Book picks similar to
Zero Day Threat by R.M. Olson


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sci-fi
science-fiction
space-opera

Nyxia


Scott Reintgen - 2017
    Why the Babel Corporation recruited him is a mystery, but the number of zeroes on their contract has him boarding their lightship and hoping to return to Earth with enough money to take care of his family. Forever. Before long, Emmett discovers that he is one of ten recruits, all of whom have troubled pasts and are a long way from home. Now each recruit must earn the right to travel down to the planet of Eden—a planet that Babel has kept hidden—where they will mine a substance called Nyxia that has quietly become the most valuable material in the universe. But Babel’s ship is full of secrets. And Emmett will face the ultimate choice: win the fortune at any cost, or find a way to fight that won’t forever compromise what it means to be human.

Gabriel's Ghost


Linnea Sinclair - 2002
    . . . After a decade of piloting interstellar patrol ships, former captain Chasidah Bergren, onetime pride of the Sixth Fleet, finds herself court-martialed for a crime she didn' t commit-and shipped off to a remote prison planet from which no one ever escapes. But when she kills a brutal guard in an act of self-defense, someone even more dangerous emerges from the shadows.Gabriel Sullivan--alpha mercenary, smuggler, and rogue--is supposed to be dead. Yet now this seductive ghost from Chaz's past is offering her a ticket to freedom--for a price. Someone in the Empire is secretly breeding jukors: vicious and uncontrollable killing machines that have long been outlawed. Gabriel needs Chaz to help him stop the practice before it decimates Imperial space. The mission means putting their lives on the line--but the tensions that heat up between them may be the riskiest part of all.

The Circuit: The Complete Saga


Rhett C. Bruno - 2017
     Earth is a dying planet. To survive, humanity founds the Circuit, a string of colonies across the solar system, dedicated to mining resources vital to preserving what remains of mankind. The New Earth Tribunal, a powerful religious faction, rises to rule the Circuit. They believe a Spirit within the Earth will one day appear and welcome humanity back home. But following a string of seemingly random attacks, the Tribunal suspects its mortal enemy, the Ceresians, have again rallied to challenge their absolute rule. But instead, they soon realize a new, sinister threat has arisen--and it plans to bring down the Tribunal once and for all. Join an unlikely band of would-be saviors--the Tribunal's best spy, a roguish Ceresian mercenary, a subservient android and a disgraced general--as they are drawn into a conspiracy destined to change the Circuit forever.

Illusive


Emily Lloyd-Jones - 2014
    A small percentage of the population developed superhero-like powers, and Americans suffering from these so-called adverse effects were given an ultimatum: Serve the country or be declared a traitor.Some people chose a third option: live a life of crime.Seventeen-year-old Ciere Giba has the handy ability to change her appearance at will. She's what's known as an illusionist. She's also a thief. After crossing a gang of mobsters, Ciere must team up with a group of fellow superpowered criminals on a job that most would have considered impossible: a hunt for the formula that gave them their abilities. It was supposedly destroyed years ago - but what if it wasn't?Government agents are hot on their trail, and the lines between good and bad, us and them, and freedom and entrapment are blurred as Ciere and the rest of her crew become embroiled in a deadly race that could cost them their lives.

Voidhawk


Jason Halstead - 2009
    It's wooden ships in space, read on and experience a multi-verse of new delights! Too young and naïve to care about the tensions between nations, Dexter Silverhawk considered himself the luckiest man alive when he found a derelict voidship hidden amongst some asteroids. Making it void-worthy and finding a crew to sail it seem like minor problems when he ends up in a Federation prison. Rotting in a communal cell, Dexter's luck shows a fickle side when a mysterious elven woman is thrust into into his life. Helping her fend off an assault Dexter quickly learns that her mind and her tongue are weapons against which he has little defense. Unable to resist, he hires her at the first opportunity. Surviving both politics, sorcery, and even ancient curses will force the growing crew of the Voidhawk to put aside their differences and work together. What remains for the young captain is the lessons of when to heed his mind, and when to heed his heart. Look for the continuing adventures of the Voidhawk: Book 1: Voidhawk Book 2: Voidhawk - The Elder Race Book 3: Voidhawk - Redemption Book 4: Voidhawk - The White Lady Book 5: Voidhawk - Lost Soul Book 6: Voidhawk - The City at the Edge of Forever Book 7: Voidhawk - Broken Shards

Starflight


Melissa Landers - 2016
    Just out of the orphanage, she needs a fresh start in a place where nobody cares about the engine grease beneath her fingernails or the felony tattoos across her knuckles. She's so desperate to reach the realm that she's willing to indenture herself to Doran Spaulding, the rich and popular quarterback who made her life miserable all through high school, in exchange for passage aboard the spaceliner Zenith.When a twist of fate lands them instead on the Banshee, a vessel of dubious repute, Doran learns he's been framed on Earth for conspiracy. As he pursues a set of mysterious coordinates rumored to hold the key to clearing his name, he and Solara must get past their enmity to work together and evade those out for their arrest. Life on the Banshee may be tumultuous, but as Solara and Doran are forced to question everything they once believed about their world—and each other—the ship becomes home, and the eccentric crew family. But what Solara and Doran discover on the mysterious Planet X has the power to not only alter their lives, but the existence of everyone in the universe...

Resistance


Mikhaeyla Kopievsky - 2017
    One will lead to your Detention. The other to your Execution. Once known as Paris, the walled city-state of Otpor is enjoying a new Golden Age. The horrors of the Singularity and Emancipation forgotten, citizens now revel in a veritable utopia of ubiquitous drugs, alcohol, and entertainment, washed down with full employment, universal healthcare, and affordable housing. All made possible by the Orthodoxy - a new world order where everything is engineered to maximum efficiency, including identities. From an early age, citizens are aligned and conditioned to one of four neuro-social classes named after the cardinal elements of old: single-minded Fire to enforce, creative Air to entertain, technical Water to engineer, and base Earth to labour. All four Elements exist in complete equality, fraternity, and liberty. But, not everyone is satisfied with the status quo. Two generations after the Execution of Kane 148 and Otpor's return to Orthodoxy, the Resistor's legacy still lingers. Forbidden murals are appearing on crumbling concrete walls to threaten the city’s structured harmony – calling citizens to action. Calling for Resistance. When Kane's former protege, Anaiya 234, is selected for a high-risk mission, Otpor is given the chance it needs to eliminate the Heterodoxy and Anaiya the opportunity she craves to erase a shameful past. But the mission demands an impossible sacrifice – her identity. Subjected to a radical new procedure, Anaiya’s identity is realigned, allowing her to go deep undercover in search of the growing rebellion. But as the risk of violence escalates and every decision is fraught with betrayal, Anaiya's fractured identity threatens to unravel not only her mission, but her mind. "I would highly recommend this novel to fans of dystopian fiction such as George Orwell's 1984 and Huxley's Brave New World. The novel also reminded me of the video games République and the post-Paris cyberpunk adventure, Remember Me in setting and tone. But none of these other works do the novel justice: in Resistance, indie author Mikhaeyla Kopievsky manages to create fresh and new dystopia worth exploring." Edge of Infinity.

City of Shattered Light


Claire Winn - 2021
    As heiress to a powerful tech empire, seventeen-year-old Asa Almeida strives to prove she's more than her manipulative father's shadow. But when he uploads her rebellious sister’s mind to an experimental brain, Asa will do anything to save her sister from reprogramming—including fleeing her predetermined future with her sister’s digitized mind in tow. With a bounty on her head and a rogue A.I. hunting her, Asa’s getaway ship crash-lands in the worst possible place: the neon-drenched outlaw paradise, Requiem. Gun-slinging smuggler Riven Hawthorne is determined to claw her way up Requiem’s underworld hierarchy. A runaway rich girl is exactly the bounty Riven needs—until a nasty computer virus spreads in Asa’s wake, causing a citywide blackout and tech quarantine. To get the payout for Asa and save Requiem from the monster in its circuits, Riven must team up with her captive. Riven breaks skulls the way Asa breaks circuits, but their opponent is unlike anything they’ve ever seen. The A.I. exploits the girls’ darkest memories and deepest secrets, threatening to shatter the fragile alliance they’re both depending on. As one of Requiem’s 154-hour nights grows darker, the girls must decide whether to fend for themselves or fight for each other before Riven’s city and Asa’s sister are snuffed out forever.

A Red Peace


Spencer Ellsworth - 2017
    An interstellar empire and the fate of the remnant of humanity hang in the balance.Spencer Ellsworth has written a classic space opera, with space battles between giant bugs, sun-sized spiders, planets of cyborgs and a heroine with enough grit to bring down the galaxy's newest warlord.

Dark Disciple


Christie Golden - 2015
    Despite the powers of the Jedi and the military prowess of their clone army, the sheer number of fatalities is taking a terrible toll. And when Dooku orders the massacre of a flotilla of helpless refugees, the Jedi Council feels it has no choice but to take drastic action: targeting the man responsible for so many war atrocities, Count Dooku himself.But the ever-elusive Dooku is dangerous prey for even the most skilled hunter. So the Council makes the bold decision to bring both sides of the Force's power to bear—pairing brash Jedi Knight Quinlan Vos with infamous one-time Sith acolyte Asajj Ventress. Though Jedi distrust for the cunning killer who once served at Dooku's side still runs deep, Ventress's hatred for her former master runs deeper. She's more than willing to lend her copious talents as a bounty hunter—and assassin—to Vos's quest.Together, Ventress and Vos are the best hope for eliminating Dooku—as long as the emerging feelings between them don't compromise their mission. But Ventress is determined to have her retribution and at last let go of her dark Sith past. Balancing the complicated emotions she feels for Vos with the fury of her warrior's spirit, she resolves to claim victory on all fronts—a vow that will be mercilessly tested by her deadly enemy . . . and her own doubt.

Steel World


B.V. Larson - 2013
    Unfortunately, someone noticed. The Galactics arrived with their battle fleet in 2052. Rather than being exterminated under a barrage of hell-burners, Earth joined their vast Empire. Swearing allegiance to our distant alien overlords wasn’t the only requirement for survival. We also had to have something of value to trade, something that neighboring planets would pay their hard-earned credits to buy. As most of the local worlds were too civilized to have a proper army, the only valuable service Earth could provide came in the form of soldiers…someone had to do their dirty work for them, their fighting and dying. I, James McGill, was born in 2099 on the fringe of the galaxy. When Hegemony Financial denied my loan applications, I was kicked out of the university and I turned to the stars. My first campaign involved the invasion of a mineral-rich planet called Cancri-9, better known as Steel World. The attack didn’t go well, and now Earth has entered a grim struggle for survival. Humanity’s mercenary legions go to war in STEEL WORLD, bestselling author B. V. Larson’s latest science fiction novel.

Zenith


Arshad Ahsanuddin - 2014
    Despite his misgivings, the chance to get back in the pilot’s seat is too much to pass up, and he convinces his best friend and crewmate, Charles Davenport, to leave the military temporarily and join him as part of the crew of the Zenith, humanity’s first starship.Edward Harlen is a brilliant young engineer, and a key player in the construction of the Zenith to take advantage of the untested technology of foldspace drive. But Edward has his own agenda in joining the project, and a bitterly personal score to settle with his boss, Trevor Sutton, a vendetta of which Trevor is entirely ignorant. When Edward’s sister Stella enters the picture and manages to secure a position on the project, all of Edward’s careful plotting is upset, and she might spell the downfall not only of his plans for revenge, but of the entire Zenith mission.The spark of attraction between Edward and Martin is a complication that Edward can’t afford, but of which he can’t let go. For Edward knows the secret at the heart of the Interscission Project, the hidden potential of the technology that in the wrong hands could become the ultimate assassin’s weapon: the ability to rewrite history, not just once, but many times. As an unseen enemy moves to destroy them, and the body count multiplies in their wake, Martin and Edward must choose whether they will allow the possibility of love to challenge their destinies, or will they instead take up arms in a war to control the most ancient and terrible power in the universe.Time, itself.

The Last Watch


J.S. Dewes - 2021
    The Last Watch, where a handful of soldiers stand between humanity and annihilation.The Divide.It’s the edge of the universe.Now it’s collapsing—and taking everyone and everything with it.The only ones who can stop it are the Sentinels—the recruits, exiles, and court-martialed dregs of the military.At the Divide, Adequin Rake, commanding the Argus, has no resources, no comms—nothing, except for the soldiers that no one wanted.They're humanity's only chance.

Dead Space


Kali Wallace - 2021
    But when a catastrophic attack left her injured, indebted, and stranded far from home, she was forced to take a dead-end security job with a powerful mining company in the asteroid belt. Now she spends her days investigating petty crimes to help her employer maximize its profits. She's surprised to hear from an old friend and fellow victim of the terrorist attack that ruined her life—and that surprise quickly turns to suspicion when he claims to have discovered something shocking about their shared history and the tragedy that neither of them can leave behind.Before Hester can learn more, her friend is violently murdered at a remote asteroid mine. Hester joins the investigation to find the truth, both about her friend's death and the information he believed he had uncovered. But catching a killer is only the beginning of Hester's worries, and she soon realizes that everything she learns about her friend, his fellow miners, and the outpost they call home brings her closer to revealing secrets that very powerful and very dangerous people would rather keep hidden in the depths of space.

Gates of Cilicia


Michael G. Thomas - 2012
    They have little in common, other than their love of wealth and adventure, and a bitter hatred for each other. Known simply as the Black Legion, they will blaze a trail of death and destruction that will be remembered for generations. For Xenophon, the Black Legion is an escape from the state that tried to kill him and his family. Exiled from his homeworld he joins the mercenaries, along with Glaucon, the rich playboy, Roxana, the veteran naval commander, and Tamara, the blue-haired castaway with a hidden past and a violent personality. Nothing will prepare them for the carnage awaiting them as they enter the borders of the Median Empire, the largest and most powerful entity in the known Galaxy, ruled with an iron fist by the tyrant, Emperor Artaxerxes and his legions of slave soldiers. The Black Legion boasts the best weapons, armour, and equipment known to humanity. As well as the most advanced warships ever constructed, from frigates and battleships to the four mighty Titans. These great floating fortresses house thousands of warriors inside their cavernous armoured hulls. These mercenaries are no heroes; they are exiles, thieves, opportunists, and criminals. Each looking to make their name in the greatest enterprise in living memory, a military operation deep into the heart of the Empire. Battle for Cilicia is the first book in the Star Legions series from Michael G. Thomas, the bestselling author of the Star Crusades series. Previously published as the Black Legion series.