Book picks similar to
The Darwin Project (The Annihilation Series #1) by John Hindmarsh
sci-fi
science-fiction
artificial-intelligence
technothriller
The Rings of Grissom
Julia Huni - 2021
Now she’s really in for a cleanup.Triana Moore lost her job as a maintenance technician when her boss discovered her true identity. But decluttering the galaxy isn’t just for janitors. When she visits the ringed planet Grissom with security agent Ty O’Neill for his sister’s wedding, Triana discovers just how messy life can get. Deported before she can finish her coffee, Triana barely misses an exploding shuttle. But in true space janitor fashion, she decides to investigate. With the help of a pair of mischievous twins, a hard-drinking grandma, and her old frenemy Vanti, will Triana save the wedding?Of course she will. But how crazy will it get along the way?The Rings of Grissom tells the continuing story of Triana Moore, (former) Space Janitor, but can be enjoyed by new readers as well. If you want to avoid spoilers, read Triana Moore, Space Janitor first.
Rebel
Edward W. Robertson - 2014
A thousand years after their defeat, the aliens haven't been seen since. Rada Pence has spent the last three years driving carts for an independent mining crew. Most likely, that's how she'll die, too. Then, deep beneath the ice of a Neptune moon, her crew discovers a long-lost ship. If it's from Earth's first space age, it would be worth millions. When they dig down to it, they discover it's not human—it's alien. And its secrets are worth killing for.
The Unearthing
Steve Karmazenuk - 2006
Before its existence can be concealed, the object unearths itself and news of the discovery is leaked to the international media. As religious leaders strive to reconcile the artifactas existence with their faiths, and governments wrestle over its many secrets and how to exploit them, ordinary men and women around the world struggle to make sense of a perpetual onslaught of live and unfiltered news broadcasts about the object. When a survey team is sent in to examine and explore it, they discover that not only is the artifact still operational, but it is conscious and has been waiting for tens of millions of yearsa]
I Still Dream
James Smythe - 2018
At first it's intended to be a sounding-board for her teenage frustrations, a surrogate best friend; but as she grows older, Organon grows with her.As the world becomes a very different place, technology changes the way we live, love and die; massive corporations develop rival intelligences to Laura's, ones without safety barriers or morals; and Laura is forced to decide whether or not to share her creation with the world. If it falls into the wrong hands, she knows, its power could be abused. But what if Organon is the only thing that can stop humanity from hurting itself irreparably?I Still Dream is a powerful tale of love, loss and hope; a frightening, heartbreakingly human look at who we are now--and who we can be, if we only allow ourselves.
Zoo
Otsuichi - 2003
A deathtrap that takes a week to kill its victims. Haunted parks and airplanes held in the sky by the power of belief. These are just a few of the stories by Otsuichi, Japan's master of dark fantasy.
Halo: Contact Harvest
Joseph Staten - 2019
Harvest is a peaceful, prosperous farming colony on the very edge of human-controlled space. But humanity has unknowingly trespassed on holy ground—straying into the path of the aggressive, theocratic empire known as the Covenant. What begins as a chance encounter between an alien privateer and a human freighter soon catapults all of mankind into a struggle for its very existence. But humanity is also currently locked in a bitter civil war of its own: the Insurrection. With resources strained to the breaking point, the ultimate survival of Harvest’s citizens falls to a squad of battle-weary UNSC Marines and their inexperienced colonial militia trainees. In this unlikely group of heroes, one will stand above the rest—a young Marine staff sergeant named Avery Johnson....
Scar: A Deep Sea Thriller
Michael R. Cole - 2020
Born from DNA spliced between the extinct Megalodon and modern day Great White, he has a viciousness that transcends time. His evil is reflected in his eyes, his savagery in his two-inch serrated teeth, his ruthlessness in his trail of death.After escaping captivity, the killer shark travels to the island community Cross Point, where prey is in abundance. With an insatiable appetite, heightened senses, and skin impervious to bullets, Scar kills everything that crosses his path. His reign of terror puts him at war with the island sheriff, Nick Piatt.With the body count rising, Nick vows to protect his island community from the vicious threat. With the aid of a marine biologist, a rookie deputy, and a bad-tempered fisherman, Nick leads a crusade against Scar, as well as the ruthless scientist who created him.
The Stepford Wives
Ira Levin - 1972
It is. For behind the town's idyllic facade lies a terrible secret—a secret so shattering that no one who encounters it will ever be the same.At once a masterpiece of psychological suspense and a savage commentary on a media-driven society that values the pursuit of youth and beauty at all costs, The Stepford Wives is a novel so frightening in its final implications that the title itself has earned a place in the American lexicon.
The Improbable Rise of Singularity Girl
Bryce C. Anderson - 2012
Once her neural paths were scanned and the pattern uploaded to an enormous bank of computers, she could be happy and carefree. No more aging, dandruff, fear of death, or any of the other drawbacks of hauling her own squishy meatsack hither and yon.But her new life is a troubled one. As she learns to enhance her own intelligence, she grows alienated from her old life. She has no legal rights, and the government is trying to shut her down and steal her research.But when a nuke detonates over Manhattan, Helen devotes her growing power to bringing the culprit to justice. She uncovers a force bent not on geopolitical power, but on the extinction of all humankind.Will our heroine be enslaved or deleted by the Feds? Can she avert an impending war with China? How will she find time to finish her doctoral thesis? And (hey, we're trying not to judge) isn't Dr. Mellings way too old for her?Alternately goofy and dark, The Improbable Rise of Singularity Girl tells the story of a singular woman, and a life lived at an exponential pace.
Barren (Barren Trilogy #1)
G.P. Burdon - 2016
However, they never reach it, instead crash landing on a barren and hostile planet that no human was ever meant to survive on. With no water, and no hope, they must find a way to keep the human race alive in the wastelands of Icarus. Mackenzie Miller leaves behind the only life she knows to join the Diviners in their search for water, wandering directly into the greatest dangers Icarus can offer. There’s more to worry about on Icarus than just dehydration. When Mackenzie learns what truly lurks in the deserts, dying of thirst is the least of her concerns.
Isaac Steele and the Forever Man
Daniel Rigby - 2021
Greatest Britain: For a Global Universe.Agent Isaac Steele has problems. He spends all his splibs on drink and drugs. He has some deep-seated and very much unresolved issues with his parents. And his robotic partner at Greatest Britain’s Department of Clarification, Dr Timothy Stephens, is ruled more by his heart than his hard drive. But all these issues take a back seat when Isaac stumbles upon a case involving the most sensitive information in the cosmos - a Never File, inaccessible to all except those with the highest clearance. He is expressly forbidden to involve himself. So naturally he does. So begins an investigation that will take him across the Discovered Universe, into the path of the mysterious Forever Man, and eventually to answers about his past. Along the way, he will have to contend with aliens, robots, monsters, bureaucrats and, perhaps most deadly of all, his own numerous flaws. Written and narrated by Daniel Rigby (Flowers, Black Mirror), not since The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy have listeners been offered such a joyful, anarchic and insightful universe. Contains strong language
Welcome to the Galactic Shoppers Network
Ian Rodgers - 2017
In fact, his main concern is "How long until the government finds me?" Now the owner of a Mobile Network Droid and enrolled as a beta-tester for a brand new extraterrestrial package delivery system, Zane Pendon and Rob, a self-aware advertising drone, have to navigate the intricacies of shopping at home while avoiding arousing any suspicion from the Solar Alliance of Independent Planets and the US government, both of which are very interested in recovering the wayward piece of technology. However, it won't be long before worlds collide and mankind meets alien life. But with their status as intergalactic fugitives, Zane and Rob have their work cut out for them trying to stay alive and under the radar. Can alien infomercials save the world? Of course not. But they just might save Zane and his family.
The Signal
Nick Cook - 2018
Why? Could it be we really are alone in the universe? Or is it that the truth has been withheld from us by a global conspiracy of silence? When radio telescope operators Lauren Stelleck, a woman with a special gift enabling her to literally see certain sounds, and Steve Andrews, a diehard sci-fi geek, detect a signal like no other at Jodrell Bank in England, a chain of events is unleashed that propels Earth towards all-out nuclear war. Can Lauren and Steve unlock the secret of the signal before our species tears itself apart? The Signal is a prequel novella to the Fractured Light trilogy, and is part of the Multiverse Chronicles, an epic series of interlinked stories that follows the struggle of humanity to survive across parallel universes. Watch the skies because the darkness is coming for us. Please note that there is the occasional use of strong language in The Signal and the story deals with adult themes. Recommended age is 16+.