Book picks similar to
The Cyclops Effect by CJ Williams


science-fiction
sci-fi
mary-sue
techno-thriller

Repulse: Europe at War 2062-2064


Chris James - 2016
    The climactic engagement of this war, Operation Repulse, took place from August 2063 to February 2064, and was the most significant clash of arms on European soil in four hundred years.

Void Blade (The Transcended #5)


Anthony James - 2019
     The enemy are down but they not defeated. The detonation of the galaxy bomb has brought something new into the fight. The Scions are not a natural living species and now their mysterious creator has taken an interest in the human Confederation. The Hyranus is coming and it has power beyond anything known. Left unchecked, it will not only rebuild the Scion fleet, but destroy humanity in the process. Keller and Nation are given a mission with incredible scope and if it succeeds, it will end the fight once and for all. Somehow, they must accomplish the impossible and subdue an alien god. This time, the Confederation does not stand alone. An ally from the distant past has once more taken an interest in the affairs of the universe. The Ghasts have returned and they have not been idle. Their spaceships are fitted with the only weapon capable of tipping the scales. Even the invulnerable Hyranus can be hurt by the void blade… Void Blade is a high-action science fiction adventure involving massive space battles, overwhelming odds and exciting technologies. It continues the Transcended series and picks up straight after book 4: Galaxy Bomb.

The Super Olympian: Mystic Warrior (Shapechanger Tales)


Laer Carroll - 2012
    But Olympic gold medalist Sasha Canaro hides that side of herself. Publicly she is merely a high-paid fashion model and occasional consultant to police, who call her The Bloodhound. Then she meets a billionaire industrialist who may be another immortal shapechanger. Or something even stranger. And the woman has a job for Sasha.

Ambassador: Books 1, 1.5 and 2


Patty Jansen - 2016
     1: Seeing Red - Cory Wilson is about to start his new job as representative to gamra, the alien organisation that controls the network for wormhole travel, when a political murder may well end his career before it started. In Coldi society, you can get killed for looking a superior in the eye. Never mind accusing him of murder. 1A: The Sahara Conspiracy - Cory is asked to deal with the alien mafia on Earth, and stumbles across a plot that endangers Earth's fragile peace. You did not hear me say "nuke from orbit". 2: Raising Hell - the wormhole network goes down, and Cory's friend and leader of the largest populated world Asto is caught off-world. Dangerous politics are afoot on Asto, and Cory decides to help his friend. Yeah. Famous last words.

Sunspot


Rob Leininger - 2014
    Nothing like it had ever been seen before---a twenty-billion square mile blot on the surface of the sun, and growing. Dr. Morris Tyler at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff has a theory that might explain what's happening, and the news isn't good. Which is why he's under surveillance after having been told to keep his theory to himself. Keeping his theory under wraps isn't easy, not when a gorgeous reporter for Parsec magazine, Gail Dionne, has him in her sights, out to get a story. Tyler's well-ordered world spins out of control when all these forces converge on him, and the world begins to grow colder as the sun . . . goes . . . out.

Life as an Independent Space Hauler


Jason Hill - 2021
    Everything was taken from him and he was pressed into military service as a fighter pilot. A few years later, Jace has gotten out of military service and worked on a corporate freighter. He has grown to love space and plans to never return to earth. Dissatisfied with the corporate life, Jace finds the necessary backing to go independent. Thus, he begins the life of an independent freight hauler. This story is inspired by Nathan Lowell's Golden Age of the Solar Clipper series, Firefly, and some anime.

Star Bourne (Star Man #1)


I.G. Roberts - 2016
    When he wakes, he is in another place and, it seems, another time. Colin is a very long way from home, on the Ship FNS Destiny with no way to return. When he visits the devastated colony of Zafar, he becomes a changed man, a man with a new purpose in life. Pirates attacking planets and Star-Ships quickly show him the universe is not the friendly place he once thought it was. The idea that people who are as technologically advanced as these will be peaceful and benevolent is only partly true. These Aliens must still maintain a military to defend themselves against their enemies. After pirates attack the ship he is travelling on, the entire command structure is out of action, leaving only Colin to guide the repairs and help the crew steer the ship safely back to home port. Along the way he must rescue innocent civilians from the pirates and help the Federation of Sentient Peoples (FSP) to survive. He learns that the very actions he must take to save the ship and crew could also see him branded a pirate if he is successful. While the FSP is by no means a utopian society, its leaders are smart enough to know they are in trouble and who they should ask for help. Can Colin save the ship and her crew? If he does, will the Federation authorities put him in prison for doing so?

Agents of the Planetary Republic Books 1-10


Jaxon Reed - 2021
    Treaties are signed, trade is restored. But spies and diplomatic turmoil lead to a high-tech cold war of epic proportions. Ex Space Marine Gina Wilcox finds herself in a law enforcement career after the war, but life can be just as dangerous on the streets as the battlefield. Sleeper cells activate, assassinating government officials. Crime syndicates flourish. And a certain high-tech android has been stolen by the League, spirited off world for unknown purposes. Into this milieu a band of Marine outcasts join the fight. They spent more time in the brig than on the battlefield, yet racked up admirable wartime kill ratios. These renegades are quietly recruited by Republican Naval Intelligence to lead black ops against the League. Gina Wilcox will join their leader Commander Hamilton Wolf in a risky interstellar quest to retrieve an android who doesn’t even realize she’s not human. The fate of two civilizations hangs in the balance . . .

Six Seconds (Adrian Tarn)


E.R. Mason - 2020
    Adrian Tarn and R.J. Smith are persuaded to escort two scientists to a landing there to investigate. What they find has unexpected consequences for Earth and every person on it. Join Adrian Tarn, R.J. Smith, and Danica Donoro as they fight to close Pandora's box before Earth becomes a new asteroid belt.

Jane's Christmas


Timothy Ellis - 2015
    So it comes as a surprise to Jon to be wished a Merry Christmas on what he otherwise thinks is just another day. As his grip on the day starts to unravel, he's confronted with a crew expecting him to know what is going on. After all, it is his ship, and they think he's the captain, so he must know everything. Jon wishes that were so. As his day lurches from one thing to another, it seems that only Santa knows the whole plan. Join Jon, Jane, and the Alpha team for Christmas day in space. This is a short story, set sometime around the end of Hire a Hero, and the beginning of Hero to the Rescue. The Hunter Legacy series: Part One: 1. Hero at Large 2. Hunted Hero Hunting 3. Send in the Hero 4. Make or Break the Hero 5. Hail the Hero End of Part 1 6. Burnside's Killer (An Interlude Novella between Parts 1 & 2) Part Two: 7. Hire a Hero Jane's Christmas (A short story) 8. Hero to the Rescue ***forthcoming***

Diffusion Box Set: An Alien First Contact Adventure Series


Stan C. Smith - 2018
    Over 1,200 pages to feed your sense of wonder. Something amazing lies hidden in the remote jungle wilderness of New Guinea. It is unremarkable in appearance yet beautiful in purpose. It is intelligent yet not human. It is a gift. But gifts always come at a price.Together in one box set for the first time, the Diffusion series is a story of first contact unlike any other. As one reviewer states, reading this series is “like entering a mystifying portal and attaching jumper cables to your imagination.”Books included in this complete box set:- Diffusion- Infusion- Profusion- Savage- Blue Arrow“Don't worry, you'll have time to breathe at the end! From the first word I was drawn into a vortex of action and tension! This did not abate until the last word was read. Whew, what a ride! Kudos Mr. Smith!”- Tammy, Amazon reviewer  ★★★★★“This whole series has been incredible not only to read, but to become immersed in the ongoing lives of all involved. Hopefully this is not the End! Stan Smith has an amazing gift that enables him to make his books on the edge of virtual reality.”- Claudia Riggs, Amazon reviewer  ★★★★★“You need to read this series! Underestimating the potential for destruction that the Lamotelokhai holds within, the actions of a misguided few come with potentially lethal consequences for the whole planet.- Mandy Walkden-Brown, Amazon reviewer  ★★★★★“New Favorite Author. This author just keeps on getting better with each book. I am enthralled with his world. The characters are well developed and entertaining. The action is non-stop.”- Linda W, Amazon reviewer  ★★★★★“This series has to be the most original concept in recent years, and is executed by an author who puts images into your head that will hold you in thrall.”- Walter Scott, Amazon reviewer  ★★★★★ Scroll up and grab this heavily discounted series!

The Wisdom Of Secrets: The Templar Covenant


Ami Noone - 2014
    Although they have been mentioned in the bible and traces of their existence are scattered throughout the globe, Peter Madeloy had always presumed that the myths of the possible existence of an ancient brotherhood, living on Earth for milennia, was nothing more than that, a myth. Until one day his father is brutally murdered and his mother is kidnapped. In exchange for his mother’s safe return, Peter must enter his father’s secret world, uncover the truth about his mother’s kidnappers and find the ancient artefact his father had dedicated his life to protecting. Peter enlists the help of his uncle, Daniel O'Brien, a professor of Philology and avid researcher of veiled organisations and his wife, Emily, a geneticist, to unravel a series of clues his father has left him. Together they embark on a journey that thrusts them into the centre of an ancient battle for supremacy that uncovers a truth that for them, will change the history and future of humanity simultaneously. With the enemy watching their every move Peter, Daniel and Emily must figure out his father's clues in time to save his mother and ultimately protect the world from the true secret that was unearthed from beneath King Solomon's Temple all those centuries ago.

Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits: A Novel


Jason Pargin - 2021
    A Winner of the 2016 Alex AwardsNightmarish villains with superhuman enhancements. An all-seeing social network that tracks your every move. Mysterious, smooth-talking power players who lurk behind the scenes. A young woman from the trailer park. And her very smelly cat. Together, they will decide the future of mankind.Get ready for a world in which anyone can have the powers of a god or the fame of a pop star, in which human achievement soars to new heights while its depravity plunges to the blackest depths. A world in which at least one cat smells like a seafood shop's dumpster on a hot summer day. This is the world in which Zoey Ashe finds herself, navigating a futuristic city in which one can find elements of the fantastic, nightmarish and ridiculous on any street corner. Her only trusted advisor is the aforementioned cat, but even in the future, cats cannot give advice. At least not any that you'd want to follow.Will Zoey figure it all out in time? Or maybe the better question is, will you? After all, the future is coming sooner than you think.

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.

Headspace


J.D. Edwin - 2021
    A deadly challenge. The fate of the world is on Astra’s shoulders.Twenty-five-year-old Astra Ching has never sought the spotlight. So when a mysterious black orb appears with a challenge for Earth and selects her to compete in its strange—and very public—game, she’s not pleased to find herself a sudden superstar.The rules are bewildering, and there are no second chances for losers. Yet while Astra fights to stay alive and save the world from imminent destruction, the people of Earth are more interested in tabloids and gossip, like whether or not she’s engaging in a scandalous love affair with a fellow contestant . . . or the mysterious alien known only as Eleven.In her struggle to survive, Astra forms tentative alliances with a handful of trustworthy friends. But as the global gossip seeps into the game and contestants are eliminated with each round, Astra’s celebrity threatens to become infamy and the line between friend and foe blurs.Will she emerge from the arena a hero, or just another headline?