Book picks similar to
Mother Ship by Scott Bartlett


sci-fi
science-fiction
aliens
audible

Artificial Evil


Colin F. Barnes - 2012
    Gerry Cardle reluctantly runs the Death Lottery. It's a job he despises, yet one which keeps his name off the list. Until one day, despite his agreement with The Family, his name is inexplicably drawn next.With his world crashing down around him and with just seven days left to live, Gerry realises that the system has been breached by a malicious artificial intelligence. In order to save his life and preserve the safety of those within the city, he must do the unthinkable: flee to the abandoned wastelands outside the dome. Bitter, resolute, and with nothing left to lose, Gerry will have to do whatever it takes to survive--even if it means sacrificing his freedom, and possibly worse--his life.

Star King


Susan Grant - 2000
    Are they fated mates, or is fate stacked against them? Love and war on a galactic scale.Rom B’Kah is fighting for the survival of his people. During combat he encounters a beautiful and mysterious woman who saves his life. When she vanishes without a trace, he vows to find her again. Years after battlefield trauma sends her life into a tailspin, Jas Hamilton has given up on love. When a galactic empire makes first contact with Earth, she sets out to reclaim her lost sense of adventure—and finds it in the arms of the golden-eyed alien warrior she’s spent a lifetime trying to forget.When an old enemy resurfaces, will they be forced to choose between duty and a future together? Saving the galaxy has just gotten personal…

From a Distant Star


Karen McQuestion - 2015
    Everyone else—his family, his friends, his doctors—was convinced that any moment could be his last. So when Lucas miraculously returns from the brink of death, Emma thinks her prayers have been answered.As the surprised town rejoices, Emma begins to question whether Lucas is the same boy she’s always known. When she finds an unidentifiable object on his family’s farm—and government agents come to claim it—she begins to suspect that nothing is what it seems. Emma’s out-of-this-world discovery may be the key to setting things right, but only if she and Lucas can evade the agents who are after what they have. With all her hopes and dreams on the line, Emma sets out to save the boy she loves. And with a little help from a distant star, she might just have a chance at making those dreams come true.

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.

Alien Hunters


Daniel Arenson - 2014
    A group of scruffy mercenaries, the Alien Hunters travel the galaxy in their starship, a mechanical dragon that spits out plasma like dragonfire. If an alien has invaded your space station, asteroid mine, or lunar colony, the Alien Hunters will remove the pest for you. Low rates. No questions asked. Raphael "Riff" Starfire, a guitarist-turned-gunslinger, and Nova, a warrior-princess with an electric whip and a bad attitude, lead the Alien Hunters. They’re the solar system’s best pest controllers. Yet now they face a threat all their guns and grit might be unable to stop. The skelkrins, a race of apex predators from deep space, are swarming across the galaxy. Planets burn in their wake. As the skelkrins draw closer to Earth, will Riff and Nova be the ones hunting aliens... or will aliens hunt them?

Break Out


Nina Croft - 2011
    Unfortunately, the radioactive mineral is exorbitantly expensive and only available to a select few. A new class comprised of the super rich and immortal soon evolves. The Collective, as they're called, rule the universe. Two-thousand-year-old Ricardo Sanchez, vampire and rogue pilot of the space cruiser, El Cazador, can't resist two things: gorgeous women and impossible jobs. When beautiful Skylar Rossaria approaches him to break a prisoner out of the Collective's maximum security prison on Trakis One, Rico jumps at the chance. Being hunted by the Collective has never been so dangerous–or so fun!

Born of Night


Sherrilyn Kenyon - 1995
    Expertly trained and highly valued, the League Assassins are the backbone of the government. But not even the League is immune to corruption . . .Command Assassin Nykyrian Quikiades once turned his back on the League—and has been hunted by them ever since. Though many have tried, none can kill him or stop him from completing his current mission: to protect Kiara Zamir, a woman whose father’s political alliance has made her a target. As her world becomes even deadlier, Kiara must entrust her life to the same kind of beast who once killed her mother and left her for dead. Old enemies and new threaten them both and the only way they can survive is to overcome their suspicions and learn to trust in the very ones who threaten them the most: each other.

Ganymede Wakes


Joshua T. Calvert - 2021
    After many years in space, one of the robot probes returning with samples from the farthest reaches of the solar system crashes on Jupiter’s moon Ganymede, destroying a research station there. After contact with Ganymede is lost, a second sample reaches Earth, and quickly sets off a struggle for control of a substance that defies the understanding of all the world’s scientists.Amid the ensuing chaos, astronaut Rachel Ferreira and a team of leading scientists board a ship bound for Ganymede to discover the reason for the disturbing silence. They leave behind an Earth erupting in conflict, as a team of mercenaries struggles to get its hands on a possibly alien technology, in the process uncovering a conspiracy that could shake the very foundations of the future.

Oasis


Dima Zales - 2016
    It's meant to be a paradise, a place where we are all content. Vulgarity, violence, insanity, and other ills are but a distant memory, and even death no longer plagues us.I was once content too, but now I'm different. Now I hear a voice in my head, and she tells me things no imaginary friend should know. Her name is Phoe, and she is my delusion.Or is she?Note: This book contains some strong language. We felt it was important for the censorship theme of the novel. If such words offend you, you might not enjoy this book.

Ghost in the Machine


C.E. Kilgore - 2012
    You stumble on to it blindly, it sucks you in and takes you somewhere completely unexpected. You can't fight it, because that would tear your ship apart. You can't control it, either. All you can do is set your thrusters on glide and let it take you where it's going to take you."Going against the rules of her Vesparian Sisterhood, which seeks to keep its entire existence a secret, Orynn is thrown into the open by a request for help that she could not refuse. Seeking to reconcile past mistakes and gain a forgiveness she feels she does not deserve, the fragile control over her empathic abilities is put to the test. The darkness that lives within her spirit has grown impatient and threatens to once again destroy any piece of happiness she allows herself to find.As a Mechatronic Automaton, Ethan navigates his world through a set of logically defined values and understandings. Encountering Orynn throws his system off balance as he tries to decide if he should trust the feelings he is developing, or if he should follow the logic telling him that she is trying to control him for some unknown purpose. As his understanding of her develops, he begins to question all of his preconceived notions about both himself and the universe around him.In his attempts to capture the Vesparian prey he has been hunting after for two decades, the First Commander of the Xen'dari fleet will stop at nothing and track Orynn to the ends of the universe. On a path of vengeance for a past he can't let go of, he will do everything in his power to burn her world down around her feet until nothing is left but ash and the bitter taste of regret.Ghosts of the past clash with hopes for the future in this first book of the series, set in a universe where nothing is as it seems at first glance and trust is a highly priced commodity. Alternate Cover Edition ASIN B009UFHA0O

Freak of Nature


Julia Crane - 2013
    Check.When seventeen-year-old Kaitlyn checked the box, she never suspected she’d have her life–and her body–stolen from her. She awakens one day in a secret laboratory to discover that her body is now half-robot and is forced to hide her own secret: that she still has human emotions and a human mind. If the scientists who made her find out, they’ll erase what remains of who she was.Kaitlyn finds an unlikely ally in Lucas, a handsome, brilliant scientist who can’t get over the guilt he feels knowing she was once a vibrant, beautiful young woman. He never expected a science project to affect him the way she does. As he tries to help her rediscover her past, he finds himself falling for the brave girl struggling to find her place and acceptance between the human and computer worlds.

Claimed


Evangeline Anderson - 2011
    Problem is, she isn’t being forced into the Army, she’s been chosen as a Kindred bride. The Kindred are huge alien warriors—a race of genetic traders whose population is ninety-five percent male. After saving Earth from the threat of invasion they demand a reward—the right to find brides among the population. The chances of being chosen are about the same as those of winning the lottery—guess it’s just Liv’s lucky day. Baird is a Beast Kindred who recently escaped imprisonment and torture at the hands of the malevolent Scourge. Through the torment and pain only one thing kept him sane—the thought of finding and claiming his bride—Olivia. His need to possess her is a burning intensity that threatens to consume them both.Angry at having her future and her family taken away from her, Liv vows to fight back the only way she can—by resisting. She has one month on the Kindred Mothership with Baird—their claiming period. If she can keep from having bonding sex with him during that time, she can go home and get on with her life on Earth. But Baird isn’t going to make it easy for her. Every week he is allowed to touch Liv more and more intimately and according to the contract she signed, she has to let him. She’s determined to resist him but his touch sets her on fire. And just as she thinks she knows what she wants, a twist of fate and an attack by the faceless Scourge AllFather changes everything…

Bright Horizons


Wilson Harp - 2012
    At the historic first meeting, an ambush was launched that put peace for humanity out of reach. Colonel Kyle Martin was there that day. It was his leadership and the bravery of his marines that saved what little hope mankind had. When Earth was threatened with invasion, Martin again felt the weight of war pressing down on him.Known as the Butcher of Hyderabad for his decisions in the Indian War, Martin seemed a poor choice to guard the peace but the perfect man to organize the forces of Earth to defend itself from the coming alien scourge.With a select team of humans and a few allies among the alien races, Martin is tasked with not only defeating the invading armada, but with making sure that Earth is kept free from any alien domination.Faced with impossible odds against an overwhelming foe with advanced technology, it is only a secret about Earth itself that gives Martin the glimmer of hope to succeed.With his “lucky charm” Ramirez, his go-to girl Kitch, and an unshakable Sergeant Major, Martin rolls the die time after time in audacious gambles with the stakes being nothing less than the survival of the human race. Face-paced action awaits in this military sci-fi adventure.

Indian Hill: The Michael Talbot Adventures 1 and 2


Mark Tufo - 2014
    Together they grow up, meet girls, and go off to college. And that's where everything changes.While out on a date, Mike, along with thousands of others, are quite literally abducted by aliens. Known as the Progerians, their mission is to determine how best to conquer the human race. War is coming and nobody knows the enemy better than Michael Talbot.Knowledge alone won’t be enough to fight the Progerians though. Mike’s going to need an army. Individually, Paul Ginson and Michael Talbot are forces to be reckoned with. Reunited they are a match made in Progerian Hell.

Deep Black (Titan Chronicles #2)


Samuel Best - 2019
    Who will survive?Titan. Sixth moon of Saturn. A deadly enigma harboring the greatest secret in the history of humankind.In the wake of the first mission, two companies with very different goals plot a return to that distant moon. Their ships are safer, their technology has improved…and they want answers. The competition triggers a new space race that will push the crews to the very edge of survival.Yet Titan does not hold all the secrets.On Earth, a startling ocean discovery reveals that whatever created the alien artifacts has been to our planet before…and it’s coming back.Fans of adventurous science fiction will enjoy this near future space exploration odyssey, the sequel to the Amazon best selling Mission One.