Book picks similar to
Fire War by T.T. Michael


dystopian
sci-fi
science-fiction
fiction

Severed


Lizzy Ford - 2014
    Cyena and Tyana were born to powerful parents who are among the ruling class on their planet. Their lives are pampered but isolated, constricted to the city walls in which they were born. Fun loving with a rare but powerful mind power, Tyana is accustomed to being treated like a princess and using her influence to get anything she wants – including protecting her sister from the elders and students who look down on her. The opposite of Tyana in most ways, Cyena’s second-class mind skills make others view her as a blemish on the family bloodline. No one but her sister believes in her.They don’t know that a war is brewing, until it erupts. A class war tears their perfect world a part, leaving them helpless, alone and worse –severed from one another.Each girl will risk her life to find the other, and each will be challenged to hone her powers in order to survive environments unlike any they’ve ever experienced.

Too Like the Lightning


Ada Palmer - 2016
    For his crimes he is required, as is the custom of the 25th century, to wander the world being as useful as he can to all he meets. Carlyle Foster is a sensayer--a spiritual counselor in a world that has outlawed the public practice of religion, but which also knows that the inner lives of humans cannot be wished away.The world into which Mycroft and Carlyle have been born is as strange to our 21st-century eyes as ours would be to a native of the 1500s. It is a hard-won utopia built on technologically-generated abundance, and also on complex and mandatory systems of labeling all public writing and speech. What seem to us normal gender distinctions are now distinctly taboo in most social situations. And most of the world's population is affiliated with globe-girdling clans of the like-minded, whose endless economic and cultural competition is carefully managed by central planners of inestimable subtlety. To us it seems like a mad combination of heaven and hell. To them, it seems like normal life.And in this world, Mycroft and Carlyle have stumbled on the wild card that may destablize the system: the boy Bridger, who can effortlessly make his wishes come true. Who can, it would seem, bring inanimate objects to life...

Slip


David Estes - 2014
    Birth authorization must be paid for and obtained prior to having a child. Someone must die before another can be born, keeping the country in a population neutral position at what experts consider to be the optimal population. The new laws are enforced by a ruthless government organization known as Pop Con, responsible for terminating any children resulting from unauthorized births, and any illegals who manage to survive past their second birthday, at which point they are designated a national security threat and given the name Slip.But what if one child slipped through the cracks? What if someone knew all the loopholes and how to exploit them? Would it change anything? Would the delicate resource balance be thrown into a tailspin, threatening the lives of everyone? And how far would the government go to find and terminate the Slip?In a gripping story of a family torn apart by a single choice, Slip is a reminder of the sanctity of a single life and the value of the lives we so often take for granted.

The Borrowed World


Franklin Horton - 2015
    Life as we know it in America grinds to a halt as the electrical grid collapses, communication networks are damaged, critical bridges and dams are destroyed, and major fuel refineries go up in massive fiery clouds. When the government responds by immediately halting fuel sales to the public, Jim Powell finds himself in a terrifying predicament – trapped five hundred miles from home with a group of coworkers. With thousands of trapped travelers and scarce law enforcement, the miles between Jim and his family become a brutal gauntlet where the rules of civilized society no longer apply. As Jim puts his years of preparation and planning to the test, he is forced to ask himself if he has what it takes to make it home. Does he have the strength -- the brutality -- required to meet this new world toe-to-toe?

The Starving Years


Jordan Castillo Price - 2012
    In 1960, a superfood was invented that made starvation a thing of the past. Manna, the cheaply manufactured staple food, is now as ubiquitous as salt in the world’s cupboards, pantries and larders.Nelson Oliver knows plenty about manna. He’s a food scientist—according to his diploma, that is. Lately, he’s been running the register at the local video rental dive to scrape together the cash for his exorbitantly priced migraine medication.In a job fair gone bad, Nelson hooks up with copywriter Javier and his computer-geek pal Tim, who whisks them away from the worst of the fiasco in his repurposed moving truck. At least, Nelson thinks those two are acquainted, but they’re acting so evasive about it, he’s not sure how they know each other, exactly.Javier is impervious to Nelson’s flirting, and Tim’s name could appear in the dictionary under the entry for “awkward.” And with a riot raging through Manhattan and yet another headache coming on, it doesn’t seem like Nelson will get an answer anytime soon. One thing’s for sure, the tension between the three of them is thick enough to cut with a knife...even one of those dull plastic dealies that come in the package with Mannariffic EZ-Mealz.(Gay fiction, adult content)

What's Left of My World


C.A. Rudolph - 2016
    Ever since she was little, she had been taught how to live and survive outdoors, and how to use firearms to protect herself and those around her. Some of the training had been a bit extreme. Or had it been? Many of her questions were answered the day the world as she knew it ended. Now, the skills she had been taught serve an essential purpose. They keep her and those she cares about alive. Even in the sparsely-populated mountains of West Virginia, where she and her family have been forced to relocate for their safety after the collapse, peril lurks around every corner. Normal life has taken on a whole new meaning for Lauren, her family, and the community they have become a part of. In this different world, the new status quo is self-preservation. There is no more middle ground. People either live, or they die. Lauren’s father didn’t make it home on the day the world changed forever, and she misses him more than anything. Now, in What’s Left of My World, she and her family must learn to endure life’s horrors—without him.

Escape: The First Omnibus WTF I-III


W.J. Lundy - 2014
    Brad and his comrades realize the war for humanity has only just begun. And there's no guarantee any of them will survive the long journey home...Escaping The Dead:Alone in a foreign land. The radio goesquiet while on convoy in Afghanistan, a lost patrol alone in the desert. Withhis unit and his home base destroyed, Staff Sergeant Brad Thompson suddenlyfinds himself isolated and in command of a small group of men trying to survivein the Afghan wasteland.Every turn leads to danger. The local populationhas been afflicted with an illness that turns them into rabid animals. Theypursue him and his men at every corner and stop. Struggling to hold his teamtogether and unite survivors, he must fight and evade his way to safety.Tales Of The Forgotten:The world is at war with the PrimalVirus. Military forces across the globe have been recalled to defend thehomelands as the virus spreads and decimates populations.Out on patrol and assigned to a remote base inAfghanistan, Staff Sergeant Brad Thompson's unit was abandoned and left behind,alone and without contact.They survived and have built a refuge, but nowthey are forgotten. No contact with their families or commands.Brad makes a tough decision to leave the safety ofhis compound to try and make contact with the States, desperate to find rescuefor his men.What he finds is worse than he could have everpredicted.Only The Dead Live Forever:The escape from Afghanistan was only thebeginning.The Trio survived the initial fall, and built arefuge, they thought they had reached safety, but only to find themselves onceagain abandoned and surrounded by the primals. No contact with their familiesor commands, no relief from the rabid enemy. The fight continues as Brad andhis men struggle to survive in a post-apocalyptic world where the enemy is farmore dangerous than anything they had been trained for.Over land sea and air they will do anything to reach home.

Nexus


Ramez Naam - 2012
    There are some who want to improve it. There are some who want to eradicate it. And there are others who just want to exploit it.When a young scientist is caught improving Nexus, he’s thrust over his head into a world of danger and international espionage – for there is far more at stake than anyone realizes.From the halls of academe to the halls of power, from the headquarters of an elite US agency in Washington DC to a secret lab beneath a top university in Shanghai, from the underground parties of San Francisco to the illegal biotech markets of Bangkok, from an international neuroscience conference to a remote monastery in the mountains of Thailand – Nexus is a thrill ride through a future on the brink of explosion.

Interference


Brad Parks - 2020
    That, it turns out, is not quite true: Matt has been prodding the mysteries of the quantum universe, with terrible repercussions for his health. And perhaps even for humanity as a whole.Then, in the midst of another seizure, Matt disappears. When foul play is feared, there is no shortage of suspects. Matt’s research had gained the attention of Chinese competitors, an unscrupulous billionaire, and the Department of Defense, among others.With Matt’s life in clear danger, Brigid sets out to find him. Will Matt be killed before she reaches him, or could the physics that endangered him actually be used to save his life?

The Nexus


J. Kraft Mitchell - 2012
    They failed. Less than a century old, the satellite metropolis of Anterra now harbors a massive criminal underground.Jill Branch is just one of countless teenagers who have been sucked into the illegal activities of the city. She’s an errander--a pawn for crime lords to hire for their grunt work. But her latest task turned out to be more than she bargained for. Now she’s on the run from an undercover government agent. But she’s about to find out he doesn’t want to arrest her; he wants to recruit her. And if Jill agrees, she may be part of one of the most unique crime fighting projects in history.

Planet Urth


Jennifer Martucci - 2013
    The planet has been battered by war, its inhabitants plagued by disease and death. Few humans survived and remained unaffected. Most changed dramatically and evolved into something else entirely. Irrevocable alterations caused by chemical warfare have created a new species. North America is in ruins and has been overtaken. Humanity has fallen at the hands of mutants known as Urthmen. Seventeen year-old Avery is alive and unchanged. But she has not been immune to the harshness of the new world. She has lived on the run for much of her life, in terror. After losing her father, Avery is the sole guardian of her eight-year-old sister, June. Avery is now charged with June’s safety as well as her own, a nearly impossible task.Forced to hide deep in the forest and away from the cities overrun by Urthmen, Avery and her sister are constantly hunted. Danger awaits them at every turn. They fear they are the only human beings left, that they are the last of their kind. But are they truly alone?Find out in this raw and rousing first installment of the Planet Urth series.

Prominence


A.C. Hadfield - 2017
    Or way of life. They tried to send us into extinction. But we, the Coalition, fought them and won. That was a decade ago. We had assumed they were beaten for good. We were wrong. They’re known as the Host: a cabal of aliens seeking to dominate our sector of space. And they’re back—with help from a powerful new enemy. Against their wrath, we must stand. We’re outnumbered and unprepared. If we lose, we lose everything. But there is hope. An ancient race of long-dead but technologically advanced aliens called the Navigators have a ship called the Blackstar that could potentially turn the tide. That is if I, Kai Locke, a humble ship racer, can find it and learn how to harness its power in time. If I fail, the Coalition will fall, and the Host will consign us to a distant memory. I refuse to let that happen. I will fight to my last breath for the Coalition’s survival.

The Man That Time Forgot


Paul Mitchell - 2013
    Just open any book or talk to any history professor and they’ll tell you that history is filled with nothing but glorious battles, great leaders, plagues, large fires, earthquakes, famous inventors, Egyptians and Louis Pasteur. This couldn’t be further from the truth. History, in fact, is filled with a whole lot of nothing. Andrew Adams knows that only too well. He’s an ordinary man living his life in the all too abundant and mundane spaces between those great moments. Just like all ordinary men he spends much of his life wondering what the point of it all is, struggling to form meaningful relationships or find his place in society. Andrew’s life follows a daily routine much like that of many others: he wakes up, does the minimum required to get himself through the day - careful not to learn too much or create a lasting impression on anyone - and then goes back to bed. There’s only one, ever-so-minor inconvenience that continually stands in the way of Andrew’s ignorantly blissful life Time-travel. Since before he can remember every time Andrew sleeps he’s randomly flung through time and space, never knowing where or when he’ll wake up. The only thing he can be certain of is that the location he arrives at won’t be anywhere exciting. He’s a cursed man who had no idea why this happens to him, clueless to how it all started or how it can be stopped. Rarely does he find a place to fit in and, on those rare occasions that he does, he can only stay there until he loses his fight against sleep. Andrew Adams has all but given up hope and given up on life.That is until he meets someone else like him who sets in motion a chain of events that will lead him on a journey of discovery and answers to questions that perhaps even he didn't want to know. With the help of a mysterious and tenacious woman, an old drunken priest and a seven-foot, psychopathic assassin Andrews life is about to be given a purpose. Finally he might start to view his abilities as a gift instead of a curse and perhaps learn that there’s always something to be thankful for. Whether he wants to or not

Song of Edmon


Adam Burch - 2017
    The product of diametrically opposed races, Edmon hopes to live a quiet life pursuing the music of his mother’s people, but his Nightsider father cruelly forces him to continue in his bloody footsteps to ensure his legacy.Edmon’s defiance will cost him everything… and spark a revolution that will shake the foundations of Tao. His choice—to embrace the light or surrender to the darkness—will shape his own fate and that of his divided world.

The Remnant Keeper


Robert Scott-Norton - 2015
    Jack Winston is one of the best and hates it. Under the scrutiny of the world's most powerful corporation, Jack is as much a prisoner as those he helps send behind bars. But when his latest case arrives, Jack's world shatters as his wife is brutally murdered. Fuelled by vengeance, Jack vows to catch the murderer, but as the bodies pile up, Jack realises he's made a terrible mistake; he was never the hunter, only the hunted. The Remnant Keeper is the first book of Tombs Rising, part of The Tombs Legacy. If you're a fan of Torchwood, Stephen King, or The X-Files, then you'll love a series that combines all of their best traits in a fast-paced, captivating, thrilling adventure. Buy THE REMNANT KEEPER and take your first steps into a universe of darkness created by author Robert Scott-Norton.