Book picks similar to
The Dark Wing by Walter H. Hunt


science-fiction
sci-fi
space-opera
fiction

Mutineer


Mike Shepherd - 2004
    Her father is the Prime Minister of her home planet. Her mother the consummate politician's wife. She's been raised only to be beautiful and marry well. But the heritage of the military Longknifes courses through Kris's blood-and, against her parents' objections, she enlists in the marines.

Dauntless


Jack Campbell - 2006
    Now its fleet is crippled and stranded in enemy territory. Their only hope is a man who's emerged from a century-long hibernation to find he has been heroically idealized, beyond belief...Captain John "Black Jack" Geary's legendary exploits are known to every schoolchild. Revered for his heroic "last stand" in the early days of the war, he was presumed dead. But a century later, Geary miraculously returns from survival hibernation and reluctantly takes command of the Alliance fleet as it faces annihilation by the Syndics.Appalled by the hero-worship around him, Geary is nevertheless a man who will do his duty. And he knows that bringing the stolen Syndic hypernet key safely home is the Alliance's one chance to win the war. But to do that, Geary will have to live up to the impossibly heroic "Black Jack" legend...

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.

Armor


John Steakley - 1984
    The military sci-fi classic in a striking new packageFelix is an Earth soldier, encased in special body armor designed to withstand Earth's most implacable enemy-a bioengineered, insectoid alien horde. But Felix is also equipped with internal mechanisms that enable him, and his fellow soldiers, to survive battle situations that would destroy a man's mind.This is a remarkable novel of the horror, the courage, and the aftermath of combat--and how the strength of the human spirit can be the greatest armor of all.

Midshipman's Hope


David Feintuch - 1994
    With no chance of rescue, Nicholas Seafort must save lives and take them, in the name of duty.

Valor's Choice


Tanya Huff - 2000
    They must act as soldier/protectors of the far more civilized races who have long since turned away from war... — Staff Sergeant Torin Kerr was a battle-hardened professional. So when she and those in her platoon who'd survived the last deadly encounter with the Others were yanked from a well-deserved leave for what was supposed to be "easy" duty as the honor guard for a diplomatic mission to the non-Confederation world of the Silsviss, she was ready for anything.At first it seemed that all she'd have to contend with was bored troops getting into mischief, and breaking in the new Second Lieutenant who had been given command of her men.Sure, there'd been rumors of the Others - the sworn enemies of the Confederation - being spotted in this sector of space. But there were always rumors. The key thing was to recruit the Silsviss into the Confederation before the Others either attacked or claimed this lizardlike race of warriors for their own side. And everything seemed to be going perfectly. Maybe too perfectly...

The Regiment


John Dalmas - 1987
    But they are very good soldiers. And once a regiment is formed, it never recruits again; as its members fall in battle, it simply grows smaller to become a battalion, a company, a platoon, a squad . . . and then there are none. But before the last man of this regiment has flung himself into battle, the Federation of Worlds will never be the same.

Falkenberg's Legion


Jerry Pournelle - 1990
    Soon they will rip the Codomminium apart—and Earth will die.In the face of that inevitability the fate of humanity lies with the Colony Worlds—a few of which are equipped for more than barest survival. Thrown upon their own resources, their futures seem as limited as their pasts. They—and humanity—have one hope: that somehow, someone will have both the vision and the strength to grasp the tattered remnants of civilization and weld them into a single galaxy-spanning society.

Hunting Party


Elizabeth Moon - 1993
    What she can get is the captaincy of a rich old lady's space yacht...a rich old horsewoman, who has little liking for the military, and whose spoiled nephew Ronnie (and his equally spoiled friends) have been foisted on her after his folly embarrassed the family. Lady Cecelia's only apparent interest is horses--she intends to go fox hunting on the private pleasure planet of a friend of hers, Lord Thornbuckle. But events conspire to make it far more than a fox hunt.

With the Lightnings


David Drake - 1998
    Adele Mundy is a scholar with no money and no prospects since her family was massacred for conspiring against the Government of Cinnabar. Kostroma is a wealthy planet which depends on diplomacy to stay independent in a galaxy whose two great powers, Cinnabar and the Alliance, battle for supremacy. In a few hours, diplomacy is going to fail Kostroma. Daniel, Adele, and the scratch crew they gather aren't much to stand in the way of a powerful invasion fleet, but just possibly they're enough.

On Basilisk Station


David Weber - 1992
    Her demoralized crew blames her for their ship's humiliating posting to an out-of-the-way picket station. The aborigines of the system's only habitable planet are smoking homicide-inducing hallucinogens. Parliament isn't sure it wants to keep the place; the major local industry is smuggling, the merchant cartels want her head; the star-conquering, so-called "Republic" of Haven is Up to Something; and Honor Harrington has a single, over-age light cruiser with an armament that doesn't work to police the entire star system.But the people out to get her have made one mistake.They've made her mad!

The Myriad


R.M. Meluch - 2005
    M. Meluch's first novel in more than a decade, The Myriad, begins a series that is an amalgam of subgenres: military science fiction, space opera, time paradox, and alternate history.On an Earth where the Roman Empire never fell (but instead existed in secret societies for millennia, finally reestablishing itself on the planet Palatine) and is now embroiled in a war against the League of Earth Nations, a much more deadly foe emerges from the darkness of deep space -- the Hive. The governments of Palatine and Earth enter into an uneasy alliance to fight the alien invaders, nondescript antagonists that exist only to consume. While the unified forces try to keep the Hive from destroying human-populated planets, one U.S. battleship, the Merrimack, sets off on a quest to find the Hive's homeworld and take the battle to its source.During the ship's desperate search, the crew of the Merrimack discovers a strange star cluster with three worlds inhabited by sentient beings. After first contact with the amazingly humanoid populace, Captain John Farragut discovers a series of wormholes that could unlock the secrets that could defeat the Hive -- or destroy humankind forever.Vaguely reminiscent of Robert A. Heinlein's Starship Troopers (specifically, the relentless alien antagonists and the over-the-top, gung-ho characters), Meluch's The Myriad is lighthearted, fast-paced fun. While obviously not as intense or controversial as Heinlein's Hugo Award winning classic, this novel will prove thoroughly enjoyable to fans of military science fiction authors like David Weber and David Drake. Paul Goat Allen

A Call to Arms


Alan Dean Foster - 1991
    Whether it wanted to or not. When the Amplitur and their allies stumbled upon the races called the Weave, the Purpose seemed poised for a great leap forward. But the Weave's surprising unity also gave it the ability to fight the Amplitur and their cause. And fight it did, for thousands of years.Will Dulac was a New Orleans composer who thought the tiny reef off Belize would be the perfect spot to drop anchor and finish his latest symphony in solitude. What he found instead was a group of alien visitors, a scouting party for the Weave, looking for allies among what they believed to be a uniquely warlike race, Humans.Will tried to convince the aliens that Man was fundamentally peaceful, for he understood that Human involvement would destroy the race. But all too soon, it didn't matter. The Amplitur had discovered Earth...

The Man-Kzin Wars


Larry Niven - 1988
    But the Kzinti learned the hard way that the reason humanity had given up war was that they were so very, very good at it. Thus began the Man-Kzin Wars.Contents:1 · Introduction · Larry Niven · in * 5 · The Warriors · Larry Niven · ss If Feb ’66 27 · Iron [Part 1 of 2] · Poul Anderson · n. Far Frontiers Vol. VII, ed. Jerry Pournelle & Jim Baen, Baen, 1986 116 · Iron [Part 2 of 2] · Poul Anderson · n. New Destinies, Vol. 1, ed. Jim Baen, Baen, 1987 179 · Cathouse · Dean Ing · na New Destinies, Vol. III, ed. Jim Baen, Baen, 1988

War Dogs


Greg Bear - 2014
    Maybe my last.They made their presence on Earth known thirteen years ago.Providing technology and scientific insights far beyond what mankind was capable of. They became indispensable advisors and promised even more gifts that we just couldn't pass up. We called them Gurus.It took them a while to drop the other shoe. You can see why, looking back.It was a very big shoe, completely slathered in crap.They had been hounded by mortal enemies from sun to sun, planet to planet, and were now stretched thin -- and they needed our help.And so our first bill came due. Skyrines like me were volunteered to pay the price. As always.These enemies were already inside our solar system and were moving to establish a beachhead, but not on Earth.On Mars.