Writing with Mike Shepherd: Author Commentary on the Kris Longknife Series & Other Writings

By Mike Shepherd

This is the definitive book collection from Mike Shepherd. It includes not just book series that he has written, including Kris Longknife, Vicky Peterwald, Sandy Santiago, Rita Longknife, and his recent book Longknifes Defend the Legation, but also includes author commentary on each book! Mike Shepherd's older works are also included, especially his time travel trilogy and Nebula-nominated short stories! Available in eBook format only, this is the insider edition on his work, and the only official commentary on Mike Shepherd's work. It's the perfect addition to your collection!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Mike Shepherd
• Release date: Aug 1, 2020

Mike Shepherd

Mike Shepherd is the author of Like Another Lifetime In Another World an historic fiction based on his experiences as a reporter for Armed Forces Radio in Vietnam in 1967 and ‘68. It too is available through iUniverse.com. Shepherd is a free-lance writer who lives in the country near Springfield, Illinois.

Book preview

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

Cover of Kris Longknife Mutineer

Kris Longknife – Mutineer

Kris Longknife Series Book #1

Publisher: ACE

Date: January 27, 2004

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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