Book picks similar to
The Mandate of Earth by J.S. Harbour


science-fiction
sci-fi
abandoned
space-opera

Supernova


Doug Dandridge - 2015
    Not all the action occurs on the main front. Space is too big for that kind of restriction. The Klassekians are a gifted race, with an ability which could help the Empire in its war against the Ca'cadasans. Just entering space, the species is still torn apart by religious and nationalistic schisms. They are on the verge of a nuclear war. And that is the least of their problems. For six light months from their star system is a blue giant, and the timer on its life is just about to hit zero. Exploration Command ships discover the civilization, and it is soon apparent that this is one that needs saving. But saving the six billion people on the planet is a daunting task, especially with a killing wave of radiation a year and a half away, six months after the blue giant explodes. And one of the main religious factions of the planet sees their destruction as a cause for celebration, the return of their God. Now the humans must not only battle time, but the politics and religious fanaticism of a fatalistic people who do not desire rescue, and are determined to stop those who do. Add to this the mysterious alien artifacts that rise from surface to above the atmosphere, and the mission becomes interesting in the most hazardous manner. And in the darkness, wait things that humanity thought they were well rid of, probing the human fleet, and threatening the great Empire base at Bolthole.

Glory Main


Henry V. O'Neil - 2012
    Both sides battle for control of habitable planets across the galaxy—often at any cost.Lieutenant Jander Mortas is fresh out of officer training and new to the war zone, but eager to prove himself. There's just one problem: disaster strikes while he's traveling to his first assignment. He wakes to find himself marooned on what appears to be a deserted planet, with only three other survivors: a psychoanalyst, a conscientious objector, and a bitter veteran of a brutal slave-scout detachment. As the group struggles to reach safety on a nearby base, Glory Main, they discover a Sim colony—which could mean their salvation, or their demise.Thrown together, they must fight the harsh elements, an ever-present enemy, and possibly each other.

Jethro Goes to War


Chris Hechtl - 2012
    These men, women, and non humans are determined to restore the Federation despite the corrupt politicians standing in their way. They have to pick up the pieces Fleet Admiral Irons has left behind and soldier on without him in the hope that he'll return someday. Jethro is one of those people, a new marine recruit. He's a Neo Panther, a member of the Anvil cat clan, and although he's young, he's a professional assassin and ready and eager to prove himself. Perhaps too eager. To what lengths will he go to fight for what's right? Will his first taste of true combat be his last? But first will he survive Boot camp and the infamous F platoon's Neo drill sergeant?This is the beginning of his story.

Queen of the Void


Michael Wallace - 2016
    The Royal Navy needs a forward operating base in their war against the alien race known as Apex, who has vowed to exterminate all sentient life in the quarter. Catarina’s expedition soon draws the attention of Scandian marauders, driven from their home worlds by plague and war in search of plunder. Enraged by the intrusion into their territory and greedy to seize her fleet and supplies, they mount a fleet of star wolves to destroy her base before it can get a toehold. The first book of the new sci-fi trilogy by Wall Street Journal bestselling author Michael Wallace, Queen of the Void is an exciting space opera for both new readers and fans of the bestselling Starship Blackbeard universe alike.

Empire in Crisis


Dietmar Arthur Wehr - 2016
    But the Empire is getting old and creaky. Its government is riddled with corruption and is choking on red tape. The Space Force is bloated with the incompetent who have risen to high rank due to nepotism and patronage. The Emperor has been assassinated and the Empire is surrounded by alien races that are becoming more hostile and more powerful as time goes on. When an exploration fleet in the rift between sections of the spiral arm are attacked by an unknown race, the dead Emperor’s clone-son, now on the throne, recognizes that the Empire is standing at the edge of an abyss and must find a way to not only win this new war against the alien aggressors but also overcome the inertia of the arrogant Space Force officers who are more ready to overthrow their Emperor than fight the war. Fans of military SF action will find it in this book. Excerpt: “Ah, not so fast, Ren. We’ve just picked up five, I repeat, five unidentified ships heading this way at point eight cee. If they maintain this speed, they’ll get here in about thirteen minutes. Here’s the interesting thing. They’re coming from the same direction as your longitudinal signal. I think it’s highly likely that they came out of that same wormhole just a short while before you found it. Standby while we try to make contact with the rest of the squadron.” Logan stepped closer to Montoya’s Command Chair. When Montoya turned his head in Logan’s direction, Logan leaned over and said, “If they came out of this wormhole, there may be more of them emerging at any moment. I recommend we pull back to extreme detection range.” Montoya nodded. “See to it immediately, SubCommander.” Logan went over to the Helm Station and told the Helm Officer what he wanted done. Detection of ships using warp drive was limited to a range of just under 11 light minutes or 200 million kilometers. At Bird of Prey’s maximum speed of 4.4 times the speed of light, travelling that distance would take just 2.5 minutes. The trick was to stay in contact with the relay ship by longitudinal wave transmission. That wasn’t a problem for Logan’s ship since they knew exactly where to point their transmitter, but the relay ship had to be kept updated via data transmission as to what Bird of Prey was doing so that it could adjust its transmitter to compensate. Logan checked the chronometer for elapsed time since the relay ship had begun detecting the bogeys. Almost four minutes had gone by. He wondered about the bogey’s speed. If they were capable of faster speeds, why not do so? Could it be that their detection range was shorter than the squadron’s light cruisers’? His thoughts were interrupted by the voice of Black Eagle’s commander. “Oh Christ! Ren, those five bogeys have just boosted to four point six cee! They’ll be here within ninety seconds! We haven’t been able to make contact with any other ship yet! I’m taking us to Battle Stations, Ren! Stand by!” “XO, bring us to Battle Stations too.” Montoya’s voice had been calm. Logan wondered if his CO’s stomach was churning just as much as his own was right now. Logan put his Command helmet back on and used the virtual controls to sound the Battle Stations alarm. “We’re at Battle Stations, Comma—“ Logan’s sentence was cut off by Magnasson’s voice.

Salvage-5


Brian K. Larson - 2014
     ...but what the salvage crew finds on their mission will change their lives forever. Colonel Tucker Petersen, retired five years from the military, is suddenly recalled to active duty and is put in charge of the Salvage-5 mining/recovery mission.Four previous civilian salvage missions have gone missing from the Kirkwood Gap. Tucker is sent, with his crew of eight, to discover what went wrong with the Self-contained mining dredge, the Euna-1, at Asteroid 15 Eunomia... Find out what discoveries are waiting for the crew of Salvage-5. ˃˃˃ Join Colonel Tucker Petersen, and the crew of Salvage-5, for this new Techno Thriller ˃˃˃ This will be sure to keep you biting your nails and on the edge of your seat. Scroll up and grab a copy today.

Acadia


James L. Erwin - 2013
    She’d loved the thrill of staring off the ship’s stern, watching the Sun slowly shrink, peering as closely at the white-hot thrusters as she could before Virgil shut off her visor. She’d loved looking forward at Acadia’s magnetic scoop, trying to catch some glimpse of the invisible cone that was funneling the vacuum’s stray atoms into its antimatter furnace. In those days, she’d even grinned at the dizzying challenge of spacewalking on a rotating cylinder. But that was five years ago . . .Acadia — the latest work of fiction from critically acclaimed author, James Erwin (Rome, Sweet Rome) takes to the far reaches of space to weave a tale of intrigue and suspense among the stars.

Declination


David Derrico - 2002
    Now, the Confederation's crises are spawned from within, and one brave woman struggles against all odds to keep mankind united amidst a hailstorm of rebellion, war, and moral declination.* * * * *The Lucani Ibron have yet to return, but all is not well within the Alpha Sector. Internal strife, terrorism, and ever-escalating conflicts with several neighboring species have spread the Confederation's resources dangerously thin. Captain Anastasia Mason, together with an eclectic group of humanity's most decorated heroes, struggles to hold the Confederation together against powerful forces that threaten to rip it apart at its very core. Then, at what appears to be mankind’s most desperate hour, an old enemy returns from a ten-year hiatus, casting humanity to the brink of civil war... and outright annihilation.

Sea Raptor: A Deep Sea Thriller


John J. Rust - 2014
    Army Ranger, until an unfortunate incident forced him out of the service. He is soon hired by the Foundation for Undocumented Biological Investigation and given a new mission, to search for cryptids, creatures whose existence has not been proven by mainstream science. Teaming up with the daring and beautiful wildlife photographer Karen Thatcher, they must stop a sea monster's deadly rampage along the Jersey Shore. But that's not the only danger Rastun faces. A group of murderous animal smugglers also want the creature. Rastun must utilize every skill learned from years of fighting, otherwise, his first mission for the FUBI might very well be his last.

Echo of Tomorrow: Book One


Rob Buckman - 2014
    They say that vengeance is a dish best served cold, but to the men and woman who went with him over the border to deliver that vengeance, it was dish served hot, and out of the barrel of a gun and cannon, and from the air. Yet in victory came defeat as he found three hundred years later in the world he woke up in. One far different from the one he'd left behind when he went into cold sleep. Now he had to find a place in this strange new world, one without the means to wage war against an alien race raping the planet of its young people. First, he had to build an army, navy and air force from scratch while fending off attacks from the aliens and the secret government that wanted to put him and his men back into cold sleep or the grave.

Survivor


Saff - 2014
     During a routine collection, she finds herself dragged into the middle of an alien uprising. The Ancients, merciless beings set on reclaiming the universe, have only one person left to stop them: Nova. She must battle the Ancients, time, and her sanity, in order to stop the annihilation of the human race. Fear the hero who has nothing left to lose. Buy now to join the fight!

Resistance


Max Carver - 2017
    Rapid expansion into habitable worlds brings immense prosperity and a new age of exploration unlike any humanity has seen. WAR Conflicts over control of the colonial worlds spawn a massive, generation-long war among humans. Under a shaky armistice, humanity has just begun to crawl out of the shadows of destruction, but suspicion and bitter hostility run deep. INVASION On a rocky, desolate planet, a small band of gold prospectors find themselves making a discovery they never expected—valuable and powerful relics of the galaxy's deep past. The prospectors also discover a hostile alien species, ruthless beings who do not tolerate humans and wipe them out on sight. Humanity's first contact with intelligent aliens becomes a war for survival. The invasion has begun...but the beginning of the invasion is also the beginning of the resistance. "Resistance is a terrific space opera adventure. It combines mystery, heart-pounding action, and a good dose of humor. It's Aliens meets Tremors. I can't wait to read the sequel." -Daniel Arenson, USA Today bestselling author of the Earthrise series

Citadel 32: A Tale of the Aggregate


Tom Merritt - 2015
    But someone wants to stop him from pursuing it. Meanwhile on Earth, a monk of the Citadel discovers a strange ancient artwork. Could it lead to truth of the myth of the Moon Men? Finding out the truth could kill him.

Into the Dark


Jason Halstead - 2015
     Aden Garrett is fresh out of security academy and looking for a little excitement. A little more than walking security at local space station bars and a little less than the job that got him kicked out of the academy. Meshelle and Janna are Vagnosian sisters that run a small transport and special operations ship, and they're looking to replace a fallen crew member. Chance brings them together and puts them work for one of the mysterious Kesari merchants who's looking for some expendable assets for a special job. It's a perfect match, except the crew of the Uma, Janna's ship, doesn't agree to being disposed of when the job is done. What follows is a game of cat and mouse through the galaxy with twists and turns at every solar system. Lost alien civilizations, six limbed insectoid warriors, plasma rifles, and more await. Much, much more… Keep your eye out for future Dark Universe novels: Book 1: Into the Dark Book 2: Out of the Dark Book 3: Chasing the Dark