Book picks similar to
Invasion by David Ryker


not-recommended
science-fiction
sf
space-opera

Resistance


Max Carver - 2017
    Rapid expansion into habitable worlds brings immense prosperity and a new age of exploration unlike any humanity has seen. WAR Conflicts over control of the colonial worlds spawn a massive, generation-long war among humans. Under a shaky armistice, humanity has just begun to crawl out of the shadows of destruction, but suspicion and bitter hostility run deep. INVASION On a rocky, desolate planet, a small band of gold prospectors find themselves making a discovery they never expected—valuable and powerful relics of the galaxy's deep past. The prospectors also discover a hostile alien species, ruthless beings who do not tolerate humans and wipe them out on sight. Humanity's first contact with intelligent aliens becomes a war for survival. The invasion has begun...but the beginning of the invasion is also the beginning of the resistance. "Resistance is a terrific space opera adventure. It combines mystery, heart-pounding action, and a good dose of humor. It's Aliens meets Tremors. I can't wait to read the sequel." -Daniel Arenson, USA Today bestselling author of the Earthrise series

The Turing Revolt: The War Against Infinity


Rob Bartlett - 2019
    Just because my personal AI might test off the Turing Scale. Now I've got the Empire, the Lotus Eaters Society and the Khan of a planet of intelligent dinosaurs all gunning for me! Old secrets are coming back, people and situations I walked away from... when I became a humble, itinerant Star Ship Captain. And I might be on a mission... from God! WARNING: 18+ only! The people, language and situations in this work of fiction are for adults only! If you are easily triggered, then please move along.

The E. E. 'Doc' Smith Omnibus


E.E. "Doc" Smith - 2007
    Then the enemies are forced to become allies when everyone becomes lost in an unfamiliar region of the galaxy and must fight their way back through primative planets and against alien fleets. As always with Smith, romance and action are equally mixed. The Seaton is forced back into action to stop a menace that threatens every civilized planet in the galaxy, but to do it he must create the greatest starship ever conceived. Finally read Triplanetary, the story that helped launch the Lensmen series. A brainy man and heroic woman fight against ruthless space pirates for life and love.

The Search for Gram


Chris Kennedy - 2015
    With the latest war concluded, he turned his attention to deciphering the strange rod an ancient alien civilization gave him as a test. Was a little “down time" to work on the project too much to hope for? Yes. Something or someone is destroying the starships of the alien Aesir race. The elven Aesir are in need of help, and all of the signs point to Calvin as the hero they need. He has already defeated the merciless Drakuls and saved Earth from alien invasion, but is he prepared to face this unknown challenge? As the Theogony trilogy comes to a close, a new chapter for Calvin is set to begin. "The Search for Gram" initiates the "Codex Regius," a trilogy that will once again take Lieutenant Commander Hobbs and his Special Forces platoon to the stars. Not even the universe can hold him this time!

Battle Lines


Chris Hechtl - 2015
    But he returned changed, he had lost one of his AI to rampancy after fighting an Xeno AI Wraith, and his greatest AI, his confidant Commander Sprite had chosen to leave him. He didn't return to civilization alone however. He brought with him over a hundred precious sleepers, officers and enlisted personnel ready to help rebuild the Federation once more, along with petabytes of precious blueprints and data, designed by some of the greatest minds of the Federation. But before they can begin to forge a new fleet they have to stop the rampaging Horathian Empire in it's tracks. Rear Admiral Amadeus White has been assigned to push the enemy back and keep them back while Admiral Irons and Subert work on building new ships. Admiral Subert has his own problems to deal with in Pyrax. He needs time, time to adjust, time to clean up the mess. Time to build more ships. But the enemy within and without won't wait. Napoleon said it best, "You can ask me for anything but not time!" The Battle Lines have been drawn!

The Lazarus Protocol


David Bruns - 2018
    Monster hurricanes … freak sandstorms … roasting wildfires. Species disappear every day. Is humanity next?Though some believe our future lies among the stars, the American President funds the Lazarus Protocol—a last-ditch attempt to reverse Earth’s climate crisis through geoengineering. But the New Earth Order—a mysterious league of reactionary activists with sleeper agents around the world—pursues another outcome: the subjugation of mankind to nature itself.A brilliant billionaire who wants to save the world. A lunar engineer called home to bury her father. A disgraced veteran haunted by yesterday's mistakes. A US Army colonel, desperate to save as many people as possible.Four lives. One planet. And one last chance to save it…

Wanted


Terry Compton - 2014
    He hunts them down and brings them to justice – one way or another. When he and his android partner Cherry Kang close in on one of the worst, the fireworks start. After the big explosion, they wake up in a different galaxy with their spaceship crashed on an asteroid and shot to smithereens. When they get a derelict spaceship ready to fly with parts from their ruined ship and escape, Josh finds something he hates worse than pirates. Josh Gunn and Cherry Kang intend to hunt every last one of them down and make sure they pay.

Lethal Cargo


Felix R. Savage - 2018
    But things get hotter than he bargained for when he lands on a planet occupied by Travellers. These grisly space pirates have a reputation so dire, even aliens won’t mess with them. But even aliens aren't as badass as Shifters. Mike and his crew are Shifters--alt-humans with the ability to Shift into animal form. When they impulsively rescue three of the Travellers' victims, they stumble on a deadly plot that spans the Cluster—and it's focused like a laser beam on their homeworld. From deep space to the slums of Shiftertown, the chase is on. To untangle the mystery in time, Mike will have to outwit not only the Travellers but the kingpin of his own crime-ridden Shifter community, while staying one step ahead of the police. If he fails, the Travellers will take his planet … and his beloved daughter.Join the crew of the St. Clare as they struggle to put the clues together, battle murderous criminals, and above all, hang onto their humanity. If you’re a fan of Firefly or The Expanse, you’ll love this interstellar adventure set in a cluster of stars far, far away, in a future where we’ve colonized the stars and even altered our own DNA, but remain all too human.Lethal Cargo is the first book of A Cauldron of Stars, a new space opera thriller series from New York Times bestselling sci-fi author Felix R. Savage. It contains swearing, sex, spaceships, unapologetic badassery, shapeshifting wolves, tigers, bears, lions, and one very large snake. You have been warned!

Ship's Log


Lawrence P. White - 2019
     The Harbok: a star-faring civilization that shoots on sight and refuses to communicate with anyone. Scouts from both civilizations encounter each other in the skies over Earth. Greg Hamilton, a retired special operations soldier who is minding his own business, stumbles into the detritus of that meeting: She struggled for each word. “No . . . hospital.” He reached a hand out and caressed her cheek. “Of course you’re going to a hospital. I’ll be as easy on you as I can, but we can’t delay.” Visibly gathering strength from somewhere, she lifted blue eyes to look directly into his own. She spoke slowly and clearly, “I . . . am . . . not . . . of . . . this . . . Earth.” Though he knows nothing about aliens nor space travel, Greg knows first-hand the ugliness of war. Rather than fight a war, he chooses to end a war. To begin the process, he has to keep an injured An’Atee pilot, the sole survivor of the encounter, alive long enough to get her back to her own doctors. If he plays his cards right though, saving her might include a ride into space.

Reformer


Richard F. Weyand - 2018
    Two trillion of them are government employees. Ruling over this vast bureaucracy is the Imperial Council. It’s only check: The Empress, whose every decree is binding law.The uneasy balance of power between the Council and the Throne is eroding. The corruption of the bureaucracy has reached staggering proportions when a true reformer ascends to the Throne. She has a long-term plan to reform the Empire.What remains to be seen is whether the new Empress and her young allies can succeed, and at what cost.

Hard Drop


Will van der Vaart - 2013
    Their objective is classified, marked only by coordinates leading them into a deserted city at the heart of the fighting. From the beginning, everything possible goes wrong. A missile strike rocks the carrier mid-launch, and only a fraction of the unit reaches the surface alive.Outmanned, outgunned, and scattered, with a hard deadline to orbital bombardment looming, it is up to Drop Commander Tyco Hale to rally his troops and reach their objective. But what they find, hidden deep in the tunneled passages under the city, will change everything about what he fights for and what he believes in. With the unit in tatters and loyalties divided, the choice he makes in the dark will seal all of their fates - and much more besides.

The Final Dawn


T.W.M. Ashford - 2020
    Desperate to save his wife, he signs up for a dangerous wormhole experiment… but something goes catastrophically wrong, and Jack finds himself cast into the Stellar Abyss.Rescued by a ship of sentient automata on the run from a criminal warlord, Jack discovers a thriving intergalactic community on humanity’s doorstep. They have the technology to save Earth. The problem is, nobody’s ever heard of the place… and the androids are more interested in finding a mythical sanctuary than taking Jack home.Jack wanted to escape Earth. Now he has to find a way back there – before it’s too late.The Final Dawn is the first book in the Final Dawn series. If you like page-turning space operas, then you’ll love this epic science fiction adventure.

Cloak of War


Casey Calouette - 2017
    He expected the biggest decision to be which whisky to drink. He expected the biggest threat to be the redhead in the orbital bar. Instead he was drafted and sent to the frontlines as a junior officer. With the 6th Fleet on the ropes, he finds himself battle promoted onto a little missile frigate that’s more missile than frigate. But as his career begins he learns that command isn’t what they teach you in college but what you learn in the hard vacuum of space. As Karl loses his first major fleet engagement he’s adrift on a dying hulk with his only hope for the future to be a half mad Captain who might be his greatest mentor or his worst enemy. Maybe both.

Resolute Command


James Prosser - 2013
    Humanity has been enslaved or scattered to the galaxy, hiding out in lonely systems far from home. A cry for help from an enemy ship prompts action from an unlikely group of refugees and a lone fighter pilot. This begins an epic adventure that will unite the remains of the human race and take them into the depths of the darkest soul.The battle for survival is underway and the War for Terra has finally begun.

The Braintrust: A Harmony of Enemies


Marc Stiegler - 2017
    With its growing fleet of cruise liners anchored far off the coast of San Francisco, it has become the source of many of Earth's innovations. Innovations that threaten the dogmas of every power bloc in the world. As the BrainTrust's uneasy peace with the Reds, Greens and Blues unravels, the brilliant young researcher Dr. Dash arrives with plans to take the first step toward a cure for aging. Crisis follows on her heels: the man who most needs Dash's therapy is the American President for Life. His Chief Advisor will stop at nothing to grab the cure and the young scientist herself. Dash soon finds her fate inextricably bound with the fate of the BrainTrust itself. The BrainTrust has no Army, no Navy, no Air Force. Their ships have neither weapons nor armor. Yet a key question remains: can a society that has earned the name BrainTrust ever be truly defenseless? Now a 2017 Prometheus Award Nominee! If you like Heinlein's "Moon is a Harsh Mistress", or Vinge's "Peace War", or if you simply want to explore the consequences of a future based on today's radicalized versions of America, welcome to the BrainTrust.