Books like 'The Tranquillity Alternative'
Readers who enjoyed The Tranquillity Alternative by Allen M. Steele also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
sc-fi alternate history mystery action / adventure space lgbtq space-travel space-opera exploration post-apocalyptic
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I, Robot by Isaac Asimov
Rated: 4.23 of 5 stars · 76 ratingsThey mustn't harm a human being, they must obey human orders, and they must protect their own existence...but only so long as that doesn't violate rules one and two. With these Three Laws of Robotics, humanity embarked on a bold new era of evolution that would open up enormous possibilities - and unforeseen risks...Categorized as:
space-opera 20th-century action-adventure ai alternate-history anthologies audiobook children -
![The Relentless Moon by Mary Robinette Kowal]()
The Relentless Moon by Mary Robinette Kowal
Rated: 4.39 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsMary Robinette Kowal continues her award-winning Lady Astronaut series, which began with The Calculating Stars and The Fated Sky, with The Relentless Moon.The Earth is coming to the boiling point as the climate disaster of the Meteor strike becomes more and more clear, but the political situation is already overheated. Riots and sabotage plague the space program... -
![Wolf 359 by Gabriel Urbina, Zach Valenti]()
Wolf 359 by Gabriel Urbina, Zach Valenti
Rated: 4.67 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsLife's not easy for Doug Eiffel, the communications officer for the U.S.S. Hephaestus Research Station, currently on Day 448 of its orbit around red dwarf star Wolf 359. He's stuck on a scientific survey mission of indeterminate length, 7.8 light years from Earth...Categorized as:
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![Anathem by Neal Stephenson]()
Anathem by Neal Stephenson
Rated: 4.16 of 5 stars · 35 ratingsFraa Erasmas is a young avout living in the Concent of Saunt Edhar, a sanctuary for mathematicians, scientists, and philosophers, protected from the corrupting influences of the outside "saecular" world by ancient stone, honored traditions, and complex rituals. Over the centuries, cities and governments have risen and fallen beyond the concent's walls... -
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![The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin, Ken Liu]()
The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin, Ken Liu
Rated: 4.02 of 5 stars · 47 ratingsThe Three-Body Problem is the first chance for English-speaking readers to experience the Hugo Award-winning phenomenon from China's most beloved science fiction author, Liu Cixin.Set against the backdrop of China's Cultural Revolution, a secret military project sends signals into space to establish contact with aliens...Categorized as:
space-opera 21st-century action-adventure adult aliens alternate-history apocalyptic audiobook -
![Unfathomed by Ralph Kern]()
Unfathomed by Ralph Kern
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThe M/S Atlantica, one of the most advanced cruise ships in the world, is lost. Land has disappeared. Fuel, food and hope begin to dwindle. After months recuperating in hospital, US Marine Jack Cohen hoped a Caribbean cruise would help him recover from the horrific injuries he sustained fighting in the Middle East... -
![Manhattan In Reverse by Peter F. Hamilton]()
Manhattan In Reverse by Peter F. Hamilton
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThis is a collection of short stories from the master of space opera. Peter Hamilton takes us on a journey from a murder mystery in an alternative Oxford in the 1800s to a story featuring Paula Myo, Deputy Director of the Intersolar Commonwealth's Serious Crimes Directorate...Categorized as:
space-opera action-adventure adult alternate-history anthologies audiobook crime fiction -
![Starcross by Philip Reeve]()
Starcross by Philip Reeve
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsArt, Myrtle, and their mother accept the kind invitation of a holiday to an up-and-coming asteroid resort...Categorized as:
space-opera action-adventure aliens alternate-history audiobook book children children-books -
![Mothstorm by Philip Reeve]()
Mothstorm by Philip Reeve
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA sinister cloud had appeared on the edge of the Solar System, and seemed to be moving closer. Rather than sit idly by, my family and I decided that we should investigate whatever monstrous force of darkness hid within...Categorized as:
space-opera action-adventure aliens alternate-history audiobook book children children-books -
![The Rebirths of Tao by Wesley Chu]()
The Rebirths of Tao by Wesley Chu
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThe Tao trilogy is over but the story continues with The Rise of Io in 2016! Many years have passed since the events in The Deaths of Tao. The world is split into pro-Prophus and pro-Genjix factions, and is poised on the edge of a devastating new World War. A Genjix scientist who defects to the other side holds the key to preventing bloodshed on an almost unimaginable scale...Categorized as:
post-apocalyptic action-adventure adult aliens alternate-history audiobook book coming-of-age -
![The Apollo Murders by Chris Hadfield]()
The Apollo Murders by Chris Hadfield
Rated: 4.02 of 5 stars · 29 ratingsAn exceptional debut thriller and “exciting journey” into the dark heart of the Cold War and the space race from New York Times bestselling author and astronaut Chris Hadfield (Andy Weir, author of The Martian and Project Hail Mary). 1973: a final, top-secret mission to the Moon. Three astronauts in a tiny spaceship, a quarter million miles from home. A quarter million miles from help...Categorized as:
exploration space-travel action-adventure adult alternate-history amateur-sleuth audiobook book -
![Extinction Code by James D. Prescott]()
Extinction Code by James D. Prescott
Rated: 4.01 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsWe were wrong about the origins of our species. For eons, the truth has remained hidden. Until now... Geophysicist Jack Greer believes he may finally have found the resting place of the meteorite that wiped out the dinosaurs sixty-five million years ago... -
![The Time Ships by Stephen Baxter]()
The Time Ships by Stephen Baxter
Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThere is a secret passage through time...and it leads all the way to the end of Eternity. But the journey has a terrible cost. It alters not only the future but the "present" in which we live.A century after the publication of H. G...Categorized as:
space-opera 20th-century action-adventure adult alternate-history audiobook book classics -
![Into the Storm by Taylor Anderson]()
Into the Storm by Taylor Anderson
Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsPressed into service when World War II breaks out in the Pacific, the USS Walker---a Great-War vintage "four-stacker" destroyer---finds itself in full retreat from pursuit by Japanese battleships. Its captain, Lieutenant Commander Matthew Patrick Reddy, knows that he and his crew are in dire straits... -
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![The Gone World by Tom Sweterlitsch]()
The Gone World by Tom Sweterlitsch
Rated: 3.92 of 5 stars · 25 ratings“I promise you have never read a story like this.” —Blake Crouch, New York Times bestselling author of Dark MatterInception meets True Detective in this science fiction thriller of spellbinding tension and staggering scope that follows a special agent into a savage murder case with grave implications for the fate of mankind.. -
![The Ninth Circle by R.M. Meluch]()
The Ninth Circle by R.M. Meluch
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsFifth in the hard-hitting military science-fiction series. On the distant world of Zoe, an expedition finds DNA-based life. When alien invaders are also discovered, Glenn Hamilton calls on the U.S.S. Merrimack for help. But the Ninth Circle and the Palatine Empire have also found Zoe. Soon everyone will be on a collision course to determine the fate of this planet... -
![Century Rain by Alastair Reynolds]()
Century Rain by Alastair Reynolds
Rated: 3.90 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsThree hundred years from now, Earth has been rendered uninhabitable due to the technological catastrophe known as the Nanocaust. Archaeologist Verity Auger specializes in the exploration of its surviving landscape. Now, her expertise is required for a far greater purpose... -
![The Luna Missile Crisis by Rhett C. Bruno, Jaime Castle]()
The Luna Missile Crisis by Rhett C. Bruno, Jaime Castle
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsDescription“Aliens, agents, and espionage abound in this Cold War-era alternate history adventure... A wild ride!”--Dennis E. Taylor, bestselling author of We Are Legion (We Are Bob)The year is 1961. The Cold War is in full swing and the space race is on. Russia aims to send humanity to space...Categorized as:
exploration space-opera space-travel action-adventure adult aliens alternate-history apocalyptic -
![Tale of the Thunderbolt by E.E. Knight]()
Tale of the Thunderbolt by E.E. Knight
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsAs the Resistance attempts to overthrow their vampiric alien masters, elite Cat force member David Valentine embarks on a terrifying journey in search of a long-lost weapon that will guarantee their victory-and the end of the Kurian Order's domination of Earth...Categorized as:
post-apocalyptic action-adventure adult alternate-history apocalyptic audiobook book classics -
![Luna Marine by Ian Douglas]()
Luna Marine by Ian Douglas
Rated: 3.93 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsThe revelations on Mars -- a half-million year-old legacy of the vanished star-traveling Builders -- have fed the flames of catastrophic war. A beleaguered United States and its Russian and Japanese allies struggle to hold their own against the indomitable forces of the enemy United Nations...Categorized as:
exploration space-opera space-travel action-adventure adult aliens alternate-history audiobook -
![World Engines: Destroyer by Stephen Baxter]()
World Engines: Destroyer by Stephen Baxter
Rated: 3.80 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsHundreds of years in the future, on a stagnating and almost empty Earth, a space shuttle pilot from the early days of the 21st century is awoken from the cryogenic sleep he entered after a devastating accident...Categorized as:
exploration space-opera action-adventure adult ai aliens alternate-history audiobook -
![Calculating God by Robert J. Sawyer]()
Calculating God by Robert J. Sawyer
Rated: 3.85 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsAn alien shuttle craft lands outside the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto. Out pops a six-legged, two-armed alien, who says, in perfect English, "Take me to a paleontologist...Categorized as:
space-opera space-travel action-adventure adult aliens alternate-history audiobook book -
![Transition by Iain M. Banks]()
Transition by Iain M. Banks
Rated: 3.85 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsThere is a world that hangs suspended between triumph and catastrophe, between the dismantling of the Wall and the fall of the Twin Towers, frozen in the shadow of suicide terrorism and global financial collapse. Such a world requires a firm hand and a guiding light...Categorized as:
space-opera 21st-century action-adventure adult alternate-history audiobook book conspiracies -
![Larklight by Philip Reeve]()
Larklight by Philip Reeve
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsArthur (Art) Mumby and his irritating sister Myrtle live with their father in the huge and rambling house, Larklight, travelling through space on a remote orbit far beyond the Moon. One ordinary sort of morning they receive a correspondence informing them that a gentleman is on his way to visit, a Mr Webster. Visitors to Larklight are rare if not unique, and a frenzy of preparation ensues...Categorized as:
exploration space-opera action-adventure aliens alternate-history audiobook book children -
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![Invictus by Ryan Graudin, Райан Гродин]()
Invictus by Ryan Graudin, Райан Гродин
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsTime flies when you're plundering history.Farway Gaius McCarthy was born outside of time. The son of a time-traveling Recorder from 2354 AD and a gladiator living in Rome in 95 AD, Far's birth defies the laws of nature... -
![Red Tide: The Chinese Invasion of Seattle by Chris Kennedy]()
Red Tide: The Chinese Invasion of Seattle by Chris Kennedy
Rated: 3.67 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsAnalysts have long predicted that China would go to war to reintegrate the province of Taiwan. It isn't a matter of "if;" it's a matter of "when." For decades, the only thing that has kept China from invading Taiwan is the American promise to defend it, even if that means World War III. To date, China has not been ready to go that far...Categorized as:
exploration space-travel action-adventure adult aliens alternate-history book colonization -
![The Doors of Eden by Adrian Tchaikovsky]()
The Doors of Eden by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Rated: 3.87 of 5 stars · 29 ratingsLee’s best friend went missing on Bodmin Moor, four years ago. She and Mal were chasing rumours of monsters when they found something all too real. Now Mal is back, but where has she been, and who is she working for?When government physicist Kay Amal Khan is attacked, the security services investigate...Categorized as:
lgbtq space-opera 21st-century action-adventure adult aliens alternate-history alternate-universe -
![The Tea Master and the Detective by Aliette de Bodard]()
The Tea Master and the Detective by Aliette de Bodard
Rated: 3.85 of 5 stars · 31 ratingsWelcome to the Scattered Pearls Belt, a collection of ring habitats and orbitals ruled by exiled human scholars and powerful families, and held together by living mindships who carry people and freight between the stars...Categorized as:
lgbtq space-opera space-travel 21st-century action-adventure adult ai alternate-history -
![Eon by Greg Bear]()
Eon by Greg Bear
Rated: 3.82 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsThe 21st century was on the brink of nuclear confrontation when the 300 kilometer-long stone flashed out of nothingness and into Earth's orbit. NASA, NATO, and the UN sent explorers to the asteroid's surface...and discovered marvels and mysteries to drive researchers mad... -
![Light from Other Stars by Erika Swyler]()
Light from Other Stars by Erika Swyler
Rated: 3.82 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsFrom the author of national bestseller The Book of Speculation, a poignant, fantastical novel about the electric combination of ambition & wonder that keeps us reaching toward the heavens.Eleven-year-old Nedda Papas is obsessed with becoming an astronaut. In 1986 in Easter, a small Florida Space Coast town, her dreams seem almost within reach—if she can just grow up fast enough... -
![Redshirts by John Scalzi]()
Redshirts by John Scalzi
Rated: 3.81 of 5 stars · 43 ratingsEnsign Andrew Dahl has just been assigned to the Universal Union Capital Ship Intrepid, flagship of the Universal Union since the year 2456. It’s a prestige posting, and Andrew is thrilled all the more to be assigned to the ship’s Xenobiology laboratory... -
![The Citadel of Weeping Pearls by Aliette de Bodard]()
The Citadel of Weeping Pearls by Aliette de Bodard
Rated: 3.72 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThe Citadel of Weeping Pearls was a great wonder; a perfect meld between cutting edge technology and esoteric sciences-its inhabitants capable of teleporting themselves anywhere, its weapons small and undetectable and deadly. Thirty years ago, threatened by an invading fleet from the Dai Viet Empire, the Citadel disappeared and was never seen again...Categorized as:
lgbtq space-opera space-travel action-adventure adult alternate-history anthologies female-author -
![The Long Mars by Terry Pratchett, Stephen Baxter]()
The Long Mars by Terry Pratchett, Stephen Baxter
Rated: 3.75 of 5 stars · 24 ratings2040-2045: In the years after the cataclysmic Yellowstone eruption there is massive economic dislocation as populations flee Datum Earth to myriad Long Earth worlds. Sally, Joshua, and Lobsang are all involved in this perilous work when, out of the blue, Sally is contacted by her long-vanished father and inventor of the original Stepper device, Willis Linsay... -
![Zero World by Jason M. Hough]()
Zero World by Jason M. Hough
Rated: 3.76 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsTechnologically enhanced superspy Peter Caswell has been dispatched on a top-secret assignment unlike any he’s ever faced. A spaceship that vanished years ago has been found, along with the bodies of its murdered crew—save one. Peter’s mission is to find the missing crew member, who fled through what appears to be a tear in the fabric of space... -
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![Job: A Comedy of Justice by Robert A. Heinlein]()
Job: A Comedy of Justice by Robert A. Heinlein
Rated: 3.75 of 5 stars · 25 ratingsAfter he firewalked in Polynesia, the world wasn't the same for Alexander Hergensheimer, now called Alec Graham. As natural accidents occurred without cease, Alex knew Armageddon and the Day of Judgement were near. Somehow he had to bring his beloved heathen, Margrethe, to a state of grace, and, while he was at it, save the rest of the world ...Categorized as:
space-opera action-adventure adult alternate-history apocalyptic audiobook book classics -
![The Long Earth by Terry Pratchett, Stephen Baxter]()
The Long Earth by Terry Pratchett, Stephen Baxter
Rated: 3.79 of 5 stars · 50 ratingsNORMALLY, WHEN THERE WAS NOTHING TO DO, HE LISTENED TO THE SILENCE.The Silence was very faint here. Almost drowned out by the sounds of the mundane world. Did people in this polished building understand how noisy it was? The roar of air conditioners and computer fans, the susurration of many voices heard but not decipherable... -
![Ultima by Stephen Baxter]()
Ultima by Stephen Baxter
Rated: 3.69 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsFresh from his latest collaboration with Terry Pratchett on the Long Earth sequence Stephen Baxter now returns to the mysteries and challenges first hinted at in his acclaimed novel PROXIMA.In PROXIMA we discovered ancient alien artifacts on the planet of Per Ardua - hatches that allowed us to step across light years of space as if we were stepping into another room. The universe opened up to us...Categorized as:
post-apocalyptic space-opera action-adventure adult aliens alternate-history audiobook book -
![The Daedalus Incident by Michael J. Martinez]()
The Daedalus Incident by Michael J. Martinez
Rated: 3.66 of 5 stars · 15 ratingsMars is supposed to be dead.…Bizarre quakes are rumbling over the long-dormant tectonic plates of the planet, disrupting its trillion-dollar mining operations and driving scientists past the edges of theory and reason...Categorized as:
exploration space-opera action-adventure adult aliens alternate-history audiobook book -
![Coming Home by Jack McDevitt]()
Coming Home by Jack McDevitt
Rated: 3.67 of 5 stars · 15 ratingsThousands of years ago, artifacts of the early space age were lost to rising oceans and widespread turmoil. Garnett Baylee devoted his life to finding them, only to give up hope. Then, in the wake of his death, one was found in his home, raising tantalizing questions...Categorized as:
post-apocalyptic space-opera action-adventure adult alternate-history audiobook book fiction -
![Ghosts of War by George Mann]()
Ghosts of War by George Mann
Rated: 3.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsGhosts of War picks up the story a month after the end of Ghosts of Manhattan. New York City is being plagued by a pack of ferocious brass raptors – strange, skeleton-like creations with bat-like wings that swoop out of the sky, attacking people and carrying them away into the night...Categorized as:
space-opera action-adventure adult alternate-history book conspiracies cosmic-horror fiction -
![Radiance by Catherynne M. Valente]()
Radiance by Catherynne M. Valente
Rated: 3.73 of 5 stars · 29 ratingsRadiance is a decopunk pulp SF alt-history space opera mystery set in a Hollywood-and solar system-very different from our own, from Catherynne M. Valente, the phenomenal talent behind the New York Times bestselling The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making...Categorized as:
exploration lgbtq space-opera space-travel 21st-century action-adventure adult aliens -
![Time's Eye by Arthur C. Clarke, Stephen Baxter]()
Time's Eye by Arthur C. Clarke, Stephen Baxter
Rated: 3.67 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsIn an instant, Earth is carved up and reassembled like a huge jigsaw puzzle. Suddenly the planet and every living thing on it no longer exist in a single timeline. Instead, the world becomes a patchwork of eras, from prehistory to 2037, each with its own indigenous inhabitants.Scattered across the planet are floating silver orbs impervious to all weapons and impossible to communicate with...Categorized as:
post-apocalyptic space-opera action-adventure adult aliens alternate-history audiobook book -
![Axiom's End by Lindsay Ellis]()
Axiom's End by Lindsay Ellis
Rated: 3.74 of 5 stars · 39 ratingsTruth is a human right.It’s fall 2007. A well-timed leak has revealed that the US government might have engaged in first contact. Cora Sabino is doing everything she can to avoid the whole mess, since the force driving the controversy is her whistleblower father...Categorized as:
lgbtq 21st-century action-adventure aliens alternate-history audiobook book conspiracies -
![Vessel by Andrew J. Morgan]()
Vessel by Andrew J. Morgan
Rated: 3.63 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsExcitement is high when the crew of the International Space Station discovers a mysterious object in orbit around Earth. But something goes wrong, and contact with the station is lost. When journalist Sean Jacob gets wind of the situation, he embarks on a journey to reveal the truth, winding his way into the biggest conspiracy to ever face mankind...Categorized as:
space-travel action-adventure adult aliens alternate-history audiobook book conspiracies -
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![Founders by James Wesley, Rawles]()
Founders by James Wesley, Rawles
Rated: 3.59 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsTHE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT IS GONE. It’s the near future, and thanks to a perfect storm of reckless banking practices, hyperinflation, a stock market gone mad, and the negligence of our elected officials, the entire social, political, and economic infrastructure of America has collapsed...Categorized as:
post-apocalyptic action-adventure adult alternate-history apocalyptic audiobook book contemporary -
![A History of What Comes Next by Sylvain Neuvel]()
A History of What Comes Next by Sylvain Neuvel
Rated: 3.65 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsShowing that truth is stranger than fiction, Sylvain Neuvel weaves a scfi thriller reminiscent of Blake Crouch and Andy Weir, blending a fast moving, darkly satirical look at 1940s rocketry with an exploration of the amorality of progress and the nature of violence in A History of What Comes Next.Always run, never fight. Preserve the knowledge.Survive at all costs.Take them to the stars...Categorized as:
lgbtq 20th-century 21st-century action-adventure adult aliens alternate-history audiobook -
![Gestapo Mars by Victor Gischler]()
Gestapo Mars by Victor Gischler
Rated: 3.38 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsCarter Sloan is a trained assassin—the best there is, pulled out of cryogenic sleep whenever an assignment demands his skills. So when he’s kept in the deep freeze for 258 years, he’s seriously pissed off.Yet his government needs him, to hunt down the enemy known as the Daughter of the Brass Dragon... -
![Red Hope by John Dreese, J.J. Dreese]()
Red Hope by John Dreese, J.J. Dreese
Rated: 3.61 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsAliens exist... and the Mars Curiosity rover just discovered their bones. The first manned mission is rushed. Corners are cut. Adventure. Betrayal. Disaster. Surprise.Retired astronaut Adam Alston can't support his family. When NASA comes knocking for a mission leader, it's a match made in heaven - especially since their A-list team declined the haphazard mission. And so did their B-list...Categorized as:
exploration space-opera space-travel action-adventure adult aliens alternate-history audiobook -
![Only Human by Sylvain Neuvel]()
Only Human by Sylvain Neuvel
Rated: 3.63 of 5 stars · 42 ratingsIn her childhood, Rose Franklin accidentally discovered a giant metal hand buried beneath the ground outside Deadwood, South Dakota. As an adult, Dr. Rose Franklin led the team that uncovered the rest of the body parts which together form Themis: a powerful robot of mysterious alien origin...Categorized as:
post-apocalyptic space-opera action-adventure aliens alternate-history audiobook book coming-of-age -
![The Number of the Beast by Robert A. Heinlein]()
The Number of the Beast by Robert A. Heinlein
Rated: 3.59 of 5 stars · 36 ratingsDr. Zebadiah John Carter, Dr. Dejah Thoris Burroughs (Deety to her friends), Deety's brainiac father, Jake, and her "Aunt" Hilda are running off to Reno for a quickie double wedding when a car bomb narrowly misses killing them all. But, what makes this bantering bunch so special isn't money or politics or jealous exes but the one-of-a-kind machine Jake has built in his basement...Categorized as:
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