farmers just wish the horse raiders would go away. It is among these that Launa and Jack must find enough soldiers to stand between the lances of the raiders and the farms and herds of these people. But is just winning the battle enough? Is the changes they must bring to harden muscles, harden weapons, and harden hearts something that may destroy from within the very lives they were sent to save? Ride with Launa and Jack as they seek to start a Second Fire that will burn out the poison from the steppe without burning up the way of life that may be humanity's only hope.

Sandy Santiago has problems coming out her ears. Granny Rita is out of control. The workers are out on strike. Worse, the murderous alien raiders are testing Alwa's defense perimeter. Once she has her hous in order, Sandy is strongly thinking of getting her own good look at what appears to be the alien home world. Last time Kris Longknife visited the place, she threw some serious shade on the aliens. Dare Sandy return? Might the aliens be waiting for her? What could a serious, organized scientific look at this world tell Sandy? Assuming she survives the look

From the Nebula Nominated and New York Times Best Selling Author comes the long lost story of how Launa Obrian and Jack Walking Bear met, got to know each other, hit and did not hit it off and learned to train together. Here's the story that was referred to in the other books of the trilogy, but you've never had a chance to read before. Follow these two courageous troopers as they prepare for an insane mission even as the world around them descends into its own insanity.

Kris Longknife has discovered that this desk job is not at all what she expected. Being desk bound hasn't even decreased the number of assassination attempts Then Kris gets home to find her two kids playing with an Iteeche. Ron has come back to human space with a request. Should Kris honor it? Can she finally get some straight answers for her Grampa Ray, King Raymond to most? Does she risk taking the kids into a situation with a whole lot of unanswered questions? Oh, and what can go wrong? Kris know something will go wrong. Something always goes wrong.

The war is over. Hurray Half the fleet is back in mothballs. But out on the rim of human space, ships are disappearing. Some are merchant ships going about their business. Others are exploration ships on deep space probes. What's happening to them? Captain Rita Nuu Longknife is ready to take the heavy cruiser Exeter to space and see what's out there. She may have a nursery next to the captain's cabin, and a two month old baby on her hip, but she's taking a warship out there and nobody better get in her way.

How do you win a war lost 6000 years before you were born? Worse, what if you've won that war, and the word you've made isn't quite what you expected? Problem is, now you're 6000 years away from the on-going fight -- again Here's the exciting conclusion of the Lost Millennium Trilogy as Launa and Jack set out to do it all over again

This is the third book with Grand Admiral Sandy Santiago serving as Kris Longknife's Relief, then Replacement, and now Successor, on Alwa. She has all the challenges a gal could ask for. Granny Rita is on the rampage, and the cats have gone on strike. Leaving the Colonials to deal with Granny Rita, Sandy heads off to work with the cats, only to discover she is not the only one who has a bone to pick with them - alien monsters have a vendetta as well Sandy has to work to find a way of peace among the Alwans, feisty cats, and a new alien race.

Admiral Kris Longknife should have known the job offer was too good. Really, she knew by now that what was too good to be true really, really isn't. Still, she jumped at the chance to be the first human emissary to the Iteeche Empire. Only when she got there and met the Emperor, a teenage kid swamped by his throne, did Kris find out that there was a little civil war going on in the Iteeche Empire. The loyal forces were losing, and they needed the best fighting admiral they could get. So they got Kris Longknife. Now Kris is sweating out collecting a fighting force -- that won't make her their first target. Now she's trying to figure out how to fight ships identical to hers, that outnumber her four to one or worse. Oh, and she's got to keep the merchant princes in her embassy from making a mess of everything. A whole lot of people are hoping this Longknife can pull a grizzly bear out of her hat. A whole lot of other Iteeche are hoping the bear takes off her arm. This continuation of the Longknife Saga is 112,000 words of battle, intrigue and assassinations including a few wrong turns on Kris's part. Enjoy

Becoming the centre of public debate during the 2014 Scottish referendum, the North Sea oil forms a crucial chapter in Scottish history. Written by an industry insider, a combination of lightly technical explanation and anecdotal accounts explore the process of developing new oil fields and oil production. A poignantly human perspective of a lucrative and challenging industry, Shepherd highlights the importance of the reserves to a nation, and the impact of the production surge upon the men and women of the local community in Aberdeen.

Having used unorthodox methods to save a world--and every sentient being on it--Lieutenant Commander Kris Longknife is wanted across the galaxy for crimes against humanity. For her own safety, she's been assigned to a backwater planet where her Fast Patrol Squadron 127 enforces immigration control and smuggler interdiction.But Kris is a Longknife, and nothing can stop her from getting back to the center of things--not when all hell is breaking loose. Now she's on the run, hunted by both military and civilian authorities--and since the civilian authorities happen to be her immediate family, Kris soon finds herself homeless, broke, and on trial for her life on an alien world...

Lieutenant Commander Kris Longknife leads a reconnaissance mission of the vast uncharted regions of space. No one, least of all Kris, expects to find a hostile alien starship. Now, she must determine the extent of the alien threat-and whether to start an interstellar war...

You can't keep a good woman down-Kris Longknife returns. Once again Kris finds herself caught in the crosshairs of unknown enemies who want her dead. Factions, both legitimate and underground, vie for control of the planet New Eden. And someone is taking advantage of the chaos to unleash a personal vendetta against Kris.