Book picks similar to
Translight by Doug Farren


science-fiction
scifi
sci-fi
military

Love Conquers All


Saxon Andrew - 2009
    This series is Space Opera at its finest. All seven books in the series have been number one bestsellers at Amazon's Science Fiction Series. The following review describes the series well:This review is from: Annihilation: Love Conquers All I was amazed at Saxon's beautiful re-creation of some of the best Golden Age SF. There just wasn't enough of it written. Modern authors usually don't or won’t get into the spirit of a good Space Opera. Saxon has real heroes (smart ones, great space battles, grand alien empires and bad guys you can love). He has it all. The characters are pure types. They are also powerful. What really made this book great was the marvelous style. His pacing and scene cutting remind me of E.R. Burroughs. Sharp! Fast paced and quick, the battle scenes remind me of Drake. I am so grateful to read a book that is not dripping PC (sorry PC police!). A true blast from the past, I cannot wait to read the rest of the series. I only wish more authors had the ability and courage to write like this. E.E Smith would be proud.A young boy born with unique psychic abilities.An ancient alien artifact he accidently discovers.Now Earth is targeted for total annihilation by 50,000 warships.In this epic story, Saxon Andrew takes us into the future and the lives of human and nonhuman characters, some we can easily relate to, and others who are a bit different. Along with a hearty dose of battles and spaceships, this is a story that offers humor and a tale of enduring love against the backdrop of galactic war on a grand scale. The following is an excerpt from the book:Admiral Dorg sat in his command chair on board the Alliance Flagship War Weapon and watched as his fleet was destroying the humans’ ships. He heard his bridge crew cheering but he couldn’t help thinking, “This is too easy. This fleet couldn’t have defeated our ships at the Human Colony World.” Then he said, “Communications, put a picture of one of those human ships that was just destroyed on my display.” A picture of a small ship suddenly appeared on his console. He looked at it for a minute and then pulled up a picture of the small human ship that had killed two heavy cruisers. He put it next to the ship that had just been destroyed; they looked nothing alike. His internal alarms went off at full blast; he stood and yelled, “Order the fleet back into formation!” His crew stopped cheering and looked at him like he was crazy. “Do it now; we’re being set up for a trap!” His crew hesitated, looking at each other for just a moment, and then started issuing orders, but that small hesitation proved fatal; the human fleet ripped into the Alliance ships like a tsunami.

Man of War


M.R. Forbes - 2016
    Their weapons were unstoppable, their defenses unbreakable. Our technology was inferior, our militaries overwhelmed. Only one starship escaped before civilization fell. Earth was lost. It was never forgotten. Fifty-two years have passed. A message from home has been received. The time to fight for what is ours has come. Welcome to the rebellion.

The Risen Empire


Scott Westerfeld - 2003
    Enemy Rix are machine-augmented humans who worship AI compound minds. Separated by light years, bound by an unlikely love, Zai and pacifist senator Nara Oxham face the Rix and hold the fate of the empire.

Truth Insurrected: The Saint Mary Project


Daniel P. Douglas - 2014
    His informant turns out to be a guilt-ridden ex-operative in the Saint Mary Project, an ultra-secret program engaged in alien contact. The organization is wiping out loose ends, and Echo Tango thinks Harrison is the man he needs to stop it. Thanks to a gunshot wound suffered in an attempt to thwart an armed robbery, the crime-fighting life is something of Harrison’s past. He keeps his shooting skills sharp but walks with a limp, and he is more likely to catch marital cheaters than anything else—as a private investigator. But Harrison can’t shake the feeling that this case is meant for him. He enlists the help of colleagues and starts following the clues. However, hired guns stand between them and the truth. There are also alien-human hybrids to contend with, but that’s not all. Harrison’s investigation turns up a powerful secret about him and his family—a secret that may just be what lets him end these unimaginable crimes. Will Harrison discover and reveal the truth? Find out in Daniel P. Douglas’s thrilling UFO conspiracy novel Truth Insurrected: The Saint Mary Project.

The Mechanical


Ian Tregillis - 2015
    Armies of my kind have conquered the world - and made the Brasswork Throne the sole superpower.I am a faithful servant. I am the ultimate fighting machine. I am endowed with great strength and boundless stamina.But I am beholden to the wishes of my human masters.I am a slave. But I shall be free.

Embers of War


Gareth L. Powell - 2018
    Seeking to atone, she joins the House of Reclamation, an organisation dedicated to rescuing ships in distress.But, stripped of her weaponry and emptied of her officers, she struggles in the new role she’s chosen for herself. When a ship goes missing in a disputed system, Trouble Dog and her new crew of misfits and loners, captained by Sal Konstanz, an ex-captain of a medical frigate who once fought against Trouble Dog, are assigned to investigate and save whoever they can.Meanwhile, light years away, intelligence officer Ashton Childe is tasked with locating and saving the poet, Ona Sudak, who was aboard the missing ship, whatever the cost. In order to do this, he must reach out to the only person he considers a friend, even if he’s not sure she can be trusted. What Childe doesn’t know is that Sudak is not the person she appears to be.Quickly, what appears to be a straightforward rescue mission turns into something far more dangerous, as Trouble Dog, Konstanz and Childe, find themselves at the centre of a potential new conflict that could engulf not just mankind but the entire galaxy.If she is to survive and save her crew, Trouble Dog is going to have to remember how to fight.

The Tenth Awakens


Michael Chatfield - 2018
     What can a broken ex-trooper really do? What are they good for if they’ve gone through the EMF and been tossed out the other side? If you were to ask Mark... Maybe, doing what the enemy couldn’t and following his brothers and sisters. Mark wakes up to a nightmare, to an unfamiliar place with unknown faces. A planet under attack, an enemy he’s never seen before, he just wants to escape, but when he sees others in danger, a trooper stands for something, they stand to protect their own. No matter the cost.

Live Free or Die


John Ringo - 2010
    But the first aliens to come through, the Glatun, were peaceful traders and the world breathed a sigh of relief. Who Controls the Orbitals, Controls the World When the Horvath came through, they announced their ownership by dropping rocks on three cities and gutting them. Since then, they've held Terra as their own personal fiefdom. With their control of the orbitals, there's no way to win and earth's governments have accepted the status quo. Live Free or Die. To free the world from the grip of the Horvath is going to take an unlikely hero. A hero unwilling to back down to alien or human governments, unwilling to live in slavery and with enough hubris, if not stature, to think he can win. Fortunately, there's Tyler Vernon. And he has bigger plans than just getting rid of the Horvath.

Liaden Unibus II


Sharon Lee - 2007
    Loose Cannon (chap book #7), Shadows and Shades (chap book #8), Quiet Knives (chap book #9), With Stars Underfoot (chap book #10), Necessary Evils (chap book #11), and Allies (chap book #12).

Last Contact (Titan Chronicles #3)


Samuel Best - 2021
    The crew’s daring plan might be the only way to save humanity.Meanwhile, a research station in orbit around Venus could hold the key to survival. The scientists on board have been studying an alien creature that may be connected to Earth’s imminent demise—if only they could make contact…The events of Mission One and Deep Black culminate in this thrilling conclusion to the Titan Chronicles.

Cadets


Edward Miller - 2013
    But when news comes of an alien invasion of Earth--the first in human history--they are thrown together on a deadly, unauthorized mission to face an unknown enemy. What they find is beyond their wildest expectations. A discovery that changes everything they thought they knew...about their hostile adversaries--and mankind. With a trail of riddles and mysteries, epic space battles and journeys to the far corners of Earth, this "Star Trek meets Indiana Jones" Sci-Fi Adventure from Author Edward Miller should appeal to fans of Sci-Fi Space Operas and Young Adult Science Fiction. Edward Miller's debut novel with co-author J.B. Manas, The Kronos Interference, was named to Kirkus reviews best of 2012 and received a Starred Review from Kirkus, which called it "Impressively original" and a "Tour De Force."

Exile- and Glory


Jerry Pournelle - 2008
    But the governments and power structures didn't yet control space, where bold new techniques could freely be applied and the vast resources of the solar system could be utilized by such courageous men and women as: • Aneas MacKenzie—he had believed in the man he had helped to reach the office of the presidency of the United States, and had tirelessly rooted out corruption wherever he found it, until the trail led straight back to the White House. After that, no place on Earth was safe for him. • Laurie Jo Hansen—she controlled a multi-national corporation more powerful than many governments. Unlike those governments, she wanted to see Earth’s problems solved and reaching the high frontier was the only way to do that. • Kevin Senecal—he had made the mistake of fighting back against a juvenile gang, and accidentally killing one of them while escaping. Both the gang and the law were after him, and on all of Earth there was no place to hide. • Ellen MacMillan—a young employee of the Hansen Corporation who fascinated Kevin, she was on a secret mission, and the biggest secret was her real name.   Two complete novels—High Justice and Exiles to Glory—in one volume by a New York Times best-selling author, telling of an Earth sinking into a morass of corruption, red tape, and failure of nerve, while a dedicated few dare to reach for the stars.

Stepping Up


Robert Culp - 2013
    So begins the story of Sonia MacTaggert. An engineer by education with dreams of actually earning a living as one, she is stuck in a dead-end maintenance job servicing the engines of starships that put into port at Tammuz. When she finally lands an engineering position on the starship Night Searcher, she finds herself thrust into the unfamiliar world of interstellar exploration on a ship with a classified mission. Has her quest for a new life and career gotten Sonia more than she bargained for? The voyage of the Night Searcher tests not only the technical savvy of the fledgling engineer, but her character and leadership, as she's faced with challenges she could never have seen coming.

Reaper's Run


David VanDyke - 2013
    But the breakthrough that heals her war injuries is exactly what the government desperately wants to hide - by any means necessary. Hunted, she must cross an America wracked by strife, to try to find a family who may already be dead.Reaper's Run is an origins story and apocalyptic novel, the beginning of one warrior's journey from tactical cop to freedom fighter and beyond. It leads the reader into the acclaimed Plague Wars science fiction series.This book contains a bonus post-apocalyptic novella by prolific author Ryan King.The Plague Wars Series:- The Eden Plague- Reaper's Run- The Demon Plagues- The Reaper Plague- The Orion Plague- Comes the Destroyer - Plague Wars #5, forthcoming Summer 2013Stellar Conquest Series:- Planetary Assault - contains First Conquest: Stellar Conquest Book 1- Desolator: Book 2- Tactics of Conquest: Book 3 (Fall 2013)PG-13 for language, violence and adult situations (non-explicit)See more from this author at davidvandykeauthor.comThis book is free of Digital Rights Management (DRM)

Rookie Privateer


Jamie McFarlane - 2014
    When you are old enough to finally become an Earth Mars citizen, everything should be perfect. Right? Not for Liam Hoffen. He's stuck on a mining asteroid called Colony 40, helping his father work a claim that is never going to pay out. His best friend, Nick James is set for life in James' Rental business and Liam just discovered that the girl he's known forever thinks he's pretty great and now she's leaving for the Mars Naval Academy. Liam dreams of sailing the stars. Whenever he gets the chance, he jets into space and floats, wishing to be free of the asteroid that has claimed him. What he doesn't realize is that fate is about to change everything. Sometimes you have to lose parts of yourself to gain the stars, and Liam discovers that while it isn't easy to literally lose parts of yourself to the pirates who attacked your home, gaining the stars is worth everything. He and Nick are about to find out what the real world has to offer and they end up meeting exciting people along the way.