Books like 'The Cost of Survival'
Readers who enjoyed The Cost of Survival by Stan C. Smith also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
sc-fi alternate history hard sci-fi action / adventure military, war & conflict time-travel dystopia apocalyptic first-contact aliens
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How Firm a Foundation by David Weber
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe Charisian Empire, born in war, has always known it must fight for its very survival. What most of its subjects don't know even now, however, is how much more it's fighting for. Emperor Cayleb, Empress Sharleyan, Merlin Athrawes, and their innermost circle of most trusted advisers do know...Categorized as:
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Osiris by Ralph Kern, Michael Kramer
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsBeyond the apocalypse, humanity's future is being decided.It's been three months since the cruise ship M/S Atlantica arrived in a hostile new world.The survivors dream of building a home, but just as their hopes rise, they learn the true cost of saving thousands of people from catastrophe.Conrad Wakefield, the architect of the Locus project, killed billions...Categorized as:
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The Armageddon Inheritance by David Weber
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 17 ratingsColin MacIntyre, a NASA astronaut kidnapped by a starship impersonating Earth's moon, has just suppressed a fifty-thousand-year-old mutiny, but now he faces an even bigger challenge. By the author of Mutineers' Moon. Reissue... -
The Dance of Time by Eric Flint, David Drake
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThe Malwa and their evil have been driven back to their Indian heartland, but there they coil to strike again...Categorized as:
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Off Armageddon Reef by David Weber
Rated: 4.12 of 5 stars · 25 ratingsHumanity pushed its way to the stars - and encountered the Gbaba, a ruthless alien race that nearly wiped us out.Earth and her colonies are now smoldering ruins, and the few survivors have fled to distant, Earth-like Safehold, to try to rebuild...Categorized as:
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Redemption Ark by Alastair Reynolds
Rated: 4.12 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsLate in the twenty-sixth century, the human race has advanced enough to accidentally trigger the Inhibitors - alien killing machines designed to detect intelligent life and destroy it. The only hope for humanity lies in the recovery of a secret cache of doomsday weapons -and a renegade named Clavain who is determined to find them...Categorized as:
aliens dystopia first-contact invasion post-apocalyptic 21st-century action-adventure adult -
1637: No Peace Beyond the Line by Eric Flint, Charles E. Gannon
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsTHE BATTLE FOR THE NEW WORLD IS A FIGHT TO THE FINISH! A NEW RING OF FIRE NOVEL BY BEST-SELLING WRITING TEAM ERIC FLINT AND CHARLES E. GANNONA New Day in the New WorldIt’s 1637 in the Caribbean. Commander Eddie Cantrell and his ally and friend Admiral Martin Tromp start it off with some nasty surprises for Spain, whose centuries-long exploitation and rapine of the New World has run unchecked...Categorized as:
time-travel action-adventure adult alternate-history alternate-universe book fiction hard-sci-fi -
The Lure of Infinity by Stan C. Smith
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsSome worlds are better left alone.Infinity Fowler has been fighting all her life. As a child, she had to fight for survival. Then she fought professionally. But when humans obtained the technology to bridge to alternate versions of Earth, she saw a chance for a new life. She signed up to become a bridger—an elite fighter and survival expert who protects tourists bridging to alternate worlds...Categorized as:
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A Pivot in Time by Douglas E. Richards
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsKelly, Justin, and Otto return in a riveting near-future thriller. From the million-copy New York Times best-selling author."Richards is an extraordinary writer" (Dean Koontz) who can "keep you turning the pages all night long". (Douglas Preston)The Enigma Cube is an alien object of unlimited power, with technology that can catapult civilization to dizzying heights - or destroy it entirely...Categorized as:
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Augmented by James D. Prescott
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsBreathable air on Earth is running out and no one knows why. A mysterious discovery nearly thirty million years old may hold the answer.To find it, a glaciologist and the inventor of a cutting-edge brain implant will need to work together...Categorized as:
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A Mighty Fortress by David Weber
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsYoung Cayleb Ahrmahk has accomplished things few people could even dream of. Not yet even thirty years old, he’s won the most crushing naval victories in human history. He’s smashed a hostile alliance of no less than five princedoms and won the hand of the beautiful young Queen Sharleyan of Chisholm...Categorized as:
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By Schism Rent Asunder by David Weber
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe world has changed. The mercantile kingdom of Charis has prevailed over the alliance designed to exterminate it. Armed with better sailing vessels, better guns and better devices of all sorts, Charis faced the combined navies of the rest of the world at Darcos Sound and Armageddon Reef, and broke them...Categorized as:
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Like a Mighty Army by David Weber
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsFor centuries, the world of Safehold, last redoubt of the human race, lay under the unchallenged rule of the Church of God Awaiting. The Church permitted nothing new-no new inventions, no new understandings of the world...Categorized as:
apocalyptic post-apocalyptic action-adventure adult alternate-history audiobook book colonization -
By Heresies Distressed by David Weber
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 19 ratingsNow the battle for the soul of the planet Safehold has begun.The Kingdom of Charis and the Kingdom of Chisholm have joined together, pledged to stand against the tyranny of a corrupt Church. The youthful Queen Sharleyan of Chisholm has wed King Cayleb of Charis, forging a single dynasty, a single empire, dedicated to the defense of human freedom...Categorized as:
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Heirs of Empire by David Weber
Rated: 4.09 of 5 stars · 17 ratingsRestoring the empire that had been destroyed 45,000 years earlier, Emperor Colin finds problems in the genocidal Achuultani and in his children Sean and Harriet, who have been marooned on a hostile planet...Categorized as:
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Purgatory's Shore by Taylor Anderson
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsOn their way to fight in the Mexican-American War, a group of American soldiers are swept away to a strange and deadly alternate Earth in this thrilling new adventure set in the world of the New York Times bestselling Destroyermen series.The United States, 1847...Categorized as:
time-travel action-adventure adult alternate-history book fiction hard-sci-fi historical-fiction -
Midst Toil and Tribulation by David Weber
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 29 ratingsDavid Weber's New York Times bestselling Safehold series of military Science Fiction adventure, which began with Off Armageddon Reef, continues with Midst Toil and TribulationWAR AND FAMINEOnce the Church of God Awaiting dominated all the kingdoms of Safehold...Categorized as:
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Extinction Countdown by James D. Prescott
Rated: 4.16 of 5 stars · 23 ratingsThe greatest discovery in human history may also be our last.Dr. Jack Greer's startling discovery beneath the Gulf of Mexico proved to the world we were not alone in the universe. But when images from the Voyager One space probe reveal an alien doomsday ship hurtling toward the earth, the human race seems marked for extinction...Categorized as:
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First Contact by Dean M. Cole
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsFrom the Bestselling Author of Solitude!As part of the Greatest Generation, Major Anthony Spinelli, a World War II fighter pilot, flew into combat to save his family and keep them free. Two years later, he lost them in the blink of an eye, leaving Tony rudderless and without purpose...Categorized as:
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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:
aliens apocalyptic dystopia first-contact invasion 21st-century action-adventure adult -
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...Categorized as:
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Hell's Faire by John Ringo
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsWith the defenses of the Southern Appalachians sundered, the only thing standing between the ravening Posleen hordes and the soft interior of the Cumberland Plateau are the veterans of 555th Mobile Infantry. Dropped into Rabun Pass, with a couple of million Posleen behind them and fourteen million to the front, the only question is which will run out first: power, bullets or bodies... -
When the Devil Dances by John Ringo
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsAfter five years of battling invaders, human civilization prepares a strike to drive the aliens from the Earth. But the Clan-Lord of the Sten has learned from the defeats humans have dealt him, and has his own plan. When he squares off against Major O'Neal, the only winner will be Satan himself... -
The Apocalypse Troll by David Weber
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThere he was in his sailboat in the middle of the Atlantic, all alone and loving it. Well, there was a US Navy carrier group on his southern horizon, but he was US Navy himself, so he didn't mind. Then came the UFOs, hurtling in from the Outer Black to overfly the carriers at Mach 17. Their impossible aeronautics were bad enough - but then they started shooting at each other. And at the Navy... -
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The Reformer by S.M. Stirling, David Drake
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsAfter the collapse of the galactic Web, civilizations crumbled and chaos reigned on thousands of planets. Only on planet Bellevue was there a difference. There, a Fleet Battle Computer named Center had survived from the old civilization... -
Elusive Salvation (Star Trek: The Original Series) by Dayton Ward
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsAn all-new Star Trek adventure across time—the latest of the acclaimed Original Series novels!The Arctic Circle, 1845: Escaping the tyranny under which their people have lived for generations, aliens from a distant planet crash land on Earth’s inhospitable frozen wastes...Categorized as:
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Firehand by Andre Norton, P.M. Griffin
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsRoss Murdoch was a petty criminal when he first time-traveled. Now he is a hero, about to face a time-traveling band of predatory aliens, the same ones who made his hand a charred ruin. With a small but loyal force, they face a much larger foe. They need a hero. They need Firehand... -
Dawn for a Distant Earth by L.E. Modesitt Jr.
Rated: 4.12 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsL. E. Modesitt, Jr's first major work was The Forever Hero trilogy of SF adventure novels published as paperback originals in the 1980s, of which Dawn for a Distant Earth was the first title in the series. Thousands of years in the future, Earth is a desolate ruin...Categorized as:
post-apocalyptic time-travel action-adventure adult alternate-history audiobook book fiction -
Multitude by Dean M. Cole
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 15 ratingsSequel to Solitude - ABR Listeners Choice: Best Sci-Fi of 2018 Following the incredible events of Solitude, Vaughn and Angela must probe the depths of space and time to unravel and perhaps even reverse the enigma of humanity's disappearance. But first, they must get past themselves. If you enjoyed Solitude, you'll love the action and plot twists in this apocalyptic epic...Categorized as:
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1637: The Volga Rules by Eric Flint, Paula Goodlett
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsNEW ENTRY IN THE NEW YORK TIMES BEST-SELLING, GENRE-DEFINING ALTERNATE HISTORY SERIES. It’s been five years since a cosmic incident known as The Ring of Fire transported the modern day town of Grantville, West Virginia, through time and space to 17th century Europe. The course of world history has been forever altered. And Mother Russia is no exception...Categorized as:
time-travel action-adventure adult alternate-history audiobook book conspiracies drama -
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...Categorized as:
aliens dystopia first-contact invasion post-apocalyptic 21st-century action-adventure adult -
The Excalibur Alternative by David Weber
Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThis novel is expanded from a shorter version published in David Drake's Foreign Legions. Captured by a technologically advanced alien race, a group of medieval English knights gains power and experience as savage interstellar mercenaries, all the while planning for the day when they will rise up and reclaim the freedom that is their destiny... -
Encounter with Tiber by Buzz Aldrin, John Barnes
Rated: 3.92 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsFree tracking...Categorized as:
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The Oppenheimer Alternative by Robert J. Sawyer
Rated: 3.90 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsOn the 75th anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb, Hugo and Nebula-winning author Robert J. Sawyer takes us back in time to revisit history…with a twist.While J. Robert Oppenheimer and his Manhattan Project team struggle to develop the A-bomb, Edward Teller wants something even more devastating: a bomb based on nuclear fusion—the mechanism that powers the sun...Categorized as:
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The Probability Broach by L. Neil Smith
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsDenver detective Win Bear, on the trail of a murderer, discovers much more than a killer. He accidentally stumbles upon the probability broach, a portal to a myriad of worlds--some wildly different from, others disconcertingly similar to our own...Categorized as:
dystopia time-travel 20th-century action-adventure adult alternate-history book cyberpunk -
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:
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The Best of Kim Stanley Robinson by Kim Stanley Robinson, Jonathan Strahan
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsAdventurers, scientists, artists, workers, and visionaries — these are the men and women you will encounter in the short fiction of Kim Stanley Robinson...Categorized as:
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Watch on the Rhine by John Ringo, Tom Kratman
Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsThe invaders are coming: the Posleen, a seemingly unstoppable horde who have conquered one star system after another, literally feeding on their conquests...Categorized as:
aliens invasion 20th-century action-adventure adult alternate-history audiobook book -
Exultant by Stephen Baxter
Rated: 3.86 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsWhen it comes to cutting-edge science fiction, Stephen Baxter is in a league of his own. His mastery of hard science, his fearlessly speculative imagination, and his ability to combine grand philosophical questions with tales of rousing adventure make him essential reading for anyone concerned with the future of humankind... -
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... -
The Rise and Fall of Khan Noonien Singh by Greg Cox
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 12 ratings"The most critical period in Earth's history." —Gary Seven, Supervisor 194 Even centuries later, the final decades of the twentieth century are still regarded—by those who know the truth of what really happened—as one of the darkest and most perilous chapters in the history of humanity. Now, as an ancient and forbidden technology tempts mankind once more, Captain James T...Categorized as:
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End of an Era by Robert J. Sawyer
Rated: 3.80 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsArchaeologist Brandon Thackery and his rival Miles 'Klicks' Jordan fulfill a dinosaur lover's dream with history's first time-travel jaunt to the late Mesozoic. Hoping to solve the extinction mystery, they find Earth's gravity is only half its 21st century value and dinosaurs that behave very strangely...Categorized as:
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Fifty Degrees South: A first contact military science fiction adventure thriller by M.M. Holt
Rated: 3.80 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsAt the ends of the earth, we fought an enemy from beyond the stars. 1803. The Napoleonic War. A Royal Navy warship is ordered to pursue an enemy frigate to the frozen waters of the Southern Seas.There it must capture the enemy ship and retrieve a mysterious sea-chest, contents unknown.Failure is not permitted...Categorized as:
first-contact aliens invasion sci-fi historical-fiction action-adventure fiction hard-sci-fi -
The Long Utopia by Terry Pratchett, Stephen Baxter
Rated: 3.85 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsIt is the middle of the twenty-first century.After the cataclysmic upheavals of Step Day and the Yellowstone eruption, humanity is spreading farther into the Long Earth. Society, on a battered Datum Earth and beyond, continues to evolve.And new challenges emerge.Now an elderly and cantankerous AI, Lobsang is living with Agnes in an exotic, far-distant world... -
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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:
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Orion Among the Stars by Ben Bova
Rated: 3.75 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsA new installment in the military science-fiction series by a Hugo Award-winner finds the superhuman, outer-space warrior John O'Ryan caught in the middle of a dangerous contest between a goddess and a god. Reprint. K. VY...Categorized as:
time-travel action-adventure adult alternate-history book fiction hard-sci-fi military -
The Best Military Science Fiction of the 20th Century by Harry Turtledove, George R.R. Martin
Rated: 3.75 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsExplosive and provocative battles fought across the boundaries of time and space--and on the frontiers of the human mind.Science fiction's finest have yielded this definitive collection featuring stories of warfare, victory, conquest, heroism, and overwhelming odds. These are scenarios few have ever dared to contemplate, and they include: ¸ "Superiority": Arthur C...Categorized as:
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Ambush by Dean M. Cole
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 15 ratings**Written by a Combat Pilot—Award-Winning Apocalyptic Thriller** Sandra just discovered she's pregnant, but with humanity on the brink of extinction, this fighter pilot might be the world's only hope. If you like action-packed, page-turning novels, then you'll love the electrifying action in this apocalyptic thriller...Categorized as:
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Sunstorm by Arthur C. Clarke, Stephen Baxter
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsReturned to the Earth of 2037 by the mysterious and powerful Firstborn, Bisesa Dutt is haunted by memories of her five years spent on the strange alternate Earth called Mir, a jigsaw-puzzle world made up of lands and people cut out of different eras of Earth’s history...Categorized as:
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The Fold by Peter Clines
Rated: 3.87 of 5 stars · 38 ratingsSTEP INTO THE FOLD. IT’S PERFECTLY SAFE. The folks in Mike Erikson's small New England town would say he's just your average, everyday guy. And that's exactly how Mike likes it. Sure, the life he's chosen isn’t much of a challenge to someone with his unique gifts, but he’s content with his quiet and peaceful existence...Categorized as:
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