Mike Shepherd - Undaunted

Table of Contents

Praise for

Kris Longknife
INTREPID

[Kris Longknife] will remind readers of David Webers Honor Harrington with her strength and intelligence. Mike Shepherd provides an exciting military science fiction thriller.

Genre Go Round Reviews

A good read for fans of the series and of military science fiction.

Romantic Times

Praise for

Kris Longknife
AUDACIOUS

Im a woman of very few words, but lots of action. So said Mae West, but it might just as well have been Lieutenant Kris Longknife... Audacious maintains a crisp pace and lively banter... Kris Longknife is funny, and she entertains us.

Sci Fi Weekly

Mike Shepherd has a great ear for dialogue and talent for injecting dry humor into things at just the right moment... The characters are engaging and the plot is full of twists and peppered liberally with sharply described action... Audacious doesnt disappoint in this regard. Military SF fans are bound to get a kick out of the series as a whole, and fans will be glad to see Kris hasnt lost any of her edge.

SF Site

Mike Shepherd is a fantastic storyteller who excels at writing military science fiction. His protagonist is a strong-willed, independent thinker who does what she thinks is best for humanity... plenty of action and tension.

Midwest Book Review

Shepherds grasp of timing and intrigue remains solid, and Kriss latest challenge makes for an engaging space opera, seasoned with political machination and the thrills of mysterious ancient technology, that promises to reveal some interesting things about the future Kris inhabits.

Booklist

Enthralling... fast paced... a well-crafted space opera with an engaging hero... Id like to read more.

SFRevu

Everyone who has read Kris Longknife will hope for further adventures starring this brave, independent, and intrepid heroine. Mike Shepherd has written an action-packed, exciting space opera that starts at light speed and just keeps getting better. This is outer-space military science fiction at its adventurous best.

Midwest Book Review

Im looking forward to her next adventure.

The Weekly Press (Philadelphia)

Fans of the Honor Harrington escapades will welcome the adventures of another strong female in outer space starring in a thrill-a-page military space opera. The heroines dry wit [and] ability to know what she is good at [as well as] her faults, [all] while keeping her regal DNA in perspective, especially during a crisis, endear her to readers. The audience will root for the determined, courageous, and endearing heroine as she displays intelligence and leadership during lethal confrontations.

Alternative Worlds

[Shepherd] has a good sense of pace... very neatly handled, and served with a twist of wry. A surprisingly talented read from a very underrated author.

Bewildering Stories

Shepherd does a really good job with this book. If youre looking for an entertaining space opera with some colorful characters, this is your book. Shepherd grew up Navy, and he does an excellent job of showing the complex demands and duties of an officer. I look forward to the next in the series.

Books n Bytes

You dont have to be a military sci-fi enthusiast to appreciate the thrill-a-minute plot and engaging characterization.

Romantic Times

Ace titles by Mike Shepherd

THE BERKLEY PUBLISHING GROUP
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Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the authors
imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business
establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control
over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.
KRIS LONGKNIFE: UNDAUNTED
An Ace Book / published by arrangement with the author
PRINTING HISTORY
Ace mass-market edition / November 2009

Copyright 2009 by Mike Moscoe.

All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without
permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the
authors rights. Purchase only authorized editions.
For information, address: The Berkley Publishing Group,
a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.,
375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.

eISBN : 978-1-101-14891-4

If what they say is true, and a wise warrior must know her enemy, then it may follow that the only person whom you understand... and who really understands you... is your enemy.

Acknowledgments

No book finds its way into a readers hand without a lot of dedicated work from wonderful people. Ginjer Buchanan deserves special thanks for all the support she gave a writer through the ups and downs of the writing life. The gang at Ace has been wonderful, balancing their standard formats with my insistence that it doesnt work that way inside the perimeter fence. Jennifer Jackson is all the agent that a writer could hope for. And there is no better first reader than my wife, Ellen.

Id like to give special appreciation to Edee Lemonier and Debbie Lentz, who volunteered to be second readers and comb the final manuscript for those nits that these old eyes let slip through. I hope those of you who find them particularly painful have less cause for painkillers during Kriss latest adventure. Id also like to thank the folks at The Anchor Inn in Lincoln City for giving me a home away from home to write. Their fine care and great food kept me putting in twenty pages a day, day after day. Thanks, Kip, Candi, Misty, and Ron.

Lieutenant Kris Longknife sat in the captains chair of the Wardhaven explorer ship Wasp , the unquestioned commander of all she surveyed.

Of course, she had the conn on the midwatch, and there was very little to survey; most of the Wasp s crew were sound asleep. Far from her sight, the scant midnight watch went about their duties, keeping the air cool, the lights on, and the ship decelerating at one gee on its established course. The only person in Kriss sight was Chief Beni. He studied the instruments at the navigators position.