Book picks similar to
Archaea by Dain White
sci-fi
scifi
ww
science-fiction
Cascade Point
Joshua Guess - 2017
They fly at the edges of Alliance space, surveying new systems far from the problems that brought them all together. Some are former military, while others have more colorful pasts. Everyone aboard the Fallen Angel has a reason for staying on the fringes. It's a good life, but a chance discovery will change everything. Confronted by an enemy powerful enough to threaten all of human civilization, Grant and his crew are forced to choose between confinement or joining the Ghost Fleet, a hidden network of ships recruited and run by the Alliance Navy. Faced with an existential danger, Grant will lead his team into the far reaches of unknown space to keep the brewing conflict from exploding into all-out war.
Mako (The Mako Saga #1)
Ian J. Malone - 2013
All of that changes, though, when Lee leads a team of old friends to virtual glory as the first-ever group to beat Mako Assault, a revolutionary new game that has emerged from nowhere to take the Internet by storm. As a reward for their achievement, the group is flown to meet the game’s mysterious designer and assist in developing the follow-on game Mako 2.0. But what they find when they get there is more than they’d expected…much more. Mako’s intent was never to entertain its players. It was to train them.An epic sci-fi thrill-ride of action, suspense, laughter, and romance, Mako is the story of five ordinary people who will have to rise to the challenge of extraordinary events, driven only by their faith in each other. If they can’t, the game will become very real to more than just themselves—the Earth itself may ultimately be at stake.
Kill Switch
Gordon Bonnet - 2015
When high school teacher Chris Franzia comes home on the last day of school, he finds two FBI agents waiting for him. A string of seemingly unrelated murders has left them baffled, and they can find only one commonality. All five victims shared a college class with Chris thirty years earlier... and now he may be next. Struggling with the sheer impossibility of the situation, Chris’s skepticism fades after a series of failed attempts on his life makes things deadly clear. Thus begins a harrowing cross-country race, forcing Chris to put together the pieces of his past while staying one step ahead of his mysterious assailants. Can he make the connection in time? And will the deadly picture of reconstructed memory be worth the price of knowing?
Ephialtes
Gavin E. Parker - 2015
The nation breathes a sigh of relief, and looks forward to the resumption of elections.Across the solar system, the leading industrialist in the USAN’s small colony on Mars is thinking about independence. When the Martian population votes in favour, Mars secedes from the union.It seems to be a fait accompli until it’s suggested that a massive dropship carrying spacecraft, Ephialtes, built to patrol the Earth, could be refitted for interplanetary spaceflight. Maybe the USAN could use its military might to persuade the colonists to reconsider.With an enormous instrument war of heading toward them, the Martians resolve to defend their independence. Limited resources force them to rely on wit and ingenuity as they prepare their defences. Can they prevail against the mighty Ephialtes?Political intrigue, heart-pounding action and page-turning drama abound in this gripping opening to the Ephialtes Trilogy.
Invasion
Sean Platt - 2015
The countdown has begun.First visible only as blips on a telescope image, the discovery of objects approaching from Jupiter orbit immediately sets humanity on edge. NASA doesn't even bother to deny the alien ships' existence. The popular Astral space app (broadcasting from the far side of the moon and accessible by anyone with internet) has already shown the populace what is coming. So the news has turned from evasion to triage, urging calm and offering the few facts they have: The objects are enormous, perfectly round spheres numbering in the dozens, maybe hundreds. They are on an approach vector for Earth. And they will arrive in six days. Fear simmers.Meyer Dempsey - mogul, wealthy entrepreneur, arrogant and always in charge - is in New York, on the phone with his ex-wife in LA when the news breaks. He can hear tension in the voices of reporters and experts chronicling all that's known and unknown. But even while those supposedly in charge restrain their own panic, Meyer finds he recognizes bits and pieces of what the world is facing. He's seen this in dreams - in visions of another place. He knows where he and his family must go. He has prepared … though he never knew until now what he'd been preparing for. He knows only they cannot hesitate. They must run to their safe haven in the Colorado mountains. Now. Before society shatters into chaos, and it all falls apart. Fear rises.Meyer has been taking steps for months, and has made preparations: a trove of supplies, a van stocked for the worst, a Gulfstream waiting at a small airstrip in Jersey. But he hasn't yet been able to take the final and most important step: moving the family to Colorado, where every contingency is covered. The networks stay on-air longer than expected, creating a farce of calm. But those with means have already begun to scramble as Meyer gathers his wife Piper and his two teenage children and begins their race toward that compound, toward safety. There is no time for hesitation, regret, or pity. Soon, pundits begin to ask questions hard enough to tip those who've thus far stayed calm out of their complacency, inciting chaos: What do the beings inside the ships want? What will they do when they arrive? And what if the scientists are wrong, and the spheres aren't decelerating? Will they strike the planet, raising clouds of extinction dust? Will they knock the Earth off its axis? Is this a prelude to an alien invasion? An alien war? An alien apocalypse? The first domino in the birth of a new alien empire? Fear erupts.Panic, once it breaches the thin crust of civilized society, spreads like a virus. Meyer knows only one thing, and it's a truth that has perched atop his mind like a psychic obsession: When the ships arrive, his family must be at the Colorado compound or all will be lost. The space fleet in itself doesn't matter. The disintegration on the surviving news outlets does not matter. Reports that Las Vegas has been set ablaze do not matter. The fate of humanity, in Meyer's eyes, doesn't matter.All that matters is Piper. Trevor. Delilah. And Meyer's ex-wife Heather, coming to the same destination from the west - a woman who remains his best friend, and his secret lover. Rioting spills into the highways as time ticks away. Unrest boils in both city and hinterlands. But Meyer's obsession to reach Vail is single-minded, guided with the focus of a far-seeing nightmare. Gangs can ground his plane, threaten his vehicles, and steal his belongings. But nothing will stand between Meyer's family and their haven … and Meyer will kill his way to Colorado if he has to. This relentless, page-turning tale of apocalyptic dawn is the first in the alien invasion series by masters of story Truant and Platt, authors of The Beam, Robot Proletariat, the Dream Engine series, and many more.
Empire
Michael R. Hicks - 2009
Nightmarish female warriors with blue skin, fangs, and razor sharp talons, the Kreelans have technology that is millennia beyond that of the Confederation, yet they seek out close combat with sword and claw, fighting and dying to honor their god-like Empress. Captured and enslaved, Reza must live like his enemies in a grand experiment to see if humans have souls, and if one may be the key to unlocking an ages old curse upon the Kreelan race. Enduring the brutal conditions of Kreelan life, Reza and a young warrior named Esah-Zhurah find themselves bound together by fate and a prophecy foretold millennia before they were born.
Rushed
Brian Harmon - 2013
With no idea how to cure himself of this odd new compulsion, he decides to let it take its course and go for a drive, hoping that once he proves to himself that there is nowhere to go, he can return to his normal life. Instead, he finds himself hurled headlong into a nightmare adventure across a fractured Wisconsin as the dream reveals itself one heart-pounding detail at a time. <br><br>Horror, science fiction, dark fantasy. From the author of The Temple of the Blind. 84,000 words.
Alien Abduction
Terry Compton - 2011
They were forced to work as slave laborers on the Bug's mother ship where they formed a unique partnership. Each partner has unique talents that complement the others. This creates a synergy where the partnership is stronger than the sum of its members. They form a friendship with another kidnapped being on the mother ship who teaches them to fly the ancient space ship the 'Galactic Antiquarian'. The Bugs found the 'Galactic Antiquarian' floating in space and have spent years trying to get it open to learn its secrets. The trio learns how to open parts of the ship and escape from the mother ship on the Galactic Antiquarian with a minimum of fuel, air, water and food. They must use their unique talents to unlock more of the secrets of the ancient space ship so they can restock these essential supplies while avoiding recapture by the Bugs and their allies. The Bugs want the ancient space ship back badly and are pulling no punches to get it back. Are the secrets of the ancient ship enough to help them to restock and avoid capture? How will the Alcantaran ghosts fit into the puzzle? Will the secrets or the ghosts help them find their three home planets somewhere in the midst of the trillion galaxies in the universe? Alien Abduction is the first book in the series "The Alcantarans".
Windigo Soul
Robert Brumm - 2012
As a citizen of the United Federation of Nations that means a mandatory death sentence simply because he turned sixty years old. Referred to as "retirement," it's one of the desperate steps the government has taken to curb overpopulation. Retirement is a widely accepted fact of life on a dying planet ruled by a tyrannical government. Hank's execution goes ahead as planned but state sponsored euthanasia isn't what it seems. The Reed family learns what really happens to retirees when secrets the UFN keep from the public start to unravel.This book is intended to be read by adults and may be unsuitable for children under 17. Contains indecent language and descriptions of graphic violence.
Hard Drop
Will van der Vaart - 2013
Their objective is classified, marked only by coordinates leading them into a deserted city at the heart of the fighting. From the beginning, everything possible goes wrong. A missile strike rocks the carrier mid-launch, and only a fraction of the unit reaches the surface alive.Outmanned, outgunned, and scattered, with a hard deadline to orbital bombardment looming, it is up to Drop Commander Tyco Hale to rally his troops and reach their objective. But what they find, hidden deep in the tunneled passages under the city, will change everything about what he fights for and what he believes in. With the unit in tatters and loyalties divided, the choice he makes in the dark will seal all of their fates - and much more besides.
The Man on Table Ten
Luke Smitherd - 2013
But then, he hasn't touched a single drop of booze since one, fateful day, and alcohol loosens bar room lips at the best of times; so today, his decision to have three drinks will change the life of bright young waitress Lisa Willoughby forever…because now, the The Man On Table Ten wants to share his incredible tale.It's afterwards when she has to worry; afterwards, when she knows the unbelievable burden that The Man On Table Ten has had to carry throughout the years. When she knows the truth, and is left powerless to do anything except watch for the signs...This is an alternative cover edition. The original ISBN (ASIN) is ASIN: B00CXFH4MC.
Song of Edmon
Adam Burch - 2017
The product of diametrically opposed races, Edmon hopes to live a quiet life pursuing the music of his mother’s people, but his Nightsider father cruelly forces him to continue in his bloody footsteps to ensure his legacy.Edmon’s defiance will cost him everything… and spark a revolution that will shake the foundations of Tao. His choice—to embrace the light or surrender to the darkness—will shape his own fate and that of his divided world.
The Dirk Gently Omnibus
Douglas Adams - 1987
There is a long and honourable tradition of great detectives and Dirk Gently does not belong to it. Sherlock Holmes observed that once you have eliminated the impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth. Dirk Gently, however, does not like to eliminate the impossible.In Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency a simple search for a missing cat reveals two ghosts, a dodo, an Electric Monk, the devastating secret that lies behind the whole of human history and threatens to bring it to a premature close, and, finally, the utterly terrifying reason why Richard MacDuff has had a sofa stuck on his stairs for three weeks.As The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul opens a passenger check-in desk at Terminal Two, Heathrow Airport, shoots up through the roof engulfed in a ball of orange flame. The usual people try to claim responsibility. However, no rational cause can be found for the explosion - it was simply designated an act of God. But, thinks Dirk Gently, which God? And why? What God would be hanging around Terminal Two of Heathrow Airport trying to catch the 15.37 to Oslo?What do a dead cat, a computer whizz-kid, an electric monk, quantum mechanics, a chronologit over 200 years old, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and pizza have in common? Apparently not much, until Dirk Gently begins his investigation.
Lords of War
Michael G. Thomas - 2014
Spartan is a living legend, a veteran of the Alliance Marine Corps, victor of a multitude of military campaigns including the horrific Biomech War. He is both loved and reviled by friend and foe alike, and now lives out on the fringes of the Alliance. He has fought for money, for his people and for the very survival of his species, and lost everything in the process. But when two of his closest friends are captured supplying weapons to the desperate Byotai settlers of Karnak, the fight becomes personal. The Great Biomech War left millions dead, colonies burned, and cities turned to ash. Millions more continue to endure in the harshest of conditions. The Alliance attempts to restore order, yet already new enemies have begun to strike at will, encouraged by their weakness. Border planets succumb to the raids of warlords, and many doubt how long the peace will last, after it was won at such cost. Since the end of this war, Spartan and his friends have worked to create an elite fighting force based at Taxxu, for use by the Alliance. Using the latest high-energy weapons, armoured fighting suits and a prototype Confederate-class warship, it will be a force unlike any the Alliance has seen before. Spartan will use this and every other asset at his disposal to save his friends. Nothing, not even the entire might of the invading Anicinàbe clans and their fearsome clan leaders, can stop him, even if it means starting his own private war. Lords of War is a futuristic military sci-fi adventure that continues to expand the vast universe of the Star Crusades series that includes Star Crusades: Uprising and Star Crusades: Nexus. Essential and unmissable reading for enthusiasts of the Military sci-fi genre.
The Human Chronicles Saga
T.R. Harris - 2012
Would you start kicking some ass? Of course you would!This is the story of Human superiority in the galaxy, a gritty, realistic profile of a young Navy SEAL who doesn't like aliens very much -- and he makes them pay for disrupting his happy life back on Earth!