Book picks similar to
Independence by Alasdair C. Shaw


science-fiction
sci-fi
short-stories
space-opera

Conviction


Tammy Salyer - 2014
     If Corps Tech Sergeant Aly Erikson wants to survive another day, she will have to give up everything: her identity, her rank, her attachment to her brothers-in-arms, and most of all, her guilt. After doing her duty as a member of a ground infantry squad tasked with “neutralizing” an insurrection by non-citizens on a mining planet, Erikson realizes that everything she thought the Corps stood for, thought she stood for, is crumbling away. Where is the honor, the justice, the spirit of law? When the enemies are nothing more than outclassed and outgunned dregs of the Algol System’s forgotten people, being part of their execution squad has put her as far from the ideals of justice as Erikson can imagine. Haunted by their ghosts, she struggles to maintain her military bearing until even that is suddenly ripped away in an act of terrorism that sends her, her brother, Tech Sergeant David Erikson, and another Corpsmember, Rebecca Soltznin, on the run on a hostile planet. Forced for the first time in ten years to blend in with a civilian population, the three are faced with a single choice: regroup with their brothers-in-arms or become deserters. For Aly, it’s easy; why go back to being a cog in the death machine the Corps is becoming? But for the other two, the price for making the wrong decision may be higher than they’re willing to pay. On the run, under attack from the scavengers who plague the system, and out of options, the three face conflict from every direction. If they can’t find a way to fight together, their chances for survival are less than zero. And for one of them, the best solution may come down to one simple act: betrayal. In this prequel to the popular Spectras Arise Trilogy, readers get an intimate look into the events that led Aly and David Erikson on their path from decorated and dedicated soldiers to black-market arms smugglers, and ultimately, to rebels against the Political and Capital Administration of the Advanced Worlds.

The Sagan Diary


John Scalzi - 2007
    Subterranean Press is proud to publish The Sagan Diary, a long novelette that for the first time looks at the worlds of the Hugo-nominated Old Man's War and its sequel The Ghost Brigades from the point of view of Lieutenant Jane Sagan, who in a series of diary entries gives her views on some of the events included in the series... and sheds new light into some previously unexplored corners. If you thought you knew Jane Sagan before, prepare to be surprised.

Ashen Stars


Glynn Stewart - 2018
    The Confederacy didn’t expect Isaac Gallant to fight at all.All of them were wrong.

More Than Honor


David Weber - 1998
    Weber is joined in Honor's universe by two leading science fiction writers, David Drake and S.M. Stirling.

Spinward Fringe Broadcast 0: Origins


Randolph Lalonde - 2008
    He is employed by Freeground station as a port traffic controller, a job he took after completing a tour in the military. His only real joy in life is his participation in true-to-life military simulations with a cadre of friends who come together regularly to defeat challenges made to test the brightest military cadets and officers alike. These restricted scenarios stand as an addictive preoccupation that is so enticing that they ignore the potential repercussions of breaking in to participate. When someone betrays their identities to the Freeground Fleet Admiralty, Jonas and his friends are faced with a far greater challenge: to venture out into the more populated regions of the galaxy to acquire technology and knowledge. They are tasked with laying the groundwork for the Freeground Nation in their efforts to reconnect with the rest of humanity, and to secure the armaments they might need to defend themselves from encroaching enemies. Spinward Fringe Broadcast 0: Origins is a collected trilogy that chronicles the early adventures of an ambitious crew. Their leader, Jonas Valent, has the least to lose and everything to gain as he tells the tale of his first tour as Captain of a ship tasked with making allies and discovering new technologies for the good of his people. This simple mission becomes more complicated as the crew ventures further into the settled fringes of the galaxy. This trilogy spawned the best selling Spinward Fringe eBook series. This is where it all began, when one man was challenged to aspire for more than an idle life. A Space Opera Adventure enjoyed across the globe by all ages.

The Dotari Salvation


Richard Fox - 2018
     They are trained to improvise, adapt, overcome and win every fight. A deadly disease threatens the Dotari, Earth’s allies, with extinction. The cure lies in deep space, and Lieutenant Hoffman and his team will join the starship Breitenfeld as it journeys into the void and makes a desperate attempt to save the dying race. Lurking in the abyss is a threat that’s waited with inhuman patience. Hoffman must lead his Marines through a gauntlet and evade a foe designed to hunt and kill them. The Dotari Salvation is an action-packed military science fiction adventure set in the best-selling Ember War universe.

Excelsior


Jasper T. Scott - 2016
    The year is 2790 AD: with space elevators and giant orbital fleets hovering over Earth, open war looks inevitable, and people are anxious to get away. The lines are drawn, with the Confederacy in the East, and the First World Alliance in the West. In hopes of finding a refuge from the looming war, the Alliance is sending Captain Alexander de Leon to explore an Earth-type planet, code-named Wonderland, but at the last minute before launch, a Confederate fleet leaves orbit on a trajectory that threatens both the mission and Alliance sovereignty. The resulting power struggle will determine not only the fate of Alexander's mission, but the fate of the entire human race.

Legions of Orion


Michael G. Thomas - 2012
    In a matter of days, great fleets of military and civilian ships depart for the single greatest expedition since the colonisation of Alpha Centauri. Into this great adventure travel two heroes of the war, retired Marines Spartan and Teresa Morato, and their son Jack. Now senior members of an elite private military corporation, they are at the heart of the Alliance bold new plan. Their discovery of buried machines, as well as derelict spacecraft in the first system encountered triggers events that will see the Alliance embroiled in a military conflict like no other. Discoveries of a dead people who have been wiped out by an unknown enemy sends a shudder through the many worlds of the Alliance.The Alliance must make a decision. Either they will have to abandon the riches they have found or they will have to fight for it. In the past the citizens of Centauri have fought themselves for money, fame, power and religion. Now they must unify their many disparate factions including the Zealots and biomechanical warriors known as the Jötnar, if they are to survive in this new world.The 15-book Star Crusades series includes:STAR CRUSADES NEXUSLegions of Orion (Star Crusades Nexus, Book 1)Machine Gods (Star Crusades Nexus, Book 2)Heroes of Helios (Star Crusades Nexus, Book 3)The Great Betrayal (Star Crusades Nexus, Book 4)Prophecy of Fire (Star Crusades Nexus, Book 5)Call to Arms (Star Crusades Nexus, Book 6)Battle for Helios (Star Crusades Nexus, Book 7)Wrath of the Gods (Star Crusades Nexus, Book 8) ETA Q1 2014The Black Rift (Star Crusades Nexus, Book 9) ETA Q3 2014STAR CRUSADES UPRISINGSiege of Titan (Star Crusades Uprising, Book 1)Tears of Kerberos (Star Crusades Uprising, Book 2)Fires of Prometheus (Star Crusades Uprising, Book 3)Battle for Proxima (Star Crusades Uprising, Book 4)Fall of Terra Nova (Star Crusades Uprising, Book 5)Slaves of Hyperion (Star Crusades Uprising, Book 6)These titles are also available as combined trilogies including:STAR CRUSADES NEXUS: THE FIRST TRILOGYSTAR CRUSADES NEXUS: THE SECOND TRILOGYSTAR CRUSADES NEXUS: THE THIRD TRILOGY ETA Q3 2014STAR CRUSADES UPRISING: THE FIRST TRILOGYSTAR CRUSADES UPRISING: THE SECOND TRILOGY For more information visit the official Star Crusades website. Keyword Starcrusader.

Beyond the Event Horizon Episode One


Albert Sartison - 2015
     After first contact, which had not ended as the Earthlings expected, all traces of the visitors were lost in space, seemingly forever. But soon after, scientists noticed a mysterious gravitational anomaly not far from the Solar System as it journeyed around the centre of the Milky Way. To find out more, and perhaps discover the aliens’ secret, a research expedition fitted out with state-of-the-art scientific and military equipment sets out...

Interim


P.K. Lentz - 2015
    The crew of the sub-light freighter Lady of Chaos wants nothing to do with it. But when two fugitives, one a scientist, the other a rogue agent of the Social Engineering Service, the Interim's death squad, come aboard, Lady becomes the most wanted ship in the galaxy. And that's even before the Interim learns the true identity of her captain. The hunt is on, and its outcome will leave the universe forever changed. Interim is non-wartime, character driven space opera with plenty of action in the vein of Peter F. Hamilton, Charles Sheffield, Frederick Pohl, David Brin, and others.

The Hunters of Vermin


H. Paul Honsinger - 2017
    For reasons Max barely understands, the Vaaach decide that they have an obligation to train him to be a Vaaach warrior, or at least as close as a puny, fruit-eating human can come.     Max finds himself on a strange, unknown world, under the tutelage of a nine-foot tall, carnivorous Vaaach drill instructor, learning an alien way of fighting, and stalking and making war. Not only is the training like nothing Max has ever imagined, there's the small matter of the final exam: a real mission involving real combat against real Krag with the life or death of an entire Union naval task force hanging in the balance. Max is going to have to find resources of cunning, creativity, strength, endurance, and courage far beyond his years if he's going to survive and save thousands of his comrades who--unknown to them--are depending on the slender thread of the young officer's abilities for their very survival.      The Hunters of Vermin is a short novel (just over 62,500 words, slightly longer than such classic novels as Lord of the Flies and All Quiet on the Western Front), that can be read as a stand-alone adventure or as a part of the longer series of Max Robichaux space tales. Readers who have never met Max Robichaux or encountered Honsinger's fiction before will find a thrilling, self-contained adventure. Fans of Honsinger's other books will gain interesting insight into the events that helped make Max Robichaux the officer we meet in the "Man of War" series, as this novel covers events immediately after the conclusion of the novella Deadly Nightshade and twelve years before the beginning of the "Man of War" Series.     This novel packs everything Honsinger's readers expect--realistically staged combat, deep character development, believable aliens, and the thrill of deep space adventure--into a compact package. The Hunters of Vermin is a military coming-of-age story in the vein of the early Horatio Hornblower books, but set centuries in the future against the backdrop of an interstellar war that threatens the survival of the human race.

Firstborn


Brandon Sanderson - 2008
    And expected. And still expected, despite endless proof that young Dennison Crestmar has no talent whatsoever for war. But the life Dennison is forced to live will have its surprising lessons to impart.

Whatever It Takes


Leif Sterling - 2014
    A dangerous game. How far would you go to save your family? In 2114, there’s no such thing as a fair trial. Roland’s father has just been sentenced to death in a sham case controlled by the all-powerful Pinnacle Corporation. He only has one chance to find out the truth: enter Pinnacle’s death-defying Tech Games and do everything he can to survive. Roland must undergo a risky procedure to install the necessary extra-human tech enhancements. Success could mean a shot at a $100 million prize and the evidence he needs to clear his father’s name. If he fails, both of them will surely die… Whatever It Takes is the first episode in the Nano Contestant series of sci-fi serials. If you like futuristic technology, evocative new worlds, and action-packed sci-fi, then you’ll love Leif Sterling’s incredible series.

Missing


Andrew C. Broderick - 2016
    Haunted by the death of his father and one fatal decision that questions his morality, he doubts he will have a chance to redeem himself for a past he cannot escape. But when 100 colonists go missing on an alien planet, he sees his chance to prove once and for all that one decision doesn’t create a monster. With only a skeleton crew chosen to lead the rescue mission, and John not making the cut, he struggles to find any way possible to help save them. Can John find a way to get on board the vessel bound to find the lost colony, or will he be forced to watch from the sidelines as his destiny is snatched from him? Strap in for Missing! The first book in Andrew Broderick’s new Sci-fi adventure, The Lost Colony series! Please note: Missing is a novella, complete at 15,000 words Save $5 by buying The Lost Colony Series: Omnibus Edition, which contains all 4 books in one

Welcome Home / Go Away


Mike Shepherd - 2012
    Now, humanity finds itself at war with an alien race more monstrous than anyone could have possibly imagined.General Terrance “Trouble” Tordon, Kris’s great-grandfather, is given the task of calming the panicked politicians, some of whom blame Kris for the disaster and would like to eliminate the ever bothersome Commander Longknife.But as “Trouble” struggles to defend his Kris, the level of uncertainty among the civilians leads to more panic and a rush to judgment that makes him believe that he’s facing a fight he’s bound to lose…