Book picks similar to
An Ornament to His Profession by Charles L. Harness
science-fiction
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science-fiction-and-fantasy
Planetfall: A Story of the Dark
J.A. Sutherland - 2016
Scion of a wealthy family on New London, he can have almost anything he wants. But what he wants more than anything is the freedom to make his own way and build his own legacy to pass down to his children. Together with his wife, Lynelle, he sells everything to buy shares in colonial company and settle the newly discovered world of Dalthus IV.Planetfall is a prequel to the Alexis Carew series, which starts with Into the Dark. If you’re new to the series, I suggest starting with Into the Dark, rather than Planetfall, as this story was written more for someone who’s already a fan of the series and is interested in more background on some of the characters and customs.Also, Planetfall is available free to subscribers to my mailing list … so there’s that. J.A. Sutherland
Hustle
Tom Pitts - 2014
Donny and Big Rich want to film Gabriel Thaxton with their cell phones during a sexual act and put the video up on YouTube. Little do they know, the man they've chosen, a high-profile San Francisco defense attorney, is already being blackmailed by someone more sinister: an ex-client of the lawyer's. A murderous speed freak named Dustin has already permeated the attorney's life and Dustin has plans for the old man. The lawyer calls upon an old biker for help and they begin a violent race to suppress his deadly secret.
Cradle of Death
Matthew James - 2020
The object, the “Cradle,” isn’t a mythological container filled with the evils of the world as the Greek poet, Hesiod, once described. Pandora’s Box is, in reality, an advanced energy core mightier than any weapon imaginable.Shortly after the Cradle’s unearthing, its discoverer, Special Forces veteran turned archaeologist, Elliot Oxley, is thrust into a centuries-old war that still rages on within the shadows of the world’s governments. He and a small team are forced to survive attacks by murderous zealots and well-armed mercenaries while also preventing the Cradle from falling into the hands of someone who intends to use it to fulfill a terrible prophecy.Matt James’ CRADLE OF DEATH is Indiana Jones, James Bond, and the X-Files rolled into one. This action-packed adventure is an exciting experience for all audiences, especially those that enjoy the “what if” of ancient history.
The Accidental Explorer
George Deeb - 2015
It was twenty-six years, and a lot of preparation later before the technology was advanced enough to take the risk. The six mission specialists assigned to the Trailblazer mission had only a short window of time to make it to their destination, or risk dying in space. What they had not expected to find when they finally arrived was that someone else was already there - and that they were more capable and technologically advanced than the Trailblazer team.
Cosmic Destinies (Course of the Worlds Book 3)
J.A. Hawkings - 2015
A crew that desperately wants to find its way home, revolutionary physics, space battles with a powerful superweapon, and a showdown between two civilizations which definitively intertwines the destinies of multiple universes.Course of the Worlds:Book 1 - The Last SpaceshipBook 2 - New WorldBook 3 - Cosmic Destinies
The Caves Of Steel & The Rest Of The Robots
Isaac Asimov - 2006
All robots must follow the three laws, but that leaves room for a surprisingly wide range of unexpected outcomes...THE THREE LAWS OF ROBOTICS1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.2. A robot must obey the orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws.
Displaced
Stephen Drake
something that might cost them all their lives.
The Truth and Other Stories
Stanisław Lem - 2021
The stories display the full range of Lem's intense curiosity about scientific ideas as well as his sardonic approach to human nature, presenting as multifarious a collection of mad scientists as any reader could wish for. Many of these stories feature artificial intelligences or artificial life forms, long a Lem preoccupation; some feature quite insane theories of cosmology or evolution. All are thought-provoking and scathingly funny.Written from 1956 to 1996, the stories are arranged in chronological order. In the title story, The Truth, a scientist in an insane asylum theorizes that the sun is alive; The Journal appears to be an account by an omnipotent being describing the creation of infinite universes—until at the end, in a classic Lem twist, it turns out to be no such thing; in An Enigma, beings debate whether offspring can be created without advanced degrees and design templates. Other stories feature a computer than can predict the future by 137 seconds, matter-destroying spores, a hunt in which the prey is a robot, and an electronic brain eager to go on the lam. These stories are peak Lem, exploring ideas and themes that resonate throughout his writing.
Doctor Who: The Triple Knife and Other Doctor Who Stories
Jenny T. Colgan - 2018
Colgan.Ashildr, a young Viking girl, died bravely helping the Doctor save the village she loved – so the Doctor used alien technology to bring her back to life. Ashildr became immortal and, since that day, has kept journals to chronicle her extraordinary life. 'The Triple Knife' is a glimpse into the life of a woman who lived longer than anyone ever should – and lost more than she can even remember.'Picnic at Asgard' drops in on another woman of the Whoniverse who never fails to find herself too far from danger and excitement. And when you’re married to a Time Lord, what more can you expect? This adventure, extracted from her journal, reveals still more about the legendary River Song.'Into the Nowhere' follows the Eleventh Doctor and Clara as they land on an unknown alien planet. To the Doctor’s delight and Clara’s astonishment, it really is unknown. It’s a planet the Doctor has never seen. It’s not on any maps, it’s not referenced on any star charts or in the TARDIS data banks. It doesn’t even have a name. What could be so terrible here that has been erased?This collection also includes two further adventures 'All The Empty Towers' and 'A Long Way Down' – a short story never published in volume form before.
Think Like a Dinosaur and Other Stories
James Patrick Kelly - 1997
There are 14 stories in all, ranging from straight SF to tales that stray into the fantasy and horror genres. Of special note is the title story, which earned the 1996 Hugo Award for Best Novelette, the 1995 Nebula Award nomination for Best Novelette, among several other awards and nominations as well. But all of the stories are excellent in their own right. An insightful forward by James Patrick Kelly's friend and sometimes collaborator John Kessel (Corrupting Dr. Nice) leads off the collection and explores Kelly's somewhat underrated career.Contents:Think Like a Dinosaur (1995)Heroics (1987)Pogrom (1991)Faith (1989)Big Guy (1994)Dancing with the Chairs (1989)Rat (1986)The First Law of Thermodynamics (1996)Breakaway, Backdown (1996)Standing in Line with Mister Jimmy (1991)Crow (1984)Monsters (1992)Itsy Bitsy Spider (1997)Mr. Boy (1990)
The Alliance Trilogy
Michael Wallace - 2019
The aliens are Adjudicators, an ancient race whose ethos is to judge other species and reduce their survivors to a stone age existence.Tolvern sends a desperate message back to headquarters and retreats with her damaged ship to friendly systems. By the time she returns, the aliens have already invaded Alliance territory with a powerful fleet of star fortresses and accompanying dragoon ships, trapping and laying siege to the allied fleet.While repairing her ship, Tolvern cobbles together a squadron of damaged allied warships, former raiders, and the local survivors of an Adjudicator attack to drive off the alien fleet.The following books are included in this set:Alliance StarsAlliance ArmadaAlliance Insurgent
The Forbidden Wilds: Jingle's Escape
Saxon Andrew - 2019
However, after a thousand years, a dictator arose in the core of the galaxy and took the name Rage Kahn. He secretly built a large fleet of warships and went out to conquer the galaxy; it took more than two-hundred years to finally defeat his forces. The Rager War finally ended, but the damage was done. Vast swaths of space around the core of the galaxy were blasted back into primitive existence and the rule of law disappeared. The surviving colonies in the core built up military forces to prevent any other planet from ever attacking them in the future. To enter the area around the core was extremely dangerous and it began to be called the Forbidden Wilds. During the Rager War, the colonies that were away from the galaxy’s core and were not affected by the war worried that the war would spill out into the rest of the Milky Way. A Central Government outside the core was formed and built a giant fleet of advanced warships to make sure none of the aggressive colonies in the core could threaten them. And that was how it remained for three hundred years. Until a young woman fleeing a warrant for her arrest fled the Union for the Forbidden Wilds. What followed would have a monumental impact on the uneasy truce in the Milky Way. The Forbidden Wilds-Jingle’s Escape is the newest novel by Bestselling Author, Saxon Andrew. Jingle hoped fleeing to the Forbidden Wilds would raise her pulse rate…she got much more than she bargained. She had a knack for causing trouble but even she would have never believed she would prompt a new galactic war.
West Pacific Supers: Rising Tide
K.M. Johnson-Weider - 2011
Would the superheroes change the world or would the world change the superheroes? It's 2013 and West Pacific Supers is the professional superhero team for the city of West Pacific in northern California. It's hard to know what's more dangerous for the members of West Pacific Supers: the supervillains out to destroy the city or the superazzi determined to uncover all of their dirty secrets. If juggling heroics and public relations weren't hard enough, the 2013 Season begins with a shocking death. Now new team members must be recruited to counter two major threats: a scientist with an insane plan that threatens California and an enemy from within West Pacific Supers itself. The team will succeed only after taming their massive egos and getting help from unlikely sources. Unfortunately, just like winning fame and fortune, beating the bad guys always comes at a heavy price.