Book picks similar to
Book of Books by A.k. Usher


hard-science-fiction
1
fiction
science-fiction

The Unexpected Groom: Country Brides & Cowboy Boots


Lucy McConnell - 2017
     Lime Peak Ranch is home to the Dumont and Ruggles families who raise cattle, train horses, and compete in PRCA rodeos. Life down the dirt road isn’t as perfect as it seems and secrets have roots deeper than the maple trees.   Ellie Dumont is in love with the wrong man. Logan Labrum is the son of her family’s biggest business rival Joe Labrum. Joe’s made things difficult for the Dumont family for years but that doesn’t stop Logan from turning Ellie’s head. They’ve been dating on the sly for months. As their love deepens, Ellie is torn between family loyalty and the man who stole her heart. George Dumont wants one thing: to have his family under one roof again. Carol left, taking their son, Levi, a couple years ago. Unsure how to approach a reconciliation with the redhead who lights a fire in his soul, George stumbles forward.  After a tractor accident cost Olivia Dumont the use of her left hand, she learned to hate doctors and the limitations they laid before her. Which is why she takes an instant dislike to their new renter, Dr. Robert Canton. Robert signed up for the Lime Peak Ranch experience and she’s going to make sure he gets it. Hauling five acres of hay bales in from the field is a good start. But Robert doesn’t complain and he doesn’t tell her she shouldn’t be using her hand or baby her like her family does. But Robert is holding back and Olivia can tell. The closer they get, the bigger the questions become. Bonnie Ruggles is the heart of Lime Peak Ranch, but her heart isn’t in it anymore. After years of carrying the burden of infertility and mysteries that started long before she married Dallas Ruggles, Bonnie is worn thin. Will their history together be enough of a reason to stick around or will the past be what pushes her off the ranch? Follow this family full of heart and love and loyalty as they work to navigate the bumpy roads ahead.

Possessive Billionaire Boss


Beatrice Brae - 2019
    And when he looked at me with those damn blue eyes, I forgot about everything." Weston She made me fall in love with her the moment she waltzed into my office. Too bad I have to fire her. Too bad she hates me, because I can't stay away from her. I have to make her mine and I always get what I want. Sara He treated me like an arrogant boss and accused me of unspeakable things from the moment I entered his office. But when he kissed me and asked for a date, I couldn't say no. I can't fall in love with Weston, can I? Possessive Billionaire Boss is a short, sweet, and steamy romance featuring an alpha possessive man and the curvy woman he loves. No Cliffhangers. Billionaire man, younger BBW * Curvy woman * Curves * Boss * Wedding date * Evil Step-Sister * Workplace * Office * Alpha Male Billionaire * Contemporary short romance

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

Project 19 (Crisis in the Desert Book 1)


James Rosone - 2021
    

Wilson's War


T.S. Paul - 2016
     Athena Lee's Quirky AI. Wilson has his origin story revealed at long last. Discover why he wants a Cat. Ever wonder why Hannibal Lee is afraid of the Farm? Meet lots of new characters and visit a few of our friends. Follow Wilson's adventures as he has fun at the expense of others. Taking advantage of Humans is too easy. Plotting Galaxy Domination is more fun. Prepare to Get down and Get Funky as the Hits just keep on coming!

Typhon Pact: The Khitomer Accords Saga: Plagues of Night, Raise the Dawn, and Brinkmanship


David R. George III - 2012
    For almost three years, the Federation and the Klingon Empire, allied under the Khitomer Accords, have contended with the nascent coalition on a predominantly cold-war footing. But as Starfleet rebuilds itself, factions within the Typhon Pact grow restive, concerned about their own inability to develop a quantum slipstream drive to match that of the Federation. Will leaders such as UFP President Bacco and RSE Praetor Kamemor bring about a lasting peace across the Alpha and Beta Quadrants, or will the cold war between the two alliances deepen, and perhaps even lead to an all-out shooting war? Raise the Dawn After the disastrous events in the Bajoran system, Captain Benjamin Sisko must confront the consequences of the recent choices he has made in his life. At the same time, the United Federation of Planets and its Khitomer Accords allies have come to the brink of war with the Typhon Pact. While factions within the Pact unsuccessfully used the recent gestures of goodwill—the opening of borders and a joint Federation-Romulan exploratory mission—to develop quantum-slipstream drive, they have not given up their goals. Employing a broad range of assets, from Romulus to Cardassia, from Ab-Tzenketh to Bajor, they embark on a dangerous new plan to acquire the technology they need to take control of the Alpha and Beta Quadrants. While UFP President Bacco and Romulan Praetor Kamemor work feverishly to reestablish peace, Captains Sisko, Jean-Luc Picard, and Ro Laren stand on the front lines of the conflict...even as a new danger threatens the Bajoran wormhole as it once more becomes a flashpoint of galactic history. Brinkmanship The Venette Convention has always remained independent, but it is about to become the flashpoint for a tense military standoff between the two power blocs now dominating interstellar space—the United Federation of Planets and the recently formed Typhon Pact. The Venetan government turns to the Typhon Pact’s Tzenkethi Coalition for protection in the new order, and has agreed to allow three of their supply bases for Tzenkethi use. But these bases—if militarized—would put Tzenkethi weapons unacceptably close to Federation, Cardassian, and Ferengi space. While Captain Ezri Dax and the crew of the U.S.S. Aventine are sent to investigate exactly what is happening at one of the Venette bases, Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the U.S.S. Enterprise are assigned to a diplomatic mission sent to the Venette homeworld in order to broker a mutually acceptable resolution. But the Cardassian delegates don’t seem particularly keen on using diplomacy to resolve the situation, which soon spirals out of control toward all-out war. . .

Meteor


Jerry Dawson - 2018
    Under social media pressure, NASA sends David Anderson to the island to investigate the death and vindicate the agency. But Anderson is not the only newcomer to the island. More people are dying. Anderson and his team must figure out what is killing everyone before they, too, become victims. But how do you stop a killing machine that keeps evolving?Michael Crichton and Douglas Preston fans will enjoy the hard science fiction in this action-packed thriller.“Scary as hell.”“Bone-chillingly frightening.”

Whose Reality Is This Anyway?


David Luddington - 2016
     Retired stage magician turned professional mystic debunker, John Barker, finds his sceptical beliefs under fire when he encounters a strange man who claims to be Merlin. After several unsuccessful attempts to rid himself of his increasingly unpredictable companion, John finally relents and agrees to assist in the man’s crazy mission, to find the true grave of the mythical King Arthur. Following a hidden code contained within the text of a soft porn novel, they gather a growing entourage of hippies, mystic seekers and alien hunters as they leave a trail of chaos across the south west of England. When the group comes to the attention of a TV Reality Show producer looking to make a fast profit out of harmless eccentrics and fading celebrities, John decides it’s time to take charge and prove one way or the other, the identity of this mysterious person who claims to be a fictional wizard. “Whose reality is this anyway?” is a warm-hearted tale of what it means to be an individual and to follow one’s dreams. With his trademark cast of oddball characters and absurd situations, David Luddington once more transports us into a world where who you are is more important than what you are. “David Luddington epitomizes the elusive quality of writing that he perpetuates - the British Comedy.” – Grady Harp

Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits: A Novel


Jason Pargin - 2021
    A Winner of the 2016 Alex AwardsNightmarish villains with superhuman enhancements. An all-seeing social network that tracks your every move. Mysterious, smooth-talking power players who lurk behind the scenes. A young woman from the trailer park. And her very smelly cat. Together, they will decide the future of mankind.Get ready for a world in which anyone can have the powers of a god or the fame of a pop star, in which human achievement soars to new heights while its depravity plunges to the blackest depths. A world in which at least one cat smells like a seafood shop's dumpster on a hot summer day. This is the world in which Zoey Ashe finds herself, navigating a futuristic city in which one can find elements of the fantastic, nightmarish and ridiculous on any street corner. Her only trusted advisor is the aforementioned cat, but even in the future, cats cannot give advice. At least not any that you'd want to follow.Will Zoey figure it all out in time? Or maybe the better question is, will you? After all, the future is coming sooner than you think.

Deathworld and Deathworld 2


Harry Harrison - 2009
    For outsiders, Pyrrus usually means a quick and painful death, but DinAlt is fleeing the crooked casino masters of Cassylia - where he just broke the bank. But DinAlt is not prepared for the hellish Pyrrus, where every living thing seems bent on exterminating mankind.In DEATHWORLD 2 (originally published as THE ETHICAL ENGINEER), Jason DinAlt finds himself on a hostile, barbarian planet where technology and civilization have almost disappeared. Using his skills, DinAlt literally reinvents the wheel in his quest to escape and return to his friends on Pyrrus.

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.

Lockheed Elite


Tyler Wandschneider - 2017
    Now Anders must decide quickly—stay and fight or cut cables and run.Either way, it’s too late. Someone has other plans for them. The trap has been set, they’ve rescued the woman and taken the bait, and before long Anders and what’s left of his dwindling crew must navigate with caution through the grips of the military and an especially vile outlaw.But Anders doesn’t captain just another team flying the black. With a genius mechanic who uses his ragtag high-tech machine shop to aid them in getting in and out of trouble, they’ve earned a reputation as the best of the best. With Anders’s careful planning, this motley crew must band together and flip the military to use them on a monster heist and dig themselves out from the heat pressing in from both sides of the law.Fly with them. They are clever, they are fierce, they are Lockheed Elite.

Pete, Popeye and Olive (Privateer Tales Shorts Book 2)


Jamie McFarlane - 2016
    When an opportunity to join the Mechanized Infantry presents itself, Pete is first in line. He knows that he's going to get shot at one way or another, but the idea of sitting in a warm and more importantly, dry mechanized suit appeals to him almost beyond reason. While still training in the jungle, Pete's squad is called out to intervene in a skirmish in a nearby village. Of course, the Marines haven't seen fit to certify his squad with ordnance. The fact that they'll be up against a platoon of squishies doesn't convince him that's it's any better of an idea and things turn quickly to crap when they discover the squishies are protected by grav-tanks. Pete, Popeye and Olive is a fast paced, short-story with plenty of action.

News from Lake Wobegon: Summer


Garrison Keillor - 1991
    Funny and touching, these monologues from original live broadcasts of A Prairie Home Companion focus on the summer season.Includes: "The Living Flag," "The Tollefson Boy Goes to College," and "Tomato Butt."

Love Us Both (A Calendar of Love Novel Book 5)


Lexy Parker - 2019
    Start over. Easy words for everyone else, but not me. My wife died on my operating table, and moving on just isn’t going to happen. Not until I decided to go back to the small town where I grew up. My boy and I needed different scenery to try to reboot life. And we did. Until one day, a beautiful woman walked into my office and everything changed. She was from one of the oldest families in Tennessee and needed my help. With the way she made me and my son feel, I was more than happy to offer it. Love wasn’t supposed to show up again, and certainly not this soon. But it did. It has. I just hope she knows that she has to love us both. Forever.