Book picks similar to
Echoes of Apollo by George Thompson
sci-fi
science-fiction
adventure
alternative-spaceflight-history
Demons of the Void
David Adams - 2011
It is told primarily from the perspective of one Captain Melissa Liao of the People's Navy, who is given command of one of three great warships built to fight the "demons", the TFR Beijing.
Translight
Doug Farren - 2009
But before Earth can benefit from the advanced technologies offered by the other cultures, it must form a united world government. Old habits are hard to break and it doesn't take long before things begin to unravel.Jay Kauffman, mathematical genius and creator of the stardrive, believed his invention would free mankind. Instead, it has made war inevitable.Translight is the first book of the Galactic Alliance series. It is a hard military science fiction space opera that has been compared to E.E. 'Doc' Smith's famous Lensmen and Skylark series.
The Time Store
Andrew Clark - 2014
Greenwich, London. A borough steeped in history. Home of the Royal Observatory, Cutty Sark, Old Royal Naval College and the PRIME MERIDIAN. Also home to the Bradbeers, a family of Time Travellers. If you’re lucky, the Bradbeers will help you live your dreams or recapture lost time. Walk with dinosaurs or presidents, become a Wild West cowboy or a Roman legionnaire, resolve your past or lay your ghosts to rest. Tragedy-ridden John Brewer is given the chance to put his life back on the road to recovery – to venture back in time and bury his nightmares. But when he gives his dying wife a kiss goodbye he is not to know that he’ll rip apart the very fabric of his own true time… and also that of Dan Bradbeer. Many will meet the Bradbeers as they search for answers. But for those who dare to cross them, rule number one will not apply.
Children of the Fifth Sun
Gareth Worthington - 2017
From the ruins of this cataclysm, a race of beings emerged from the sea bestowing knowledge and culture upon humanity, saving us from our selfish drive toward extinction. Some say this race were “ancient aliens” who came to assist our evolution.But what if they weren’t alien at all? What if they evolved right here on Earth, alongside humans . . . and they are still here? And, what if the World’s governments already know?***Kelly Graham is a narcissistic self-assured freelance photographer specializing in underwater assignments. While on a project in the Amazon with his best friend, Chris D'Souza, a mysterious and beautiful government official, Freya Nilsson, enters Kelly’s life and turns it upside down. Her simple request to retrieve a strange object from deep underwater puts him in the middle of an international conspiracy. A conspiracy that threatens to change the course of human history.www.childrenofthefifthsun.com
Declination
David Derrico - 2002
Now, the Confederation's crises are spawned from within, and one brave woman struggles against all odds to keep mankind united amidst a hailstorm of rebellion, war, and moral declination.* * * * *The Lucani Ibron have yet to return, but all is not well within the Alpha Sector. Internal strife, terrorism, and ever-escalating conflicts with several neighboring species have spread the Confederation's resources dangerously thin. Captain Anastasia Mason, together with an eclectic group of humanity's most decorated heroes, struggles to hold the Confederation together against powerful forces that threaten to rip it apart at its very core. Then, at what appears to be mankind’s most desperate hour, an old enemy returns from a ten-year hiatus, casting humanity to the brink of civil war... and outright annihilation.
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 Emerald Enigma
Paul Regnier - 2015
Broke, with an unreliable star freighter and a bounty on his head, Glint is desperate enough to try anything. Even set out on a quest to find a fabled good luck charm, the Emerald Enigma. Now for a crew. A passive aggressive ship computer, a peaceable alien warrior, and time-traveling teen from the past aren’t what he had in mind. But they’ll have to do. The Emerald Enigma won’t wait forever and neither will the bounty hunter tracking him.
High Strangeness
Eric Bickernicks - 2018
Ken Wakeman, a skeptical UFOlogist who seeks the truth about paranormal phenomenon, struggles to discredit the myriad of crackpot theories out there. Melissa "Mel" Howard, a reporter for a small Cape Cod newspaper, copes with the seasonal tourist invasion and its accompanying anxieties. When the Cape becomes the national focus over a rash of UFO sights, they join forces to get to the bottom of it. Despite denials from town officials and the military that UFOs have landed, mass hysteria overcomes the seaside community. In addition to the frantic humans, Astro (Ken’s Golden Retriever) has also been acting strangely. Joining the invasion is Klick, the promiscuous leader of a spandex-clad UFO cult whose members want to “amalgamate” with the Fornacisians when their spaceship lands. Mel learns that when dealing with wing nuts, the truth isn’t necessarily “out there”. Tom Frasier, an infamous proponent of crashed saucers and frozen alien bodies, claims the local military base houses some intriguing secrets. After a visit from the FBI gives legitimacy to Tom’s story, Ken will ultimately decide how far he’s willing to go to witness humanity’s greatest close encounter.
Haven
Justin Kemppainen - 2009
They have ascended. A new layer has been placed upon the city, sealing anyone they deem unfit down below. In the dark slums beneath the city, something has been set in motion that will usher in a change. Something that will rattle the city of Haven to its core and forever alter the lives of everyone within.
I, Judas The 5th Gospel
Bob Mayer
They have been preparing to implement the Great Commission as designated by Jesus—where everyone on the planet must hear the word of God before the end in order to be saved. They will use advanced technology to send that message directly into the minds of every human on the planet. The question is: will the message kill everyone who gets it or save them?Believing him to be the anti-Christ, they also send a team of assassins up the Amazon to find the Great Betrayer and kill him. Opposing the Brotherhood is the Triumvirate of the Illuminati. They believe they must stop the Great Commission and also they try to stop the assassination team. At the same time they rush to gather nuclear weapons and launch missiles into space to divert the Intruder, as they call the object.Two survivors do finally make it to Judas, and he tells them a story, the true story of what happened over two millennia ago.As the object nears Earth, both sides become locked in a world-wide battle for the future of the human race, as Judas prepares in the jungle for the Second Coming.Which is not at all what anyone expects.You might consider it an alternate version of Arthur C. Clarke’s Childhood’s End.
Interstellar Caveman
Karl Beecher - 2019
Now, he’s being pursued by a homicidal interstellar tourist board, and calculating insurance dividends is as outdated as making stone axes. Sci-fi-hating technophobe Colin embarks on a desperate struggle to find a cure for his illness, as well as a place for himself in this strange new galaxy where toilets talk back, and door handles are a long-forgotten relic. Only by teaming up with his rescuer, hard-boiled, space-traveling archaeologist Tyresa Jak (that’s Doctor Jak to you), can Colin hope to succeed before time runs out. Along the way, this galactic odd-couple must evade the Erd Tourist Board - a powerful mega-corporation which will do anything to ensure the mythical Earth stays mythical - and deal with a crackpot religious cult who not only possess a cure for Colin’s illness, but who also believe there is more to this caveman from Earth than meets the eye.... Don't miss the start of this side-splitting intergalactic adventure that will keep you laughing into the night. It's perfect for fans of Guardians of the Galaxy, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and Space Team. Also available on Audible, narrated by Steve West.
Irregular Scout Team One
J.F. Holmes - 2013
A compilation of all the books and short stories from the Zombie Killers Universe.
Headspace
J.D. Edwin - 2021
A deadly challenge. The fate of the world is on Astra’s shoulders.Twenty-five-year-old Astra Ching has never sought the spotlight. So when a mysterious black orb appears with a challenge for Earth and selects her to compete in its strange—and very public—game, she’s not pleased to find herself a sudden superstar.The rules are bewildering, and there are no second chances for losers. Yet while Astra fights to stay alive and save the world from imminent destruction, the people of Earth are more interested in tabloids and gossip, like whether or not she’s engaging in a scandalous love affair with a fellow contestant . . . or the mysterious alien known only as Eleven.In her struggle to survive, Astra forms tentative alliances with a handful of trustworthy friends. But as the global gossip seeps into the game and contestants are eliminated with each round, Astra’s celebrity threatens to become infamy and the line between friend and foe blurs.Will she emerge from the arena a hero, or just another headline?
Life as an Independent Space Hauler
Jason Hill - 2021
Everything was taken from him and he was pressed into military service as a fighter pilot. A few years later, Jace has gotten out of military service and worked on a corporate freighter. He has grown to love space and plans to never return to earth. Dissatisfied with the corporate life, Jace finds the necessary backing to go independent. Thus, he begins the life of an independent freight hauler. This story is inspired by Nathan Lowell's Golden Age of the Solar Clipper series, Firefly, and some anime.
Three Feet of Sky
Stephen Ayres - 2012
with a peculiar talent.After years of destitution, Adam Eden's life is finally on the up. But, whilst out celebrating his recent good fortune, Adam unwittingly chooses death over embarrassment.Awaking in a future of leisure, luxury, and immortality, Adam suffers serious shrinkage and is branded an 'undesirable'. Shunned by family and neighbours for his first-life sins, can he find respect and redemption in this tightly controlled world? Facing a grim eternity, Adam wants out.A randomly chosen day trip changes everything.Though cruel and heartless, they always let you choose your weapon.