Books like 'The Balloon Hoax'
Readers who enjoyed The Balloon Hoax by Edgar Allan Poe also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
sc-fi horror hard sci-fi action / adventure urban new-york-state classics epistolary
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The Dark Forest by Liu Cixin, Eisso Post
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 68 ratingsThis is the second novel in "Remembrance of Earth’s Past", the near-future trilogy written by the China's multiple-award-winning science fiction author, Cixin Liu. In The Dark Forest, Earth is reeling from the revelation of a coming alien invasion — four centuries in the future...Categorized as:
new-york-state urban 21st-century action-adventure adult aliens apocalyptic audiobook -
![Hyperion by Dan Simmons]()
Hyperion by Dan Simmons
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 73 ratingsOn the world called Hyperion, beyond the law of the Hegemony of Man, there waits the creature called the Shrike. There are those who worship it. There are those who fear it. And there are those who have vowed to destroy it. In the Valley of the Time Tombs, where huge, brooding structures move backward through time, the Shrike waits for them all... -
![Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky]()
Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Rated: 4.23 of 5 stars · 59 ratingsA race for survival among the stars... Humanity's last survivors escaped earth's ruins to find a new home. But when they find it, can their desperation overcome its dangers?WHO WILL INHERIT THIS NEW EARTH?The last remnants of the human race left a dying Earth, desperate to find a new home among the stars... -
![2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke]()
2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 74 ratingsOn the Moon, an enigma is uncovered.So great are the implications of this discovery that for the first time men are sent out deep into our solar system.But long before their destination is reached, things begin to go horribly, inexplicably wrong...One of the greatest-selling science fiction novels of our time, this classic book will grip you to the very end... -
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![The Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons]()
The Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 68 ratingsOn the world called Hyperion the mysterious Time Tombs are opening and seven pilgrims risk their lives to petition the entity called the Shrike - a creature that may well control the fate of all mankind... -
![The Neutronium Alchemist by Peter F. Hamilton]()
The Neutronium Alchemist by Peter F. Hamilton
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 36 ratingsNot every fallen angel comes from heaven...The ancient menace has finally escaped from Lalonde, shattering the Confederation's peaceful existence. Those who succumbed to it have acquired godlike powers, but now follow a far from divine gospel as they advance inexorably from world to world... -
![Endymion by Dan Simmons, Guy Abadia]()
Endymion by Dan Simmons, Guy Abadia
Rated: 4.18 of 5 stars · 50 ratingsThe multiple-award-winning SF master returns to the universe that is his greatest success--the world of Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion--to tell a story of love and memory, triumph and terror in a novel even more magnificent than its predecessors.Two hundred and seventy-four years after the fall of the WorldWeb in Fall of Hyperion, Raoul Endymion is sent on a quest... -
![Her Smoke Rose Up Forever by James Tiptree Jr.]()
Her Smoke Rose Up Forever by James Tiptree Jr.
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThese 18 darkly complex short stories and novellas touch upon human nature and perception, metaphysics and epistemology, and gender and sexuality, foreshadowing a world in which biological tendencies bring about the downfall of humankind. Revisions from the author's notes are included, allowing a deeper view into her world and a better understanding of her work... -
![The Rise of Endymion by Dan Simmons]()
The Rise of Endymion by Dan Simmons
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 45 ratingsThe time of reckoning has arrived. As a final genocidal Crusade threatens to enslave humanity forever, a new messiah has come of age. She is Aenea and she has undergone a strange apprenticeship to those known as the Others. Now her protector, Raul Endymion, one-time shepherd and convicted murderer, must help her deliver her startling message to her growing army of disciples... -
![H. G. Wells: 12 Novels - The Time Machine, The War of the Worlds, The Invisible Man, The Island of Doctor Moreau, When The Sleeper Wakes, A Modern Utopia and much more… by H.G. Wells]()
H. G. Wells: 12 Novels - The Time Machine, The War of the Worlds, The Invisible Man, The Island of Doctor Moreau, When The Sleeper Wakes, A Modern Utopia and much more… by H.G. Wells
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsHerbert George Wells (21 September 1866 – 13 August 1946) — known as H. G. Wells — was a prolific English writer in many genres, including the novel, history, politics, and social commentary, and textbooks and rules for war games. He is now best remembered for his science fiction novels, and Wells is called a father of science fiction...Categorized as:
classics action-adventure adult aliens anthologies fiction genetic-engineering hard-sci-fi -
![Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton]()
Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 85 ratingsAn astonishing technique for recovering and cloning dinosaur DNA has been discovered. Now humankind’s most thrilling fantasies have come true. Creatures extinct for eons roam Jurassic Park with their awesome presence and profound mystery, and all the world can visit them—for a price. Until something goes wrong. . . -
![The Invincible by Stanisław Lem]()
The Invincible by Stanisław Lem
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsThe Invincible (Polish: Niezwyciężony) is a science fiction novel by Polish writer Stanislaw Lem, published in 1964. The Invincible originally appeared as the title story in Lem's collection Niezwyciężony i inne opowiadania ("The Invincible and Other Stories")... -
![Alien by Alan Dean Foster]()
Alien by Alan Dean Foster
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsBased on the screenplay by Dan O'Bannon. The crew of the spaceship Nostromo wake from cryogenic sleep to distress signals from an unknown planet. One is attacked when they investigate a derelict alien craft. Safely on their way back to Sol, none foresee the real horror about to begin... -
![Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein]()
Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein
Rated: 4.03 of 5 stars · 46 ratingsIn one of Robert Heinlein's most controversial bestsellers, a recruit of the future goes through the toughest boot camp in the Universe--and into battle with the Terran Mobile Infantry against mankind's most frightening enemy... -
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![The Hunted by A.J. Scudiere]()
The Hunted by A.J. Scudiere
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsFirst they noticed the pets were missing, then the neighborhood of Rowena Heights started losing…people. It was only later that they actually saw the packs of creatures stalking the streets at night. As the Mazurs get close to the truth about the night hunters, they discover the hunters aren’t what they thought at all... -
![Nightfall by Isaac Asimov, Robert Silverberg]()
Nightfall by Isaac Asimov, Robert Silverberg
Rated: 4.03 of 5 stars · 29 ratingsIn 1941, Astounding Science Fiction magazine published a short story by a little-known writer named Isaac Asimov. The story was called "Nightfall", and many years later it has long been recognized as a classic, its author a legend...Categorized as:
classics 20th-century action-adventure adult aliens anthologies apocalyptic audiobook -
![Lucifer's Hammer by Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle]()
Lucifer's Hammer by Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle
Rated: 4.02 of 5 stars · 31 ratingsTHE LUCKY ONES WENT FIRST…The gigantic comet has slammed into Earth, forging earthquakes a thousand times too powerful to measure on the Richter scale, tidal waves thousands of feet high. Cities were turned into oceans; oceans turned into steam... -
![Solaris by Stanisław Lem]()
Solaris by Stanisław Lem
Rated: 4.02 of 5 stars · 40 ratingsA classic work of science fiction by renowned Polish novelist and satirist Stanislaw Lem.When Kris Kelvin arrives at the planet Solaris to study the ocean that covers its surface, he finds a painful, hitherto unconscious memory embodied in the living physical likeness of a long-dead lover... -
![Stories Volume 1 by Ray Bradbury]()
Stories Volume 1 by Ray Bradbury
Rated: 4.32 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsOne hundred classic stories from the celebrated author of Fahrenheit 451. In this, the first volume of Ray Bradbury's short stories, some of the author's finest works are published together, among them 'Homecoming', 'Veldt', 'A Sound of Thunder' and 'The Long Rain'...Categorized as:
classics 20th-century action-adventure adult anthologies fiction hard-sci-fi historical -
![Armor by John Steakley]()
Armor by John Steakley
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 38 ratingsThe military sci-fi classic in a striking new packageFelix is an Earth soldier, encased in special body armor designed to withstand Earth's most implacable enemy-a bioengineered, insectoid alien horde. But Felix is also equipped with internal mechanisms that enable him, and his fellow soldiers, to survive battle situations that would destroy a man's mind... -
![Ilium by Dan Simmons]()
Ilium by Dan Simmons
Rated: 4.03 of 5 stars · 38 ratingsThe Trojan War rages at the foot of Olympos Mons on Mars—observed and influenced from on high by Zeus and his immortal family—and twenty-first-century professor Thomas Hockenberry is there to play a role in the insidious private wars of vengeful gods and goddesses...Categorized as:
classics 21st-century action-adventure adult ai aliens ancient-civilization audiobook -
![Scanners Live in Vain by Cordwainer Smith]()
Scanners Live in Vain by Cordwainer Smith
Rated: 4.02 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsMan has conquered space, but not without costs. To maintain the space lanes, Scanners have to undergo an operation in which their brain is severed from their sensory inputs to block the pain of space. Scanner Martel has made this sacrifice. He must monitor his vital functions via implanted dials and instruments in his chest... -
![The Heavenfield by I.G. Hulme]()
The Heavenfield by I.G. Hulme
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThe Heavenfield is the first book of the Heavenfield series.A dark science-fiction thriller set within a British experimental research facility, the Heavenfield features clandestine Government agencies, supernatural forces and alternate realities.When Dr... -
![Eden by Stanisław Lem]()
Eden by Stanisław Lem
Rated: 3.89 of 5 stars · 19 ratingsA six-man crew crash-lands on Eden, fourth planet from another sun. The men find a strange world that grows ever stranger, and everywhere there are images of death. The crew's attempt to communicate with this civilization leads to violence and to a cruel truth-cruel precisely because it is so human. Translated by Marc E. Heine... -
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![Olympos by Dan Simmons]()
Olympos by Dan Simmons
Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars · 36 ratingsLibrarian's Note: Alternate Edition with same isbn & isbn 13: January 2011THE EXTRAORDINARY AND MAGNIFICENT EPIC CONCLUSION TO THE HUGO AWARD-NOMINATED ILIUMBeneath the gaze of the gods, the mighty armies of Greece and Troy met in fierce and glorious combat, scrupulously following the text set forth in Homer's timeless narrative, but that was before twenty-first century scholar Thomas... -
![Earth Abides by George R. Stewart]()
Earth Abides by George R. Stewart
Rated: 3.93 of 5 stars · 40 ratingsThe cabin had always been a special retreat for Isherwood Williams, a haven from the demands of society. But one day while hiking, Ish was bitten by a rattlesnake, and the solitude he had so desired took on dire new significance. He was sick for days - although, somehow, he never doubted that he'd live through the ordeal...Categorized as:
classics 20th-century action-adventure alternate-history apocalyptic audiobook book disaster -
![The Dispatcher by John Scalzi]()
The Dispatcher by John Scalzi
Rated: 3.92 of 5 stars · 44 ratingsOne day, not long from now, it becomes almost impossible to murder anyone - 999 times out of a thousand, anyone who is intentionally killed comes back. How? We don't know. But it changes everything: war, crime, daily life... -
![The Puppet Masters by Robert A. Heinlein]()
The Puppet Masters by Robert A. Heinlein
Rated: 3.86 of 5 stars · 29 ratingsFirst came the news that a flying saucer had landed in Iowa. Then came the announcement that the whole thing was a hoax. End of story. Case closed.Except that two agents of the most secret intelligence agency in the U.S. government were on the scene and disappeared without reporting back. Then four more follow up agents also disappeared... -
![The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton]()
The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton
Rated: 3.90 of 5 stars · 71 ratingsThe United States government is given a warning by the pre-eminent biophysicists in the country: current sterilization procedures applied to returning space probes may be inadequate to guarantee uncontaminated re-entry to the atmosphere. Two years later, seventeen satellites are sent into the outer fringes of space to collect organisms and dust for study... -
![Radiate by C.A. Higgins]()
Radiate by C.A. Higgins
Rated: 3.67 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsIn the follow-up to Lightless and Supernova, C. A. Higgins again fuses science fiction, suspense, and drama to tell the story of a most unlikely heroine: Ananke, once a military spacecraft, now a sentient artificial intelligence. Ananke may have the powers of a god, but she is consumed by a very human longing: to know her creators... -
![The Exodus Towers by Jason M. Hough]()
The Exodus Towers by Jason M. Hough
Rated: 3.79 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThe Exodus Towers features all the high-octane action and richly imagined characters of The Darwin Elevator—but the stakes have never been higher. The sudden appearance of a second space elevator in Brazil only deepens the mystery about the aliens who provided it: the Builders. Scavenger crew captain Skyler Luiken and brilliant scientist Dr... -
![The Shrinking Man by Richard Matheson]()
The Shrinking Man by Richard Matheson
Rated: 3.78 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsWhile on holiday, Scott Carey is exposed to a cloud of radioactive spray shortly after he accidentally ingests insecticide. The radioactivity acts as a catalyst for the bug spray, causing his body to shrink at a rate of approximately 1/7 of an inch per day... -
![Footfall by Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle]()
Footfall by Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle
Rated: 3.81 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsThey first appear as a series of dots on astronomical plates, heading from Saturn directly toward Earth. Since the ringed planet carries no life, scientists deduce the mysterious ship to be a visitor from another star.The world's frantic efforts to signal the aliens go unanswered... -
![Consider Phlebas by Iain M. Banks]()
Consider Phlebas by Iain M. Banks
Rated: 3.85 of 5 stars · 64 ratings"Dazzlingly original." -- Daily Mail"Gripping, touching and funny." -- TLSThe war raged across the galaxy. Billions had died, billions more were doomed. Moons, planets, the very stars themselves, faced destruction, cold-blooded, brutal, and worse, random. The Idirans fought for their Faith; the Culture for its moral right to exist. Principles were at stake. There could be no surrender... -
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![The Plague Forge by Jason M. Hough]()
The Plague Forge by Jason M. Hough
Rated: 3.80 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsAfter discovering the first key in the wreckage of a crashed Builder ship, Skyler Luiken and his crew follow the migrating aura towers in search of the four remaining relics. But time is running out: the team learn that the next Builder event will be the last, and one of the objects has already fallen into dangerous hands.. -
![R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots) by Karel Čapek]()
R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots) by Karel Čapek
Rated: 3.82 of 5 stars · 35 ratingsA visionary work of science fiction that introduced the word "robot"Written in 1920, premiered in Prague in 1921, and first performed in New York in 1922—garnered worldwide acclaim for its author and popularized the word robot. Mass-produced as efficient laborers to serve man, Capek’s Robots are an android product—they remember everything but think of nothing new...Categorized as:
classics 20th-century action-adventure adult ai alternate-history apocalyptic audiobook -
![The Kraken Wakes by John Wyndham, Mark Salwowski]()
The Kraken Wakes by John Wyndham, Mark Salwowski
Rated: 3.74 of 5 stars · 19 ratingsShips are sinking for no apparent reason, carrying hundreds to a dark underwater grave. Strange fireballs race through the sky above the deepest trenches of the oceans. Something is about to show itself, something terrible and alien, a force capable of causing global catastrophe... -
![One More For The Road by Ray Bradbury]()
One More For The Road by Ray Bradbury
Rated: 3.67 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsA beguiling new collection from one of the acknowledged masters of the short story The Master of storytelling treats us to eighteen brand-new stories and seven previously published but never before collected...Categorized as:
classics action-adventure adult anthologies audiobook contemporary fiction hard-sci-fi -
![Man Plus by Frederik Pohl]()
Man Plus by Frederik Pohl
Rated: 3.72 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsIll luck made Roger Torraway the subject of the Man Plus Programme, but it was deliberate biological engineering which turned him into a monster -- a machine perfectly adapted to survive on Mars. For according to computer predictions, Mars is humankind's only alternative to extinction. But beneath his monstrous exterior, Torraway still carries a man's capacity for suffering... -
![Japan Sinks: A Novel about Earthquakes by Sakyo Komatsu]()
Japan Sinks: A Novel about Earthquakes by Sakyo Komatsu
Rated: 3.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsA solitary fishing boat anchors for the night by a small island to the south of Japan. The next morning, the fishermen find themselves in the middle of an empty sea. Overnight, the island has vanished without a trace. The Japanese weather service sends a vessel to investigate. They find convincing evidence of a horrifying geological change... -
![The White Plague by Frank Herbert]()
The White Plague by Frank Herbert
Rated: 3.67 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe White Plague, a marvelous and terrifyingly plausible blend of fiction and visionary theme, tells of one man who is pushed over the edge of sanity by the senseless murder of his family and who, reappearing several months later as the so-called Madman, unleashes a terrible plague upon the human race—one that zeros in, unerringly and fatally, on women... -
![Tiger Chair by Max Brooks]()
Tiger Chair by Max Brooks
Rated: 3.56 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsWhen China invades America, guerrilla warfare explodes on the streets of Los Angeles in this provocative short story about the future of war from Max Brooks, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of World War Z.China thought it would be a quick war, an easy war... -
![Rogue Moon by Algis Budrys]()
Rogue Moon by Algis Budrys
Rated: 3.51 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsRogue Moon is a short sf novel by Algis Budrys, published in 1960. It was a 1961 Hugo Award nominee, losing to Walter M. Miller's A Canticle for Leibowitz. A novella-length version of the story was included in the anthology The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume 2, edited by Ben Bova.Before 1969, every science fiction writer wrote his or her own version of the first Moon landing... -
![The Unparalleled Adventure of One Hans Pfaall by Edgar Allan Poe]()
The Unparalleled Adventure of One Hans Pfaall by Edgar Allan Poe
Rated: 3.09 of 5 stars · 15 ratingsFiction. Hans Phaall, a bankrupt bellows-mender from Rotterdam, thinks up an ingenious scheme to escape from his dreary existence. He constructs a balloon that will carry him all the way to the moon... -
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