Book picks similar to
In a Quarter of a Second by Anita Kirk


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sci-fi
science-fiction-fantasy
sf-time-travel

Winchester: Over


Dave Lund - 2014
     The chemtrails brought them back to life. When the end came, it was swift and brutal. The EMP from atmospheric detonations occurred just before Christmas. Chinese bombs spreading poison on major metropolitan centers follow, only hours later. Then the dead began to walk… and to kill with terrifying speed. The government, from the President to the foot soldier, fell in three days. Nine out of ten – maybe more – were dead before Valentine’s Day. Only a hardy few, those who were had prepared for the worst, lived long enough to see what happened next. Winchester: Over tells the stories of the many who fell and the handful who survived. It follows former motor-cop Bexar Reed and his family, along with their lifelong friends and fellow preppers, as they fight their way to relative safety in rural Texas… and the story of a highly trained government agent who has to fight his own way out of an infected airport, to the last barely functioning military installation, hidden beneath the ground at Area 51. They are stories of courage and combat, guns and battle tech, the secret history of humanity, ancient artifacts and the Nazi occult, and always, always, the ravenous walking dead, as the last brave humans teeter on the edge of extinction. The “reanimates” relentless destruction of civilization is only the beginning. The bestial remnants of humanity are only one shuffling step behind. "If you shook this book, gunpowder and testosterone would fall out." -Chris Philbrook, Author of Adrian's Undead Diary Look for Prey, Book 2 of The Winchester Undead, coming in June 2015. And learn more about Dave Lund, his work, and his world view at www.winchesterundead.com

Welcome to the Galactic Shoppers Network


Ian Rodgers - 2017
    In fact, his main concern is "How long until the government finds me?" Now the owner of a Mobile Network Droid and enrolled as a beta-tester for a brand new extraterrestrial package delivery system, Zane Pendon and Rob, a self-aware advertising drone, have to navigate the intricacies of shopping at home while avoiding arousing any suspicion from the Solar Alliance of Independent Planets and the US government, both of which are very interested in recovering the wayward piece of technology. However, it won't be long before worlds collide and mankind meets alien life. But with their status as intergalactic fugitives, Zane and Rob have their work cut out for them trying to stay alive and under the radar. Can alien infomercials save the world? Of course not. But they just might save Zane and his family.

Trajectory Book 1


Robert M. Campbell - 2015
    Back on the planet, a group of students discover a mysterious object in space in an impossible orbit. The crew of the Lighthouse space station are shocked by a devastating accident that throws their routine into chaos as they strive to get their ships safely home. Cut off from Earth, the sub-surface Martian Colony of New Providence suddenly finds itself in peril from something hostile and unknown. Is it alien? Is it an AI from Old Earth? After five generations enduring the harsh conditions on Mars, will the 50,000 citizens of New Providence survive this new and terrifying threat?

Union Station 1, 2, 3: Three Book Bundle


E.M. Foner - 2017
    EarthCent's diplomats are learning on the job - but the galaxy doesn't come with instructions. Get a running start on the funny and heartwarming Union Station series with a three book bundle at the special introductory price. Kelly Frank is EarthCent's top diplomat on Union Station, but her job description has always been a bit vague. The pay is horrible and she's in hock up to her ears for her furniture, which is likely to end up in a corridor because she's behind on rent for her room. Sometimes she has to wonder if the career she has put ahead of her personal life for fifteen years is worth it. When Kelly receives a gift subscription to the dating service that's rumored to be powered by the same benevolent artificial intelligence that runs the huge station, she decides to swallow her pride and give it a shot. But as her dates go from bad to worse, she can only hope that the supposedly omniscient AI is planning a happy ending.

Grendel


Larry Niven - 1968
    [A Beowulf Shaeffer Story] Itinerant space pilot and epic hero Beowulf Shaeffer finds himself in the midst of an interstellar scandal when an alien sculpture artist is kidnapped from his passenger starship.

The Transmuter's Daughter


Laurence E. Dahners - 2018
    Morgan Djai’s company’s been bought out, he’s been laid off, his wife wants a divorce, and his brilliant but estranged brother has just been murdered. As Morgan tries to assume his duties as guardian for his brother’s teenage children he’s confronted with the mystery of why his brother died carrying a $10,000 chunk of platinum in the pocket of his jeans. Morgan’s fifteen year old niece is striking in appearance but hostile in attitude. His nephew’s pleasant but defers all questions about the platinum to his sister. It slowly becomes evident that Morgan’s brother made the platinum. He was killed by people who wanted his secret. His niece knows how the platinum was created but doesn’t want to tell Morgan. The people who killed his brother still want the platinum… Damn…

A Spacetime Tale


J. Benjamin - 2019
    Kiara Lacroix has become one of Earth’s foremost exobiology experts. Her research brings her to the attention of the Global Space Federation, which has a top-secret mission for her: an advanced alien civilization has been discovered in the depths of an icy planet five light-years from Earth, and Kiara is expected to join the crew making first contact.Kiara has her hesitations, but as usual her scientific curiosity gets the better of her. She and her crew will be using experimental technology which establishes long-distance contact via a dream-reality beamed through a wormhole: the spacetime sequence. It’s even riskier than it sounds.Of course, Kiara’s not the only one with hesitations about the GSF’s actions. And some of those people have the resources—and the access to GSF’s classified mission information—to do something about them.A Spacetime Tale is high-concept hard science fiction at its finest.

All Roads Lead to Rome (The Praetorian Series Book 4)


Edward Crichton - 2014
     After the unfortunate events that took place in Britain, Jacob Hunter is no longer certain of many things, but this ill-fated truth is one he understands implicitly. Having spent months battling his addiction to the all-powerful blue orb, a device capable of traveling through time but equally adept at breaking a man’s mind, Jacob has finally succumbed to it. Once aided by loyal companions and the woman he loves, Jacob has abandoned everyone he has ever trusted, his mind warped by the orb’s influence. However, recently given new clues concerning the orb’s potential, Jacob departs for Rome, where he now knows a second orb lay hidden, waiting to be reunited with the orb he already possesses. Accompanied only by Rome’s manipulative empress, Agrippina the Younger, the pair journey to Rome where they hope to discover the secret to the orb’s power, but a destructive truth lies behind what they seek, one he may not be fully prepared to combat… But Jacob is not the only one about to embark on a daring quest. Having been abandoned and left without direction in the hinterlands of ancient Britain, Jacob’s sister, Diana, must find it in herself to rally Jacob’s jilted friends and corral an enraged Helena, the woman he loves, who carries her own mysterious secret after her life was miraculously saved at the brink of death. Unprepared for the responsibility suddenly thrust on her by Jacob's disappearance, Diana understands that she and her friends must find him before it's too late. Clouded and perverted though his mind may be, she knows her brother all too well. Jacob, tormented and driven beyond rationality, is prepared to sacrifice everything to find the lost orb. Including his life...

Unprepared: Surviving an EMP attack on American soil


Gavin Shoebridge - 2020
    They weren't alone, either. Something had rendered every piece of technology useless, from wristwatches to refrigerators. Their entire state - perhaps the entire country - was thrust into a modern stone age as everything with a microchip was rendered unusable. But they had an advantage over their fellow citizens. Being 'preppers', they realized that the cause was almost certainly an electromagnetic pulse from a detonating nuclear warhead. The problem was, they were far from home in an increasingly hostile countryside as society began its inevitable collapse. They needed to get home to their supplies before others figured it out. But getting there was going to be difficult, and once home, staying alive was going to be equally challenging. The result is story of modern survival, following two ordinary people as they learn to source water & food, protect themselves from looters using what little armaments they have, communicate silently, and form a neighborhood alliance to stay alive in this cutthroat new world. Yet, despite this, the two keep their offbeat senses of humor and human approach to a situation for which they thought they were prepared - but it turns out they weren't. And just when you think they've mastered this new, unwelcoming world, everything changes. The story will entertain traditional lovers of apocalyptic fiction, but also entices a wider, more contemporary audience to the genre who want more than endless action scenes or two-dimensional characters. Unprepared is an urban disaster story for normal people, just like you.

Those You Despise: The Awakened Book Seven


Jason Tesar - 2018
     Nothing stands between Kael and the last of the Wandering Stars, yet his location may be obvious to those watching from the Eternal Realm, making his presence a danger to everyone around him. With his allies and family centralized in Orud, and the city under threat of imminent assault from the most dangerous and technologically advanced enemies, Kael must decide whether to stay and ambush them or leave to confront them alone. Which is the wiser path? The answer depends upon his interpretation of an ancient prophecy and the depth of his faith in it; meanwhile, the lives of everyone he loves hang in the balance. In book seven of the bestselling Awakened series, Jason Tesar’s epic saga forges a new world from the remnants of three disparate civilizations, fusing the genres of sci-fi, fantasy, and military fiction.

Thermals (Anselm Gunnar)


Evan Currie - 2011
    At the Australian Solar Power facility that Tower City is built around, however, the inspector is about to learn that the man everyone thinks is hiding from the law is actually doing anything but.Thermals is a fast paced near future terrorism thriller that will keep you flipping the pages as fast as your reader, and your eyes, will allow. From the start it builds to a rising crescendo that will leave you breathless and cheering.

The Methuselah Treatment


T.C. Powell - 2015
    Not everyone can. Who decides? Desperate to save his daughter from a mysterious sickness, Daniel applies for the Methuselah Treatment. If she gets it, his daughter won’t just recover, she’ll live forever. But the drug is tightly controlled, and only the special, the talented, and the truly deserving ever receive it. There is nothing special about Daniel’s destitute ten- year-old girl—or is there?

Their Darkest Hour


Christopher G. Nuttall - 2014
    Swiftly, the aliens take control of Britain’s cities and force the remainder of the British military to go on the run. With the government destroyed, the population must choose between fighting and collaborating with the alien overlords. This is truly Britain’s darkest hour. Caught up in these events are a handful of ordinary people, struggling to survive. The Prime Minister, forced into hiding, and an unscrupulous politician looking to find fame and power by serving the aliens. Soldiers fighting an insurgency and senior officers trying desperately to find the key to driving the aliens away from Earth; police officers faced with a choice between collaboration or watching the aliens brutalise the civilian population. And ordinary citizens, trying to survive a world turned upside down. But resistance seems futile and the aliens appear unstoppable – and the entire population is caught in the middle. As the alien grip tightens, the last best hope for freedom lies with those who will never surrender...and are prepared to pay any price for the liberation of Earth.

A Brave Day for Harold Brown


Mishana Khot
    Brown wants is a nice cup of tea and a peaceful evening with his cat on his knee. He’s too old for love and adventure. Or so he thinks. This morning when Harold Brown woke up, it seemed like a normal day. Why would a 50-year old man feel anything about a circus coming to the quiet town of Limberlost? But BonBon Circus has brought a Bengal tiger, and Harold’s never seen a tiger before. When he decides to disrupt his routine to visit the circus, it sets in motion a few other changes, all leading up to one thrilling day. Will Mr. Brown’s life ever be the same again?

Hugh Howey Lives


Daniel Arthur Smith - 2015
    With the exception of a few human ‘Author’ titles printed in the small basement and back room Libraries, all stories are created by the Artificial Intelligence of the Archive. Most believe the ‘Authors’ are only brands to lure people into spending their credits on print. One woman believes that one of them, author Hugh Howey, is real, and still alive. Her Librarian feeds her belief that Hugh Howey is still sailing around the world, uploading his work to the Archive. Convinced she has found clues in his stories as to where he now resides, she and her girlfriend sail to an island, where she believes Hugh Howey lives.* * * * *