Book picks similar to
E For Effort by TL Sherred


sci-fi
science-fiction
american
novella

The Ballad of Lost C'mell


Cordwainer Smith - 1962
    

The Long Rain


Ray Bradbury
    This story was originally published in 1950 as "Death-by-Rain" in the magazine Planet Stories, and then in the collection The Illustrated Man. The story tells of four men who have crashed on a planet where it is always raining. As they try to reach the safety of the Sun Domes, they end up being driven insane by the endless rains.The story was republished in several collections and was incorporated into a film also titled The Illustrated Man.-- Wikipedia

Cat Scratch Fever


Tara K. Harper - 1994
    At last, she took the guide virus that would mutate her body to create the gate she so desperately craved. But the lifeform her body took was the one lifeform forbidden--the felines, who had scouted the planet for the First Droppers and, in exchange, been promised their freedom forever from human domination. By laws of the Guide Guild and the First-Landing Pact, she could never call to the cats, never speak with them, never approach them. But then capture and imprisonment, torture and slavery took the place of an empty future. Suddenly Tsia's only hope lay with her gate--and once she had touched the cats, there would be no turning back...

EVA (Field Series Book 4)


Simon Winstanley - 2018
    The future lies where genetics, A.I. and time collide. You don’t want to miss the conclusion of the Field Series main arc! Complete your journey with one small step,The future has arrived. Now.

Days of Grass


Tanith Lee - 1985
    Above, the world was a fearsome place for them - the open sky a terror, the night so black, and the striding machines from space so laser-flame deadly.Esther dared the open; she saw the sky; she saw the Enemy. And she was taken – captive - to the vast alien empty city. Surrounded by marvels of science not born on earth, Esther did not know what they wanted of her. There was mystery in the city, dread in the heavens, and magic in the handsome alien man who came to her.Tanith Lee, winner of World Fantasy Awards, crown princess of high fantasy, has turned her talents to science fiction in DAYS OF GRASS - with the same color and art and suspense that mark all her wonder works from THE BIRTHGRAVE to DELUSION'S MASTER.

1776: The Washington Divergence


Andrew Hastie - 2018
    New York is on fire. The British fleet are in the harbor, and Special Agent John Anderson still can’t believe he’s here...It began when the FBI counter-terrorism system picked up suspicious activity at Mount Vernon. Anderson was assigned to find out why a crazy old man dressed as a British Redcoat was trying to break in and how the same guy could show up five minutes later at the Smithsonian.The Colonel claims he is trying to change the past and prevent the assassination of General Washington. Anderson assumes he’s just off his meds – until the old man runs into a broom closet and disappears.Infinity Engines: Missions takes you on a journey into an alternate history, one that might have been if it wasn’t for the work of the Oblivion Order and their mission to save the future, by changing the past.

Good Morning Vendemiatrix


H. Paul Honsinger - 2020
    In these labors, there is one friend that they can count on, day in and day out . . . he’s a constant companion in their headsets with the Smack and Crack, Sno Bro, and other music they love, as well offering a seemingly endless stream of friendship and encouragement: the morning DJ on Company Radio Channel D, Robin Whitlake. But, Robin is more than a warm human voice in the endless night, he is a man with a heroic, yet deadly and dangerous secret past that could condemn him to death at any time. Disfigured and aging rapidly, he must work harder and harder to project the youth and vitality that he brings to his broadcasts, all the while wondering when and if his past will catch up with him. On 14 January 2314, it did. A disaster in the mining colony brings the heroic and deadly elements of Robin’s past into sudden collision. Not only must he decide whether to subject himself to possible execution, Robin has to call upon all his professionalism as a broadcaster, the skills he spent decades honing in his former life, and the Morse code abilities of a red-headed, pig-tailed Space Scout named Elaine, in a desperate “Hail Mary” improvisation with thousands of innocent lives hanging in the balance. Good Morning Vendemiatrix is an 8800 word stand-alone novelette set in the “Man of War” universe. Fans of Honsinger’s other work will recognize the setting and be treated to a cameo appearance by a familiar character, while new readers will not find themselves “lost in space.” It is a humorous and exciting piece of shorter fiction written to be enjoyed by all Science Fiction readers.

Spaceships and Spellcasters


Glynn Stewart - 2018
    A mage cop on his first assignment learns the world isn't as black and white as hopedA jump mage and a starship with matching needs turn out to be a magnet for troubleDigging in 1940s New York City awakens a monster--and brings in the elite of the FaeThe protected heir of an interstellar dictatorship is called to a battle no one expected him to fightAn explosive collection of four novellas from science fiction and fantasy author Glynn Stewart, spanning his ONSET, Starship's Mage, Changeling Blood and Exile universes, including two brand new urban fantasy novellas.  Includes:ONSET: Murder by MagicStarship's Mage: Episode 1Fae, Flames and FedorasAshen Stars

The Multiplex Man


James P. Hogan - 1992
    He knew that the countries of the former Eastern Block, who now claimed to have more freedom than the United States, as well as booming economies fueled by their exploitation of the resources of space, were only spreading ridiculous propaganda, and they either would soon collapse, starved by their diminishing natural resources and choked in their own pollution—or else they would attempt to steal the resources of the rest of the world, and have to be destroyed. Didn't the government say that was so?And then his world went to hell...

Wave Without a Shore


C.J. Cherryh - 1981
    It wasn't that Freedom was inhospitable as planets go. The problem was that outsiders—tourists and traders—claimed the streets were crowded with mysterious characters in blue robes and with members of an alien species.Native-born humans, however, said that was not the case. There were no such blue-robes and no aliens.Such was the viewpoint of both Herrin the artist and Waden the autocrat—until a crisis of planetary identity forced a life-and-death confrontation between the question of reality and the reality of the question…

The Trench


Paul Mannering - 2017
     Marine Biolgist Michael Armitage is recruited to investigate an emergency at a secret military research facility, deep in the Kermadec Trench, 18,000 feet below the surface of the Pacific Ocean. Now trapped with a squad of Marines and the few survivors, they must fight to survive and discover the terrifying secret that lurks in the darkness of The Trench.

The Time Takers


Saxon Andrew - 2014
    Throughout history, humans have been saved a moment before they died. Those that are taken, awake to find themselves in a strange new world different from anything they had ever seen. They discover that some agency has taken them out of the time they lived and dropped them into the early Cretaceous Age. They are now faced with surviving in a world that was called the Golden Age of the Dinosaurs. Not only must they learn how to survive the giant carnivores but also survive other humans. They are challenged to build a civilization ninety million years before the first Homo sapiens appeared on Earth. The humans struggling to survive wonder if the Time Takers are a larger danger than any they face in the prehistoric world they now inhabit. One of them is determined to find out why they were taken and his quest could endanger everyone. Excerpt from: The Time Takers Suddenly, the cave was filled with a deafening roar. Everyone in the cave turned, grabbed their ears and looked to the left, where they saw an opening in the cave wall at the end of a short corridor. Something was filling the opening. Andy was stunned at what he saw. This was a nightmare that could only come from an overdose of bad drugs. Everyone fled across the cave to the wall furthest from the opening. The Romans broke formation and ran with the others. The Roman Leader held his ground and Andy saw he was shocked and frightened out of his wits. It was easy to see why. Andy sprinted across the cave and moved into the short corridor leading to the opening where a giant head with rows of sharp teeth was being pushed further into the cave. He stopped twenty feet from the head, raised the bow and fired an arrow directly into the open mouth of the huge Allosaurus. The giant reptile screamed and jerked its head back out of the opening but not before Andy had notched another arrow and hit it between the eyes with an arrow that buried itself to the fletching. The giant’s roar was silenced as it straightened up and then fell backwards. Andy put the bow over his shoulder and ran toward the entrance. He saw a large stone wheel on the right side of the opening designed to block the entrance and he ran behind it and tried to push it forward. The roars from outside the cave were getting louder…and numerous; everyone inside could hear that there were more of the nightmares that had stuck its head in the cave outside the opening. He pushed as hard as he could but the wheel was just too heavy to move. There was a channel cut into the floor for it to roll in; but it was just too massive to budge. The Roman Leader sprinted over and started pushing with Andy. They looked out of the opening as they struggled to move the stone wheel and saw ten of the giant carnivores were just outside the entrance surrounding the dead Allosaurus,. They appeared to be trying to determine what killed it. One of them looked at the cave opening and started moving toward it. Ten Samurai and five Vikings arrived at that moment and began pushing with Andy and the Roman. The wheel started moving and then rolled over the entrance just before the dinosaur arrived. The men gathered at the wheel felt it lean into the cave for a moment…and then fall back against the opening. This book is dedicated to my brother, Wayne. I wish you could have read this one. Thanks for reading Science Fiction to me when I was five years old. You started me on the path that led me to all the stories that spring from my imagination, I miss you and love you. Visit us on face book at www.facebook.com/SaxonAndrewsUniverse or our website at www.annihilationseries.com. You may contact me directly at saxonandrew@msn.com

Alive


Andreas Christensen - 2013
    When Ed Walker learns that others have been preparing for the disaster for years, he realize finding them may be his only shot at survival. But time is running out...In a dying world one man makes a choice to keep going, hoping against hope there might be a future after all.Alive is a 10.000 word story loosely based on events in Exodus by Andreas Christensen, but can also  just as easily be read as a stand alone.Notice: this novella is also available for FREE on the author's website.

Pangaea: Exiles


Jeff Brackett - 2017
     Now Sean must find a way to survive more than 200 million years in the past, in a world populated by monstrous creatures that would rend him limb from limb if they got the chance. And that's just his fellow prisoners. The dinosaurs are almost as bad.

Dunes Over Danvar


Michael Bunker - 2014
    The word is out that the legendary city of Danvar has been found, and every diver, brigand, and pirate with a sarfer is racing to find it. But out in the dunes there's only one inarguable fact... The sand don't care, and it never did. Dunes Over Danvar is a short story set in New York Times Bestselling Author Hugh Howey's world of SAND, and is written and published with the permission of Hugh Howey.