Book picks similar to
This Strange Engine by Philip Ligon
sci-fi
fantasy
science-fiction
steampunk
The Doorknob Society
M.J. Fletcher - 2012
When she was young Chloe’s mother vanished. Wracked by feelings of abandonment and anger she lost herself traveling with her father's magic act, where illusions were part of her everyday life. Yet everything changes when they are pursued by a mysterious man in black out to kill her father. Touching a doorknob activates abilities she never knew she had and she finds herself thrust into a world of ancient societies and secrets.When her father disappears it is a race against time to find answers before she loses what is left of her family. Now Chloe must choose who to trust, the man who will do anything for her or the one she can’t stop thinking about.
The Bug Out: A Post Apocalyptic EMP Survival Thriller
Nick Oetken - 2019
As Atlanta descends into a war zone, the trio quickly realize that the grid has also gone down across the entire United States... and they find themselves caught completely off guard with no one else to help them other than each other. With society crumbling fast around them and armed gangs taking control of the streets, Holly, Matthew, and Elizabeth decide that their only hope is to bug out to Holly's grandfather's isolated cabin in the lush Blue Ridge Mountains to the north, seemingly the only place of refuge or peace in a world that has turned into an earthly version of hell. But getting out of the rapidly decaying Atlanta will be anything but easy, and with powerful gangs and dangerous thugs around seemingly every street corner, the survival of Holly, Matthew, and Elizabeth or even the hope that they can stick together are far from guaranteed. The Bug Out is the thrilling and action packed story of Holly's attempt to bug out to safety with her two best friends, and is a perfect read for fans of fast paced and exciting apocalyptic fiction.
Stillness
Eldon Farrell - 2018
Pulled from her training with the Epidemic Intelligence Service, Dr. Lynne Bosworth is tapped to head the investigation. Many questions surround the outbreak, not the least of which is how did plague find its way to the heartland of America? Determined to find the answers and her own way out of the long shadow cast by her father, Lynne embarks for Iowa. Unable to isolate an index case of bubonic plague, patient zero is traced to Nikolai Markov; an old Russian bio warfare scientist. Rumors of a bioterror attack are rampant. Under examination, the bacteria present Lynne with many anomalies but few answers. The antibiotic resistance noted in the field is absent in the lab, while a synthetic gene is found that seemingly has no purpose. For her superiors it’s enough to deem the outbreak a biological attack, a conclusion that Lynne does not share. For her, something about the whole incident remains…elusive. In search of evidence to either prove or disprove the bioterror claim, she crosses paths with FBI Special Agent Caleb Fine. Together, they come to believe that something other than a biological attack is going on in Stillness, and that the answer to what may lie in solving the fifteen year old murders of Bobby and Maggie Sullivan. As the body count rises and the pressure mounts, they delve deeper into the shadowy past of this quiet town; in the process exposing secrets long thought forgotten until finally uncovering the shocking truth behind the cause of the outbreak.
Desperation
C.B. Stone - 2015
“My skin does a little crawling thing at the way he says my name, but I can’t for the life of me figure out why. He seems nice enough. He’s very polite and charismatic. Quite charming actually, to others at any rate. But just the way he says my name sends a warning tingle along my spine, and I can’t get rid of it.” Reagan Rykehart has been sentenced to a stint on Grandy Island, a reintegration camp for at-risk youth. Problem is, she was sentenced there not because of her own deeds, but for trying to help a friend. Guess that’s what she gets for trying. Sailing away to meet her fate, she finds fate has other plans. Mostly because Reagan is stubborn and a little crazy. At least that’s people usually call folks who jump off ships. In the middle of the ocean. In the dark. Yep, definitely crazy. But will her new fate be even more grim than Grandy Island? Only time will tell. This is book 1 in a utopian/dystopian trilogy with a somewhat dark theme, and elements of romance. Desperation (The Island I) Escalation (The Island II)- Late July 2015 Deliverance (The Island III)- Late August 2015
Frozen Prospects
Dean Murray - 2011
When his sponsors are killed in an ambush a short time later, he instead finds his probationary status revoked, and becomes a pawn between various factions inside the Guadel ruling body. Jain's never known any life but that of a Guadel in training. She'd thought herself reconciled to the idea of a loveless marriage for the good of her people, but meeting Va'del changes everything. Their growing attraction flies against hundreds of years of precedent, but as wide-spread attacks threaten their world, the Guadel have no choice but to use even Jain and Va'del in their fight for survival. Publisher's Note: Frozen Prospects is followed by Thawed Fortunes.
Rex Rising
Chrystalla Thoma - 2011
Pursued for a secret he does not possess and with the fleet at his heels, he has but one thought: to stay alive. His pursuers aren’t inclined to sit down and talk, although that’s not the end of Elei’s troubles. The two powerful parasites inhabiting his body, at a balance until now, choose this moment to bring him down, leaving Elei with no choice but to trust in people he hardly knows. It won’t be long before he realizes he must find out this deadly secret — a secret that might change the fate of his world and everything he has ever known — or die trying.
Nobody Gets the Girl
James Maxey - 2003
Nicolas Knowbokov built his time machine. On the machine’s maiden voyage, Dr. Knowbokov accidentally changes history so that Richard is never born. Now trapped in a world that has no memory of him, Richard is an invisible, intangible ghost to everyone but Dr. Knowbokov and the scientist’s two superheroine daughters, Rail Blade and the Thrill.Assigned the codename Nobody, Richard becomes the world’s ultimate spy, invisibly battling the super-powered terrorist army run by the mysterious mastermind Rex Monday. The fate of the free world is at stake as the superhuman battles escalate, wiping entire cities from the map, threatening the survival of all mankind.Who can save us from the looming apocalypse? Nobody!
Come What May
Larry Darter - 2016
Or so he thought until he is caught up in a run of bad luck and his life starts falling apart. The worst of it, his unfortunate entanglement in a spate of fatal on-duty shootings at a time when activists are protesting the use of deadly force by police and rioting all over the country. On edge and questioning his judgment, Malone's LAPD superiors speculate that he may be too quick to use deadly force.Relieved from street duty, Malone is sequestered in Robbery-Homicide Division's Cold Case Homicide Section to keep him under wraps while he undergoes department-mandated psychiatric evaluation. His work-related problems compounded by a vindictive ex-wife intent on bleeding him dry financially sends Malone into a spiral of depression that soon has him drinking too much in the attempt to cope.Initially resentful over his reassignment to the cold case section, Malone's attitude starts to change when he and new partner, Detective Jaime Reyes, come across the files of a cold as ice, 23-year-old unsolved murder case. The more they study the case, the more certain they become that the theory pursued by the original investigators was completely wrong.Since the decades-old murder does not fit the unit's criteria for reopening a cold case for active investigation, Malone and Reyes embark on an "off-the-books" investigation. Predictably, that creates some problems, especially for Malone. It quickly becomes clear that there are powerful forces at work both inside and outside the LAPD determined to keep the truth behind the murder buried along with the corpse.The more resistance he encounters, the more unwavering Malone becomes in his unwillingness to let sleeping dogs lie, even when things start to get increasingly personal. His persistence in digging up bones from the past begins to threaten his very career with the LAPD. Even when the investigation sends him hurtling into more trouble than he ever dreamed possible, Malone is unrelenting. He is determined to solve the mystery and to uncover the truth behind the brutal 23-year-old unsolved murder, come what may.
Feral
P.J. Post - 2017
He surfs the backwash of the westward migration across a dead America; a war-torn desolation devoid of electricity, infrastructure and civilization. It has become a strange and unrecognizable land, rife with the worst of humanity. And his is a life without hope, equally dark and solitary. Until he meets Feral.Once was boy, selfish and directionless. Now is love.Now is reason.Now is vengeance.She is his vow, his purpose, and to save her, he'll murder the world.Palimpsest is an ongoing SerialReading Order:FeralOf One SkeinCoins for Charon Young ParisiansCarnival of Sighs*Coming of a Witch*
On Distant Shores
Mark Harritt - 2014
When Chief Warrant Officer Mike Duggins and his SpecOps team are assigned to a DARPA black site, their reality is changed in the blink of an eye, leaving them in an unrecognizable world, stalked by massive, draconic predators. With only his team, untested Mech Armor, and DARPA techs keeping the cunning predators at bay, they will have to employ every tactic they know in order to survive or risk becoming prey for the hostile carnivores. Can 5 experienced warriors and the DARPA tech team outsmart and outwit an enemy like no other they've seen before and find their way back home? About the Author I'm currently an over the road truck driver, frequently found at the end of a 400 to 500 mile day trying to peck out one to two thousand words on a new book. I'm an Army paratrooper with a background in intelligence operations. I spent six years in Iraq and Afghanistan, in uniform and out. Currently, my greatest challenges are black ice, lake effect snow, and uploading word documents to the ebook format, all equally treacherous endeavors. My greatest hope is to write stories that my readers enjoy.
The Invasion
Tracy Sharp - 2015
In a single night, thousands of small children vanish from their beds.A day later, meteorites hit the earth, releasing a strange dust into the air. The dead rise, ravenous. The living are dragged underground by creatures out of nightmares.As seventeen year old Zoe and a ragtag team of survivors soon discovers. . . There is nowhere to run.
The Hound of Hell
Rory D. Nelson - 2019
But can this knighted spymaster survive when the tables turn? Renault has pledged his deadly skills and mortal life to the Brotherhood. Even centuries after King Arthur’s demise, when the Merlin orders him to lead a rescue mission, he armors up without hesitation. Yet this cunning warrior did not predict his assignment would be a vicious fight to the death. Aboard a speeding train with his men by his side, a shocking betrayal throws Renault off guard and jeopardizes the entire crusade. And with an old foe intent on claiming his head, he fears the forces of their combined enemies may finally outmatch his knights. Can Renault defeat a desperate assassin and save the captive, or will his legendary reputation come to a gory end? The Hound of Hell is the first book in the gripping Hound of Hell dark fantasy spin-off series within The Brotherhood of Merlin universe.
The Saint and the Sorcerer
J.C. Hanna - 2017
A demon in the Tudor court of Queen Elizabeth. A pivotal battle between good and evil in ancient Ireland. Three key moments in history, with a shared destiny. In modern day New York City, Amy Coren is being stalked by a strange young woman. The young woman claims to be a witch. She tells Amy that she has an essential role to play in an ongoing war between good and evil. Sceptical at first, Amy quickly accepts the truth of what she learns as she faces a series of strange, and potentially deadly encounters. In ancient Ireland, Patrick, the future saint, prepares for battle. It is the eve of the pivotal showdown at Tara, seat of the High Kings of Ireland, between the Christian faith and the beliefs of the Pagans. Patrick has great respect for the old religion and its mystical creatures, and he believes that harmony with the old faith will be essential if his greater mission is to succeed—the fight against a timeless evil, committed to destroying humankind. As Queen Mary lies on her deathbed in London, the famed magician, John Dee hides among the assembled crowd outside Hatfield Palace. Dee knows that the real danger to Elizabeth as she takes the crown comes not from the scheming of men, but rather, from a much more dangerous, supernatural source—the same evil that Patrick faced so many centuries before. Against a backdrop of uncertainty and fear, the ancient evil, in the form of a demon, visits Elizabeth to make her an offer. In a moment of weakness, the young queen makes a terrible choice. John Dee works tirelessly to free Elizabeth from the diabolical pact.
Born From Fire
Holly Lisle - 2014
Author's note: This story was previously published as ENTER THE DEATH CIRCUS. EPISODE 1: When love is crime, who will save the guilty? After falling in love and fathering a child, a young criminal refuses to voluntarily throw himself into a lake of fire to gain his community's forgiveness. So he's sentenced to death and sold to the owner of a spaceship that buys criminals like him. But the ship and its crew are not quite what they appear to be.
The Box
Christina G. Gaudet - 2012
Although it’s not the car that her sister, Cindy, receives, Lou knows it could have been worse. She could have gotten Gran’s collection of toenails. When Lou opens the box and a guy the size of a stick of gum falls out; she changes her mind – the nail clippings would have been better.Not a day goes by that Lou doesn’t wish she could shove that guy back in the box and pretend she’d never laid eyes on him. Because of him, she discovered Gran was a sorceress and Cindy is a witch and all these years they have been keeping Lou’s magic locked away “for her own safety.” Without the magic she’s vulnerable to whoever, or whatever, is after her. With it, she’s a target for a fate worse than death.