Book picks similar to
Saturday's Children by Bobby Underwood


science-fiction
have-but-not-read
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adult

Reforged (Bolt Eaters Trilogy Book 2)


Isaac Hooke - 2018
    Trapped on an alien world. Struggling to survive. The mission was supposed to be easy. Travel to an alien world on the far side of the galaxy, do some recon, go home. But the operation proved tougher than expected. A whole lot tougher. Eric and the Bolt Eaters have been taken prisoner by a former member of their platoon, a Mind Refurb who has sold out Earth to the aliens. Normally, Eric and the platoon members wouldn't stand for such a blatant act of betrayal. It's just too bad they're all restrained aboard an otherworldly transport and scheduled for immediate disassembly. Some days it really sucks to be a human-machine hybrid.

Forge and Steel: Three Plague Wars Novelettes (Alien Invasion #6) (Plague Wars Series Book 11)


David VanDyke - 2016
     Steel's First Temper: Jill "Reaper" Repeth must complete a tough rescue mission on a Meme asteroid base while beginning to train a new protégé, Joseph "Bull" ben Tauros. A Hotter Forge: Bull and Reaper are assigned to capture one of the Pure Race, but a Blend throws a monkey wrench into their plan, forcing them into a no-win battle. What Price Humanity? Vincent "Vango" Markis awakes to find himself blind and helpless. Soon it become apparent that he and his fellow pilots are trapped in a situation with no choices and only one way out. A slightly shorter version was previously published in Jerry Pournelle's anthology There Will Be War X. Plague Wars: Decade One - The Eden Plague - Reaper's Run - Skull's Shadows - Eden's Exodus - Apocalypse Austin - Nearest Night Plague Wars: Alien Invasion - The Demon Plagues - The Reaper Plague - The Orion Plague - Cyborg Strike - Comes the Destroyer - Forge and Steel Plague Wars: Stellar Conquest - First Conquest - Desolator - Tactics of Conquest - Conquest of Earth - Conquest and Empire

Earthbound


Mari Collier - 2013
    The two become friends and comrades, their fates forever intertwined. They find themselves together in the prairies of 19th century Texas, the bordellos of Civil War-era New Orleans, to Prohibition in the 1920s, the Great Depression, and the vastness of space.But will they survive hardships through history, the enmity of their southern neighbors and the Civil War, to be able to return to his home planet and exact his revenge? Amazon Sci-Fi Western bestseller Praise for Earthbound: ★★★★★"Well written and thoroughly researched, with realistic characters and events. I could not put the book down" - Laurie Ann Davis, Amazon Review ★★★★★"A great story with memorable characters, but to me the most fun was the historical aspect of it. Mari has done her research." - Mark R. Hunter, Amazon review ★★★★★"I don't usually read western-themed books but this book breaks the mold, blending western, historical, and sci-fi / paranormal all into one. It was spellbinding." - James Johnson, Amazon review

Solar Storm: Book 2: Season 1: Episodes IV - V


Marcus Richardson - 2018
    Exhausted, wounded, and alone, Jay must find the will to push through and rescue his child. Kate, back in control of her own destiny, faces a taste of the reality FEMA has delivered to the major cities of America in the aftermath of the coronal mass ejection. She must pass through the fire to return home, but only if she's ready to sacrifice everything. Leah and the other students left behind become firsthand witnesses to the desperation of man and what violence that can bring. They are forced to dig deep and defend themselves, or risk becoming a footnote in a new, darker history of mankind. In a world where electricity is a thing of the past, can there be any hope for the future? After all, it's not a matter of if a CME will strike the earth, but when.

Chewing Rocks


Alan Black - 2009
    Rock mining in space was all she knew. It was all she was good at doing. She was comfortable living alone as the captain of her mining ship the Sedona. Normally she managed with only infrequent trips to the planetoid Ceres for resupply. She didn’t want to have to make extra trips back to base because of equipment failure. She didn’t want to become a mining tutor for a group of newcomers from Earth. And she certainly didn’t want to get entangled in corporate conspiracies, piracy, kidnapping, murder and worst of all…politics.

Boy Gone


Mark Wayne McGinnis - 2018
    Gordon Mere minutes after arriving at their Nantucket family beach home, 9-year-old Scotty Sullivan was out the back door, scrambling toward the shore, with Larry, the family dog—fast on his heels. Now late in the afternoon in mid-spring, the typical summer beach crowd visitors were still weeks away. Then Scotty became aware of an odd-looking object, hovering just above the crashing surf. In an age of hobbyist’s drones and all sorts of flying gadgets, he wasn’t overly concerned until the large flying object moved much, much, closer. A storm was brewing and dark clouds blanketed the sky. Nervously, Scotty turned and tried to spot his house—somewhere off behind the dunes—but it would be sixteen years before he’d see it again.

Fathers' Honor


M.C.A. Hogarth - 2020
    

Black Widows: Episode 1


Michael G. Thomas - 2016
    Aboard their heavily-armed ship Medusa, they embark on secretive missions throughout the crumbling Confederacy as it wages a terrible and bloody civil war. The lives of Syala and her twin sister Arana change forever on the day the slavers hit their new home on the Skylla Research Facility. It is a day that started like any other, before turning into a terrifying massacre as soldiers and hideous creatures swarm through the facility killing or enslaving anyone that stands in their way. The sisters struggle to survive as a desperate few try and fight back, but nothing can hold back the horde. Until they find a single mercenary dressed in black armour who refuses to back down. Her name is Zhang Wei, and she is a Black Widow. Black Widows is serialised over six short-read episodes per season, in the same fashion as a TV series. More adventures will be released over coming weeks before being combined into a 6 volume compilation. See my website for news on the next thrilling release at www.starcrusader.com

We Knew They Were Coming


Ira Tabankin - 2016
     Mankind's oldest question is, 'Are we alone' has been answered. A typing error changes the area of space NASA's Kepler probe searches for Earth-like planets. It records a very bright light, an anomaly that doesn't match anything in NASA's files. It records something heading towards Earth at a speed so high as to be unbelievable. Earth has just over four years to prepare. The outgoing US President spends months before he believes there really is something heading to Earth. NASA's code word for the object is unicorn. The mythical horned horse is coming. The President forms a committee to figure out what to do, he hands the hot potato to his successor who takes the leaders of only six other countries into his. confidence. The unicorn committee begins preparations, they decide to build shelters and arm the military with the most advanced weapons they can design and build in four years. Supply shortages ripple through the economy, rumors spread across the web. The government decides to take a drastic act in order to control the flow of information. As the unicorn speeds towards Earth, the government tries a unique way to spread what they hope is lifesaving information to the population, they hire survivalists, without telling them why, to spread information that something is coming and everyone needs to prepare.An amateur stargazer captures the bright light heading towards the planet. As the object draws closer, it begins to slow down, the bright light becomes additional lights, more than a single ship is coming. Panic spreads across the world. Everyone with a grievance attacks their enemies. When the objects arrive at Jupiter to refuel, their first act is to clear everything orbiting the planet, increasing the stress when GPS, communications, intelligence and debris is destroyed, leaving everyone on Earth without a lot of their toys. Their second act is to turn the world’s grid off.The United States President decides to attack the aliens with ground-based rail guns, striking a couple of the ships orbiting the planet, the alien’s respond by shutting off all electrical energy, including batteries. Earth is slapped back two hundred years. A small group of survivalists tries to apply their knowledge to build a new life. This is book 1 of a new series. It tells the story of the unicorn sighting, arrival, attack and the beginning of the rebuilding.

The Last Voyage


T.S. Snow - 2016
    She's far from it.Together, they’re Earth's last hope... they just don’t know it yet.Sinbad sh'en Singh had everything. A thriving smuggling career, his hologram on wanted posters on eleven planets, and plenty of women. Then she walked into his life.Andrea Talltrees, member of a backwards cult not believing in space travel or anything else invented after the Twentieth Century.She wants him to find her husband, a fugitive accused of being an Albegensian spy, the planet currently at war with Earth.He doesn’t want anything to do with an Earther, but a massive culture clash and a heavy dose of instant attraction get in the way, sending good sense flying out the viewport.They'll brave some very unsavory characters, maybe even prevent a second interplanetary war...if they can stop arguing.

The Intern (The Forbidden World Book 1)


Garry Ocean - 2017
    Due to an accident and his own blunder, Nick Sobolev, an intern of the Space Courier Service, ends up on a mysterious planet tucked away in deep space. The planet is named Terrius and resembles Earth. At the site of his starship wreck, Nick meets local hunters. He follows them to the Forest and the City, hoping to find a way to communicate with Earth and to find out why the planet at the level of development of a feudal society is equipped with structures and devices capable of shooting down interstellar vehicles. The events unfold quickly and are full of unexpected turns. Nick finds himself deeply immersed in solving ancient secrets of the local civilization. To save his new friends, he has to participate in the brutal Ritual reminiscent of Earth’s ancient gladiator fights. This does not go unnoticed. Nick’s participation attracts attention of many powerful locals, all of whom have their own plans for the stranger they believe to have come from the wild steppe. Some want to kill him; others see in him the messiah from an ancient prophecy. The Forbidden World book series is written in sci-fi/fantasy fusion, a genre gaining more and more popularity. In the books of this series, the readers will find a whole new world – planet Terrius with its wondrous flora and surprising wild fauna. Its rich social life is full of legends, myths, its own games of thrones, and stories of individuals who are either endowed with a mysterious Gift or cast a powerful wicked Spell by someone unknown.

In Every Clime and Place


Patrick LeClerc - 2014
    Always Faithful. The motto of the United States Marine Corps. Words to live by. On the ragged edges of civilization, Corporal Michael Collins has lived those words, taking on riots and evacuations, rebels and terrorists. Asteroid belt patrol is just another deployment. Ninety nine percent boredom, one percent terror. But soon the platoon of Marines find themselves entangled in the threads of a conspiracy of corporate greed, government corruption, piracy, and a band of war criminals. As the fire team leader struggles with tensions in the close knit unit, Collins and his fellow Marines find themselves outnumbered in a pitched battle to stop a corrupt land grab that seems right out of the Old West, but on a new, wider, more unforgiving frontier. And now he must confront the harsh demands of being “always faithful.” Semper Fi. Words to live by. Words to die by. Time to earn that combat pay, Marines. Welcome to the Suck. And remember, you volunteered for this. Patrick LeClerc has crafted a tense, military action adventure on the edge of civilization: Earth’s mining colonies in the asteroid belt. “In Every Clime and Place” combines the spirit of classic s/f of Heinlein’s “Starship Troopers” or David Drake’s “Hammer’s Slammers” with the isolated, small unit grunt’s eye view intimacy of George MacDonald Fraser’s “Quartered Safe Out Here.” "In Every Clime and Place” is a frontier land grab; a tale of government corruption and corporate piracy, and a near future Marine science fiction story, told with gritty authenticity, gallows humor and raw emotion, evoking the closeness and isolation of a small unit deployed to the distant edge of a bleak and dangerous frontier. BOOK REVIEW Set some 60 years in the future, this impressive, fast-paced novel is as much ‘Semper fi’ as it is sci-fi. The convincing story centers on the hard-hitting law and order role of the USMC in dealing with organized commercial pirates causing mayhem on planet Mars. The plot’s development is cleverly stage-managed by the author (a former US Marine) From the very first page, authenticity is the dominant hallmark of this exciting and very readable book. Don’t expect to read this novel a chapter at a time, last thing at night and then drop off to sleep. I found it impossible to put down. This book demanded and held my attention. The very believable characters live off the pages. They, their gritty Service dialogues and the battle scenes are all USMC through and through. Long before that iconic US Marine legend, Chesty Puller, was mentioned in the story, I was sold on this book’s authenticity and the author’s credibility. I thoroughly recommend it as an absorbing, exciting read. It has, too, the makings of a great film. -Mike Williams, Royal Marine, SBS, Author of The Tremayne Trilogy

The Girl From Area 51


Cliff Black - 2012
    She makes her way to Simpson Springs in Utah's west desert, and there finds help from a most unlikely family. The girl's first contact is with an old man who names the girl Jane. Jane knows nothing of the society she is entering, but her special powers let her know who she can trust. When Jane meets the old man's fourteen-year-old grandson, she discerns a kindred spirit. The problem is, the government scientists want Jane back in their lab, and Jane doesn't want to go back.

Formation (Forgotten Space Book 2)


M.R. Forbes - 2021
    

The Other Times of Caroline Tangent


Ivan D. Wainewright - 2021
    But they can’t tell anyone they’re doing so.As their trips to the past continue, they begin to realise how it could change a devastating moment from their own past. But for Caroline, it’s clear they don’t want the same outcome.Until, on one trip, one of them does something unthinkable which will change both their lives forever.For fans of Matt Haig, Claire North and Audrey Niffenegger.