Different Paths


A.E. McCullough - 2012
    As a former Spec-Ops warrior, Spartan has found that the skills given to him by the Coalition government are well suited to his new occupation. After retrieving a lucrative bounty, Spartan returns to Terran space and finds that one of his oldest friends has been murdered. Vowing to track down the killer, he soon becomes the unwilling pawn in an interstellar power struggle between two old rivals, his former Omega Squadron Commander and the President of the Coalition. When Spartan is forced to kill his mentor in self-defense, he is arrested by Galactic Marshals and detained. But when the Marshals kill a Federal Agent and pin the murder on him, he is forced to flee Earth with a small group of friends. Now the hunter becomes the hunted. Spartan finds that having a bounty placed on his head to be troublesome as he evades the authorities, tracks down his old commander and struggles to clear his name. Unknown to all, an ancient evil has awakened and has plans of its own for mankind and they include death, destruction and chaos. Are the skills Iaido ‘Achilles’ Spartan gained over the years enough to save the day and clear his name?The Last Spartan: Different Paths is the first book in a Sci Fi adventure novel series following a genetically engineered super-soldier on his quest for redemption and discovery of his purpose since leaving the service. Typically a loner, Iaido ‘Achilles’ Spartan learns the bittersweet truth that that no man is an island and nothing is more valuable than friendship. He might have been designed to be nothing more than a killer but in the end, he chooses to walk a different path. Carpe diem.

A Tangled Road to Justice (Paladins of Distant Suns #1)


Olan Thorensen - 2019
    When former soldier Everett Cole signed on to help colony planets prepare for joining the Federation, his employers were disconcertingly vague about their identity and his duties. Yet, the pay was good and it got him off Earth and on the way to a fresh start. More reservations arose when - 11 light-years from Earth - he met his partner, Edgar Millen, an enigmatic man with a penchant for violent solutions and a fetish for the mythology and language of the American Wild West. It wasn’t until they reached the colony world of Astrild that the mission became somewhat clearer. They were players in multi-faceted efforts to steer colony worlds in preparation for joining the Federation. Unfortunately, not all obstacles were amenable to diplomatic, political, or economic solutions. Cole and Millen were agents, troubleshooters, hired guns - or whatever you wanted to call them - tasked with removing impediments to civilized law and order - the methodology left open-ended. Millen and Cole’s first mission to test their partnership? The backwater town of Justice was under the control of a strongman and his henchmen. All they had to do was convince the cowed citizens to rise against their tormenter. Formal authority and backup? None. Millen was blasé at the assignment. Everett’s first thought was, “What the—!”

Selling Out


Zen DiPietro - 2017
    He gets to meet interesting people, enjoy all the comforts and safety of the PAC, and also do just a wee bit of shady dealing on the side. It's a nice life.Unfortunately, the alliance is falling apart. When he's tasked with a critical mission that only a trader can pull off, he has no choice but to accept, in order to preserve the PAC and maintain his cushy existence.He'll have to broker a deal with a reptilian species that is notoriously difficult to interact with. To accomplish that, he'll also need to resurrect some of the criminal skills he left behind over a decade ago.Worse, he needs the help of both his former best friend and his worst enemy, who is also his ex-wife.She's the reason he went legit. Well, mostly legit.Nagali is a ruthless, chaotic, pleasure-seeking pirate. As much as she likes lying and cheating, she likes torturing Cabot even more. She's also beautiful, brilliant, and hard to resist.There's a reason he hasn't seen her since his fortune-hunting privateer days. Enjoy a fun adventure with delightful characters, unique species, and lots of heart.Books in the Dragonfire Station universe in written order: Each series stands alone and need not be read in written order. Dragonfire Station Book 1: Translucid Dragonfire Station Book 2: Fragments Dragonfire Station Book 3: Coalescence (series complete) Intersections: Dragonfire Station Short Stories Mercenary Warfare Book 1: Selling Out Mercenary Warfare Book 2: Blood Money Mercenary Warfare Book 3: Hell to Pay Mercenary Warfare Book 4: Calculated Risk Mercenary Warfare Book 5: Going for Broke (series complete) Chains of Command Book 1: New Blood Chains of Command Book 2: Blood and Bone Chains of Command Book 3: Cut to the Bone Chains of Command Book 4: Out for Blood(series complete)

Bench Press


Sven Lindqvist - 1988
    Quoting from Arnold Schwarzenegger and Japanese writer Yukio Mishima, Lindqvist muses on what bodybuilding's increasing popularity says about contemporary society. "Bench Press" is an intoxicating blend of philosophical and political insight, emotional candor, and forgotten annals of the history of exertion.

The Outer Rims


Clint Morey - 2013
    But expansion means contact with new worlds and species—and with them, new challenges.As a young boy, Matthew Wallace experienced this as the child of missionaries on the planet Altair, living a rugged existence on the undeveloped world. Undeveloped, but not uninhabited. For Altair was home to a proud race of warriors—the Ananke.The same warriors Matthew watched as they murdered his parents.Now he is the Marshal of the place he swore he’d never return to, his hatred for the Ananke only tempered by his desperation to treat his wife’s terrible illness. For located on Altair is a clinic performing medical miracles, curing men and women of terminal diseases that even the most advanced technologies can’t touch. And yet, nothing is without its price, and as Matthew learns more about the world where he’s now charged with keeping the peace, he slowly realizes he’s going to have to decide what is more important: The life of his wife…or the lives of an entire species.A sci-fi thriller that calls to mind the grand masters of the genre, The Outer Rims explores the morality of doing whatever is necessary and the question of whether humanity and sentience are one in the same.

Space Jockey; The Green Hills of Earth


Robert A. Heinlein - 1947
    "The green hills of Earth" is the fascinating tale of the Blind Singer of the Spaceways, a legend from Marsopolis to the Jovian asteroids. Jake Pemberton is a "Space jockey" on the regular run from Earth to the moon-- when disaster strikes, it takes guts to ride his ship home safely.~~~Warner Audio Publishing : 2145.Duration: 70 mins.Reader: Colin Fox.

Terminal Event


Robert Vaughan - 2017
    There are strange, and unrecognizable markings on the canister. How did it get there, and where did it come from? It is sent back to a research center in the U.S. where it is opened in an environmentally controlled room. Inside are six human embryos, and even more shocking is the discovery that the embryos are viable. Should they be brought to term? Terminal Event tells the intriguing story of who the embryos are, where they came from, and how they spent 100 million years waiting to be discovered.

The X-Wing Series: Star Wars 9-Book Bundle: Rogue Squardon, Wedge's Gamble, The Krytos Trap, The Bacta War, Wraith Squadron, Iron Fist, Solo Command, Isard's Revenge, Starfighters of Adumar


Michael A. Stackpole - 2012
    Through nine thrilling novels, this handy eBook bundle features the action, the intrigue, and the entire evolving story of these unique space corps—units that are comprised of a diverse group of pilots determined to fight the good fight. This bundle includes the following titles:  ROGUE SQUADRONWEDGE’S GAMBLETHE KRYTOS TRAPTHE BACTA WARWRAITH SQUADRONIRON FISTSOLO COMMANDISARD’S REVENGESTARFIGHTERS OF ADUMAR

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.

Clockwork Sherlock


Ian W. Sainsbury - 2021
    

The Darwin Effect


Mark Lukens - 2016
    They are all suffering from short-term memory loss and they can't remember why or how they got on this ship. The onboard computer (MAC) tells them that it was programmed to wake them up early. They believe MAC woke them up by mistake. They can't re-enter suspended animation, there's only enough food for a few months, and they are too far away to return to Earth ... but even if they could return, MAC tells them that the Earth has been destroyed by nuclear war. They realize that they are all going to die on this ship.Cromartie, the unelected leader of their group, tries his best to keep the others calm, but soon they are at each other's throats. After one of them is found murdered, Cromartie and Sanders form an alliance. Cromartie tells Sanders that pieces of his memories are beginning to come back to him in his dreams; he believes he's seeing clues to their survival.But after the next murder, Cromartie and Sanders must work fast to find the mind-blowing key to their survival and figure out which one of them is the killer before it's too late.

The Subgenius Psychlopaedia of Slack: The Bobliographon


J.R. "Bob" Dobbs - 2006
    Scientific Shaman. Big Brother Au-Go-Go. He sits comfortably at the apex of the pyramid of worldly knowledge, twiddling his thumbs. His word, according to followers, is The Word, and that word is Slack. Beyond science, reason — and orgasm — find in Bobliography instant instructions for those who follow no master. The third installment of the holy SubGenius books, Bobliography is an uproarious send-up of all things cult. In addition to providing a guide for Eternal Salvation (or triple your money back), Bobliography is the encapsulated history of the SubGenius "movement" — from its beginnings in the 1980s to the growing Internet empire it has lately become — and also the essential, comprehensive collection of SubGenius lore. A Whole Earth catalog for the Deeply Weird, a Farmer's Almanac for the Truly Strange — Bobliography is the revelation of the millennium.

Seven Sins for a Life Worth Living


Roger Housden - 2005
    “The purpose of this book,” says Housden, “is to inspire you to lighten up and fall in love with the world and all that is in it.” Reading it is a pleasure indeed.“When you die,God and the angels will hold you accountablefor all the pleasures you were allowed in life that you denied yourself.”Roger Housden, author of the bestselling Ten Poems series, presents a joyously affirmative, warmly personal, and spiritually illuminating meditation on the virtues of opening ourselves up to pleasures like being foolish, not being perfect, and doing nothing useful, the pleasure of not knowing, and even (would you believe it?) the pleasure of being ordinary.

Ringworld Throne/Ringworld/The Ringworld Engineers (Ringworld #1-3)


Larry Niven - 1996
    

Armstrong Station


D.M. Pruden - 2020
    Upon learning the woman was kidnapped and forced into slavery by an interplanetary crime cartel, Mel makes it her mission to secure the woman's freedom and return her to her home on Earth.Working against Mel's efforts, a corrupt inspector of Luna's notorious Morality Police also searches for the victim so he can eliminate anyone who can implicate him in her kidnapping.Working against the clock, Mel must find a way to keep the girl away from those who would do her harm, and protect her own skin at the same time. If she fails, her crew mates aboard Requiem may well pay with their lives.Armstrong Station is the first in a series of prequel books that chronicle Melanie Destin's life before the events in the Mars Ascendant series.