Book picks similar to
Galactic Exploration by Peter Cawdron
sci-fi
science-fiction
scifi-fantasy
sf
Planetfall
Emma Newman - 2015
A planet promising to reveal the truth about our place in the cosmos, untainted by overpopulation, pollution, and war. Ren believed in that vision enough to give up everything to follow Suh-Mi into the unknown. More than twenty-two years have passed since Ren and the rest of the faithful braved the starry abyss and established a colony at the base of an enigmatic alien structure where Suh-Mi has since resided, alone. All that time, Ren has worked hard as the colony's 3-D printer engineer, creating the tools necessary for human survival in an alien environment, and harboring a devastating secret.Ren continues to perpetuate the lie forming the foundation of the colony for the good of her fellow colonists, despite the personal cost. Then a stranger appears, far too young to have been part of the first planetfall, a man who bears a remarkable resemblance to Suh-Mi. The truth Ren has concealed since planetfall can no longer be hidden. And its revelation might tear the colony apart…
Ship of Fools
Richard Paul Russo - 2001
Now an unidentified transmission lures them toward a nearby planet-and into the dark heart of an alien mystery.
Precipice
John Jackson Miller - 2009
It is an offense punishable by death-and a fate to which Commander Yaru Korsin will not succumb. But on a crucial run to deliver troops and precious crystals to a combat hotspot in the Sith's war against the Republic, Korsin and the crew of the mining ship Omen are ambushed by a Jedi starfighter. And when the Sith craft crash-lands, torn and crippled, on a desolate alien planet, the hard-bitten captain finds himself at odds with desperate survivors on the brink of mutiny-and his own vengeful half brother, who's bent on seizing command. No matter the cost, Korsin vows that it will not be his blood and bones left behind on this unknown world. For the way of the Sith leaves little room for compromise-and none at all for mercy.
Saving Mars
Cidney Swanson - 2012
Earth-Mars relations couldn’t be worse, and her brother is captured during the raid. Breaking rules of secrecy and no contact, Jess finds an ally in Pavel, nephew to a government official, but their friendship only makes more agonizing the choice before her: Save her brother or save her planet?
Translight
Doug Farren - 2009
But before Earth can benefit from the advanced technologies offered by the other cultures, it must form a united world government. Old habits are hard to break and it doesn't take long before things begin to unravel.Jay Kauffman, mathematical genius and creator of the stardrive, believed his invention would free mankind. Instead, it has made war inevitable.Translight is the first book of the Galactic Alliance series. It is a hard military science fiction space opera that has been compared to E.E. 'Doc' Smith's famous Lensmen and Skylark series.
Seeing Red
Patty Jansen - 2013
Young diplomat Cory Wilson narrowly escapes death in the assassination of President Sirkonen. No one claims responsibility but there is no doubt that the attack is extraterrestrial. Cory was meant to start work as a representative to Gamra, the alien organisation that governs the FTL transport network, but now his new job may well be scrapped in anger. Worse, as Earth uses military force to stop any extraterrestrials coming or leaving, as 200,000 extraterrestrial humans are trapped on Earth, as the largest army in the galaxy prepares to free them by force, only Cory has the experience, language skills and contacts to solve the crime. But he's broke, out of a job and a long way from Earth.
Central Station
Lavie Tidhar - 2016
Cultures collide in real life and virtual reality. The city is literally a weed, its growth left unchecked. Life is cheap, and data is cheaper.When Boris Chong returns to Tel Aviv from Mars, much has changed. Boris’s ex-lover is raising a strangely familiar child who can tap into the datastream of a mind with the touch of a finger. His cousin is infatuated with a robotnik—a damaged cyborg soldier who might as well be begging for parts. His father is terminally-ill with a multigenerational mind-plague. And a hunted data-vampire has followed Boris to where she is forbidden to return.Rising above them is Central Station, the interplanetary hub between all things: the constantly shifting Tel Aviv; a powerful virtual arena, and the space colonies where humanity has gone to escape the ravages of poverty and war. Everything is connected by the Others, powerful alien entities who, through the Conversation—a shifting, flowing stream of consciousness—are just the beginning of irrevocable change.At Central Station, humans and machines continue to adapt, thrive...and even evolve.
Star Rebels: Stories of Space Exploration, Alien Races, and Adventure
Audrey FayeJames R. Wells - 2016
Human, cyborg, clone, or alien, they'll find themselves pitted against intergalactic crime bosses, interstellar mercenaries, a quantum-wave-riding collective mind, and the universe itself. Along the way, there's plenty of action, adventure, humor, and even some romance.Written by the freshest voices in science fiction, these stories are short, but they'll light your imagination like a solar flare. Strap yourself in and join the rebellion! Download this collection today. About the Star Rebels Stories:A Tale of Two Ships by Audrey FayeA KarmaCorp StoryTwo ships crash into an unimportant digger rock. The first carries a newborn baby. The second will rewrite her destiny.Carl Sagan's Hunt for Intelligent Life in the Universe by C. GockelAn Archangel Project StorySometimes intelligent life is right in front of your whiskers.Blood Ties by Christine PopeA Gaian Consortium StoryOn the outlaw world of Iradia, Miala Fels and her computer hacker father discover that taking the wrong commission can have unexpected consequences.Passage Out by Anthea SharpA Victoria Eternal StoryStreet rat Diana Smythe has long since given up her hopes of escaping Earth, but that doesn't mean she can't watch the ships fly in and out of the spaceport and dream...Arcturus 5 by D.L. DunbarA Twenty Sectors StoryXella went to Arcturus 5 to mediate a simple trade dispute between the Mol and the Dark, but now she's not sure she'll get out alive.Treason's Course by L.J. CohenA Halcyone Space StoryIn the midst of Earth's first off-planet war, a soldier is given a covert assignment and must decide if treason lies in carrying out her orders or disobeying them.Falling by Pippa DaCostaA Girl From Above StoryTrapped in a scrappers rig with a woman he's been hired to kill, Caleb Shepperd is beginning to wonder if this job could be his last.Starfall Station by Lindsay BurokerA Fallen Empire StoryAfter the empire falls, cyborg soldier Leonidas Adler must avoid the Alliance operatives who want him for secrets only he knows, but that's easier said than done. Worse, his past threatens those he's traveling with, including Alisa, the freighter captain he has come to care about.Luminescence by Patty JansenAn ISF-Allion World StoryHadie learns the price of being an artificial human when her partner has an accident and becomes unresponsive.Glome by James WellsA Great Symmetry StoryHumanity's first interstellar colony ship has arrived at its destination, only to find an inhospitable death trap of a planet. Crew member Amanda Bowen wishes that was the biggest problem she faced.Unfinished by Kendra C. HighleyAn Unstrung StoryIn a world where genetically-engineered humans serve as slave labor to "real humans," two prototype children, designed to be the most superior models ever created, look to each other to find a way to escape their fate.
The Wandering Earth
Liu Cixin - 2000
I was born at the end of the Reining Age, just as the Earth’s rotation was coming to a final halt.The Sun is about to unleash a helium flash, threatening to swallow all terrestrial planets in the solar system. On Earth, the Unity Government has erected Earth Engines. With them it plans to propel our planet out of the solar system, setting it on a journey into outer space in search of a new sun. The Earth begins its centuries-long, wandering travels through outer space.Just as we began our journey, my grandfather passed away, his burnt body ravaged by infection. In his final moments, he repeated over and over, “Oh, Earth, my wandering Earth...”China Galaxy Science Fiction Award of Year 2000.
Memento
Amie Kaufman - 2020
The advanced AI system was supposed to protect a fleet of survivors who’d escaped the deadly attack on Kerenza IV. AIDAN was supposed to be infallible. But in the chaotic weeks and months that followed, it became clear that something was terribly, terribly wrong with AIDAN…
Marco and the Red Granny
Mur Lafferty - 2010
Campbell Award Nominee and Two Time Parsec Award Winner"Lafferty's most memorable and exciting creation to date." ~Goodreads.com"...a really fun read. I love the setting (an alien settlement on the moon becomes "Mollywood", the hottest cultural Mecca of the 21st century), as well as how it looked at art, media, and commerce and the sometimes messy ways that they interact." ~Goodreads.comHave you ever tasted a symphony? Listened to a seven course meal?An alien species brings back the old artist patronage system, and suddenly Sally Ride Lunar Base is transformed into the new artistic center of the universe: “Mollywood.” These aliens can do amazing things with art and the senses, allowing a painting, for example, to stimulate other senses than simply sight. Marco wanted a coveted patronage, once. But then his girlfriend got one and shuttled off to Mollywood for fame and fortune, and Marco stayed home, waiting for his own patron. His career faltered. His agent dumped him. But then he gets THE call. But he’s about to find out that an artistic patronage isn’t what it was in the good old days, and that the only friend he’s made, a tiny old woman who’s the star of a blood sports reality series called The Most Dangerous Game, has secrets of her own.Nominated for the 2011 Parsec Award for Best Novella Podcast
The Awakening
Jasper T. Scott - 2018
So desperate he’s willing to risk their lives in Cryo-sleep to give her a future. But the dark, freezing vault where he wakes up is nothing like the luxurious Florida hospital he remembers. Everything about this place is alien to him, even the language. Little does he know how alien it really is. Darius and his daughter go exploring their new surroundings with a few others from the cryo pods, and they soon discover frozen, mutilated bodies everywhere. The dead are wearing strange uniforms, and they seem to have used some kind of energy weapons to defend themselves, but it wasn’t enough. Adding to the mystery, all the doors of the facility have been ripped open, and there are claw marks around them--but what could shred through reinforced metal like paper? The answer to that question proves more terrifying than any of them could have guessed. There’s a war raging, and they've woken up in the middle of it.
Darth Plagueis
James Luceno - 2012
Darth Plagueis was a Dark Lord of the Sith, so powerful and so wise that he could use the Force to influence the midi-chlorians to create life. He had such a knowledge of the dark side that he could even keep the ones he cared about from dying.”—Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the SithDarth Plagueis: one of the most brilliant Sith Lords who ever lived. Possessing power is all he desires. Losing it is the only thing he fears. As an apprentice, he embraces the ruthless ways of the Sith. And when the time is right, he destroys his Master--but vows never to suffer the same fate. For like no other disciple of the dark side, Darth Plagueis learns to command the ultimate power . . . over life and death.Darth Sidious: Plagueis’s chosen apprentice. Under the guidance of his Master, he secretly studies the ways of the Sith, while publicly rising to power in the galactic government, first as Senator, then as Chancellor, and eventually as Emperor.Darth Plagueis and Darth Sidious, Master and acolyte, target the galaxy for domination--and the Jedi Order for annihilation. But can they defy the merciless Sith tradition? Or will the desire of one to rule supreme, and the dream of the other to live forever, sow the seeds of their destruction?
The Frozen Sky
Jeff Carlson - 2010
Robot probes find an ancient tunnel beneath the surface, its walls carved with strange hieroglyphics. Led by elite engineer Alexis Vonderach, a team of scientists descends into the dark... where they confront a savage race older than mankind...FIRST CONTACTBased on the award-winning short story, The Frozen Sky is a new full-length sci fi thriller novel from the international bestselling author of Plague Year.
Triplanetary
E.E. "Doc" Smith - 1948
The Arisians, using advanced mental technology, have foreseen the invasion of their galaxy by the corrupt and evil Eddorians, so they begin a breeding program on every planet in their universe. Their goal...to produce super warriors who can hold off the invading Eddorians.