Book picks similar to
Mission to Universe by Gordon R. Dickson
science-fiction
sci-fi
scifi
sf
Ship of Strangers
Bob Shaw - 1978
The mission brings them into contact with man startling life-forms and menacing aliens. On one world the Sarafand sends out six survey modules and seven return one of them is a shape-changing malevolent alien - but which? On another planet they discover a humanoid civilisation which can move around in time. Suddenly the Sarafand investigators are marooned millions of years in the past. Finally the Sarafand and its crew are stranded in a distant galaxy where everything - including them - is shrinking inexorably to zero size
Gravity Dreams
L.E. Modesitt Jr. - 1999
Then a rogue infection of nanotechnology transforms him into a "demon", something more than human, and he is forced into exile, fleeing to the more technologically advanced space-faring civilization that lies to the north, one that his own righteous people consider evil. Although shaken by his transformation, he has the rare talent required to become a space pilot. What no one, least of all Tyndel, expects, is his deep-space encounter with a vastly superior being--perhaps with God.
Test of Fire
Ben Bova - 1982
But as their sky began burning, who could blame the Russians for thinking that the Americans had attacked....?
Whipping Star
Frank Herbert - 1969
It all depended on the survival of the last of the entities known as Calebians.But the Caleban was dying - subjected to systematic torture by the richest, most wicked woman in the Galaxy. Unless she could be stopped, the end was only a few days away, or hours - or even minutes!
Shield
Poul Anderson - 1962
Light could come through the Shield, but no weapon known to man could penetrate it Koskinen had developed the Shield in collaboration with the Martians. From the moment of his return to earth he was in deadly danger. His own country sent men to kill him to prevent the Shield from falling into enemy hands Soon the whole civilised world was searching for this one man - a man armed with the greatest potential military weapon mankind had ever seenthe only question was which power would possess the Shield as its very own?
Ambush at Corellia
Roger MacBride Allen - 1995
One thing is clear: the five inhabited worlds of the sector are on the brink of civil war and the once peaceful coexistence of the three leading races -- human, Selonian, and Drallan -- has come to an end.
The Many-Coloured Land
Julian May - 1981
Each sought his own brand of happiness. But none could have guessed what awaited them. Not even in a million years....
In the Ocean of Night
Gregory Benford - 1977
Ordered to destroy the comet, he instead discovers that it is actually the shell of a derelict space probe - a wreck with just enough power to emit a single electronic signal...2034: Then a reply is heard. Searching for the source of this signal that comes from outside the solar system, Nigel discovers the existence of a sentient ship. When the new vessel begins to communicate directly with him, the astronaut learns of the horrors that await humanity. For the ship was created by an alien race that has spent billions and billions of years searching for intelligent life...to annihilate it.In the Ocean of Night is a 1977 hard science fiction novel by Gregory Benford. It is the first novel in his Galactic Center Saga. It was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1977. It was first published as a novelette in the May/June 1972 edition of Worlds of If Science Fiction.
The Martians
Kim Stanley Robinson - 1999
As the planet is transformed from an unexplored and forbidding terrain to a troubled image of a re-created Earth, we meet the First Hundred explorers—men and women who are bound together by Earth’s tenuous toehold on Mars. Presenting unforgettable stories of hope and disappointment, of fierce physical and psychological struggles, The Martians is an epic chronicle of a planet that represents one of humanity’s most glorious possibilities.The Martians is a unique collection of previously unpublished fiction, a fascinating addition to Robinson’s oeuvre, and a must for all lovers of the red planet.
Sundiver
David Brin - 1980
Did some cryptic patron race begin the job long ago, then abandon us? Or did we leap all by ourselves? That question burns, yet a greater mystery looms ahead, in the furnace of a star. Under the caverns of Mercury, Expedition Sundiver prepares for the most momentous voyage in our history – into the boiling inferno of the sun, seeking our destiny in the cosmic order of life.
Drifter
William C. Dietz - 1991
Lando learned them from his dad and granddad, the best in the business.The second rule of smuggling: Go for the small deals. You will make more and live longer.A ladies' man, a con artist, a total professional That was Lando.Forget the rules.Then he was hired by a beautiful woman to do a job on a world called Angel. Now he's involved with her - and a dangerious group of hell-bent revolutionaries...
Star Hunt
David Gerrold - 1972
In the prequel to Voyage of the Star Wolf, first officer Jonathan Korie drives his captain and the crew of their obsolete starship on a fanatical, possibly disastrous search for an enemy that may be a phantom.Originally published as Yesterday's Children
Queen of Angels
Greg Bear - 1990
"One is ultimately awed... it may be the most ambitious novel I've ever read." -- Washington Post Book World
The Sky is Filled with Ships
Richard C. Meredith - 1969
And it has held mankind together through two bloody battles with the powerful Alliance of Rebels. -But when Starship Captain and loyal STC employee, Robert Janas, uncovers secret plans for a third rebel uprising, he is surprised to find that no one inside the STC - not evewn the President, Altho Franken will listen. For the Solar Trading Company is riddled with corruption, and is now more powerful than Earth itself. -The rebel forces are gathering, and Robert Janas is the only person who can save humanity from holocaust..
Dying of the Light
George R.R. Martin - 1977
But Worlorn isn’t the world Dirk imagined, and Gwen Delvano is no longer the woman he once knew. She is bound to another man, and to a dying planet that is trapped in twilight. Gwen needs Dirk’s protection, and he will do anything to keep her safe, even if it means challenging the barbaric man who has claimed her. But an impenetrable veil of secrecy surrounds them all, and it’s becoming impossible for Dirk to distinguish between his allies and his enemies. In this dangerous triangle, one is hurtling toward escape, another toward revenge, and the last toward a brutal, untimely demise.