Book picks similar to
The Moon and Beyond by John E. Siers


science-fiction
sci-fi
space-opera
first-reads

The Eden Plague


David VanDyke - 2012
    Who is the man he kills, the woman he shoots, and what is the Eden Plague? Fleeing the shadowy Company, Daniel turns to fellow soldiers. He fights back, seeks the woman, and wants answers. A secret threatens world stability and a conspiracy could change everything.

Fractured Empire - Complete Cadicle Series Boxset


A.K. DuBoff - 2021
    and they're losing. When High Dynasty heir Wil Sietinen comes face-to-face with the Bakzen, a mysterious race skilled in advanced telekinesis, he's forced to confront his destiny. A secret war is being waged within a hidden dimensional rift, and his unique gifts can help win the fight.As the dire nature of the conflict and the truth about his own abilities unfolds, Wil realizes he's at the center of a galactic conspiracy. And enemies are not who they seem.With the future of the entire Taran Empire hanging in the balance, Wil holds the key to victory—but saving his people may come at the ultimate price.The Cadicle series is a sweeping epic that will grab you from the first page, offering a rich blend of adventure, intrigue, and the intersection of technology with mental powers. Join multiple generations of one noble family in their battles against unimagined foes to change the course of an empire. This series is an entry point into the award-winning Cadicle Universe.The Fractured Empire boxset contains the complete Cadicle series:-- Volume 1: Architects of Destiny-- Volume 2: Veil of Reality-- Volume 3: Bonds of Resolve-- Volume 4: Web of Truth-- Volume 5: Crossroads of Fate-- Volume 6: Path of Justice-- Volume 7: Scions of Change

Phule's Company


Robert Lynn Asprin - 1990
    than most people do all day. Threatened by an alien enemy, Earth's military sends Phule and his soldiers to a distant planet. But now, the aliens have chosen a new target of war . . . Phule's Company.

Salvation Day


Kali Wallace - 2019
    Zahra knew every detail of the plan. House of Wisdom, a massive exploration vessel, had been abandoned by the government of Earth a decade earlier, when a deadly virus broke out and killed everyone on board in a matter of hours. But now it could belong to her people if they were bold enough to take it. All they needed to do was kidnap Jaswinder Bhattacharya—the sole survivor of the tragedy, and the last person whose genetic signature would allow entry to the spaceship. But what Zahra and her crew could not know was what waited for them on the ship—a terrifying secret buried by the government. A threat to all of humanity that lay sleeping alongside the orbiting dead. And then they woke it up.

Damocles


S.G. Redling - 2013
    What linguist Meg Dupris and her crewmates aboard the Earth ship Damocles discover on Didet—a planet bathed in the near-eternal daylight of seven suns—is a humanoid race with a different language, a different look, and a surprisingly similar society.But here, it’s the “Earthers” who are the extraterrestrial invaders, and it’s up to Meg—a woman haunted by tragedy and obsessed with the power of communication—to find the key to establishing trust between the natives and the newcomers. In Loul Pell, a young Dideto male thrust into the forefront of the historic event, Meg finds an unexpected kindred spirit, and undertakes an extraordinary journey of discovery, friendship, and life-altering knowledge.Told from both sides of a monumental encounter, Damocles is a compelling novel about man’s first contact with an extraterrestrial race.

Perdition


Ann Aguirre - 2013
    Hailed as the Dread Queen, inmate Dresdemona “Dred” Devos controls one of Perdition’s six territories, bordered on both sides by would-be kings eager to challenge her claim. Keeping them at bay requires constant vigilance, as well as a steady influx of new recruits to replace the fallen. Survival is a constant battle, and death is the only escape.Of the newest convicts, only one is worth Dred’s attention. The mercenary Jael, with his deadly gaze and attitude, may be the most dangerous criminal onboard. His combat skill could give her the edge she needs, if he doesn’t betray her first. Unfortunately, that’s what he does best. Winning Jael’s allegiance will be a challenge, but failure could be worse than death…

Gather the Daughters


Jennie Melamed - 2017
    They built a radical society of ancestor worship, controlled breeding, and the strict rationing of knowledge and history. Only the Wanderers--chosen male descendants of the original ten--are allowed to cross to the wastelands, where they scavenge for detritus among the still-smoldering fires.The daughters of these men are wives-in-training. At the first sign of puberty, they face their Summer of Fruition, a ritualistic season that drags them from adolescence to matrimony. They have children, who have children, and when they are no longer useful, they take their final draught and die. But in the summer, the younger children reign supreme. With the adults indoors and the pubescent in Fruition, the children live wildly--they fight over food and shelter, free of their fathers' hands and their mothers' despair. And it is at the end of one summer that little Caitlin Jacob sees something so horrifying, so contradictory to the laws of the island, that she must share it with the others.Born leader Janey Solomon steps up to seek the truth. At seventeen years old, Janey is so unwilling to become a woman, she is slowly starving herself to death. Trying urgently now to unravel the mysteries of the island and what lies beyond, before her own demise, she attempts to lead an uprising of the girls that may be their undoing.Gather The Daughters is a smoldering debut; dark and energetic, compulsively readable, Melamed's novel announces her as an unforgettable new voice in fiction.

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.

Firewalkers


Adrian Tchaikovsky - 2020
    Nothing can survive at the Anchor; not without water and power. But the ultra-rich, waiting for their ride off the dying Earth? They can buy water. And thanks to their investment, the sun can provide power. But someone has to repair the solar panels when they fail, down in the deserts below. Kids like Mao, and Lupé, and Hotep; kids with brains and guts but no hope. The Firewalkers.

Sleeping Giants


Sylvain Neuvel - 2016
    She wakes up at the bottom of a square-shaped hole, its walls glowing with intricate carvings. But the firemen who come to save her peer down upon something even stranger: a little girl in the palm of a giant metal hand.Seventeen years later, the mystery of the bizarre artifact remains unsolved - the object's origins, architects, and purpose unknown.But some can never stop searching for answers.Rose Franklin is now a highly trained physicist leading a top-secret team to crack the hand's code. And along with her colleagues, she is being interviewed by a nameless interrogator whose power and purview are as enigmatic as the relic they seek. What's clear is that Rose and her compatriots are on the edge of unravelling history's most perplexing discovery-and finally figuring out what it portends for humanity. But once the pieces of the puzzle are in place, will the result be an instrument of lasting peace or a weapon of mass destruction?

Emergence


John Birmingham - 2014
    So the last thing he needs is an explosion at the off-shore oil rig where he works.But this is no ordinary industrial accident, and despite the news reports, Dave knows that terrorists aren't to blame for the disaster. He knows because he has killed one of the things responsible.When he wakes up in a hospital bed guarded by Navy SEALs, he realises he hasn't been on a bad acid trip. It all really happened. Yet his shock is cut short by a startling self-discovery; his contact with the creature has transformed the overweight, balding safety manager into something else entirely. A goddamned superhero.Then he learns the attack on the rig is only the first.

Not Alone


Craig A. Falconer - 2015
     When Dan McCarthy stumbles upon a folder containing evidence of the conspiracy to end all conspiracies -- a top-level alien cover-up -- he leaks the files without a second thought. The incredible truth revealed by Dan’s leak immediately captures the public’s imagination, but Dan’s relentless commitment to exposing the cover-up and forcing disclosure quickly earns him some enemies in high places. For his whole life, Dan McCarthy has searched for a reason to believe. Now that he finally has one, he might soon wish he didn’t... Not Alone is a standalone tale of contact and disclosure for the 21st century. [approx. 850 pages]

Gunpowder Moon


David Pedreira - 2018
    Every lunar walker since Apollo 11 has noticed it: a burnt-metal scent that reminds them of war. Caden Dechert, the chief of the U.S. mining operation on the edge of the Sea of Serenity, thinks the smell is just a trick of the mind—a reminder of his harrowing days as a Marine in the war-torn Middle East back on Earth.It’s 2072, and lunar helium-3 mining is powering the fusion reactors that are bringing Earth back from environmental disaster. But competing for the richest prize in the history of the world has destroyed the oldest rule in space: Safety for All. When a bomb kills one of Dechert’s diggers on Mare Serenitatis, the haunted veteran goes on the hunt to expose the culprit before more blood is spilled.But as Dechert races to solve the first murder in the history of the Moon, he gets caught in the crosshairs of two global powers spoiling for a fight. Reluctant to be the match that lights this powder-keg, Dechert knows his life and those of his crew are meaningless to the politicians. Even worse, he knows the killer is still out there, hunting.In his desperate attempts to save his crew and prevent the catastrophe he sees coming, the former Marine uncovers a dangerous conspiracy that, with one spark, can ignite a full lunar war, wipe out his team . . . and perhaps plunge the Earth back into darkness.

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.

Death's Head


David Gunn - 2007
    David Gunn is loaded–and he shoots to kill.At the top of the galactic pecking order is the United Free, a civilization of awe-inspiring technological prowess so far in advance of other space-faring powers as to seem untouchable gods. Most of the known universe has fallen under their inscrutable sway. The rest is squabbled over by two empires: one ruled with an iron fist by OctoV, a tyrant who appears to his followers as a teenage boy but is in reality something very different, the other administered by the Uplifted, bizarre machinelike intelligences, and their no-longer-quite-human servants, cyborgs known as the Enlightened.Sven Tveskoeg, an ex-sergeant demoted for insubordination and sentenced to death, is a vicious killer with a stubborn streak of loyalty. Sven possesses a fierce if untutored intelligence and a genetic makeup that is 98.2 percent human and 1.8 percent . . . something else. Perhaps that “something else” explains how quickly he heals from even the worst injuries or how he can communicate telepathically with the ferox, fearsome alien savages whose natural fighting abilities regularly outperform the advanced technology of their human enemies. Perhaps it is these unique abilities that bring Sven to the attention of OctoV.Drafted into the Death’s Head, the elite enforcers of OctoV’s imperial will, Sven is given a new lease on life. Armed with a SIG diabolo–an intelligent gun–and an illegal symbiont called a kyp, Sven is sent to a faraway planet, the latest battleground between the Uplifted and OctoV. There he finds himself in the midst of a military disaster, one that will take all his courage–and all his firepower–to survive. But an even deadlier struggle is taking place, a struggle that will draw the attention of the United Free. Sven knows he is a pawn, and pawns have a bad habit of being sacrificed.But Sven is nobody’s sacrifice. And even a pawn can checkmate a king.From the Hardcover edition.