Book picks similar to
Trust a Few by E.M. Swift-Hook


sci-fi
science-fiction
freebie
science-fiction-fantasy

Cherry Drop (Abner Fortis, ISMC Book 1)


P.A. Piatt - 2021
    When he makes his first combat drop, or cherry drop, he’s a know-nothing second lieutenant added to the mission roster as an afterthought. The Space Marines are tasked to support the Galactic Resource Conglomerate (GRC) while they test a revolution in military technology: Precision Crafted Soldiers (PCS). All the Space Marines have to do is kill bugs. Even when a tragic accident leaves Fortis in command, the mission is still an easy breather. When the Space Marines discover proof of a long-buried betrayal, though, friends become enemies, and their mission goes awry. Does Fortis have what it takes to lead the Space Marines to survival in the face of overwhelming odds?

Cat's Game


Roman Prokofiev - 2019
    This discovery sets off a special event and starts a deadly intercontinental war, all arranged by long-gone developers. Now, Oleg, the man behind Cat, has to collect all the unique weapons left in the game by its creators before the tragic accident claimed their lives and to complete the new challenge that nobody on the new developer team has any idea about, all the while being accused of cheating and hunted by the most dangerous guild in the game world, led by a dark goddess and one of the top PvP players. Once, he was a professional player earning real money in another game. He fell from his pedestal into a debt pit: his account got blocked, his savings got burnt, his friends left him behind, and dangerous people appeared at his doorstep, wanting their money back. To get back on his feet, he decided to enter a new game and find a new source of income. *** Cat’s Game is a highly-rated LitRPG series by Roman Prokofiev. The protagonist is one of a kind: more of a trickster than a classic adventuring hero—even if he has to become the one to finish what the original developers of the game started. The setting is the future, around 2070. The Earth has changed: climate, coastlines, even countries. The Sphere is a game ruled by supercomputers…but not everything inside it is controlled by AI, and Cat, whose only interest is earning money to survive in real life, becomes embroiled in the long-gestating plan that will change the face of the entire in-game world.

The Henry Gallant Saga - Books 1-4


H. Peter Alesso - 2016
    The fate of Earth could rest on the abilities of Midshipman Henry Gallant. Unfortunately, it is his abilities that have been much in doubt.In an era of genetic engineering, he is the only Natural left in the fleet. His shipmates have all expressed concern that he will not be up to the challenge.Only bright and attractive junior officer Kelsey Mitchel has shown any sympathy for him. Now as his navigator on the last starfighter in Squadron 111, her life as well as a good many others, depends on Henry Gallant.For Fans of Honor Harrington and Horatio Hornblower.

To the Stars


Thomas C. Stone - 2010
    Harry Irons dreams of escaping poverty and an over-crowded Earth by gaining employment with the Braithwaite Corporation. After proving himself in a series of tests, Harry gets his wish and soon enough finds himself struggling to survive on an alien world. TO THE STARS was written for a general audience and is sure to satisfy both younger and older fans of alternative fiction.

Windigo Soul


Robert Brumm - 2012
    As a citizen of the United Federation of Nations that means a mandatory death sentence simply because he turned sixty years old. Referred to as "retirement," it's one of the desperate steps the government has taken to curb overpopulation. Retirement is a widely accepted fact of life on a dying planet ruled by a tyrannical government. Hank's execution goes ahead as planned but state sponsored euthanasia isn't what it seems. The Reed family learns what really happens to retirees when secrets the UFN keep from the public start to unravel.This book is intended to be read by adults and may be unsuitable for children under 17. Contains indecent language and descriptions of graphic violence.

Shadow Moves


P.R. Adams - 2019
    Faith Benson was a distinguished officer heading for a promising career. Then came her assignment to the Pandora. A posting aboard a search-and-rescue ship was usually the end of the line in the Kedraalian Republic Navy.When an accident sends the Pandora into the demilitarized zone separating the Republic from its greatest enemy, the ship's reckless captain follows an SOS signal into enemy territory. Once the rescue begins, things quickly spiral out of control, putting Faith's leadership abilities to the test.Can she save her crew from capture, or will the misguided rescue operation lead to war?Grab this suspenseful military space opera tale to find out!

WWIV: In the Beginning


E.A. Lake - 2014
    From his once quiet, now violent, St. Paul suburb; to the empty, and yet deadly, county roads of west central Wisconsin. With limited knowledge of prepping, Bill must rely on neighbors for help. Why did he never pay attention to his “crazy doomsday” neighbor Scott? Now that the world, at least his world, is dark, Bill has so many questions. How can he possibly survive in this dark dystopian world? Bill goes in search of his family, and finds so much more. Friendly people in small towns, other villages that allow no strangers, people searching for help, and people looking to take anything you might have – via any means. Will Bill find his family, some 300 miles away? Will the power come back on after mysteriously going out? Will he be able to help others in times of need, much less himself? WWIV has begun, and we’re only In The Beginning.

Scion of Conquered Earth


Michael J. Allen - 2016
    Fighters bombard the ruins. Monsters hunt the wastes – some humans serving the Welorin in order to indulge their petty cruelties. The last free survivors struggle against starvation and capture. It’s a world where friendship costs too dearly and heroics verge on suicide.One young man simply can’t resist either. Welorin torture machines ravage his world, filling it with literal nightmares. Cannibalistic aerobics instructors hunt him and snatcher teams dog his every step. Alaric attempts one rescue after another, hoping someone might possess keys to unlock memories stolen by the initial assault.An aborted rescue lands him in a three way fight between Welorin forces and interstellar raiders. He takes cover in the pirates’ ship, coercing its AI, Cassii, into helping him. Success comes with unexpected consequence as Cassii abandons her crew, his friends and Earth’s solar system.Cassii refuses to return to Earth, decrying her former captain’s despoiling of the ship’s weapons and armor. Alaric leverages goods stolen from Earth by Cassii’s former crew into a bid at privateering. Surrounded by tech he barely understands and exotic life forms, he’s easy prey for the Protectorate’s mercenary population.Escort Captain Manc Shepherd and the sultry pirate Tyne Ren – Manc’s onetime partner – manipulate, exploit and seduce him across the stars. Alaric’s perilous heroics complicate their tug-of-war, endangering both and Alaric’s ship – their intended prize.Alaric must decide who he is, what he holds dear and how far he’ll go to protect both. He must choose who to trust: his mentor, his temptress or his smitten ship’s AI. The right choice could save worlds. The wrong one could throw him into a desperate battle to save thousands from his betrayer at the cost of his truest friend.

The Annihilation of Foreverland


Tony Bertauski - 2011
    Before they can go home, they will visit Foreverland, an alternate reality that will heal their minds.Reed dreams of a girl that tells him to resist Foreverland. He doesn’t remember her name, but knows he once loved her. He’ll have to endure great suffering and trust his dream. And trust he’s not insane.Danny Boy, the new arrival, meets Reed’s dream girl inside Foreverland. She’s stuck in the fantasy land that no kid can resist. Where every heart’s desire is satisfied. Why should anyone care how Foreverland works?

Standing With Righteous Rage


William Alan Webb - 2020
    Steeple’s dream of a totalitarian America under his hand as benevolent dictator can now become a reality, even if it means making common cause with America’s mortal enemies. No treachery is too great to fulfill his ambitions, and those of his friends.But American patriotism doesn’t die that easily, and Steeple just might find out that men and women still exist to protect those who can’t protect themselves. Regardless of the odds, some people take their service oaths seriously, even unto death.Such courage always has a cost, though, and this time the cost is high.

Qualify


Vera Nazarian - 2014
    You die, or you Qualify. The year is 2047. An extinction-level asteroid is hurtling toward Earth, and the descendents of ancient Atlantis have returned from the stars in their silver ships to offer humanity help.But there’s a catch.They can only take a tiny percent of the Earth’s population back to the colony planet Atlantis. And in order to be chosen, you must be a teen, you must be bright, talented, and athletic, and you must Qualify.Sixteen-year-old Gwenevere Lark is determined not only to Qualify but to rescue her entire family.Because there’s a loophole.If you are good enough to Qualify, you are eligible to compete in the brutal games of the Atlantis Grail, which grants all winners the laurels, high tech luxuries, and full privileges of Atlantis Citizenship. And if you are in the Top Ten, then all your wildest wishes are granted… Such as curing your mother’s cancer.There is only one problem.Gwen Lark is known as a klutz and a nerd. While she’s a hotshot in classics, history, science, and languages, the closest she’s come to sports is a backyard pool and a skateboard.This time she is in over her head, and in for a fight of her life, against impossible odds and world-class competition—including Logan Sangre, the most amazing guy in her class, the one she’s been crushing on, and who doesn’t seem to know she exists.Because every other teen on Earth has the same idea. You Qualify or you die. * * *EXCERPT!Now you can read Chapter One in its entirety (click here)!* * *

The Deep Dark Well


Doug Dandridge - 2011
    The last thing Pandi expected was to run into a ship from the future on the outskirts of Sol system. Even less expected was that the ship would fall apart while she was inside it, the Universe correcting the paradox. The wormhole in the center of the ship beckoned, and Pandi jumped through, forty thousand years into the future. She arrived on a massive station built around a black hole. Once the center of a Galactic Civilization, the station was used to generate wormhole gates linking the Cosmos. The empty station is a memorial to the civilization that once was.One survivor, an immortal being called Watcher, remains, guarding the secrets of the station from those who covet its advanced technology. Watcher, lonely from his self-enforced exile, befriends Pandi. Soon the woman from Alabama discovers that there is more to Watcher than is apparent on the surface. What was Watcher's part in the fall of civilization? The answer to this question will determine whether Pandora Latham survives in this world, or becomes just one more death added to the trillions who went before her.Grand adventure in the tradition of Larry Niven and Poul Anderson, set in a far future in which many struggle for supremacy, and one woman from the past will decide the winner.

Amendments


Hannah M. Lynn - 2015
    On her twenty-first birthday, when she registers her Right to Amend, Emelia is filled with hope for the first time in years. Hope for her sister, Finola. Hope for her and Gabe. Maybe even hope for humanity.But fate forces her hand far quicker than she could have imagined and Emelia quickly learns that acting upon the little envelope containing her amendment is far harder than sending it. Even armed with a message from the future, the way forward is far from clear.Faced with an impossible decision, her sister or her soulmate, Emelia must try and predict exactly just how far the ripples of her amendments will spread…

Rocky River Bridge


D.J. Molles - 2017
    Two young boys set off for the Rocky River Bridge through their war-torn North Carolina hometown, both with something to prove--an adventure that will quickly teach them the realities of the raging world around them, in this prequel to DJ Molles' newest novel: The Purge of District 89 (A Grower's War, Book 1)

Mobius


Vincent Vale - 2013
    When it’s sabotaged by a mysterious entity, he uncovers a plot against humanity that’s been underway for millennia.Theron is driven against all odds to stop the entity, only to discover he’s an integral part of the entity’s sinister plan. Together with a small group of travelers, he must journey across galaxies in search of an ancient Guardian of the universe.If he fails, humankind will face oblivion.