Book picks similar to
The Landing by Mary Gentle
a-ur-tbd-not-released
aliens
looks-interesting
science-fiction-fantasy
All My Sins Remembered
Joe Haldeman - 1977
The only problem is that the Confederacion needs him as one of its twelve Prime Operators for its secret service, the TBII. The TBII wants him as a spy, thief & assassin. It's not, of course, a problem for the Confederacion, which simply uses immersion therapy & hypnotic personality overlay for Otto's training, then sends him out in deep cover, encased in plastiflesh, on a variety of dangerous missions on a number of bizarre worlds. But for him, it's a different matter: what he has to witness & what he's forced to do take a terrible toll. Always he returns to his original self--his conscience stabbed by the memory of all those he'd killed in the service of interstellar harmony.
Rex Rising
Chrystalla Thoma - 2011
Pursued for a secret he does not possess and with the fleet at his heels, he has but one thought: to stay alive. His pursuers aren’t inclined to sit down and talk, although that’s not the end of Elei’s troubles. The two powerful parasites inhabiting his body, at a balance until now, choose this moment to bring him down, leaving Elei with no choice but to trust in people he hardly knows. It won’t be long before he realizes he must find out this deadly secret — a secret that might change the fate of his world and everything he has ever known — or die trying.
The B-Team
John Scalzi - 2013
But when a high-profile diplomat goes missing, Abumwe and her team are last minute replacements on a mission critical to the Colonial Unions future. As the team works to pull off their task, CDF Lieutenant Harry Wilson discovers theres more to the story of the missing diplomats than anyone expected...a secret that could spell war for humanity.
Galactic Fist of Legend: Volume 1
Scottie Futch - 2016
Humanity as a whole was briefly introduced to a race of beings far beyond their understanding. During that brief interaction a proclamation was made, Defeat the Grand Emissary or become the eternal slaves of those who had arrived at Earth. The only chance for victory was for people all across the globe to make a choice. When prompted to become a champion and a play a bizarre game of life or death they could choose yes or no. Those who chose no, went about their lives afterward. All memory of the event was lost despite the fact that their very existence as a free species hung by a single thread. Will those who said yes manage to survive the horror of the game and become strong enough to defeat the Grand Emissary. Can one of them become... The Galactic Fist of Legend. Also, it's a comedy with significant parody elements. Pretty obvious, right? This litrpg story takes place in a setting that involves hopping between worlds. One moment the protagonist is fighting zombies, and the next he is facing down platform hopping challenges in a world where a single misstep could send him plummeting down through what appears to be an endless sky. Part of a multiverse project known as Project Scott, it features a main protagonist who's name is similar across multiple books but who is not the exact same character each time. It is a labor of love, and of goofy humor. Other stories in the project include Freelance Saga, Galataea Crystallim, and Origin ARS.
Skyward Inn
Aliya Whiteley - 2021
But safety from what?Qita surrendered without complaint when Earth invaded; Innkeepers Jem and Isley, veterans from either side, have regrets but few scars. Their peace is disturbed when a visitor known to Isley comes to the Inn asking for help, bringing reminders of an unnerving past and triggering an uncertain future.Did humanity really win the war?A thoughtful, literary novel about conflict, identity and community; a fresh new perspective in speculative fiction from critically-acclaimed writer Aliya Whiteley. Jamaica Inn by way of Jeff Vandermeer, Ursula Le Guin, Angela Carter and Michel Faber, Skyward Inn is a beautiful story of belonging, identity and regret.
Empress of Forever
Max Gladstone - 2019
On the eve of her greatest achievement, she's trying to outrun those who are trying to steal her success.In the chilly darkness of a Boston server farm, Viv sets her ultimate plan into motion. A terrifying instant later, Vivian Liao is catapulted through space and time to a far future where she confronts a destiny stranger and more deadly than she could ever imagine. The end of time is ruled by an ancient, powerful Empress who blesses or blasts entire planets with a single thought. Rebellion is literally impossible to consider--until Vivian arrives. Trapped between the Pride, a ravening horde of sentient machines, and a fanatical sect of warrior monks who call themselves the Mirrorfaith, Viv must rally a strange group of allies to confront the Empress and find a way back to the world and life she left behind.A magnificent work of vivid imagination and universe-spanning action, Empress of Forever is a feminist Guardians of the Galaxy crossed with Star Wars and spiced with the sensibility and spirit of Iain M. Banks and William Gibson.
Expendable
James Alan Gardner - 1997
The ugly, the flawed, the misfit, the deformed, they are the unwanted, flung to the farthest corners of the galaxy to investigate hostile planets and strange, vicious creatures. Out there, there are a thousand different -- and terrible -- ways to die. Festina Ramos belongs to the well-trained, always-dwindling ranks of ECMs (Expendable Crew Members). Now she and her partner, Yarrun Derigha, have been ordered to escort the unstable Admiral Chee to Melaquin -- the feared "Planet of No Return"-- which has swallowed up countless Explorers before them without a trace.Obviously, this is meant to be the last mission for Ramos and Derigha. But it won't be, if Festina can help it.
Steal Across the Sky
Nancy Kress - 2009
The Atoners claim to have wronged humanity ten thousand years before, and request 21 volunteers to visit seven planets and Witness for us. At first, everyone thought it was a joke. Three of those volunteers tell what they found on Kular A and Kular B.
The Wrong Stars
Tim Pratt - 2017
or awaken an ancient evil and destroy all life in the galaxy.The shady crew of the White Raven run freight and salvage at the fringes of our solar system. They discover the wreck of a centuries-old exploration vessel floating light years away from its intended destination and revive its sole occupant, who wakes with news of First Alien Contact. When the crew break it to her that humanity has alien allies already, she reveals that these are very different extra-terrestrials... and the gifts they bestowed on her could kill all humanity, or take it out to the most distant stars. File Under: Science Fiction
NOT MINE TO TAKE: a dark and twisty, psychological thriller
Keiron Cosgrave - 2021
What starts out as an escape soon becomes something far more sinister.The locals in the nearby town seem resentful of her presence and Erin can't understand why?Alone and isolated, cut off from the mainland twice a day, Erin's imagination runs wild.Is someone out there? Is someone watching her every move?Is someone biding their time?Not Mine to take was briefly published under the pan name CB Cox.
The Aegis of Merlin Omnibus Vol 1
James E. Wisher - 2018
At least until the final day of school arrives and with it the annual wizard’s test. When Conryu passes the test, no one can believe it since everyone knows boys can’t do magic. Suddenly thrust into a world of magic and danger, Conryu must figure out how to use his news powers and quickly. He soon finds himself n the run from a mad religious cult and hunted by a group of wizards that view a man wielding magic as the worst abomination imaginable. When his home city is taken hostage by the sinister Lady Raven, Conryu is the only one that can save the day. Can Conryu master his magic before it’s too late? This Volume contains the first four novels of the Aegis of Merlin Urban Fantasy Series: The Impossible Wizard, The Awakening, The Chimera Jar, and The Raven’s Shadow.
Valor's Choice
Tanya Huff - 2000
They must act as soldier/protectors of the far more civilized races who have long since turned away from war... — Staff Sergeant Torin Kerr was a battle-hardened professional. So when she and those in her platoon who'd survived the last deadly encounter with the Others were yanked from a well-deserved leave for what was supposed to be "easy" duty as the honor guard for a diplomatic mission to the non-Confederation world of the Silsviss, she was ready for anything.At first it seemed that all she'd have to contend with was bored troops getting into mischief, and breaking in the new Second Lieutenant who had been given command of her men.Sure, there'd been rumors of the Others - the sworn enemies of the Confederation - being spotted in this sector of space. But there were always rumors. The key thing was to recruit the Silsviss into the Confederation before the Others either attacked or claimed this lizardlike race of warriors for their own side. And everything seemed to be going perfectly. Maybe too perfectly...
Alien Space Pirates
Mara Frost - 2018
I'm lost. And my abductor is a big alien who has no sense of humor and glows when he's horny. Who knew that alien abduction could be so terrifying? Or blue and sexy? Now, I just need to find a way to get back home before I become someone's dinner or worse - fall for the jerk who stole me.**Note: Alien Space Pirates is a serial that was previously published!! This is the complete serial!! All three books are included in this one volume! Enjoy!! :)**
Alien Hunters: A Space Opera Trilogy
Daniel Arenson - 2015
Can the Alien Hunters, a group of underdog heroes, stop them? 3 books + nearly 1000 pages of alien invasion and space adventure readers are calling "thrilling," "quirky," and "as action-packed as Star Wars." From a USA Today bestselling author. BOOK 1: Alien Hunters -- The skelkrins. Predators from deep space. Creatures of claws, fangs, and malice. Riff and his crew are the Alien Hunters, ragtag mercenaries who travel the galaxy, trapping and removing cosmic critters. They're just galactic pest controllers, not an army. When the skelkrins attack, will the Alien Hunters be the ones hunting aliens . . . or will aliens hunt them? BOOK 2: Alien Sky -- The Singularity. The day the machines gained awareness. The day they turned cruel. The robotic fleet swarms across the galaxy, slaying all in its path. The Alien Hunters--outgunned, outsmarted, outclassed--fly up to meet these killer robots. The battle between life and machine begins. BOOK 3: Alien Shadows -- On a dead planet orbiting a black hole, shadows stir. Some call them ghosts, others merely figments of the imagination. As these astral beings spread across the cosmos, the Alien Hunters stare into the darkness of deepest space . . . and find terror. Here's what people are saying about Alien Hunters: "A fun, fast-paced space adventure, Alien Hunters introduces a fresh new universe as action-packed as Star Wars or Battlestar Galactica and as quirky as Futurama." -- Jeff Bryan, author of Ellie Jordan, Ghost Trapper "Arenson has brought fun back to space opera. Alien Hunters grab you from the first page and don't let go until the very end. If you love Firefly or Guardians of the Galaxy, you'll dig this." -- Colin F. Barnes, author of Hollow Space "A rollicking good ride! One part Star Wars, a large dollop of Hitchhiker, a pinch of Fifth Element, just a taste of Star Trek, all mixed well with a brilliant imagination and you have one whale of a good space adventure!" -- Linda, an Amazon reviewer
Space Trilogy: Out of the Silent Planet / Perelandra / That Hideous Strength
C.S. Lewis - 1938
Lewis's ill-informed and terrified victim who leaves Earth much against his will and who, in the first book of the trilogy, Out of the Silent Planet, published by the Bodley Head in 1938, encounters the imaginary and delightful world of Macalandra. In the second book, Perelandra (1943), Ransom is transported to a world of sweet smells and delicious tastes, a new Garden of Eden in which is enacted, with a difference, the story of Temptation. That Hideous Strength (1945) completes the trilogy and finds Dr Ransom returned from his travels in space and living in an English university town - where the Senior Common Room is given a mysterious depth, a more than earthly dimension which such things, in the author's view, always have in life.C.S. Lewis believed that popular science was the new mythology of his age, and in The Cosmic Trilogy he ransacks the uncharted territory of space and makes that mythology the medium of his spiritual imagination.