Mike Moscoe Books in Order
Explore Mike Moscoe books in order, with quick summaries, series background, pen-name context, and simple guidance on where to start reading.
Last updated: July 5, 2026
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Publication Order
53 books
First Dawn
by Mike Moscoe
1996
From a plague-ravaged future, Jack Walking Bear and Launa Obrian are sent six thousand years into the past. To save humanity, they must change a fatal chain of events at the dawn of civilization.
Second Fire
by Mike Moscoe
1997
Living among the people they came to save, Jack and Launa try to turn peaceful farmers into a force that can survive the coming raiders. Every lesson in war risks changing the very future they hope to protect.
Lost Days
by Mike Moscoe
1998
Jack and Launa may have changed prehistory, but the future they return to is still not right. To save humanity for real, they may have to risk everything and do it all over again.
The First Casualty
by Mike Moscoe
1999
Humanity's far-flung worlds are at war, and billions may pay the price. On opposite sides of the fighting, Mary, Mattim, Ray, and Rita search for a way out before the slaughter becomes permanent.
The Price of Peace
by Mike Moscoe
2000
The war may be cooling, but peace leaves the frontier open to pirates, slavers, and opportunists. One unlucky marine keeps waking up in chains, and the trouble around him is only getting bigger.
They Also Serve
by Mike Moscoe
2001
A mission to a mysterious high-tech world turns into a nightmare of confusion, violence, and survival. The deeper the team goes, the harder it becomes to tell education, control, and torture apart.
Deserter
by Mike Moscoe
2004
A desperate call from a friend drags Kris halfway across the galaxy. Helping may mean breaking rules, defying orders, and making choices the Navy will not forgive.
Mutineer
by Mike Moscoe
2004
Kris Longknife refuses the debutante life and joins the Navy instead. Almost immediately she is rescuing a kidnapped child, feeding a starving world, and facing the threat of war with Earth.
Patriot's Stand
by Mike Moscoe
2004
In the BattleTech Dark Age, an embattled world has little left besides grit and whatever machines can still fight. This is a planetary war story about holding the line when collapse feels close.
Defiant
by Mike Moscoe
2005
Kris is badly outnumbered, with only a handful of tiny attack boats against six incoming battleships. To save the day, she will have to make impossible odds feel almost reasonable.
Resolute
by Mike Moscoe
2006
Given her first independent command in the remote Chance system, Kris discovers pirates and a hidden world with startling technology. Her exile quickly becomes the center of a much larger fight.
The Forsaken
by Mike Moscoe
2006
A standalone speculative novel about people pushed outside the system and forced to survive on their own terms. As pressure mounts, loyalty, identity, and simple endurance all get tested.
Audacious
by Mike Moscoe
2007
Something is badly wrong on New Eden, and Kris is caught in the middle of it. She has to sort corruption from survival and decide exactly when to start shooting.
Intrepid
by Mike Moscoe
2008
Kris finally gets the deep-space command she wants. But out beyond the rim, other humans have already arrived, and what they are doing could pull all of humanity into war.
Undaunted
by Mike Moscoe
2009
Peaceful aliens bring Kris a terrifying warning about an unstoppable force moving through the galaxy. Humanity may be directly in its path, whether it believes the news or not.
Redoubtable
by Mike Moscoe
2010
Ordered to hunt pirates, slavers, and drug lords beyond human space, Kris tries to keep the mission professional. Then a kidnapped girl makes the whole matter painfully personal.
A Day's Work on the Moon
by Mike Moscoe
2011
A collection of early science fiction stories, built around the award-nominated title piece. The stories mix practical space work, sharp premises, and ordinary people under unusual pressure.
Daring
by Mike Moscoe
2011
A reconnaissance mission into uncharted space finds something no one was ready for, a hostile alien ship. Kris has to decide whether caution or speed is more likely to save lives.
Training Daze
by Mike Moscoe
2011
Kris is assigned to train fresh crews on the fleet's newest and deadliest attack ships. What should be routine duty turns dangerous when old enemies notice where she has been sent.
Furious
by Mike Moscoe
2012
Wanted on worlds across human space, Kris is sent to Musashi while Jack is shipped elsewhere. A possible rogue Longknife and a maze of politics make this one of her most personal crises.
The Job Interview
by Mike Moscoe
2012
A collection of early science fiction stories with crisp setups and human-scale dilemmas. These pieces show Moscoe's taste for pressure, dark humor, and choices that turn unexpectedly serious.
The Strange Redemption of Sister Mary Ann
by Mike Moscoe
2012
This short story collection leans into science fiction shaped by war, faith, and moral strain. It shows a harder, more reflective side of Moscoe's storytelling.
Welcome Home / Go Away
by Mike Moscoe
2012
Kris comes home just as panic over alien war spreads through human politics. What follows is a family and government struggle where public fear may be deadlier than any enemy fleet.
Defender
by Mike Moscoe
2013
Back in the brass's good graces, Kris is promoted and sent after the pirates' home base. The mission is hard enough before family and future command decisions start crowding in.
Kris Longknife's Bloodhound
by Mike Moscoe
2013
Senior Chief Agent Foile gets far too close to the Longknife family and starts digging where powerful people prefer silence. What he finds could matter to all of humanity.
Kris Longknife's Assassin
by Mike Moscoe
2014
Vicky Peterwald wants Kris dead for killing her brother. But a botched revenge scheme lands her in the Greenfeld Navy, where survival soon matters more than old hatred.
Target
by Mike Moscoe
2014
Grand Duchess Vicky Peterwald was raised to marry well, not serve. After her failed revenge on Kris Longknife, she is forced into the navy and dropped into a world where status will not save her.
Tenacious
by Mike Moscoe
2014
Kris's honeymoon is cancelled by news that the raiders' home world may have been found. The chase leads her into mutiny, deep danger, and a threatened alien civilization.
To Do or Die
by Mike Moscoe
2014
Ray Longknife, Trouble Tordon, and Ruth Tordon converge on Savannah, where a strongman plans to rule through fear and tanks. Standing aside is not an option when an election becomes a battlefield.
Survivor
by Mike Moscoe
2015
Vicky is no longer just an angry imperial heir. Now she must rebuild shattered worlds and outmaneuver both revolutionaries and her own dangerous family.
Unrelenting
by Mike Moscoe
2015
Fanatical aliens strike at Alwa while a saboteur unleashes an epidemic inside Kris's fleet. She must fight an external war and an internal crisis at the same time.
Bold
by Mike Moscoe
2016
Kris is sent to mediate the Peterwald civil war because everyone thinks her history with Vicky makes her the right choice. Before talks even begin, assassination attempts prove someone wants the mission dead.
Rebel
by Mike Moscoe
2016
Vicky Peterwald has become a true grand duchess and a fleet leader in her own right. To survive, she must take the fight directly to the empress who threatens her future.
Ruth Longknife's First Christmas
by Mike Moscoe
2016
A family-centered short story that lets the Longknifes be at home for a change, at least in theory. Holiday warmth and Longknife chaos arrive together.
Admiral
by Mike Moscoe
2017
Kris arrives among the Iteeche as an emissary, only to learn they need far more than a diplomat. Court danger and civil war pull her toward command again.
Among the Kicking Birds
by Mike Moscoe
2017
A short tale from the Kris Longknife universe that mixes quieter character beats with the sense that trouble is never far away. Even a smaller adventure in this setting does not stay simple for long.
Emissary
by Mike Moscoe
2017
Kris goes to the Iteeche worlds as humanity's representative and expects diplomacy. Instead, she ends up helping defend a child emperor in a court where politics can kill as fast as weapons.
Enemy in Sight
by Mike Moscoe
2017
Rita Longknife finally has proof that something else is out there. With fleets half mothballed and governments slow to react, discovery starts to look a lot like the opening move of a war.
Enemy Unknown
by Mike Moscoe
2017
Captain Rita Nuu Longknife is ready to take the heavy cruiser Exeter into deep space, baby and all. What starts as command duty turns into the first hint that humanity may not be alone.
Kris Longknife's Bad Day
by Mike Moscoe
2017
This brief side story drops Kris into the sort of disaster that begins as an inconvenience and quickly turns serious. For a Longknife, a bad day rarely stays small.
Kris Longknife's Maid Goes on Strike
by Mike Moscoe
2017
A lighter short story from Kris's world, where domestic disruption says more about loyalty and family than anyone expects. Even a strike at home becomes a Longknife problem.
Kris Longknife's Maid Goes on Strike and Other Short Stories
by Mike Moscoe
2017
This collection gathers four short pieces from Kris Longknife's world. It mixes household chaos, family moments, and the kind of trouble that follows Longknifes even when nobody is supposed to be at war.
Kris Longknife's Relief
by Mike Moscoe
2017
With Kris away, Sandy Santiago tries to keep Alwa secure and functional. Defense, politics, and one crisis after another prove that replacement duty was only the beginning.
Kris Longknife's Replacement
by Mike Moscoe
2017
Grand Admiral Sandy Santiago takes over Alwa from Kris and discovers how many impossible jobs Kris had been doing at once. New command brings birds, cats, politics, and danger in quick succession.
Commanding
by Mike Moscoe
2018
Kris is given command of the Imperial Combined Fleet, more or less, in the middle of the Iteeche civil war. Winning means fighting rebels while also surviving an empire that worships old habits.
Dominator
by Mike Moscoe
2018
On the edge of a royal wedding, Vicky learns her father has fallen far and fast. To find him and seize back control, she may need a fleet, an army, and a war.
Kris Longknife's Successor
by Mike Moscoe
2018
Now Grand Admiral on Alwa, Sandy Santiago has to handle Granny Rita, feisty local allies, and a fresh alien threat. Keeping the peace gets harder every time she thinks she understands the job.
Implacable
by Mike Moscoe
2019
Vicky's rise leaves her with power, but not peace. War, imperial politics, and family betrayal keep turning every victory into a fresh test of nerve and command.
Indomitable
by Mike Moscoe
2019
The Iteeche war grinds on, and Kris cannot afford victory in space if politics collapses behind her. Every success brings fresh strain to the coalition she is trying to hold together.
Stalwart
by Mike Moscoe
2019
Rebels retake worlds, clan chiefs maneuver for advantage, and the young emperor remains in danger. Kris answers with stubborn strategy, refusing to fight the war exactly the way tradition demands.
Longknifes Defend the Legation
by Mike Moscoe
2020
While Kris campaigns elsewhere, her grandparents guard the human legation at the Iteeche capital. Political intrigue, a threatened district, and reckless Longknife children make home front duty anything but quiet.
Boot Recruit
by Mike Moscoe
2021
A raw recruit learns fast that life at the bottom of the military ladder is brutal, political, and never as simple as the posters claim. First service comes with hard lessons and little mercy.
The South Shall Rise Again
by Mike Moscoe
2022
A standalone speculative story about rebellion, memory, and the danger of old causes returning in new forms. Moscoe keeps the focus on people caught inside a conflict they cannot easily escape.
Where should I start?
If you want the main Longknife space opera: Mutineer → Deserter → Defiant
If you want the family backstory first: The First Casualty → The Price of Peace → They Also Serve
If you want imperial rivalry and naval politics: Kris Longknife's Assassin → Target → Survivor → Rebel
If you want time-travel science fiction: First Dawn → Second Fire → Lost Days
Author bio
Mike Moscoe was born in 1947 at the Philadelphia Navy Yard Hospital, then left town almost immediately. His father was Navy, so childhood meant motion, new bases, new towns, and new schools. He has said it was not until high school that he finished a full year at the same school where he started.
He grew up moving.
That early life around military culture never really left him. After college, the Army drafted him in 1968, and he later joked that boot camp and the hospital came a little too close together for comfort. Over the years he worked a grab bag of jobs, including cab driving, bartending, and a long stretch as a Navy Department budget analyst. He also spent years on a digital mapping project in western Oregon, work that was technical, detailed, and not especially rich in dialogue.
Writing arrived from the side door.
While working that mapping job, he signed up for a writing class at Clark Community College, partly because he needed somewhere to put all the words that his day job did not use. That decision changed things. Analog bought his short story Summer Hopes-Winter Dreams for its March 1991 issue, giving him his first major professional sale and a solid foothold in science fiction.
A few years later came the novels. First Dawn, followed by Second Fire and Lost Days, launched the Lost Millennium trilogy, a time-travel story that sends two survivors of a plague-ravaged future back to prehistory to try to bend human history in a better direction. He then moved further into military science fiction with the books now grouped as Jump Universe, where war, family history, and the long shadow of command start to take center stage.
That shift mattered. When the early Mike Moscoe books sold modestly, his publisher relaunched him under the name Mike Shepherd, a practical publishing move that gave him a fresh start. Under that name he found a much larger audience with Mutineer, the first Kris Longknife novel, and then kept building. The Kris books grew into a big future-history saga, while side series like Vicky Peterwald, including Target, let him explore the same universe from a very different angle.
He never stopped writing short fiction, either. A Day's Work on the Moon, The Job Interview, and The Strange Redemption of Sister Mary Ann collect stories that show another side of his work, one with fewer fleets and more compact thought experiments, moral pressure, and people trying to think clearly in a bad situation. Several of those shorter pieces landed on Nebula ballots, including the title stories in A Day's Work on the Moon and The Strange Redemption of Sister Mary Ann.
What readers usually notice first is the pace, but the deeper pattern is how interested he is in systems and people colliding with each other. His books return again and again to officers who have to grow up fast, families with old baggage, chain-of-command problems, and the way politics can ruin even the best plan. He has also written about studying international relations and history, along with salary administration, bargaining, theology, and counseling, which fits the mix you see on the page.
Now retired, he lives in Vancouver, Washington, with his wife Ellen and family close by. He has said he still enjoys reading, writing, watching grandchildren for story ideas, and upgrading his computer. That sounds about right for a writer whose stories are always interested in what people do when life gets messy and the machinery will not stop moving.
Edited by
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