Book picks similar to
Secret Origins by Michael C. Bailey


superhero
science-fiction
young-adult
super-hero

Rebirth


Jim Zoetewey - 2012
    they've inherited the League's enemies and unfinished business.In the 1960's, Red Lightening betrayed everyone, creating an army of supervillains and years of chaos. The League never found out why. Now, Nick and the New Heroes League will have no choice but to confront their past.

Beguilement


Lois McMaster Bujold - 2006
    Enroute to the city, she encounters a patrol of Lakewalkers. The necromancers armed with human bone knives fight "malices", immortal entities that draw out life, enslaving humans and animals. Dag saves Fawn from a malice - at a devastating cost. Their fates are now bound in a remarkable journey.

Bitter Seeds


Ian Tregillis - 2010
    The Nazis have supermen, the British have demons, and one perfectly normal man gets caught in betweenRaybould Marsh is a British secret agent in the early days of the Second World War, haunted by something strange he saw on a mission during the Spanish Civil War: a German woman with wires going into her head who looked at him as if she knew him.When the Nazis start running missions with people who have unnatural abilities--a woman who can turn invisible, a man who can walk through walls, and the woman Marsh saw in Spain who can use her knowledge of the future to twist the present--Marsh is the man who has to face them. He rallies the secret warlocks of Britain to hold the impending invasion at bay. But magic always exacts a price. Eventually, the sacrifice necessary to defeat the enemy will be as terrible as outright loss would be.Alan Furst meets Alan Moore in the opening of an epic of supernatural alternate history, the tale of a twentieth century like ours and also profoundly different.

The Never Hero


T. Ellery Hodges - 2014
    His life is about to undergo a massive shift. A violent and merciless otherworldly enemy unleashes slaughter in the streets, calling out in a language only he understands.And it is seeking its challenger.In order to defeat the threat, Jonathan must become a temporal weapon... while remaining completely anonymous. Unfortunately, harnessing off-world powers has its own special challenges...The Never Hero is the first installment in The Chronicles of Jonathan Tibbs -- a mind-bending, genre crossing, action-adventure trilogy.

Under the Empyrean Sky


Chuck Wendig - 2013
    It's the only crop the Empyrean government allows the people of the Heartland to grow. And the genetically modified strain is so aggressive that it takes everything the Heartlanders have just to control it. As captain of the Big Sky Scavengers, Cael and his crew sail their rickety ship over the corn day after day, scavenging for valuables, trying to earn much-needed ace notes for their families. But Cael's tired of surviving life on the ground while the Empyrean elite drift by above in their extravagant sky flotillas. He's sick of the mayor's son besting Cael's crew in the scavenging game. And he's worried about losing Gwennie, his first mate and the love of his life, forever when their government-chosen spouses are revealed. But most of all, Cael is angry, angry that their lot in life will never get better and that his father doesn't seem upset about any of it. Cael's ready to make his own luck . . . even if it means bringing down the wrath of the Empyrean elite and changing life in the Heartland forever.

Dark Eden


Chris Beckett - 2012
    Beyond the Forest lie the mountains of the Snowy Dark and a cold so bitter and a night so profound that no man has ever crossed it. The Oldest among the Family recount legends of a world where light came from the sky, where men and women made boats that could cross the stars. These ships brought us here, the Oldest say—and the Family must only wait for the travelers to return. But young John Redlantern will break the laws of Eden, shatter the Family and change history. He will abandon the old ways, venture into the Dark…and discover the truth about their world.Already remarkably acclaimed in the UK, Dark Eden is science fiction as literature; part parable, part powerful coming-of-age story, set in a truly original alien world of dark, sinister beauty--rendered in prose that is at once strikingly simple and stunningly inventive.

Accord of Honor


Kevin O. McLaughlin - 2015
    But apparently, nobody told them that. When Thomas’s first command is ambushed in space, only quick thinking will keep his crew alive. *** A USA Today Bestselling Author! *** One random pirate ship would be bad enough, But the truth is far more deadly. Multiple ships of unknown origin are striking freighters and kidnapping their crews. Then the pirates turn their eyes toward the planets. One man has prepared for this; Thomas’s estranged father, Admiral Nicholas Stein. Hero and villain of the last great war, he has spent decades preparing for the conflict he always knew was coming. Now he and Thomas are all that stands between humanity and a ruthless enemy who will stop at nothing to control space - and from there, to enslave us all.

Worm


Wildbow - 2013
    Her first attempt at taking down a supervillain sees her mistaken for one, thrusting her into the midst of the local ‘cape’ scene’s politics, unwritten rules, and ambiguous morals. As she risks life and limb, Taylor faces the dilemma of having to do the wrong things for the right reasons.The story, titled Worm, takes the form of a web serial, posted in bite-sized reads in much the same way that authors such as Mark Twain would release their works one chapter at a time in the days before full-fledged novels. Worm started in June 2011, updating twice a week, and finished in late November, 2013. It totals roughly 1,750,000 words; roughly 26 typical novels in length (or 10-11 very thick novels).

Idlewild


Nick Sagan - 2003
    It is the late twenty-first century and a deadly virus has seeped into human kind's genetic make-up. In only a few generations this plague will have wiped us off the face of the planet, but we're not going down without a fight. Teams of scientists, geneticists and programmers race to find a cure, but time is not on our side and our only hope lies in one last, desperate gamble...Eighteen years later and ten individuals are about to come of age. One of them, a young man, is suddenly startled awake. He has no memory. His surroundings mean nothing to him. All he knows for certain is that someone is trying to kill him. Unsure who he can trust, he is reacquainted with his companions, all of whom are being trained at a special establishment run by the elusive Maestro. As he tries to uncover the identity of his would-be killer, it becomes clear that more - so much more - than just his life is at stake...Smart, stylish, terrifying and thrilling in equal measure, Idlewild fuses the fierce imagination of The Matrix with the chilling social vision of Minority Report, and introduces a singular new literary voice.

Dragon Bones


Patricia Briggs - 2002
    But few people know that his foolishness is [very convincingly] feigned. And that it's all that's saved him from death at the hands of his abusive father, who's always seen Ward as a bitter rival for power.When his father dies, Ward becomes the new lord of Hurog... until a nobleman declares that he is too dim-witted to rule. Ward knows he cannot play the fool any longer. To regain his kingdom, he must prone himself worthy--and quickly.Riding into a war that’s heating up on the border, Ward is sure he’s on the fast track to glory. But soon his mission takes a deadly serious turn. For he has seen a pile of magical dragon bones hidden deep beneath Hurog Keep. The bones can be dangerous in the wrong hands, and Ward is certain his enemies will stop at nothing to possess them...

The Horns of Ruin


Tim Akers - 2010
    Morgan, god of battle and champion of the Fraterdom, was assassinated by his jealous brother, Amon. Over time, the Cult of Morgan has been surpassed by other gods, his blessings ignored in favor of brighter technologies and more mechanical miracles. Now, Eva watches as her new family, her Cult, crumbles around her.When a series of kidnappings and murders makes it clear that someone is trying to hasten the death of the Cult of Morgan, Eva must seek out unexpected allies and unwelcome answers in the city of Ash. But will she be able to save the city from a growing conspiracy, one that reaches back to her childhood, even back to the murder of her god?

The Superhero's Test


Lucas Flint - 2016
    When Kevin's father, a legendary superhero, learns of this, he insists on training Kevin to master his new powers, though Kevin finds his father's training methods a lot less exciting than he thought they were going to be. But Kevin's training takes on new urgency when the local bully's father—Master Chaos, one of the world's most dangerous supervillains—breaks out of prison and declares Kevin his new archenemy for harming his son. Now Kevin must complete his training as a superhero before Master Chaos arrives. If Kevin doesn't complete his training in time, then all of the power in the world won't be able to keep him and his family safe from the madman who wants him dead.

Revenger


Alastair Reynolds - 2016
    Planets have shattered and been remade. Amongst the ruins of alien civilizations, building our own from the rubble, humanity still thrives. And there are vast fortunes to be made, if you know where to find them.Captain Rackamore and his crew do. It's their business to find the tiny, enigmatic worlds which have been hidden away, booby-trapped, surrounded by layers of protection—and to crack them open for the ancient relics and barely-remembered technologies inside. But while they ply their risky trade with integrity, not everyone is so scrupulous. Adrana and Fura Ness are the newest members of Rackamore's crew, signed on to save their family from bankruptcy. Only Rackamore has enemies, and there might be more waiting for them in space than adventure and fortune: the fabled and feared Bosa Sennen in particular. Revenger is a science fiction adventure story set in the rubble of our solar system in the dark, distant future—a tale of space pirates, buried treasure, and phantom weapons, of unspeakable hazards and single-minded heroism and of vengeance...

Navigating the Stars


Maria V. Snyder - 2018
    And Lyra Daniels' parents are the archaeological Experts (yes with a capital E) on the Warriors and have dragged her to the various planets to study them despite the time dilation causing havoc with her social life. When one of the many Warrior planets goes silent, and looters attack her research base, Lyra becomes involved in discovering why the Warriors were placed on these planets. And, more importantly, by who.

Near: Stories of the Near Future and the Far


Cat Rambo - 2012
    Whether set in terrestrial oceans or on far-off space stations, Cat Rambo’s masterfully told stories explore themes of gender, despair, tragedy, and the triumph of both human and non-human alike. Cats talk, fur wraps itself around you, aliens overstay their welcome, and superheroes deal with everyday problems.Contents:Near: Stories of the Near Future and the Far *Introduction (Near / Far) (2012) • essay by Cat Rambo *Near (2012) •• collection by Cat Rambo * The Mermaids Singing, Each to Each (2009) / short fiction by Cat Rambo * Peaches of Immortality (2011) / short fiction by Cat Rambo (variant of “The immortality Game” in Lightspeed) * Close Your Eyes (2011) / short story by Cat Rambo * Therapy Buddha (2010) / short fiction by Cat Rambo * Ms. Liberty Gets a Haircut (2009) / short story by Cat Rambo * Memories of Moments, Bright as Falling Stars (2006) / short story by Cat Rambo * 10 New Metaphors for Cyberspace (2007) / short fiction by Cat Rambo * RealFur (2008) / short story by Cat Rambo * Not Waving, but Drowning (2010) / short fiction by Cat Rambo * Vocobox (2012) / short fiction by Cat Rambo * Long Enough and Just So Long (2011) / short story by Cat Rambo * Legends of the Gone (2009) / short fiction by Cat RamboFar (2012) •• collection by Cat Rambo * Futures (2011) / short story by Cat Rambo * Kallakak's Cousins (2008) / short story by Cat Rambo * Amid the Words of War (2010) / short story by Cat Rambo * Timesnip (2011) / short fiction by Cat Rambo * Angry Rose's Lament (2008) / short story by Cat Rambo * Seeking Nothing (2010) / short story by Cat Rambo * A Querulous Flute of Bone (2011) / short fiction by Cat Rambo * Zeppelin Follies (2011) / short story by Cat Rambo * Space Elevator Music (2012) / short fiction by Cat Rambo * Surrogates (2010) / short fiction by Cat Rambo * Five Ways to Fall in Love on Planet Porcelain (2012) / short story by Cat Rambo * Bus Ride to Mars (2012) / short story by Cat Rambo.