Book picks similar to
Awakening by K.M. Fortune


scifi
apocalyptic-dystopian
sci-fi
free-reads

Edgewood


Karen McQuestion - 2012
    Before long Russ discovers he's developed incredible superpowers, and he’s not the only one. Three other young people—beautiful Mallory, arrogant Jameson, and mysterious Nadia—have had the same experience and all of them now have powers of their own. Mallory can control peoples’ minds, Jameson moves objects with his thoughts, and Nadia has empathic abilities.At first the four relish their newfound gifts, but things become serious when they learn they are being hunted by an organization that wants them for its own nefarious purposes. When Russ’s family is threatened, he’s forced into action. What transpires will change all of them in ways they never imagined.

Awake in the Night


John C. Wright - 2014
    Wright's four brilliant forays into the dark fantasy world of William Hope Hodgson's 1912 novel, The Night Land. Widely considered to be the finest tribute to Hodgson ever written, this novella was previously published in 2004 in The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-First Annual Collection. The five-million year epic that begins with "Awake in the Night" continues in AWAKE IN THE NIGHT LAND, which in addition to "Awake in the Night" contains "The Cry of the Night-Hound", "Silence of the Night", and "The Last of All Suns", which collectively tell the haunting tale of the Last Redoubt of Man and the end of the human race. John C. Wright has been described by reviewers as one of the most important and audacious authors in science fiction today. In a recent poll of more than 1,000 science fiction readers, he was chosen as the sixth-greatest living science fiction writer.

Graveyard of Empires


Lincoln Cole - 2015
    The only problem is, there are many people who would want the child to be killed simply out of fear. And that isn't the only problem: Argus's daughter has also been discovered. If the Minister learns that he is the father, then both of their lives are at risk. Elsewhere, a new Captain is taking over policing the Republic, and she wants to make a strong first impression. She's tired of rampant greed controlling the world, so she will do anything to make the people responsible pay. Darius Gray, a member of the Ministry and guard of the most powerful man in the galaxy, has turned his back on the Republic and is amassing an army. He intends to start a war. The entire galaxy is falling to despair. No one knows where to turn or who to trust. The future of the galaxy rests in the hands of two small children whose birth rights promise pain and suffering.

Primal Shift: Part 1


Griffin Hayes - 2013
    But a thousand motorists suddenly abandon their cars on the Golden Gate Bridge and leap to their deaths in a roiling bay. Jets packed with families rain down from the skies above Salt Lake City International Airport, dotting the landscape with orange fireballs. Worse yet, New York City police launch a murderous rampage against those they swore to protect and serve. Law and order across the globe collapses in less than five minutes, plunging humanity into chaos.Something is affecting our minds, our sanity. Could it be a terrorist attack? The ultimate virus? Or an experiment gone horribly wrong?A handful of survivors claws its way out of the ashes of the old world, strangely unaffected by The Shift. Among them, a frantic mother desperate to find her son. A sailor hunting a soulless killer. A former CEO willing to kill for power over this new, feral wasteland.Together, they'll battle both the hordes of bloodthirsty cannibals who used to be their own families and neighbors, and a dark figure who commands these legions with his every twisted whim.Someone somewhere must know what happened, where to find safety. And whether those eerie lights shimmering in the skies overhead are an omen of something far worse than even this bleak living hell.

The Survivors


Angela White - 2010
    Can anyone hear me? …hello? Is anyone out there?The end of the world has given us a harsh, merciless existence, where nature tries hard to push mankind to the very brink of extinction. Everything is against us, between us... Untold miles of lawless, apocalyptic roads wait for our feet, and the future, cold and dark, offers little comfort. Without change, there can be no peace. Only survivors.”From dangerous trips into dark, apocalyptic cities, to patriotic rescues and furious revelations, Life After War is an action-packed fantasy series where those left alive must come to terms with their mistakes in the old world, while fighting for a place in the new one. Life After War. Magic and Reality blended into a post-apocalyptic fantasy series that you won't ever forget. Summary in 20 words or less: An action adventure quest, with a supernatural romance, and many other subplots, set during the aftermath of the apocalypse. What can you expect to discover in this fantasy series? The End of the World, up close and full of apocalyptic horror. A government conspiracy that caused the apocalypse. An adventure into the wastelands to find family, supplies, and safety. A supernatural romance with a dangerous secret about a child's parentage and a love strong enough to survive nuclear armageddon. An invasion, ambushes, attacks from nature and man-guns and magic! A refugee camp with very different laws, picking up those who have survived. A hero you will love, even as you ponder the secrets that could lose him leadership. A witch, a doctor, a government storm tracker, a star, and three Marines struggling to keep their people alive and together as they prepare to defend themselves against Cesar's slavers. A constant battle for survival that includes deadly trips into decaying American cities, insanity, relics of the past, and ghosts that stalk their every move. Note from the Author: This book has now gone through multiple editors since the release in 2010: The total I have spent is more than 3K, just for the file you are about to read. If there are still mistakes, I apologize.

The Last Day


Andrew Hunter Murray - 2020
    The hunt has just begun.It is 2059, and the world has crashed. Forty years ago, a solar catastrophe began to slow the planet's rotation to a stop. Now one half of the globe is permanently sunlit, the other half trapped in an endless night. The United States has colonized the southern half of Great Britain--lucky enough to find itself in the narrow habitable region left between frozen darkness and scorching sunlight--where both nations have managed to survive the ensuing chaos by isolating themselves from the rest of the world.Ellen Hopper is a scientist living on a frostbitten rig in the cold Atlantic. She wants nothing more to do with her country after its slide into casual violence and brutal authoritarianism. Yet when two government officials arrive, demanding she return to London to see her dying college mentor, she accepts--and begins to unravel a secret that threatens not only the nation's fragile balance, but the future of the whole human race.

After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall


Nancy Kress - 2012
    After ecological disasters nearly destroyed the Earth, 26 survivors—the last of humanity—are trapped by an alien race in a sterile enclosure known as the Shell. Fifteen-year-old Pete is one of the Six—children who were born deformed or sterile and raised in the Shell. As, one by one, the survivors grow sick and die, Pete and the Six struggle to put aside their anger at the alien Tesslies in order to find the means to rebuild the earth together. Their only hope lies within brief time-portals into the recent past, where they bring back children to replenish their disappearing gene pool. Meanwhile, in 2013, brilliant mathematician Julie Kahn works with the FBI to solve a series of inexplicable kidnappings. Suddenly her predictive algorithms begin to reveal more than just criminal activity. As she begins to realize her role in the impending catastrophe, simultaneously affecting the Earth and the Shell, Julie closes in on the truth. She and Pete are converging in time upon the future of humanity—a future which might never unfold. Weaving three consecutive time lines to unravel both the mystery of the Earth's destruction and the key to its salvation, this taut post-apocalyptic thriller offers a topical plot with a satisfying twist.

Blood on the Motorway


Paul Stephenson - 2016
    Two hapless stoners fall under the control of a deranged mercenary. A young woman finds herself trying to keep two lovestruck teenagers alive. A detective must track down a killer who sees the apocalypse as an opportunity. Together they attempt to survive this blackly comic saga of survival, murder, stale sandwiches, and the end of the world. 'Corpses lay all over the street. Some were burnt, their limbs curled into themselves from the heat. Some were crushed, entangled in one of several car wrecks that dotted the road. Limbs, torsos and heads were strewn haphazardly in their wake. Some were just dead, lying there oblivious to the carnage that surrounded them.'

Isolation


Dan Wells - 2012
    It was for the Isolation War that the American government contracted the ParaGen Corporation to manufacture the Partials—our last hope in reclaiming energy independence from China. And it was on these fields of battle that the seeds of humanity's eventual destruction were sown.Isolation takes us back to the front lines of this war, a time when mankind's ambition far outstripped its foresight. Heron, a newly trained Partial soldier who specializes in infiltration, is sent on a mission deep behind enemy lines. What she discovers there has far-reaching implications—not only for the Isolation War, but for Partials and humans alike long after this war is over.A powerful take of our world on the brink, Isolation gives readers a glimpse into the history from which Partials was born—as well as clues to where the Partials Sequence is heading next.

The Starless Crown


James Rollins - 2022
    Her reward is a sentence of death.Fleeing into the unknown she is drawn into a team of outcasts:A broken soldier, who once again takes up the weapons he’s forbidden to wield and carves a trail back home.A drunken prince, who steps out from his beloved brother's shadow and claims a purpose of his own.An imprisoned thief, who escapes the crushing dark and discovers a gleaming artifact - one that will ignite a power struggle across the globe.On the run, hunted by enemies old and new, they must learn to trust each other in order to survive in a world evolved in strange, beautiful, and deadly ways, and uncover ancient secrets that hold the key to their salvation. But with each passing moment, doom draws closer. WHO WILL CLAIM THE STARLESS CROWN?

Fire Country


David Estes - 2013
    Due to toxic air, life expectancies are so low the only way the tribe can survive is by forcing women to procreate when they turn sixteen and every three years thereafter. It is their duty as Bearers.Fifteen-year-old Siena is a Youngling, soon to be a Bearer, when she starts hearing rumors of another tribe of all women, called the Wild Ones. They are known to kidnap Youngling girls before the Call, the ceremony in which Bearers are given a husband with whom to bear children with. As the desert sands run out on her life's hourglass, Siena must uncover the truth about the Wild Ones while untangling the web of lies and deceit her father has masterfully spun.

The Keepers


Dormaine G. - 2013
    They also learn of Ronin: young, smart and out for revenge against them, for reasons unknown.

Emily Eternal


M.G. Wheaton - 2019
    That is, until she finds a potential answer buried deep in the human genome. But before her solution can be tested, her lab is brutally attacked, and Emily is forced to go on the run with two human companions - college student Jason and small-town Sheriff, Mayra.As the sun's death draws near, Emily and her friends must race against time to save humanity. But before long it becomes clear that it's not only the species at stake, but also that which makes us most human.

Moms Against Zombies


Alathia Morgan - 2017
    After being chased by a man that looks half-decomposed her concerns take a turn from diaper changing and feeding schedules to protecting her baby.Trish Walsh dreaded taking all four kids on errands. She expected tantrums, nagging and sibling wars in the backseat, not a man beating on her window. He looked half dead and the bloody mess he left behind made her skin crawl and fear clutch her throat. Cooper Walsh has a top secret job but when criminals break in to steal his company’s secrets he discovers a conspiracy that could either explain everything or nothing at all. It’s up to him to right this wrong.Moms Against Zombies is the first book in the Against Zombies series. As always Alathia Morgan doesn’t disappoint. You’re taken on a vivid journey as the zombie apocalypse begins and witness firsthand how these mothers would do anything to be reunited with their families and to keep them safe from the horror that is about to come.

Removed


S.J. Pajonas - 2013
    After all, she’s living her dream with a job and life she loves. But when she’s reassigned as a data analyst for a mysterious, well-connected man, she starts to piece together the alarming reality. Corrupt clans vie for control of the city, desperate for a ticket off the dying planet.As war looms between the clans, Sanaa’s new boss sends her to train with Jiro, an expert swordsman. Forbidden to share the dangerous secrets she’s learned with her family, she confides in Jiro, bringing them closer with every word, strike, and parry. Together, they realize that Sanaa’s boss is keeping secrets of his own.When the truth comes to light, the war and Sanaa’s world could be changed forever. To save her family and forge a new peace for her city, Sanaa has no choice but to risk her life for the human race.Removed is the first installment in the Nogiku Series, a saga of post-apocalyptic sci-fi novels set in future Japan. If you like tenacious heroines, sizzling chemistry, and unique post-apoc settings, then you’ll love S. J. Pajonas’ dystopian adventure.