Book picks similar to
The Librarian: A First Contact Story by M.N. Arzu
science-fiction
sci-fi
scifi
aliens
Colonize
S.G. Seabourne - 2019
No explanation, no field guide, and no rules.
And human beings aren’t the only new arrivals.
Morgan’s never been a team player, and she never imagined facing disaster with a bunch of confused, terrified teenagers. To live she’ll have to make allies—human and otherwise. Because Morgan has no intention of settling down and starting anew somewhere else. Whoever brought her here can bring her back. But first, she must survive.
ReDawn
Brandon Sanderson - 2021
Read Alanik’s story between Starsight and Cytonic.“Don’t trust their lies. Don’t trust their false peace.” That is the warning that Alanik of the planet ReDawn gave the human pilot Spensa after Alanik’s ship crash-landed on Detritus. While accepting an invitation to meet with her people’s enemy, the Galactic Superiority, Alanik heard Spensa’s cry for help across the vastness of space, and she used her cytonic powers to hyperjump her ship to the source of that cry. What she found there was a shock—a whole planet of free humans fighting against the Superiority. Were they the allies her people desperately needed? When she recovered from her injuries and met the friendly humans Jorgen and FM of Skyward Flight, she found that her warning to Spensa had gone unheeded by the government of Detritus, and they were considering a peace overture from the Superiority. Now having returned to ReDawn, Alanik is dismayed to learn that her own people are falling into the exact same trap. The faction in ReDawn’s government that wants to appease the Superiority has gained the upper hand. With Alanik’s mentor, Renakin captured, she has no one to turn to but Jorgen, FM, and their friend Rig. An ancient technology may have the power to save both of their planets from disaster, but can they discover its secrets before it’s too late?
Expedition
Alexander Elliott - 2017
Assisted by a sentient AI, the unsuspecting crew is awakened when a strange craft suddenly appears transmitting an appeal for help. Led to an underground sanctuary, they discover the remains of an entire alien civilization, preserved in stasis. While the newfound allies make preparations to leave, they are threatened by an aggressive race bent on acquiring the alien’s secrets for themselves. The looming confrontation will change the destinies of three disparate races, and give the victors a chance to spread their influence throughout the galaxy.
Zenith Part 1
Sasha Alsberg - 2016
Most know Androma Racella as the Bloody Baroness: a powerful mercenary whose reign of terror stretches across the Mirabel Galaxy. To those aboard her fearsome glass starship the Maurader, she’s just Andi, their captain and protector. When a routine mission goes awry, the all-girl crew’s resilience is tested as they find themselves in a most unfamiliar place: at the mercy of a sadistic bounty hunter connected to Andi’s past and a harrowing betrayal. Meanwhile, on the far side of the galaxy, a ruthless ruler waits in the shadows of the planet Xen Ptera, biding her time to exact revenge for the destruction of her people. The final pieces of her deadly plan are about to fall into place, unleashing a plot that will tear Mirabel in two. Andi and her crew embark on a dangerous, soul-testing journey that could restore order to their ship—or just as easily start a war that will devour worlds. As the Marauder hurtles towards the unknown, and Mirabel hangs in the balance, the only thing certain is that in a galaxy run on lies and illusion, no one can be trusted. From internet sensation Sasha Alsberg and author Lindsay Cummings comes a new serialized space opera, full of action, fantastical intrigue, and steamy star-crossed romance. For fans of popular sci-fi books and fantasy books for teens such as Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff, Wool by Hugh Howey, Truthwitch by Susan Dennard, and A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas.
Must Remember
Colleen S. Myers - 2015
For years, she endures their tortures, experiments and games. Then one day, she manages to escape their ship with her life, and no memory of her time with them.Stranded on their world, Beta wanders the mountains, looking for a way home. She stumbles onto the Fost—the E’mani’s ancient enemy. Their war with the Imani is old and rooted in magic that the Fost once had and the Imani crave. Magic Beta soon discovers she’s developing along with strange tattoos and disturbing glimpses of her past. The Fost take her in and train her in their ways. As she spends more time with them, she falls in love with their culture and with Marin—he of the hot hands and slit eyes.But the E’mani took her for a reason and they want her back—dead or alive. If Beta doesn’t remember that reason soon, they’re all going to die.
Paradigm 2045: Trinity's Children
Robert W. Ross - 2020
His personal SETI project detected an extraterrestrial signal directed at Earth. Unfortunately, Dr. Howard’s long hoped for communication contained a message of dire warning rather than greeting. In 1945 humanity had become a species of galactic interest, and was given one-hundred years to address the issue.Now in 2045, only months remain before humanity’s grace period expires and the world mourns the passing of a titan. Damien Howard lies dead. Only his security officer, Misha Sokolov and artificially intelligent agent, Coleman are aware of Earth’s impending deadline.Meanwhile, in Nairobi, Kenya, Charlotte Omandi prepares to address luminaries gathered for her keynote presentation at the Omandi Institute. Her life changes forever when Damien Howard reaches out to her from beyond the grave. She is the first born of Howard’s Children, nine genetically enhanced humans who hold the key to Earth’s salvation.Charlotte must assemble a crew capable of demonstrating both faster-than-light travel and the wisdom required to join a galactic community. As humanity’s leaders become aware of the impending threat, massive forces attempt to impede Omandi and her nascent crew. Despite Damien’s gifts of wealth, technology, and genetic superiority, his children face daunting challenges as they race against an armageddon clock set to strike on July 16, 2045. By that day, humanity will either shift its paradigm or perish.
This Night So Dark
Amie Kaufman - 2014
Now he and Lilac reconcile his memories of that night with the truth uncovered after the crash. Short connects first two novels. Includes preview chapter from This Shattered World.
Dark Matters
Michael Dow - 2016
They search for a stable end game that balances the after-effects of climate change and dwindling natural resources against the needs of a ten-billion-plus population. Rudolph “Rudy” Dersch is the newly minted CEO of the world’s largest, multi-trillion-dollar corporate conglomerate. But the job comes with an unexpected twist - an invitation to join the Consortium, a small, secretive group of global select who effectively decide what’s best for the rest of humanity. How does Rudy’s struggle to reconcile business and family impact the world’s future? And who, if anyone, can break the Consortium’s iron grip on the status quo? ˃˃˃ Dark Matter, Asteroids and Mysterious Visions The answer may lie with Dr. Jonas Hanssen, a renegade physicist, who is close to unraveling one of the universe’s greatest mysteries and with a headstrong art curator, Monique, driven to find the meaning behind her increasingly compelling visions. From a life-changing moment in a crowded Singapore marketplace to the business end of an assassin’s gun, they face a power beyond any the world has ever seen. To survive, they’ll have to decipher the truth about dark matter - before the Consortium can achieve its ruinous end game.
Axiom's End
Lindsay Ellis - 2020
A well-timed leak has revealed that the US government might have engaged in first contact. Cora Sabino is doing everything she can to avoid the whole mess, since the force driving the controversy is her whistleblower father. Even though Cora hasn’t spoken to him in years, his celebrity has caught the attention of the press, the Internet, the paparazzi, and the government—and with him in hiding, that attention is on her. She neither knows nor cares whether her father’s leaks are a hoax, and wants nothing to do with him—until she learns just how deeply entrenched her family is in the cover-up, and that an extraterrestrial presence has been on Earth for decades.Realizing the extent to which both she and the public have been lied to, she sets out to gather as much information as she can, and finds that the best way for her to uncover the truth is not as a whistleblower, but as an intermediary. The alien presence has been completely uncommunicative until she convinces one of them that she can act as their interpreter, becoming the first and only human vessel of communication. Their otherworldly connection will change everything she thought she knew about being human—and could unleash a force more sinister than she ever imagined.
The Grove
Jennifer Foehner Wells - 2015
Hain wants to explore the stars but when she finally encounters aliens, her destiny is forever changed. This novelette was previously published in the anthology: The Alien Chronicles. It is longer than a short story, but shorter than a novella. This story is available for free for readers who sign up for Jen's newsletter on her website: www.jenthulhu.com
Last Ship Off Polaris-G
Carol Van Natta - 2017
The galactic military is blockading the system to contain the mysteriously virulent blight. The planetary government impounded his ship. Even worse, his uncontrolled mental talent for empathy means the colonists' fear and anger are threatening his sanity.When government supply depot manager Anitra Helden finds a mothballed interstellar freighter in an abandoned repair dock, she hopes to use it carry supplies the colonists will need when they finally get to leave. Given the planet-wide turmoil, the only person she trusts to repair the ship is Gavril, her ex-lover.Gavril seizes the opportunity to get his ship back and repair their broken past. Anitra will have to trust him with more than her heart, she'll have to trust him with secret plans to break the blockade.Everything changes when they learn 4,000 colonists are stranded. Can Gavril and Anitra pull off the rescue, outmaneuver the military fleet, and win their second chance at love?Last Ship Off Polaris-G starts the sweeping saga of the Central Galactic Concordance space opera series. If you like characters trying to do the right thing, interstellar intrigue, and second-chance romance, you'll enjoy Carol Van Natta's fast-paced adventure.★ Buy Last Ship Off Polaris-G and escape with Gavril and Anitra today! ★
Questing Beast
Ilona Andrews - 2010
Too bad they had forgotten the first rule of planet exploration: Nature always has the last laugh.
Having the Barbarian's Baby
Ruby Dixon - 2016
When Cashol must go hunting to feed the tribe, they’re separated for the first time since resonance. Not a problem, except the baby’s ready to be born and there’s a storm brewing… This is one of the Slice of Life Short Stories set in the ICE PLANET BARBARIANS world. It does not stand alone, and is intended to be read after BARBARIAN’S MATE.
Children of Time
Adrian Tchaikovsky - 2015
Humanity's last survivors escaped earth's ruins to find a new home. But when they find it, can their desperation overcome its dangers?WHO WILL INHERIT THIS NEW EARTH?The last remnants of the human race left a dying Earth, desperate to find a new home among the stars. Following in the footsteps of their ancestors, they discover the greatest treasure of the past age—a world terraformed and prepared for human life.But all is not right in this new Eden. In the long years since the planet was abandoned, the work of its architects has borne disastrous fruit. The planet is not waiting for them, pristine and unoccupied. New masters have turned it from a refuge into mankind's worst nightmare.Now two civilizations are on a collision course, both testing the boundaries of what they will do to survive. As the fate of humanity hangs in the balance, who are the true heirs of this new Earth?
Connecting
Joynell Schultz - 2019
In less than a year, my brother and I will freeze to death, unless we starve first. Experts have created biodomes, built tunnels, and rationed food and fuel to make the end more tolerable, for a bit. When Lon of planet Kaipra contacts me, claiming he has the key to our survival, I have to listen. He’ll help humans survive the ice age, but at the ultimate cost—I must agree to leave my brother, my friends, and the entire planet I call home to travel across the galaxy with him. Can I trust him? What are his plans with me? And do I even have a choice? You’ll keep turning the pages of this post apocalyptic survival novel, because it's filled with action, adventure, and an across-the-galaxy romance. Scroll up and 1-click this book today!
Books in the Earth's Only Hope Series:
Connecting (Prequel) Departing (Book 1) Surviving (Book 2) Returning (Book 3): Coming Feb/Mar 2020 Note: Connecting was previously published in the Rogue Skies Boxed Set.