Book picks similar to
Dandelion by Philip R. Johnson


sci-fi
science-fiction
space-opera
aliens

The Ninth


Benjamin Schramm - 2014
    In the fallout of the devastation, a boy is found in the wreckage of a fortress from the Great War. The strongest of the Weavers, ones who can sense emotions in others, is dispatched to monitor the child. As the boy matures it becomes evident there is a dangerous power within him. Relocated to an academy on the edge of the Commonwealth, Brent is put to the test to determine if he is the greatest threat humanity has ever encountered. As his every move is observed and scrutinized he’ll have to face the exams of instructors, attempts on his life, and the wrath of the young Weavers.

Axis Crossing


S.H. Jucha - 2021
    Naiad, the home world, is a frozen ball, but the colonists persevere and expand through wormholes to remote systems.Navigating the time-space anomalies requires Axis-ships. The expensive vessels are constructed by corporations, and remote worlds are claimed by the companies for their valuable ores and gases.The corporations and Naiads are at odds with each other, and their lives are made more complicated by the arrival of strangers in an alien ship.To understand the nature of the unusual vessel coasting toward Beta Two, the director of operations orders the kidnapping of specialists from other mining worlds. Entire families are scooped up, but two siblings, Escher and Allie, evade capture.Hiding deep below the domes’ surfaces, the siblings are befriended by the orphans of miners. The young mickies don’t possess identification chips or cids, which would identify them as citizens.The gang of mickies and the siblings strike a deal to help each other. Each group is determined to reach Naiad. The mickies seek citizen status and freedom, and Escher and Allie want help rescuing their parents.The beleaguered group’s hastily derived plans bury them in criminal complications. When all appears lost, a second alien vessel exits the dark. The hull is similar to the ship at Beta Two, and these strangers seek their enemies.

Acheron Rising: A Federation Chronicles Novella


Ken Lozito - 2020
    Commander Elias Browning's military career was over, or so he thought.When a secret research colony is discovered by a ruthless enemy, Elias must take command of a small battlegroup.Outclassed and outgunned, Elias must find a way to stop a superior enemy fleet from enslaving his people, but how can he succeed where every other star union in the galaxy has failed?Acheron Rising is a military science fiction novella that introduces the Federation Chronicles universe by Ken Lozito.

Beyond the Event Horizon Episode One


Albert Sartison - 2015
     After first contact, which had not ended as the Earthlings expected, all traces of the visitors were lost in space, seemingly forever. But soon after, scientists noticed a mysterious gravitational anomaly not far from the Solar System as it journeyed around the centre of the Milky Way. To find out more, and perhaps discover the aliens’ secret, a research expedition fitted out with state-of-the-art scientific and military equipment sets out...

The War of Alien Aggression


A.D. Bloom - 2014
    Intelligent life reaches out to Humanity using particle beam weapons and masers. The pilots and crew of the privateer carrier Hardway are first to fight in the conflict that quickly escalates from a bloody first contact to a full-scale, interstellar war. KAMIKAZE - The privateer attack carrier Hardway invades Procyon to destroy an alien blockade gun meant to keep the human race confined. Hardway and her pilots meet their match in the Squidies' massive gun and the alien aces that protect it until they discover why the aliens are beating them. They must commit to paying for victory in war's only true currency.LANCER - Privateer Admiral Harry Cozen needs pilots for an experimental fighter squadron, so he offers the inmates of Bailey Prison a deal. Colt is serving 5-7 and he knows the deal is too good to be true, but he still takes it. He and the rest of the C-Block nuggets learn to fly the new F-151 and prepare to sortie against alien aces on a mission that's far more dangerous than anyone's telling them.TAIPAN - Hardway is drafted into a force group commanded by Harry Cozen's bitter rival from Staas Company. She stole his fighter program and his thousand new pilots. Now, she's determined to use them as cannon fodder. Hardway and the Lancers of the 133rd Fighter Test Squadron may be all that can keep her pilots alive in a knife-fight deep behind enemy lines.COZEN'S WAR - The Privateers and the UN fleet have brought the fight to the Squidies' home system. The massive, Earth invasion fleet faces off against every ship the Squidies can muster. Harry Cozen is in command and this is his greatest gambit, but alien propaganda threatens to reveal the war's most damaging secret on the day the bloodiest battle of the conflict unfolds.

The Dead Worlds


T.R. Harris - 2019
    meets Star Wars!Blamed for a theft he didn't commit ...Pursued by some of the most dangerous creatures in the galaxy ... Adam Cain is BACK ... and ready for some royal alien ass-kicking!International bestselling science fiction author T.R. Harris introduces the first book in his new space opera series set in the universe of The Human Chronicles Saga , a thrilling tale of Human Superiority in the galaxy. The Adam Cain Chronicles  Book #1: The Dead WorldsYou've heard of him. He's Adam Cain,  The Alien with an Attitude.  Now he's back... in a series of new adventures as a badass Human showing the galaxy who's the boss. Accompanied by his buddies Riyad Tarazi and Sherri Valentine, Adam is struggling to make ends meet on a distant tropical world running Capt. Cain's Bar & Grill . The problem:They picked the worst place in the galaxy to run a legitimate business ... smack dab in the middle of lawless Dead Zone . Comprised of a hundred dead worlds left in the wake of one of Adam's old enemies--Kracion-- The Zone is a gold-rush-like region of salvagers, pirates and scoundrels,all looking for their piece of the action. And in the center of all this activity is the oasis planet of Liave-3, the home of Capt. Cain's .  In The Dead Worlds: After a supply of prototype superweapons goes missing from one of the dead worlds, suspicion falls on Adam and his friends as the thieves.Our heroes find themselves being hunted, kidnapped and otherwise abused...until they say enough is enough. That's when the aliens learn the galaxy's most important lesson: You don't mess with the Humans !  The Adam Cain Chronicles takes Adam and his friends back their basic raw talents, as supermen among the aliens of the galaxy. Set in the familiar universe of The Human Chronicles Saga , this new series rediscovers the wonder and excitement of the earlier books, when it was just Human vs. Alien. It also retains all the humor, witty banter and gritty realism of the first series. Each novel in The Adam Cain Chronicles is written to be a stand-alone work, able to be read by old and new fans alike. So if you've never experienced an Adam Cain adventures before, this is a great place to start. And for existing fans, you'll find all of the elements you loved in The Human Chronicles Saga ...and more! The ride is about to start! Order your copy of The Dead Worlds today.  Don't miss a minute of The Adam Cain Chronicles . And be sure to check out all the novels by T.R. Harris....The Adam Cain ChroniclesThe Dead Worlds The Human Chronicles SagaThe Fringe Worlds Alien Assassin The War of Pawns

Skyward


Brandon Sanderson - 2018
    Spensa, a teenage girl living among them, longs to be a pilot. When she discovers the wreckage of an ancient ship, she realizes this dream might be possible—assuming she can repair the ship, navigate flight school, and (perhaps most importantly) persuade the strange machine to help her. Because this ship, uniquely, appears to have a soul.

Jump Gate Omega


Tom Shepherd - 2018
    “Specify, Dad. What do you want us to do?”His father glared at him. “Go to the Rim, sue those amphibious bastards for everything they’ve got, and get Jump Gate Omega on track again!”If the new Matthews Corporation Jump Gate fails to span 2.5 million light years to the Andromeda galaxy, the heavily invested star-faring civilization of the Milky Way will face economic ruin and brutal war.The Star Lawyers must run a gauntlet to the Rim, dodging pirates, politicians, prelates, and predatory star nations intent on seizing the new Gate to Andromeda.Without Jump Gate Omega, the Terran Commonwealth may not survive.

Battlestar


T. Jackson King - 2016
    That puts Ensign Jacob Renselaer on the spot. Can he find out why the aliens killed his ship’s officers? Can he take command of the Battlestar? Does he want to be the leader of ten heavily armed starships that never expected to encounter aliens? Deep in the Kepler 22 star system, mutual misunderstanding between two peoples who cannot speak to each other leads to multiple space battles. Somehow Jacob becomes the leader he never wanted to be. His close friend Daisy the pilot helps him, as do other friends on the Battlestar. On the alien side, Hunter One is determined to kill the invaders who threaten his new colony world. His people the Swarm have never been defeated. Now, he faces Soft Skins who do not flee at the loss of their leaders. In a distant star system, people human and alien die, scheme, and fight for survival. None of them have ever faced combat before. But now, both sides learn what it is like to have someone seek your death and the death of your friends!

Navigating the Stars


Maria V. Snyder - 2018
    And Lyra Daniels' parents are the archaeological Experts (yes with a capital E) on the Warriors and have dragged her to the various planets to study them despite the time dilation causing havoc with her social life. When one of the many Warrior planets goes silent, and looters attack her research base, Lyra becomes involved in discovering why the Warriors were placed on these planets. And, more importantly, by who.

Lost Stars


Claudia Gray - 2015
    Resistance to the Empire has been all but silenced. Only a few courageous leaders such as Bail Organa of Alderaan still dare to openly oppose Emperor Palpatine.After years of defiance, the many worlds at the edge of the Outer Rim have surrendered. With each planet’s conquest, the Empire’s might grows stronger.The latest to fall under the Emperor’s control is the isolated mountain planet Jelucan, whose citizens hope for a more prosperous future even as the Imperial Starfleet gathers overhead…

Generation of Vipers


Peter Cawdron - 2022
    Kath and Nolan are looking for answers, trying to find ways to protect Earth from the possibility of an invasive alien species overrunning the planet. The US Presidential Election changes the political landscape. With new, hostile leadership, Kath and Nolan find themselves out of favor. Lies continue to dominate social media. Perhaps the greatest threat doesn't come from the stars. Perhaps there's already a generation of vipers here on Earth.FIRST CONTACT is a series of stand-alone novels that explore humanity's first interaction with extraterrestrial life. It is similar to BLACK MIRROR or THE TWILIGHT ZONE in that the series is based on a common theme rather than common characters. This allows these books to be read in any order. Technically, they're all first as they all deal with how we might initially respond to contact with aliens, exploring the social, political, religious, and scientific aspects of First Contact.Although Generation of Vipers is a sequel it has been written so it can be read as a stand-alone novel.

Dark of the Void


Anthony James - 2021
    The enemy warships are seemingly invulnerable and able to act with impunity, killing and destroying at will. Billions of lives are at risk, along with the new technology the Kilvar have come to steal.Against this opponent, the years of preparation seem useless. And yet…the alliance military has plenty of veterans who never learned how to give up.Lieutenant James Vance – a soldier of many past conflicts - thinks he’s seen the worst of the universe. The Kilvar will prove him wrong.Captain William Flint – his heavy cruiser Loadout is about to come face-to-face with an enemy he can’t possibly overcome.Fleet Admiral Carl Recker is the most decorated officer in the alliance. All his experience may not be enough to handle what lies ahead.Hardened by years on the frontline and endless past conflicts, humanity and the Daklan must figure out a way to defeat the Kilvar. The solution will, perhaps, be far more deadly than the enemy. With new technology comes new risks, and what the alliance has discovered may well be the most terrible weapon of all.Dark of the Void is a traditional-style science fiction action adventure and the first in the Forged Alliance series. Inside this book, a reader will find space combat, ground combat, ruthless aliens, incredible tech and lots more.Author’s Note: Forged Alliance is set twelve years after the Savage Stars series of books. Dark of the Void is welcoming to new readers, with no requirement to read the first series, but if you want to learn the history of this universe, by all means start with the Savage Stars Book 1: War from a Distant Sun.

The Last Watch


J.S. Dewes - 2021
    The Last Watch, where a handful of soldiers stand between humanity and annihilation.The Divide.It’s the edge of the universe.Now it’s collapsing—and taking everyone and everything with it.The only ones who can stop it are the Sentinels—the recruits, exiles, and court-martialed dregs of the military.At the Divide, Adequin Rake, commanding the Argus, has no resources, no comms—nothing, except for the soldiers that no one wanted.They're humanity's only chance.

Embers of War


Gareth L. Powell - 2018
    Seeking to atone, she joins the House of Reclamation, an organisation dedicated to rescuing ships in distress.But, stripped of her weaponry and emptied of her officers, she struggles in the new role she’s chosen for herself. When a ship goes missing in a disputed system, Trouble Dog and her new crew of misfits and loners, captained by Sal Konstanz, an ex-captain of a medical frigate who once fought against Trouble Dog, are assigned to investigate and save whoever they can.Meanwhile, light years away, intelligence officer Ashton Childe is tasked with locating and saving the poet, Ona Sudak, who was aboard the missing ship, whatever the cost. In order to do this, he must reach out to the only person he considers a friend, even if he’s not sure she can be trusted. What Childe doesn’t know is that Sudak is not the person she appears to be.Quickly, what appears to be a straightforward rescue mission turns into something far more dangerous, as Trouble Dog, Konstanz and Childe, find themselves at the centre of a potential new conflict that could engulf not just mankind but the entire galaxy.If she is to survive and save her crew, Trouble Dog is going to have to remember how to fight.