Book picks similar to
Earthbound by Mark R. Healy


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Omega Rising


Joshua Dalzelle - 2013
    But when he investigates the crash, what he finds will yank him out of his self-imposed exile and thrust him into a world he could have never imagined.He suddenly finds himself trapped on a damaged alien spacecraft and plunged into a universe of interstellar crime lords and government conspiracies, along the way meeting strange new friends… and enemies. As he struggles to find his way back home he is inexorably drawn deeper into a world where one misstep could mean his death. Or worse. He desperately wants to get back to Earth, but it may be the end for him. … or is it just the beginning?

Ocean of Storms


Christopher Mari - 2016
    Then a catastrophic explosion on the moon cleaves a vast gash in the lunar surface, and the massive electromagnetic pulse it unleashes obliterates Earth's electrical infrastructure. To plumb the depths of the newly created lunar fissure and excavate the source of the power surge, the feuding nations are forced to cooperate on a high-risk mission to return mankind to the moon.Now, a diverse, highly skilled ensemble of astronauts--and a pair of maverick archaeologists plucked from the Peruvian jungle--will brave conspiracy on Earth and disaster in space to make a shocking discovery.Ocean of Storms is an epic adventure that spans space and time as its heroes race to fulfill an ancient mission that may change the course of humanity's future.

Ghost Hand


Ripley Patton - 2012
    Instead of a right hand made of flesh and blood, she was born with a hand made of ethereal energy.How does Olivia handle being the girl with the ghost hand? Well, she's a little bit morbid and a whole lot snarky. Her mother thinks her obsession with death, black clothing, and the local cemetery is a bid for attention. But when Marcus, the new guy in Olivia's calculus class, stares at her like she's a freak, Olivia doesn't like it. And when her hand goes rogue, doing things she never imagined possible, Olivia finds herself running for her life with Marcus from a group of men bent on taking the power of her hand for their own nefarious purposes.NEWLY DESIGNED COVER FOR 2015

After the Ending


Lindsey Sparks (Fairleigh) - 2013
     They may have survived the apocalypse, but the Virus changed them... Grad student Dani O'Connor won't let a cross-country move end her closest friendship. But when a mysterious virus consumes the world and Dani, herself, falls violently ill, she fears she'll never see her loved ones again. After her fever finally breaks, she barely recognizes the devastated world around her. Everyone is dead. Dani is all alone. Or so she thinks... As a bartender, Zoe is used to dealing with hotheads and dirtbags, but nothing could have prepared her for the twisted thoughts of her fellow survivors. Her family is gone, and anyone left alive in the world is either sick, crazy, or changed...like her. As her newfound super senses gain strength, Zoe must learn to control them before she loses herself to madness completely. Perilous terrain spans the distance between them, and deranged survivors lurk in dark corners everywhere. Can Dani and Zoe overcome deadly attacks and unseen dangers in order to find each other? Or will they lose their way--and their lives--along the journey? After The Ending is the first book in the evocative, superpowered post-apocalyptic adventure, The Ending Series. If you like unbreakable friendships, gritty dystopian settings, and a touch of romance, then you'll love Lindsey Pogue and Lindsey Fairleigh's heart-wrenching tale. Buy After The Ending to embark on a supernatural survival story today! THE ENDING SERIES After The Ending Into The Fire Out Of The Ashes Before The Dawn The Ending Beginnings: A Collection of Stories World Before: A Collection of Stories

Fire Country


David Estes - 2013
    Due to toxic air, life expectancies are so low the only way the tribe can survive is by forcing women to procreate when they turn sixteen and every three years thereafter. It is their duty as Bearers.Fifteen-year-old Siena is a Youngling, soon to be a Bearer, when she starts hearing rumors of another tribe of all women, called the Wild Ones. They are known to kidnap Youngling girls before the Call, the ceremony in which Bearers are given a husband with whom to bear children with. As the desert sands run out on her life's hourglass, Siena must uncover the truth about the Wild Ones while untangling the web of lies and deceit her father has masterfully spun.

Apocalyptic Fears II: A Multi-Author Box Set - Select Bestsellers


Greg DragonDavid Estes - 2015
    This is Volume 2. Look for Volume 1 in the series for more great stories!When the world falls apart, when civilization collapses, when life as we know it ends, our greatest terrors becomes real. Perhaps it's nuclear war with its poisonous radiation, hideous plagues or chemical contamination, rogue artificial intelligences controlling killer robots, or zombies that turn our friends and neighbors into inhuman monsters. What can the common man or woman do in the face of apocalyptic fears?Apocalyptic Fears I and II are collections of bestselling, award-winning or just plain exciting stories by some of the best independent authors of today.Knights and Demons: Tanshuku by Greg DragonSurviving the apocalypse means staying clear of monsters. Alysia never dreamed her first years as an adult would be spent fighting demons. However, as the chosen warrior of the Turevila, she must defeat them in order to save the world.Massacre at Lonesome Ridge: A Zombie Western by Samantha WarrenSheriff Connor McClane would like the world to leave him in peace at the bottom of the bottle he's crawled into. Unfortunately an army of the undead, led by Charity Banks, very unhappy transplant to the west, have other plans for him.You Will Be Like God by Steve StrobleIn 2095, being a parent is complicated but eliminating grandchildren is profitable. Bud Lee believes he has proof that his boss is plotting to decide Earth's fate by recruiting surrogate children into a think tank named The Club.Ink: Red, by Al K. LineThe needle buzzed. The nightmare began. Strapped to a gurney, Edsel watched in horror as they tattooed his entire body bright red. His captors were overconfident; he escaped, only to be chased across the ravaged city.Numbers Game by Rebecca RodeTreena isn't sure she wants to be Rated anymore. This number will brand her forever. But Rating Day comes and her number is announced-and it shocks everyone.Swarmers by R. V. DoonA lethal virus with no known cure is awakened in a secret lab and goes airborne. Their world is forever altered, and the stunned survivors must keep fighting for their very existence.Thrown Away, Parts 1-3 by Glynn JamesAmong the remnants of mankind it is thought that the strangers who live behind the barrier, inside their protected city, may still hold that secret. But no one taken by the hunters from the city ever comes back.The Flense: China by Saul TanpepperA fiery train crash in northern China. A sinking off the Libyan coast. Villagers vanish in Ghana. Each event is preceded by the sudden spread of a mysterious ailment and is followed by the appearance of a man dressed in black and silver who witnesses claim is the devil himself.Zombie Maneuvers by Griffin CarmichaelBefore the world fell apart, Janet's life was already indistinguishable from Hell. In Connor, she'd thought she found a strong protector, someone who would take care of her. What she got was a brutal man who used and abused her.The Moon Dwellers by David EstesSeventeen-year-old Adele, a member of the middle-class moon dwellers, is unjustly sentenced to life in prison for her parents' crimes of treason. Against all odds, Adele must escape and find her family while being hunted by a deranged killing machine named Rivet.The Protectors by Ryan KingIt's been twenty years since the Great Plague.

The World Beneath


Rebecca Cantrell - 2013
    This subterranean labyrinth inhales three million bustling commuters every day. And every day, it breathes them all out again... except for one. Software millionaire Joe Tesla is set to ring the bell on Wall Street the morning his company goes public. On what should be the brightest day in his life, he is instead struck with severe agoraphobia. The sudden dread of the outside is so debilitating, he can't leave his hotel at Grand Central Terminal, except to go underground. Bad luck for Joe, because in the tunnels lurk corpses and murderers, an underground Victorian mansion and a mysterious bricked-up 1940s presidential train car. Joe and his service dog, Edison, find themselves pursued by villains and police alike, their only salvation now is to unearth the mystery that started it all, a deadly, contagious madness on the brink of escaping The World Beneath.

Relic


Alan Dean Foster - 2018
    . . save itself. As had happened many times before, the basest, most primal human instincts rose up, only this time armed with the advanced scientific knowledge to create a genetically engineered smart virus that quickly wiped out humanity to the last man.That man is Ruslan, the sole known surviving human being in the universe. Rescued from the charnel house of his home planet by the Myssari--an intelligent alien race--Ruslan spends his days as something of a cross between a research subject and a zoo attraction. Though the Myssari are determined to resurrect the human race, using Ruslan's genetic material, all he wants for himself and his species is oblivion. But then the Myssari make Ruslan an extraordinary offer: In exchange for his cooperation, they will do everything in their considerable power to find the lost home world of his species--an all-but-mythical place called Earth--and, perhaps, another living human.Thus begins an epic journey of adventure, danger, heartbreak, and hope, as Ruslan sets out in search of a place that may no longer exist--drawn by the slimmest yet most enduring hope.Advance praise for Relic"Relic is a thrilling and thoughtful epic. With Alan Dean Foster's trademark invention in both the psychology and physiology of his aliens, he also enriches the narrative with their complex cultures. The plot spans galaxies!"--Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author Greg Bear"The stunning plot of Foster's stand-alone novel will intrigue readers for not only the 'last man in the universe' trope but also the well-developed alien species. A true first contact novel on many different levels."--Library Journal"Foster's sympathetic novel successfully surveys human frailty, the tendency not to learn from history, and an enduring capacity for adaptation and emotional attachment." --Publishers Weekly

Vita Aeterna


Jay Allan Storey - 2018
    Appraisal is supposed to be a routine right of passage. But no scenario he's ever heard of has prepared Alex for his own experience - abducted, imprisoned, and subjected to brutal medical experiments in a high-tech lab.He escapes and goes on the run, a heartbeat ahead of a ruthless army led by the most powerful man in the world. When he finally pieces together the clues behind his kidnapping, they lead to a treacherous plot that only he can derail.But to succeed, he must penetrate the First Circle, the forbidden abode of the ruling class.

One Word Kill


Mark Lawrence - 2019
    And it isn’t even the strangest thing to happen to him that week.Nick and his Dungeons & Dragons-playing friends are used to living in their imaginations. But when a new girl, Mia, joins the group and reality becomes weirder than the fantasy world they visit in their weekly games, none of them are prepared for what comes next. A strange—yet curiously familiar—man is following Nick, with abilities that just shouldn’t exist. And this man bears a cryptic message: Mia’s in grave danger, though she doesn’t know it yet. She needs Nick’s help—now.He finds himself in a race against time to unravel an impossible mystery and save the girl. And all that stands in his way is a probably terminal disease, a knife-wielding maniac and the laws of physics.Challenge accepted.

The Breaking Light


Heather Hansen - 2017
    Arden—beautiful, street-smart, and cynical—is one of the citizens of the lowest Level, known as Undercity, of an off-world colony. A blackout band traps Arden in her district, but as sister to the leader of the most powerful gang in Undercity, she has access to Above.There she meets Dade, one of the few lucky enough to be born into the sun-kissed families who reside in the Towers soaring above the rest of the city. But life isn’t perfect in the sky. Dade, desperate to escape his upcoming arranged marriage, has a secret of his own, and he’s willing to risk everything for it.An unlikely romance develops between the two teens—but their love faces opposition from above and below. When her gang pressures Arden to help break the grip of the elite and end Dade’s interference with their drug trade, she is forced to make a deadly choice between love and family loyalty. But will the brewing class war destroy the world around them first?

The Angel & the Brown-eyed Boy


Sandy Nathan - 2011
    Two people carry the keys to survival: Jeremy Edgarton, a 16 year old, tech genius and revolutionary; and Eliana, the angelic, off-world traveler sent to Earth on a mission to prevent her planet's death. By the late 22nd century, the Great Recession of the early 2000s has lead to a worldwide police state. A ruined United States barely functions. Government control masks chaos, dissenters are sent to camps, and technology is outlawed. War rages while the authorities proclaim the Great Peace. Join Eliana and Jeremy as they begin a quest to save two doomed planets ... and find each other. ˃˃˃ AWARDS-WINNER FOUR NATIONAL AWARDS: 2011 IPPY (Independent Press) AWARDS, GOLD MEDAL in Visionary Fiction. More than 3,900 books were entered in this contest. 2011 Indie Excellence Awards, Winner (1st place) of the Visionary Fiction Category. Best Books of 2011, USA Book News Winner: Fiction, New Age Finalist: Fiction: Fantasy/Sci-Fi ˃˃˃

Take Back Tomorrow


Richard Levesque - 2012
    Orr, Amazon ReviewsWhat if all you had to do to make your dreams come true was violate the laws of the universe?That’s not just a philosophical question Eddie Royce has to answer. It’s a choice he has to make when the most famous science fiction writer of the 1930s goes missing and his unscrupulous publisher becomes convinced that Eddie knows all of the older writer’s secrets—not just the secret of where he’s gone, but the secret of how he’s traveled in time.Until now, Eddie’s fooled himself into thinking he’s got the system figured out, “borrowing” plots from Shakespeare and rewriting them as space operas to make a name for himself in the pulps. But when he finds out that Chester Blackwood—his idol and inspiration—has been cheating the system in ways Eddie could never have dreamed of, the hack science fiction writer finds himself in the middle of a plot that his pulp readers would never have imagined.Now he has to do all he can to save himself—and Blackwood’s beautiful daughter—from the powerful figures who all want Blackwood’s secret. And violating the laws of the universe might just be the least of Eddie’s problems.“The pace of the story is quick, and the time transitions are handled well. Overall, this is a good novel, one that even readers with little interest in sci-fi might enjoy.” — Publishers Weekly.*“Hardboiled 30′s crime thriller meets time-traveling pulp science-fiction for an original fast paced, page turner.”—S. Sager, Amazon Reviews“It has a distinctly ‘noir’ flavor as well as an old school science fiction feel. It is fast paced and clever.”—C. Pellitteri, Amazon Reviews“Apart from stopping to have something to eat I haven’t been able to tear myself away from this until I had finished it. This is good old time story telling that is well written, and definitely well worth reading.”—M. Bowden, Amazon UK Hall of Fame Reviewer*This review was of the manuscript version submitted to Amazon’s Breakout Novel Awards competition in 2012.

Star Mother


Charlie N. Holmberg - 2021
    Holmberg.When a star dies, a new one must be born.The Sun God chooses the village of Endwever to provide a mortal womb. The birthing of a star is always fatal for the mother, and Ceris Wenden, who considers herself an outsider, sacrifices herself to secure her family’s honor and take control of her legacy. But after her star child is born, Ceris does what no other star mother has: she survives. When Ceris returns to Endwever, however, it’s not nine months later—it’s seven hundred years later. Inexplicably displaced in time, Ceris is determined to seek out her descendants.Being a woman traveling alone brings its own challenges, until Ceris encounters a mysterious—and desperate—godling. Ristriel is incorporeal, a fugitive, a trickster, and the only being who can guide Ceris safely to her destination. Now, as Ceris traverses realms both mortal and beyond, her journey truly begins.Together, pursued across the Earth and trespassing the heavens, Ceris and Ristriel are on a path to illuminate the mysteries that bind them and discover the secrets of the celestial world.

All the Little Children


Jo Furniss - 2017
    Overnight, all communication with the outside world is lost.Knowing something terrible has happened, Marlene suspects that the isolation of the remote campsite is all that’s protecting her family. But the arrival of a lost boy reveals they are not alone in the woods, and as the unfolding disaster ravages the land, more youngsters seek refuge under her wing. The lives of her own children aren’t the only ones at stake.When their sanctuary is threatened, Marlene faces the mother of all dilemmas: Should she save her own kids or try to save them all?