Books like 'A Private Cosmos'
Readers who enjoyed A Private Cosmos by Philip José Farmer also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
contemporary sc-fi action / adventure sword-planet classics
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The Martian by Andy Weir
Rated: 4.37 of 5 stars · 95 ratingsSix days ago, astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first people to walk on Mars. Now, he’s sure he’ll be the first person to die there... -
![Пикник на обочине. Отель «У погибшего альпиниста». Улитка на склоне by Arkady Strugatsky, Boris Strugatsky]()
Пикник на обочине. Отель «У погибшего альпиниста». Улитка на склоне by Arkady Strugatsky, Boris Strugatsky
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsСталкер Рэд Шухарт, несущий смерть в мир, где живут его жена и дочь. Инопланетяне, волей или неволей творящие путчи на Земле, и инспектор Глебски, неспособный решить: боги они или сволочи. Прекрасные жрицы партеногенеза из Леса - не убивающие, нет, но делающие живое мертвым… И люди, вершащие суд над всем странным, необычным, не таким как принято... -
![Second Foundation by Isaac Asimov]()
Second Foundation by Isaac Asimov
Rated: 4.27 of 5 stars · 68 ratingsSo far the Foundation was safe. But there was a hidden Second Foundation to protect the first. The Mule has yet to find it, but he was getting closer all the time. The men of the Foundation sought it, too, to escape from Mule's mind control. Only Arkady, a 14 year-old girl seemed to have the answer, or did she.. -
![Ready Player One by Ernest Cline]()
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 96 ratingsLibrarian's note: An alternate cover edition can be found hereIN THE YEAR 2044, reality is an ugly place. The only time teenage Wade Watts really feels alive is when he's jacked into the virtual utopia known as the OASIS...Categorized as:
classics 21st-century action-adventure audiobook book coming-of-age contemporary cyberpunk -
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![I, Robot by Isaac Asimov]()
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:
classics 20th-century action-adventure ai alternate-history anthologies audiobook children -
![The Inhabited Island by Arkady Strugatsky, Boris Strugatsky]()
The Inhabited Island by Arkady Strugatsky, Boris Strugatsky
Rated: 4.32 of 5 stars · 19 ratingsWhen Maxim, a space explorer from Earth, accidentally discovers a planet inhabited by humanoids who destroy his spaceship, he thinks of himself as a modern-day Robinson Crusoe. But after his experiences in the planet's nightmarish military and mental health facilities, he begins to realize that his sojourn on this radioactive and war-scarred world will not be a walk in the park... -
![The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin]()
The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin
Rated: 4.24 of 5 stars · 67 ratingsFrom the brilliant and award-winning author Ursula K. Le Guin comes a classic tale of two planets torn apart by conflict and mistrust — and the man who risks everything to reunite them.A bleak moon settled by utopian anarchists, Anarres has long been isolated from other worlds, including its mother planet, Urras—a civilization of warring nations, great poverty, and immense wealth... -
![Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang]()
Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang
Rated: 4.24 of 5 stars · 67 ratingsTed Chiang's first published story, "Tower of Babylon," won the Nebula Award in 1990. Subsequent stories have won the Asimov's SF Magazine reader poll, a second Nebula Award, the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award, and the Sidewise Award for alternate history. He won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in 1992. Story for story, he is the most honored young writer in modern SF...Categorized as:
classics 20th-century 21st-century action-adventure adult aliens alternate-history anthologies -
![Noughts & Crosses by Malorie Blackman]()
Noughts & Crosses by Malorie Blackman
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 34 ratingsTwo young people are forced to make a stand in this thought-provoking look at racism and prejudice in an alternate society.Sephy is a Cross -- a member of the dark-skinned ruling class. Callum is a Nought -- a “colourless” member of the underclass who were once slaves to the Crosses. The two have been friends since early childhood, but that’s as far as it can go...Categorized as:
classics 21st-century action-adventure alternate-history audiobook book children coming-of-age -
![One More Life to Live by Steven Decker]()
One More Life to Live by Steven Decker
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsImagine being given a chance at a second life but with a catch. You have no say in when, where, or who you will be. Would you take it?Edward Stubbins is a boy robbed of all that is good in life. An orphan in post-war England, he's shipped to Australia at age ten. Cruelty, rejection, and a severely broken heart are the hallmarks of his youth... -
![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:
classics action-adventure aliens alternate-history audiobook book contemporary fiction -
![High Stakes by Delta James]()
High Stakes by Delta James
Rated: 4.67 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA Mafia don that’s not afraid to get his hands dirty to find the truth, and the reporter that can’t resist his dark charms.Killian O’Neill controls the pulse of the vibrant horse racing world in the Finger Lakes region of New York. He also has ties to a powerful Syndicate in Ireland. Carlyn Murphy is the investigative reporter who took comfort in his arms for one night and then walked away... -
![The Player of Games by Iain M. Banks]()
The Player of Games by Iain M. Banks
Rated: 4.24 of 5 stars · 55 ratingsThe Culture--a humanoid/machine symbiotic society--has thrown up many great Game Players. One of the best is Jernau Morat Gurgeh, Player of Games, master of every board, computer and strategy. Bored with success, Gurgeh travels to the Empire of Azad, cruel & incredibly wealthy, to try their fabulous game, a game so complex, so like life itself, that the winner becomes emperor... -
![Forward the Foundation by Isaac Asimov]()
Forward the Foundation by Isaac Asimov
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 32 ratingsLibrarian's Note: Alternate cover for this ISBN can be found hereHere, from a grand master of science fiction, is the long awaited final novel of the greatest series ever told. Completed just before his death, Forward The Foundation is the crowning achievement of a great writer's life, a stirring testament to the creative genius of Isaac Asimov... -
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![The Testaments by Margaret Atwood]()
The Testaments by Margaret Atwood
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 43 ratingsMore than fifteen years after the events of The Handmaid’s Tale, the theocratic regime of the Republic of Gilead maintains its grip on power, but there are signs it is beginning to rot from within. At this crucial moment, the lives of three radically different women converge, with potentially explosive results.Two have grown up as part of the first generation to come of age in the new order...Categorized as:
classics 21st-century action-adventure alternate-history apocalyptic audiobook book coming-of-age -
![Old Man's War by John Scalzi]()
Old Man's War by John Scalzi
Rated: 4.15 of 5 stars · 50 ratingsJohn Perry did two things on his 75th birthday. First he visited his wife's grave. Then he joined the army.The good news is that humanity finally made it into interstellar space. The bad news is that planets fit to live on are scarce-- and alien races willing to fight us for them are common. So: we fight. To defend Earth, and to stake our own claim to planetary real estate... -
![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... -
![I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman]()
I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 69 ratings"As far back as I can recall, I have been in the bunker."A young woman is kept in a cage underground with thirty-nine other females, guarded by armed men who never speak; her crimes unremembered... if indeed there were crimes.The youngest of forty - a child with no name and no past - she survives for some purpose long forgotten in a world ravaged and wasted... -
![The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams]()
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 66 ratingsSeconds before the Earth is demolished to make way for a galactic freeway, Arthur Dent is plucked off the planet by his friend Ford Prefect, a researcher for the revised edition of the The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy who, for the last fifteen years, has been posing as an out of work actor... -
![Hard to Be a God by Arkady Strugatsky, Boris Strugatsky]()
Hard to Be a God by Arkady Strugatsky, Boris Strugatsky
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 25 ratingsThe novel follows Anton, an undercover operative from the future planet Earth, in his mission on an alien planet, that is populated by human beings, whose society has not advanced beyond the Middle Ages... -
![The End of Eternity by Isaac Asimov]()
The End of Eternity by Isaac Asimov
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 47 ratingsOne of Isaac Asimov's SF masterpieces, this stand-alone novel is a monument of the flowering of SF in the 20th century. It is widely regarded as Asimov's single best SF novel and one every SF fan should read.Andrew Harlan is an Eternal, a member of the elite of the future...Categorized as:
classics 20th-century action-adventure adult alternate-history audiobook book contemporary -
![Savage Mate by Delta James]()
Savage Mate by Delta James
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsA Small Town Grumpy Shifter RomanceThe first time she saw him he was coming out of the river... Oh! what a view.Jackson Miller (Jax) left the SEALs to return to his small hometown, Mystic River, Alaska where all the residents are shifters. He’s a grumpy bear shifter and the sheriff.Autumn Bradley was hiking with her fiancé for a birthday weekend... -
![The Egg by Andy Weir]()
The Egg by Andy Weir
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 29 ratingsA short story about the universe and your place in it...Categorized as:
classics 21st-century action-adventure afterlife audiobook book coming-of-age contemporary -
![The Black Lung Captain by Chris Wooding]()
The Black Lung Captain by Chris Wooding
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsDarian Frey is down on his luck. He can barely keep his squabbling crew fed and his rickety aircraft in the sky. Even the simplest robberies seem to go wrong. It's getting so a man can't make a dishonest living any more.Enter Captain Grist. He's heard about a crashed aircraft laden with the treasures of a lost civilisation, and he needs Frey's help to get it. There's only one problem... -
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![The Golden Apple by Robert Shea, Robert Anton Wilson]()
The Golden Apple by Robert Shea, Robert Anton Wilson
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsNausea, then microamnesia, then the laughing jag, then sex. Be patient. The clear light comes next. Then we can discuss Truth. As if we haven't been discussing it all along. -Hagbard Celine, The Golden Apple Illuminatus! Part II, from the original and genuine trilogy of conspiracies, is performed in all its unabridged brilliance by a full ensemble cast... -
![Foundation and Earth by Isaac Asimov]()
Foundation and Earth by Isaac Asimov
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 36 ratingsFOUNDATIONS'S END?Centuries after the fall of the First Galactic Empire, Mankind's destiny lay in the hands of Golan Trevize, former Councilman of the First Foundation. Reluctantly he chose the mental unity of Galaxia as the only alternative to a future of unending chaos.But Mankind as massmind was not an idea Trevize was comfortable with... -
![Monday Begins on Saturday by Arkady Strugatsky, Boris Strugatsky]()
Monday Begins on Saturday by Arkady Strugatsky, Boris Strugatsky
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 38 ratingsWhen young programmer Aleksandr Ivanovich Privalov picks up two hitchhikers while driving in Karelia, he is drawn into the mysterious world of the Scientific Research Institute of Sorcery and Wizardry, where research into magic is serious business... -
![The Doomed City by Arkady Strugatsky, Boris Strugatsky]()
The Doomed City by Arkady Strugatsky, Boris Strugatsky
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsArkady and Boris Strugatsky are widely considered the greatest of Russian science fiction masters, and their most famous work, Roadside Picnic, has enjoyed great popularity worldwide. Yet the novel they worked hardest on, the novel that was their own favorite, the novel that readers worldwide have acclaimed as their magnum opus, has never before been published in English... -
![E. T. - The Extra-Terrestrial by William Kotzwinkle]()
E. T. - The Extra-Terrestrial by William Kotzwinkle
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsBased on the screenplay by Melissa Mathison.What do you do when you're lost, millions of miles from home, surrounded by frightening creatures?You do what the Old Botanist did when he was accidentally left behind on Earth. First you find a friend.. -
![The Time Machine/The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells]()
The Time Machine/The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 32 ratingsThe Time Machine and The Invisible Man, by H. G. Wells, is part of the Barnes & Noble Classics series, which offers quality editions at affordable prices to the student and the general reader, including new scholarship, thoughtful design, and pages of carefully crafted extras... -
![The Transall Saga by Gary Paulsen]()
The Transall Saga by Gary Paulsen
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsMark's solo camping trip in the desert turns into a terrifying and thrilling odyssey when a mysterious beam of light transports him to another time on what appears to be another planet. As Mark searches for a pathway back to his own time on Earth, he must make a new life in a new world...Categorized as:
classics 20th-century action-adventure apocalyptic book children coming-of-age contemporary -
![The Collected Stories of Philip K. Dick 4: The Minority Report by Philip K. Dick]()
The Collected Stories of Philip K. Dick 4: The Minority Report by Philip K. Dick
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 33 ratingsMany thousands of readers consider Philip K. Dick the greatest science fiction mind on any planet. Since his untimely death in 1982, interest in Dick's works has continued to mount and his reputation has been further enhanced by a growing body of critical attention. The Philip K. Dick Award is now given annually to a distinguished work of science fiction, and the Philip K... -
![Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke]()
Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 42 ratingsAn all-time science fiction classic, Rendezvous with Rama is also one of Clarke's best novels--it won the Campbell, Hugo, Jupiter, and Nebula Awards. A huge, mysterious, cylindrical object appears in space, swooping in toward the sun. The citizens of the solar system send a ship to investigate before the enigmatic craft, called Rama, disappears... -
![The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury]()
The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury
Rated: 4.12 of 5 stars · 61 ratingsHere are stories of other worlds: of the rain-gutted forests of Venus and the deep canals of Mars; of the empty blackness of space and of planets that have no name. Here are stories, too, of Earth - new and unfamiliar in the glow of a wondrous future. And here- above all - is the story of The Illustrated man - tattooed by a witch with the most fantastic images ever seen on Earth..Categorized as:
classics 20th-century action-adventure aliens anthologies audiobook contemporary dark -
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![The Other Side of Dawn by John Marsden]()
The Other Side of Dawn by John Marsden
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 37 ratingsSince their home was invaded by enemy soldiers and transformed into a war zone, Ellie and her friends have been fighting for their lives. Now a resolution may finally be in sight. But as enemy forces close in on her hideout, Ellie discovers that the final conflict just may be the most dangerous yet. And not everyone will survive...Categorized as:
classics action-adventure apocalyptic audiobook book coming-of-age contemporary drama -
![A Killing Frost by John Marsden]()
A Killing Frost by John Marsden
Rated: 4.16 of 5 stars · 39 ratingsLife in the war zone enters its sixth month of heart-stopping tension in the latest installment of the internationally bestselling Tomorrow series.In the third installment of the Tomorrow saga, the anything-to-survive existence of Ellie and her friends has sharpened their senses and emboldened their plans. They aren't merely on the defensive anymore; they're also striking back...Categorized as:
classics action-adventure apocalyptic audiobook book coming-of-age contemporary drama -
![Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood]()
Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 48 ratingsOryx and Crake is at once an unforgettable love story and a compelling vision of the future. Snowman, known as Jimmy before mankind was overwhelmed by a plague, is struggling to survive in a world where he may be the last human, and mourning the loss of his best friend, Crake, and the beautiful and elusive Oryx whom they both loved...Categorized as:
classics 21st-century action-adventure apocalyptic audiobook biopunk book contemporary -
![Replay by Ken Grimwood]()
Replay by Ken Grimwood
Rated: 4.15 of 5 stars · 42 ratingsAt forty-three Jeff Winston is tired of his low-paid, unrewarding job, tired of the long silences at the breakfast table with his wife, saddened by the thought of no children to comfort his old age. But he hopes for better things, for happiness, maybe tomorrow ...But a sudden, fatal heart attack puts paid to that...Categorized as:
classics 20th-century action-adventure alternate-history audiobook book contemporary death -
![The Untethered by S.W. Southwick]()
The Untethered by S.W. Southwick
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsWhat Roble wants to create is illegal...if not impossible.And everyone seems determined to stop him from trying. But when a few unrepentant ladies join his fight to live free, the Las Vegas desert is going to light up like the 4th of July. ----------------------- "If you want a cross-breed between an Ayn Rand novel and a techno-thriller, this is the best you'll read... -
![A Naked Singularity by Sergio de la Pava]()
A Naked Singularity by Sergio de la Pava
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA Naked Singularity tells the story of Casi, a child of Colombian immigrants who lives in Brooklyn and works in Manhattan as a public defender--one who tellingly has never lost a trial. Never. In the book, we watch what happens when his sense of justice and even his sense of self begin to crack--and how his world then slowly devolves... -
![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 Positronic Man by Isaac Asimov, Robert Silverberg]()
The Positronic Man by Isaac Asimov, Robert Silverberg
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 19 ratingsPowerful and haunting, The Positronic Man is an unforgettable novel that redefines Isaac Asimov's and Robert Silverberg's place among the greatest science fiction authors of all time.In the twenty-first century the creation of the positronic brain leads to the development of robot laborers and revolutionizes life on Earth... -
![I Am Legend by Richard Matheson]()
I Am Legend by Richard Matheson
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 70 ratingsWinner of the Bram Stoker Lifetime Achievement Award for best vampire novel of the century: the genre-defining classic of horror sci-fi that inspired three films. The population of the entire world has been obliterated by a pandemic of vampire bacteria. Yet somehow, Robert Neville survived...Categorized as:
classics 20th-century action-adventure adult apocalyptic audiobook book contemporary -
![The Swarm by Frank Schätzing]()
The Swarm by Frank Schätzing
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsFor more than two years, one book has taken over Germany's hardcover and paperback bestseller lists, reaching number one in Der Spiegel and setting off a frenzy in bookstores: The Swarm.Whales begin sinking ships. Toxic, eyeless crabs poison Long Island's water supply. The North Sea shelf collapses, killing thousands in Europe... -
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![Roadside Picnic by Arkady Strugatsky, Boris Strugatsky]()
Roadside Picnic by Arkady Strugatsky, Boris Strugatsky
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 37 ratingsRed Schuhart is a stalker, one of those young rebels who are compelled, in spite of extreme danger, to venture illegally into the Zone to collect the mysterious artifacts that the alien visitors left scattered around. His life is dominated by the place and the thriving black market in the alien products... -
![Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers by Grant Naylor]()
Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers by Grant Naylor
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsThe first lesson Lister learned about space travel was you should never try it. But Lister didn't have a choice. All he remembered was going on a birthday celebration pub crawl through London. When he came to his senses again, with nothing in his pockets but a passport in the name of Emily Berkenstein.So he did the only thing he could... -
![Burning Chrome by William Gibson]()
Burning Chrome by William Gibson
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 29 ratingsTen tales, from the computer-enhanced hustlers of Johnny Mnemonic to the technofetishist blues of Burning Chrome... -
![The Giver by Lois Lowry]()
The Giver by Lois Lowry
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 102 ratingsThe Giver, the 1994 Newbery Medal winner, has become one of the most influential novels of our time. The haunting story centers on twelve-year-old Jonas, who lives in a seemingly ideal, if colorless, world of conformity and contentment. Not until he is given his life assignment as the Receiver of Memory does he begin to understand the dark, complex secrets behind his fragile community...Categorized as:
classics 20th-century action-adventure audiobook bildungsroman book children coming-of-age -
![The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin]()
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 71 ratingsA groundbreaking work of science fiction, The Left Hand of Darkness tells the story of a lone human emissary to Winter, an alien world whose inhabitants can choose - and change - their gender. His goal is to facilitate Winter's inclusion in a growing intergalactic civilization... -
![Crystal Singer by Anne McCaffrey]()
Crystal Singer by Anne McCaffrey
Rated: 4.12 of 5 stars · 37 ratingsHer name was Killashandra Ree. And after ten grueling years of musical training, she was still without prospects. Until she heard of the mysterious Heptite Guild who could provide careers, security, and wealth beyond imagining. The problem was, few people who landed on Ballybran ever left. But to Killashandra the risks were acceptable...Categorized as:
classics action-adventure audiobook book contemporary dragons female-author female-mc
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