Books like 'Five Fantastic Stories'
Readers who enjoyed Five Fantastic Stories by Algis Burdys, Kurt Vonnegut Jr., Frank Herbert, Robert Sheckley & Jamie Wild also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
sc-fi action / adventure urban fantasy hard sci-fi space-opera
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Smarter by Laurence E. Dahners
Rated: 4.37 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsSmarter is a near future SciFi/Thriller whose young heroine Ell Donsaii we learned in "Quicker" has a nerve mutation that makes her an athletic phenomenon, so fast that no one can keep up with her... -
![Comet! by Laurence E. Dahners]()
Comet! by Laurence E. Dahners
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratings"Comet!" is the fifth in a series of near future SciFi/Thrillers whose young heroine Ell Donsaii has a nerve mutation which has rendered her a genius and an athletic phenomenon. In “Comet!” she and her team begin exploring outer space using the wormholes she produced in "Rocket." Unfortunately Comet Hearth-Daster is on a trajectory to strike the Earth... -
![Rocket! by Laurence E. Dahners]()
Rocket! by Laurence E. Dahners
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 23 ratingsAlternate cover edition for ASIN: B008RBN7TA"Rocket!" is the fourth in a series of near future SciFi/Thrillers whose young heroine Ell Donsaii has a nerve mutation which has rendered her a genius and an athletic phenomenon. In “Rocket!” she works out the enormous potential of the wormholes she discovered in "Lieutenant... -
![Connection Unknown by Michael Chatfield]()
Connection Unknown by Michael Chatfield
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsLuke Tavares has dreamed of joining the vast gaming guilds of the hypernet. After recently graduating high school, his parents have given him the same ultimatum as his siblings; he has one month to get a job to pay for his air, gravity, and water aboard the Dahlia.The freighter needs more hands, but Luke doesn’t want to be a trader-ship engineer... -
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![Lieutenant by Laurence E. Dahners]()
Lieutenant by Laurence E. Dahners
Rated: 4.34 of 5 stars · 23 ratings"Lieutenant" is the third in a series of near future SciFi/Thrillers whose young heroine Ell Donsaii we learned in "Quicker" has a nerve mutation that makes her an athletic phenomenon, so fast that no one can keep up with her. In "Smarter" we learned how these fast nerve processes have made her a genius. She's both shy and concerned about her social skills, yet loved by those around her... -
![Tau Ceti by Laurence E. Dahners]()
Tau Ceti by Laurence E. Dahners
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratings“Tau Ceti" is the sixth in a series of near future SciFi/Thrillers whose young heroine Ell Donsaii has a nerve mutation which has made her a genius and an athletic phenomenon.In “Tau Ceti!”, she is continuing to find uses for the quantum entangled wormholes that she has discovered. These wormholes aren’t big enough to send people through, yet they are making huge changes in our world... -
![Callahan's Lady by Spider Robinson]()
Callahan's Lady by Spider Robinson
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsA HOUSE OF "HEALTHY" REPUTE...Welcome to Lady Sally's, the House that "is" a home -- the internationally (hell, interplanetarily) notorious bordello. At Lady Sally's House, the customer doesn't necessarily come first: even the staff are genuinely enjoying themselves... -
![Quicker by Laurence E. Dahners]()
Quicker by Laurence E. Dahners
Rated: 4.26 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsQuicker is a near future SciFi/Thriller whose young heroine Ell Donsaii is an intrepid athletic phenom who reminds one of David Weber's Honor Harrington. Like Stieg Larsson's Lisbeth Salander (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo) Ell is also a mathematical genius who, instead of counting sheep, works on her own theory of quantum mechanics to help her drift off to sleep... -
![Mutation by Nerys Wheatley]()
Mutation by Nerys Wheatley
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsBitten. Infected. Turned.Cured.Alex survived the virus that turns its victims into mindless flesh-eaters, but it left him mutated, with super-human strength and white eyes.Feared and despised.The world has lived with the virus for thirteen years, but now a new strain is turning thousands into ravenous monsters, faster than ever before.And Alex is trapped right in the middle of the outbreak...Categorized as:
action-adventure adult apocalyptic book dystopia epidemy fiction genetic-engineering -
![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. . . -
![A Gift of Time by Jerry Merritt]()
A Gift of Time by Jerry Merritt
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsWhen Micajah Fenton discovers a crater in his front yard with a broken time glider in the bottom and a naked, virtual woman on his lawn, he delays his plans to kill himself. While helping repair the marooned time traveler’s glider, Cager realizes it can return him to his past to correct a mistake that had haunted him his entire life... -
![San Diego 2014: The Last Stand of the California Browncoats by Mira Grant]()
San Diego 2014: The Last Stand of the California Browncoats by Mira Grant
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsIt was the summer of 2014, and the true horrors of the Rising were only just beginning to reveal themselves. Fans from all over the world gathered in San Diego, California for the annual comic book and media convention, planning to forget about the troubling rumors of new diseases and walking dead by immersing themselves in a familiar environment...Categorized as:
action-adventure alternate-history apocalyptic audiobook book dark dark-fantasy dystopia -
![Pegasus in Space by Anne McCaffrey]()
Pegasus in Space by Anne McCaffrey
Rated: 4.15 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsIn a triumphant career spanning more than thirty years, Anne McCaffrey has won the devotion of millions of fans. Now she has written the exciting and long-awaited addition to her classic Pegasus series--and the perfect link to her bestselling Rowan saga . . .For an overpopulated Earth whose resources are strained to the breaking point, there is only one place to look for relief: straight up...Categorized as:
space-opera action-adventure audiobook book colonization contemporary epic female-author -
![The Arrows of Time by Greg Egan]()
The Arrows of Time by Greg Egan
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsHard science fiction’s grand master delivers the stunning conclusion to his Orthogonal trilogy.In a universe where the laws of physics and the speed of light are completely alien to our own, the travelers on the ship Peerless have completed a generations-long struggle to develop advanced technology in a desperate attempt to save their home world... -
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![Biochips by William Gibson]()
Biochips by William Gibson
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 49 ratingsTurner, corporate mercenary, wakes in a reconstructed body, a beautiful woman by his side. Then Hosaka Corporation reactivates him for a mission more dangerous than the one he's recovering from: Maas-Neotek's chief of R&D is defecting. Turner is the one assigned to get him out intact, along with the biochip he's perfected... -
![Outland by Dennis E. Taylor]()
Outland by Dennis E. Taylor
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 19 ratingsWhen the Yellowstone supervolcano erupts, it's up to six college students and their experimental physics project to prevent the end of civilization. When an experiment to study quantum uncertainty goes spectacularly wrong, physics student Bill Rustad and his friends find that they have accidentally created an inter-dimensional portal...Categorized as:
action-adventure adult alternate-history animals apocalyptic audiobook book contemporary -
![Rapture by Kameron Hurley]()
Rapture by Kameron Hurley
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 13 ratingsAfter years in exile, Nyxnissa so Dasheem is back in service to the bel dames, a sisterhood of elite government assassins tasked with eliminating deserters and traitors.The end of a centuries-long holy war has flooded the streets of Nasheen with unemployed - and unemployable - soldiers whose frustrations have brought the nation to the brink of civil war... -
![The Terminal State by Jeff Somers]()
The Terminal State by Jeff Somers
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsAvery Cates is an army man. Between the army's new dental plan and a set of first class augments, he's been given a second chance - albeit a quick one.When a corrupt officer decides to make some money on the side by selling new recruits, Cates finds himself in uncharted territory... -
![The Final Evolution by Jeff Somers]()
The Final Evolution by Jeff Somers
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThe world is dying. With avatars replacing humans and the birth rate non-existent, the human race is almost extinct. In the end, it comes down to Canny Orel; Avery's long sought after nemesis -- transformed now into something other than human.Orel might hold the secret to humanity's salvation, if he can be convinced -- or forced -- to relinquish it... -
![Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan]()
Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan
Rated: 3.99 of 5 stars · 70 ratingsFour hundred years from now mankind is strung out across a region of interstellar space inherited from an ancient civilization discovered on Mars. The colonies are linked together by the occasional sublight colony ship voyages and hyperspatial data-casting. Human consciousness is digitally freighted between the stars and downloaded into bodies as a matter of course.But some things never change... -
![Of Bone and Steel and Other Soft Materials by Annie Bellet]()
Of Bone and Steel and Other Soft Materials by Annie Bellet
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 4 ratingsEking out an existence as a scavenger in post-apocalyptic Russia, Ryska never thought she would be more than a blind, discarded military experiment. Then she ends up in the middle of a kidnapping gone wrong and must use her all her skills to save herself, and the young boy who brings back painful memories of her past... -
![Delta Green: Alien Intelligence by Bob Kruger, Dennis Detwiller]()
Delta Green: Alien Intelligence by Bob Kruger, Dennis Detwiller
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 3 ratingsDelta Green: Alien Intelligence is a set of eight short stories set in the world of the Cthulhu Mythos of H.P. Lovecraft. Beyond being modern updates of the pulp horror of the 1930s, these stories seamlessly intertwine the Cthulhu Mythos into modern day conspiracy theory and the myths of alien abduction and visitation...Categorized as:
action-adventure adult anthologies contemporary cosmic-horror cthulhu dark dark-fantasy -
![The Improbable Rise of Singularity Girl by Bryce C. Anderson]()
The Improbable Rise of Singularity Girl by Bryce C. Anderson
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 3 ratingsHelen Roderick thought life would be epic after she died. Once her neural paths were scanned and the pattern uploaded to an enormous bank of computers, she could be happy and carefree. No more aging, dandruff, fear of death, or any of the other drawbacks of hauling her own squishy meatsack hither and yon.But her new life is a troubled one... -
![Tamisan (Tamisan, #1) by Susan McKenzie]()
Tamisan (Tamisan, #1) by Susan McKenzie
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 2 ratingsAn illegal experiment.Mortally wounded Zhenna Rhodarma has had her consciousness transferred into the body of a Waikari, a native of planet Althar 3. Her new form has two hearts, psychic abilities and can breathe underwater.A dangerous escape...Categorized as:
space-opera action-adventure book colonization coming-of-age drama exploration fiction -
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![Of All Possible Worlds by William Tenn]()
Of All Possible Worlds by William Tenn
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 2 ratingsIt was a good job and Max Alben knew whom he had to thank for it-his great-grandfather... -
![Incursion by Jay J. Falconer]()
Incursion by Jay J. Falconer
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 2 ratingsTIME TRAVEL THRILLERTime isn't what we think it is...Most scientists think of time as a mathematical tool to chronicle events from past to future. Others view it as an integral component of the fourth dimension.But physicist Lucas Ramsay thinks they’re all wrong. Dead wrong.Time is something else altogether... -
![Five Fantastic Stories by Algis Burdys, Kurt Vonnegut Jr.]()
Five Fantastic Stories by Algis Burdys, Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 1 ratingsCollected her are five fantastic stories by Algis Budrys, Frank Herbert, Robert Sheckley, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., and Jamie Wild The Stoker and the Stars When you've had your ears pinned back in a bowknot, it's sometimes hard to remember that an intelligent people has no respect for a whipped enemy ... but does for a fairly beaten enemy...Categorized as:
space-opera action-adventure adult anthologies audiobook fiction hard-sci-fi urban-fantasy -
![Manticore Reborn by Peter J. Evans]()
Manticore Reborn by Peter J. Evans
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 1 ratingsDurham Red is horrified to find herself hunted down by her own demonic future self, Brite Red. The only way she can save herself is to get her talons on the terrifying alien artifact known only as Manticore.. -
![Retribution by Steve Stanton]()
Retribution by Steve Stanton
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 1 ratingsIn a post-cyberpunk future, Mia and Zakariah Davis risk their lives to secure an activated sample of the life-prolonging eternal virus” for their son Rix. Afterwards, Mia is murdered in retribution and the family is overcome by grief. Zakariah goes on a quest to contact her spirit in the afterlife while Rix wants revenge, no matter the cost...Categorized as:
action-adventure adult book cyberpunk fiction hard-sci-fi supernatural urban-fantasy -
![Contagion by Katherine Anne MacLean]()
Contagion by Katherine Anne MacLean
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 1 ratingsWhen they touched down on the alien planet Minos, the last thing the crew of the Explorer expected to find was other humans. They'd come through thirty-six light years of space only to find that another group of humans had settled the plant generations before. Still it was a beautiful place…expect for the contagion... -
![Tethered by Vaughn Ashby]()
Tethered by Vaughn Ashby
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 1 ratingsIn 1982 Moe killed a man while defending his son.The next day the man came back.In 1982 Moe went missing.The man continued to come back.In 2014 events are repeating themselves.In a race against time, reason and more time, Shane has to unwind mysteries of the past in order to save his friend Jason who has gone missing.Ugh…. That sounds heavy... -
![The Encoded Heart by Peter J. Evans]()
The Encoded Heart by Peter J. Evans
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 1 ratingsThe third Black Flame adventure of this well-received trilogy featuring blood-sucking vampire and sexy killing machine with attitude, Durham Red. After Xandos Dathan's abortive bid to plunge the Accord into war, Durham Red flees into the uncharted Vermin Stars in pursuit of her precious data crystals... -
![Albatross (Volume 1) by R.A. MacAvoy, Nancy L. Palmer]()
Albatross (Volume 1) by R.A. MacAvoy, Nancy L. Palmer
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 1 ratingsAccused of being a terrorist, a fugitive physicist takes flight in a gritty future world where the government has gone insane.Rob MacAulay has followed the flight of seabirds all his life, as well as the elusive nature of quantum field theory. He is a brilliant physicist, famed for solving the Unity Theory, a tall, gentle man with glasses and a tweed jacket.And he is framed as a terrorist...Categorized as:
action-adventure adult book coming-of-age conspiracies dystopia espionage fairy-tale -
![The Scarab by Scott Rhine]()
The Scarab by Scott Rhine
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 1 ratingsAny problem can be solved with help from your friends and the proper application of high explosives. The Scarab is a PG near-future thriller that fans of pod racing, Mario Cart, and Speed Racer will enjoy. Hemophiliac and ace mechanic Ethan Hayes has risen to the top of the computer gaming circuit as the Scarab...Categorized as:
action-adventure adult book cyberpunk espionage fiction hard-sci-fi political-intrigue -
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![The Omega Solution by Peter J. Evans]()
The Omega Solution by Peter J. Evans
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 1 ratingsShe’s got a head for action and a body for sin!When a man named Dathan promises an end to the war between humans and mutants, Durham Red is desperate to help him. Cast adrift in a nightmarish future, the mutant vampire travels to this self-made prophet’s side, eager for an end to the bloodshed... -
![Paradox Alley by John DeChancie]()
Paradox Alley by John DeChancie
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsJake McGraw, independent space trucker, has been shanghaied. He and his crew, fresh off their adventures in STARRIGGER and RED LIMIT FREEWAY, are plucked off the Skyway by a creature of unknown power. Now on an alien planet where most of the rules of the regular universe don’t seem to apply, Jake confronts the builders of the Skyway once and for all... -
![Woken Furies by Richard K. Morgan]()
Woken Furies by Richard K. Morgan
Rated: 3.97 of 5 stars · 41 ratingsThis is high action, ideas driven noir SF of the highest order. Morgan has already established himself as an SF author of global significance.Takeshi Kovacs has come home. Home to Harlan's World. An ocean planet with only 5 percent of its landmass poking above the dangerous and unpredictable seas... -
![The Eternal Flame by Greg Egan]()
The Eternal Flame by Greg Egan
Rated: 3.90 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsGreg Egan’s The Clockwork Rocket introduced readers to an exotic universe where the laws of physics are very different from our own, where the speed of light varies in ways Einstein would never allow, and where intelligent life has evolved in unique and fascinating ways. Now Egan continues his epic tale of alien beings embarked on a desperate voyage to save their world . . . -
![Overthrowing Heaven by Mark L. Van Name]()
Overthrowing Heaven by Mark L. Van Name
Rated: 3.90 of 5 stars · 10 ratings1. Rave reviews for Mark L. Van Name: · “Van Name has created a hero worth at least a dozen more novels . . . I want this to be a series. I want to read a new one every year.” —Orson Scott Card · “One Jump Ahead is like well-aged white lightning: it goes down smooth then delivers a kick that knocks you on the floor... -
![The Tunnel Under the World by Frederik Pohl]()
The Tunnel Under the World by Frederik Pohl
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 8 ratings"The Tunnel under the World" was first published in 1954 in Galaxy magazine. On the morning of June 15th, Guy Burckhardt woke up screaming out of a dream. It was more real than any dream he had ever had in his life. He could still hear and feel the sharp, ripping-metal explosion, the violent heave that had tossed him furiously out of bed, the searing wave of heat... -
![Darkness Falling by Ian Douglas]()
Darkness Falling by Ian Douglas
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsFrom New York Times Bestselling Author Ian Douglas comes the next chapter in his grand space odyssey, Andromedan Dark, Darkness FallingLord Commander Grayson St. Clair has guided the Tellus Ad Astra to a part of the universe no human—and possibly no race known to Man—has ever seen. Far from the worlds they know, the colony ship is on its own, facing . . . something that seems to have no weakness... -
![Slanted Jack by Mark L. Van Name]()
Slanted Jack by Mark L. Van Name
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsSlanted Jack: a novel that bobs and weaves, takes you on a headlong race through a strange but believable future, and never slows down. The job looks simple enough: Jon Moore, the nanotech-enhanced, world-weary, soldier of fortune, agrees to help a con man, a friend from a part of his past he’d rather forget, protect a very special young boy... -
![Alien Secrets (Solar Warden #1) by Ian Douglas]()
Alien Secrets (Solar Warden #1) by Ian Douglas
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsIn the first novel in New York Times bestselling author Ian Douglas’ Solar Warden series, government conspiracy theories, UFO history, and thrilling space combat come together in an unforgettable interstellar military science fiction adventure. THE TRUTH HAS ALWAYS BEEN HERE In the final days of World War II, the Allies ransacked Berlin...Categorized as:
space-opera action-adventure adult aliens alternate-history alternate-universe book conspiracies -
![L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future Volume 29 by L. Ron Hubbard, Alex Wilson]()
L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future Volume 29 by L. Ron Hubbard, Alex Wilson
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsTurn the page…open your eyes...and look into the futureThey unleash the power of dreams and unlock the secrets of the universe.They bend time, twist perception, and put a new spin on the laws of physics.They show us who we are, what we may become, and how far we can go.They are the Writers of the Future. Experience their vision. “Keep the Writers of the Future going. It’s what keeps sci-fi alive...Categorized as:
space-opera action-adventure anthologies dystopia fiction first-contact hard-sci-fi historical -
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![Beyond Armageddon by Anthony DeCosmo]()
Beyond Armageddon by Anthony DeCosmo
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsEarth is invaded by a collection of alien animals--both predators and prey--as well as extraterrestrial militias of varying technological capabilities. Governments fall; cities are overrun. The landscape grows wild, alien forces attempt to carve out zones of control, and humanity no longer sits atop the food chain... -
![Domesticating Dragons by Dan Koboldt]()
Domesticating Dragons by Dan Koboldt
Rated: 3.75 of 5 stars · 4 ratingsBuild-A-Bear workshop meets Jurassic Park when a newly graduated genetic engineer goes to work for a company that aims to produce custom-made dragons.Noah Parker, a newly minted Ph.D., is thrilled to land a dream job at Reptilian Corp., the hottest tech company in the American Southwest... -
![Three by Jay Posey]()
Three by Jay Posey
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThe world has collapsed, and there are no heroes any more.But when a lone gunman reluctantly accepts the mantel of protector to a young boy and his dying mother against the forces that pursue them, a hero may yet arise... -
![Slipstream by Michael Offutt]()
Slipstream by Michael Offutt
Rated: 3.67 of 5 stars · 3 ratings“Last night I died for the third time this week...” Those are the words spoken by Jordan Pendragon on the curb out front of his high school. He's talking about dreams he's been having. However, he soon discovers that they're not dreams but a premonition of things to come.Jordan wants to be like every other seventeen-year-old boy. The only problem is that he's extraordinary in so many ways...
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