Book picks similar to
Welcome to the Occupied States of America by Peter Cawdron
science-fiction
sci-fi
aliens
fiction
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.
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.
Exodus
Andreas Christensen - 2011
In an America turned authoritarian, a desperate race against time begins. To send a starship to a distant planet, where the remains of humanity can survive.However, while the government wants to recreate the society it has engineered, there are those who secretly conspire to let the starfarers choose their own destiny. As mankind on Earth faces its final blow, the selected few set course for Aurora, more than 40 light years away.Follow Maria Solis, the billionaire daughter, Kenneth Taylor, Harvard professor of psychology, and Tina Hammer, a scramjet pilot and officer, through the selection and preparations for the adventure of a lifetime - and a final chance for a doomed civilization.
Appleseed
Matt Bell - 2021
As they remake the wilderness in their own image, planning for a future of settlement and civilization, the long-held bonds and secrets between the two will be tested, fractured and broken—and possibly healed.Fifty years from now, in the second half of the twenty-first century, climate change has ravaged the Earth. Having invested early in genetic engineering and food science, one company now owns all the world’s resources. But a growing resistance is working to redistribute both land and power—and in a pivotal moment for the future of humanity, one of the company’s original founders will return to headquarters, intending to destroy what he helped build.A thousand years in the future, North America is covered by a massive sheet of ice. One lonely sentient being inhabits a tech station on top of the glacier—and in a daring and seemingly impossible quest, sets out to follow a homing beacon across the continent in the hopes of discovering the last remnant of civilization.Hugely ambitious in scope and theme, Appleseed is the breakout novel from a writer “as self-assured as he is audacious” (NPR) who “may well have invented the pulse-pounding novel of ideas” (Jess Walter). Part speculative epic, part tech thriller, part reinvented fairy tale, Appleseed is an unforgettable meditation on climate change; corporate, civic, and familial responsibility; manifest destiny; and the myths and legends that sustain us all.
The Darkness
W.J. Lundy - 2014
News report's tell of civil unrest in the streets, murders, disappearances, citizens are warned to remain behind locked doors. When Jacob becomes witness to horrible events and the alarming actions of his neighbors, he and his family realize everything is far worse than being reported. Every father's nightmare comes true as Jacob's normal life, and a promise to protect his family is torn apart. From the Best Selling Author of Whiskey Tango Foxtrot comes a new telling of Armageddon.
Last Flight of the Acheron
Rick Partlow - 2017
She joined the Commonwealth Space Fleet to please her mother, a high-ranking military officer; he joined as an escape from the crushing poverty and crime of the Trans-Angeles Public Housing Blocks, and the unlikely friends envisioned boring, peacetime careers as shuttle pilots. The Tahni Imperium had other ideas… Caught in the desperate fury of the Battle for Mars, the two young pilots wind up the last defense against an alien armada, but their war is just beginning. Recruited to fly the Fleet’s newest weapon in this new war, they take the fight deep into the heart of the Imperium and battle not just against the enemy but against incompetent leadership and ineffectual tactics. Can the unconventional strategies of a pair of hotshot young pilots change the course of the war? And when the time comes that a choice has to be made between duty to command and loyalty to a friend, which of the two will be willing to make one last flight alone…
Survival Aptitude Test: Sound
Mike Sheriff - 2016
. .
For the denizens of Daqin Guojin, this horrific thought is a harsh reality. The Cycle of Extinctions has erased Earth’s food sources, and life 700 years later harbors little sympathy for the planet’s last species. But a doomed boy and girl offer humanity a seed of hope.Daoren and Heqet stand an even chance of celebrating their 20th birthdays. Like every 19-year-old prospect for denizenship, they must soon sit the Survival Aptitude Test. Only the smartest pass. The rest are harvested for grooll, the city-state’s sole food source and barter currency.If Daoren’s intellect can outpace his anxiety, he might earn the first perfect score in history and be named ruler. Heqet knows Daoren can’t do it without her—even if he’d be the last person to ask for help. But when tragedy strikes all-too-close to home, the pair make a shocking discovery that binds their fate and crushes all hope.A murky cabal has been manipulating S.A.T. scores for the dull-witted children of the ruling caste, amassing a fortune in grooll and triggering a severe food shortage. Worse, they plan to protect their wealth by ensuring Daoren’s test ends with his culling, not his coronation.Survival Aptitude Test: Sound is the first book in Mike Sheriff’s post-apocalyptic sci-fi series, The Extinction Odyssey. Fans of classic dystopian tales like Soylent Green and Logan’s Run should enjoy this modern twist on humanity’s last gasp.
Grab Survival Aptitude Test: Sound and test your nerves today!
Devoured
Jason Brant - 2013
Day Two: Higher brain function erodes in those exposed to the gas. Their bodies begin to distort, faces distending, skin sallowing, teeth elongating. Day Three: The infected disappear into the shadows, fleeing the harsh daylight which has begun to sear their flesh. Day Four: The world is DEVOURED. Life isn’t kind to Lance York. A full-time job has eluded him for years, his wife loathes the sight of him, his bank accounts are empty, and his wealthy father-in-law revels in his failures. After he lunges in front of a car to save a sick and disoriented woman, Lance awakens in a quarantined hospital. A devastating plague is spreading worldwide, driving those infected with it insane. Their bodies begin to mutate into horrors that have haunted mankind’s nightmares for centuries. The world descends into chaos as the infected flee to the shadows, emerging at night to devour the remnants of civilization. With the help of an unlikely ally, Lance must navigate through the collapsing city of Pittsburgh, striving to escape the madness of the apocalypse that unfolds around them.
Happy Doomsday
David Sosnowski - 2018
One minute, people are going about their lives, and the next—not. In the wake of the inexplicable purge, only a handful of young misfits remains.When it all went down, “Wizard of Odd” Dev Brinkman was seeking shelter from the taunts of his classmates. Goth girl Lucy Abernathy had lost her best friend and had no clue where to turn. And Twinkie-loving quarterback “Marcus” Haddad was learning why you never discuss politics and religion in polite company—or online.As if life when you’re sixteen isn’t confusing enough, throw in the challenges of postapocalyptic subsistence, a case of survivor’s guilt turned up to seven billion, and the small task of rebuilding humankind…No one said doomsday would be a breeze. But for Dev, Lucy, and Marcus, the greatest hope—and greatest threat—will come when they find each other.
Survive (Live Free or Die #1)
Shawn Underhill - 2017
Set against the backdrop of the isolated forests north of New Hampshire's White Mountains, while camping on family land, Tom and Lori Thornton (and their dog, Buck) find themselves in a sudden SHTF scenario. No cellular service. Dangerous roads. Limited supplies. And far more questions than answers. After the shocking murder of Tom's uncle by a band of looters, the couple's already faltering marriage reaches the breaking point amid the chaos. Trust and loyalties are challenged, old friendships are put to the test, and while immediate answers and solutions elude them, they must rely on raw instincts in order to survive.
The Ending Beginnings: Carlos
Lindsey Sparks (Fairleigh) - 2013
This is how it began. High school. Dealing drugs. A secret girlfriend. Carlos thought his life was hard enough...but then the virus spread. The Ending Beginnings: I - Carlos II - MandyIII - VanessaIV - Jake (TBR April 2014)V - Clara (TBR May 2014)VI - Jake & Clara (TBR June 2014) The Ending Series: Book 1 - After The EndingBook 2 - Into The FireBook 3 - Out Of The Ashes (TBR Summer 2014)
Terminal Alliance
Jim C. Hines - 2017
This would have worked out better for all involved if they hadn’t arrived after a mutated plague wiped out half the planet, turned the rest into shambling, near-unstoppable animals, and basically destroyed human civilization. You know—your standard apocalypse. The Krakau’s first impulse was to turn their ships around and go home. After all, it’s hard to establish diplomatic relations with mindless savages who eat your diplomats. Their second impulse was to try to fix us. A century later, human beings might not be what they once were, but at least they’re no longer trying to eat everyone. Mostly.Marion “Mops” Adamopoulos is surprisingly bright (for a human). As a Lieutenant on the Earth Mercenary Corps Ship Pufferfish, she’s in charge of the Shipboard Hygiene and Sanitation team. When a bioweapon attack by an alien race wipes out the Krakau command crew and reverts the rest of the humans to their feral state, only Mops and her team are left with their minds intact.Escaping the attacking aliens—not to mention her shambling crewmates—is only the beginning. Sure, Mops and her assortment of space janitors and plumbers can clean the ship, but flying the damn thing is another matter. As they struggle to keep the Pufferfish functioning and find a cure for their crew, they stumble onto a conspiracy that could threaten the entire alliance.A conspiracy born from the truth of what happened on Earth all those years ago…
Forager
Peter R. Stone - 2013
Is this part of a larger plan that could spell the town's doom?Meanwhile, the last thing Ethan expects when he and his companions rescue a two-car convoy from the Skel is a Japanese teenage girl with an outlandish dress-sense, who after they take her back to Newhome, goes to great lengths to ingratiate herself into his life. But is it in gratitude for saving her life or is she seeking something more?And what a quandry she places him in, for he knows the rules, that no man is permitted to be alone with an unmarried woman. But how can he drive such a gentle soul away when she touchs his heart so deeply, even though she clearly carries the pain of a broken heart.At the same time, Newhome's police force, the Custodians, are suspicious of Ethan's foraging team's successes and are pulling out the stops to find out which member of his team has the illegal mutant ability that gives them an edge over the other teams. Should these peacekeepers discover Ethan is the mutant they seek, they will haul him away and dissect him like a frog.
Shadows of a Lost Age
Glynn James - 2016
When Jonah inherits leadership of the Elk Clan from his father, many in the old man’s inner circle question his son’s ability to lead the tribe to their winter shelter at the ruins of Eliz. A dark stranger, a journey over hundreds of miles of dangerous highway and clashes with feral gangs will push Jonah to the edge. From bestselling authors J. Thorn and Glynn James comes Dustfall, a new post-apocalyptic series chronicling one man’s challenge and his epic quest to save what remains of humanity.
Extinction Point
Paul Antony Jones - 2012
All that changes the day the red rain falls from a cloudless sky. Just hours after the first reports from Europe, humanity is on the brink of extinction, wiped from the face of the earth in a few bloody moments, leaving Emily alone in an empty city. As she struggles to grasp the magnitude of her situation, Emily becomes the final witness to the end of our world… and the birth of a terrifying new one. The world she knew and loved is dead and gone. Now Emily must try to find a way out of New York as the truth behind the red rain is revealed: the earth no longer belongs to humanity.