Book picks similar to
Time Capsel by Jonathan Maas


time-travel
short-stories
science-fiction
sci-fi

Hold On Until Your Fingers Break (Tales of the Unusual, #1)


Luke Smitherd - 2015
    what happens when you never let go of the ones you love?

Misbegotten Missionary


Isaac Asimov - 2016
    Moreover, it had the answer! But what man ever takes free advice?

The Haunting of Peyton Fletcher: A Riveting Haunted House Mystery Boxset


Alexandria Clarke - 2019
    Unfortunately, the will stipulates that the couple must live in the house for a minimum of six months before they sell it. As Peyton and Ben try to make the best of the situation, Peyton discovers the house is inhabited by ghosts, and they aren't happy with the mansion's new occupants. The Haunting of Quenby Mansion What was thought to be the solution to all of Evelyn Carr's problems is only the beginning of her nightmare. Creepy neighbors arrive unannounced, the town hates her for inexplicable reasons, and there's something inside of the basement. As a determined private investigator, Evelyn is hell-bent on learning the truth before the house tears her and her husband apart, figuratively and literally.

Autobahn


Neil LaBute - 2005
    In Autobahn, Neil LaBute's provocative new collection of one-act plays set within the confines of the front seat, the playwright employs his signature plaintive insight to great effect, investigating the inchoate apprehension that surrounds the steering wheel. Each of these seven brief vignettes explore the ethos of perception and relationship--from a make-out session gone awry to a kidnapping thinly disguised as a road trip, a reconnaissance mission involving the rescue of a Nintendo 64 to a daughter's long ride home after her release from rehab. The result is an unsettling montage that gradually reveals the scabrous force of words left unsaid while illuminating the delicate interplay between intention and morality, capturing the essence of middle America and the myriad paths which cross its surface.

Vagabond


Tim Rangnow - 2020
    Luna is torn between two allegiances, with each superpower controlling a dome on the home world's moon. In the asteroid belt, six mining colonies govern themselves. In the midst of it all is the Transport Guild.Erik Frost is the captain of a guild freighter. He took command when his father died four years ago, left with large debts and a rattling old ship badly in need of an overhaul. When he is offered a mysterious job with few details and a high payout, he can't resist the opportunity it represents. He and his crew head deep into the system for the asteroid belt to deliver their cargo, unprepared for the dangers they would soon face.They say some things are too good to be true, and this job could be one of them.

Discovery


Nate Johnson - 2017
     Machinist Mate Nick Barns goes from ship’s mechanic, to bodyguard, to Mission Leader. His only job, keep everyone alive until they are rescued. A task, the primitive Eundai are determined to make difficult. Xeno-sociologist Amanda Rogers' dreams have come true. Humans have finally found an intelligent species. They may be primitives, barely out of their own bronze age. The last thing these Eundai need is to be overwhelmed with human technology. History is filled with examples of primitive cultures being ruined after initial contact. It is her job to make sure that doesn’t happen.

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.

The Chiral Agent


L.L. Richman - 2020
    Now, they want him dead.“intricate, action packed and ambitious." — Publisher’s Weekly BookLife Prize (starred review)_________________________________His genetic code could destroy all life.Shadow Recon pilot Micah Case awakens above an alien world, with no memory of his past and a mysterious voice inside his head. Worse, his own military is hunting him... and he has no idea why.The voice leads to a discovery so unbelievable, enemy nations would kill to control it — to control him. Now, Micah must use every skill in his arsenal to secure the stolen research.The stakes are impossibly high, but failure is not an option. The alternative could mean the extinction of a people Micah can no longer call his own. Humanity.THE CHIRAL AGENT is a fast-paced, cerebral thriller that's part hard science fiction, part spy novel, and one hundred percent adrenaline. It’s sure to keep you guessing every step of the way._________________________________“A provocative science fiction thriller novel with intelligent ideas…in a genre that is saturated by robots and aliens. Richman’s writing makes it even larger and more encompassing, as the author writes with bold and evocative strokes [that] keeps you in the zone. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐” — Reader’s Favorite Book Reviews “The excellent prose makes this thriller compulsively readable and the suspense creates an exhilarating experience for the reader. The Chiral Agent is tightly plotted and packed with action. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐” — Reader’s Favorite Book Reviews

Waking Iceman


C.R. Wahl - 2019
    But who was this Iceman, what was he doing high on a glacier 8000 years ago, and why was he carrying a strange metallic cylinder? Archaeologists can only speculate, but neuroscientist Doctor Lisa Cho knows a better way. Young and ambitious, Dr. Cho is at the threshold of developing technology capable of replicating the neural pathways of the human brain and has devised an audacious plan; she wants to wake the Iceman from his primeval slumber and let him provide the answers to his past. But the Iceman’s story is not what anyone expected.As Cho seeks to understand the Iceman’s origin, her path converges in France with a brilliant theoretical physicist on his own mission to unravel the meaning of the Iceman’s cryptic artifact. Their quests become intertwined and increasingly perilous as they inch closer to the truth and the mystery behind the enigmatic Iceman. Waking Iceman is a far-reaching science fiction thriller that takes the reader on a sweeping journey from the inner mind of an ancient human to a parallel world with a profound secret. It’s a tale that raises deep questions: Is information more fundamental than mass and energy? Is there more to human consciousness than basic biology? Can love survive an 8000 year divide?  And what is real and what’s only a dream? For Cho, the answers will come at a price—sending her and everyone else on a collision course with destiny.More at: https://crwahl.com

Terms of Service: Subject to change without notice


Craig Stanfill - 2021
    Living in the northeast province of what used to be the United States, she is a rising star at The Artificial Intelligence Company, training and managing sentient beings called “AIs” in the enigmatic parallel universe of Virtual Reality. When a seemingly harmless lark sends Kim’s life spinning out of control and the AIs begin to go mad, Kim launches into a journey of self-discovery and chaos that threatens to tear down society’s corrupt powers, and possibly civilization itself.For fans of classic dystopian literature like Brave New World and ground-breaking TV shows like Black Mirror, Stanfill explores the lurking dangers of a surveillance state where privacy is dead, corporations have unlimited power, and even using the word “I” is forbidden.

The Engineer


Neal Asher - 1998
    A space vessel called Schrodinger's Box discovers the creature, brings it back to life, and analyzes its intellectual and physical capabilities. It's not long before the scientists realize the creature is able to manipulate the make-up of objects, including organic matter, at a molecular level. The eyes of the scientific world are on Schrodinger's Box, but not everyone is pleased with the discovery. A group of terrorists attempts to intercept the ship and destroy it.

Echogenesis


Gary Gibson - 2021
    And fifteen strangers with no memory of how they came to be there.From the moment Sam Newman and fourteen others awaken inside metal coffins next to the burning wreckage of a spacecraft, they face a constant struggle to stay alive on a seemingly uninhabited planet light-years from home.Worse, the last any of them remember, they were back home on Earth - at a time when interstellar travel was little more than a distant pipe dream.Survival means finding out who - or what - brought them to this place. Yet what few answers they find amidst the steaming jungles and the ruins of that distant world defy all logic or sanity, and it soon becomes clear something has gone terribly wrong......something that could mean humanity's survival - or its extinction.

Last Flight of the Acheron


Rick Partlow - 2017
     She joined the Commonwealth Space Fleet to please her mother, a high-ranking military officer; he joined as an escape from the crushing poverty and crime of the Trans-Angeles Public Housing Blocks, and the unlikely friends envisioned boring, peacetime careers as shuttle pilots. The Tahni Imperium had other ideas… Caught in the desperate fury of the Battle for Mars, the two young pilots wind up the last defense against an alien armada, but their war is just beginning. Recruited to fly the Fleet’s newest weapon in this new war, they take the fight deep into the heart of the Imperium and battle not just against the enemy but against incompetent leadership and ineffectual tactics. Can the unconventional strategies of a pair of hotshot young pilots change the course of the war? And when the time comes that a choice has to be made between duty to command and loyalty to a friend, which of the two will be willing to make one last flight alone…

Time Pebbles


Jerry Merritt - 2014
    Only Tekla cares enough to search for her over the years. As Ka Li survives fierce predators and scarce resources she leaves behind a series of signal cairns to help Tekla find her.Skipping forward 60,000 years, Helen Ryland, a mid-twentieth century archaeologist, unearths one of Ka Li's surviving signal cairns and realizes she has found trace of people who populated the Americas even before the Clovis culture. Helen's detective work tracking Ka Li's timeless signals across the Alaskan wilderness now intertwines with Ka Li's story. As Helen solves the puzzle of the signal cairns she finds universal fame and suffers devastating misfortune. In the end Helen discovers that science in isolation cannot answer all of her questions, for Tekla's devotion to Ka Li had not died even though six hundred centuries had passed.

The Jigsaw Man


Larry Niven - 1967
    as long as the accident is truly accidental. Hugo Award Nominee