You knew when Kris asked for a desk job that it wasn't going to be pretty. Well, here's the bad, the worst and the ugly. Budgets! This short story started out as the opening chapters to Kris Longknife - Emissary, but hey, we all know how bad an office job is. Who wants to start off an action adventure yarn with just another day at the office? So I cut it. But, I know there are some of you out there who must have wondered if a bad Longknife day at the office was as bad as yours. Who has won...

In April, 1865, the generals commanding the Confederate armies surrendered to their Union counterparts. Lee and Grant are the best known. However, there were several more independent armies. Still, Confederate general all followed Lee's example. They surrendered and ordered their troops to begin the long walk home.But what if they hadn't? What if some of the footsloggers refused to throw it in? What would have happened if they had taken to the back woods and swamps and waged a gueri...

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 me...

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 m...

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—...

Grand Admiral Sandy Santiago is a woman with a whole lot of problems. She's ordered to take over command of the Alwa system from Kris Longknife. Can a mere human replace a Longknife! She's got alien birds. She's got alien cats. She's even got alien monsters that Kris beat but now want a rematch.Oh, and if all that wsn't enough, she's got Rita Nuu Longknife to boot. How can a gal get so lucky!

BEAUTY AND THE BATTLEFIELDHer Imperial Highness the Grand Duchess Victoria Maria Teresa Inez Smythe-Peterwald, daughter of wealth and power, was raised to do little except be attractive and marry well. Then everything changed—her brother, her father’s favorite and the heir apparent, was killed in battle by Lieutenant Kris Longknife, daughter of the Peterwald’s longtime enemies. Vicky vowed revenge, but her skill set was more suitable for seduction than assassinatio...

The Victory Parades are over and half the fleet is back in mothballs, but out on the rim of space, ships are vanishing. Rita Nuu Lonknife had enough of sitting home while she was pregnant. Now with an infant in arm, she wants some action. She pulls strings to get a heavy cruiser hauled out of the mothball fleet and command of it. She crews it with gals that fought with her in the Attack Transport Force . . . and four nannies for tiny Alex . . . and is ready to go find out why ships are not...

Grand Admiral, Her Royal Highness Kris Longknife, commander of the Iteeche Imperial Combined Fleets has the enemy on the run. Literally. The last time she entered a rebel system, every disloyal ship picked up its skirts and ran.So why has she been ordered, as in requested and required, to make a formal report to the Emperor? Ron the Iteeche and his two young Iteeche Counselors have little to say on the subject except that some Iteeche think Kris is winning too much, too fast....

Vietnam War Stories is a combination of fiction and non-fiction short stories and prose and poems derived from the author Mike Shepherd’s experiences as an Air Force radio news reporter in the Vietnam War from 1967 through 1968.

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 ge...

You knew it had to happen sooner or later. Abby had a problem and she figures the only way to solve it is to bring everything to a roaring halt. It had to happen.