Books like 'Retief in the Ruins'
Readers who enjoyed Retief in the Ruins by Keith Laumer also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
sc-fi comedy space humor satire space-travel aliens space-opera espionage pulp
-
For We Are Many by Dennis E. Taylor
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 46 ratingsBob Johansson didn't believe in an afterlife, so waking up after being killed in a car accident was a shock. To add to the surprise, he is now a sentient computer and the controlling intelligence for a Von Neumann probe. Bob and his copies have been spreading out from Earth for 40 years now, looking for habitable planets. But that's the only part of the plan that's still in one piece... -
![All These Worlds by Dennis E. Taylor]()
All These Worlds by Dennis E. Taylor
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 43 ratingsBeing a sentient spaceship really should be more fun. But after spreading out through space for almost a century, Bob and his clones just can't stay out of trouble.They've created enough colonies so humanity shouldn't go extinct. But political squabbles have a bad habit of dying hard, and the Brazilian probes are still trying to take out the competition... -
![Sentienced to Death by Barry J. Hutchison]()
Sentienced to Death by Barry J. Hutchison
Rated: 4.55 of 5 stars · 11 ratingsAccidental space adventurer Cal Carver has had a rough few months. He's fought spider-dragons, battled space clowns, and been repeatedly tortured by the galaxy's oldest assassin. And don't even get him started on the squirrel-tits. Now all that's behind him, Cal just wants to kick back and relax. The universe, however, has other ideas... -
![Brushfire by Craig Alanson]()
Brushfire by Craig Alanson
Rated: 4.47 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsPeacetime can be a rough adjustment for the battle-hardened Merry Band of Pirates.Especially when aliens don’t get the memo that the shooting is over... -
-
![Song of the Space Siren by Barry J. Hutchison]()
Song of the Space Siren by Barry J. Hutchison
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 15 ratings"On par with Douglas Adams" - ReadcommendationsCal Carver and his Space Team may have lost their ship, but they haven't lost their knack for attracting trouble. Just hours after setting foot on a new planet, Cal and the crew find themselves caught up in an interplanetary kidnapping plot... -
![Con Living by E.M. Foner]()
Con Living by E.M. Foner
Rated: 4.63 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsIn space, nobody can tell the aliens from the cosplayers.Science fiction meets the future as Flower, the sentient Dollnick colony ship working under contract for EarthCent, decides to host a con to bolster her anime business... -
![A Civil Campaign by Lois McMaster Bujold]()
A Civil Campaign by Lois McMaster Bujold
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 37 ratingsMiles Vorkosigan has a problem: unrequited love for the beautiful widow Ekaterin Vorsoisson, violently allergic to marriage after her first exposure. If a frontal assault won't do, Miles thinks, try subterfuge. He has a cunning plan... Lord Mark Vorkosigan, Miles' brother, also has a problem: his love has just become unrequited again. But he has a cunning plan..Categorized as:
humor political-intrigue space-opera space-travel 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook -
![Space Team: The King of Space Must Die by Barry J. Hutchison]()
Space Team: The King of Space Must Die by Barry J. Hutchison
Rated: 4.45 of 5 stars · 11 ratingsIt isn't just war. It's space war! Geronimus Krone, the most dangerous man in existence has altered the course of time, appointed himself King of Space, and now rules the galaxy with the help of his four monstrous generals and their armies. Cal Carver and his crew are the galaxy's only hope. But, reeling from their recent loss, they can't stop Krone on their own... -
![The Hunt for Reduk Topa by Barry J. Hutchison]()
The Hunt for Reduk Topa by Barry J. Hutchison
Rated: 4.45 of 5 stars · 11 ratingsFeaturing unexpected stabbings, maniacal puppets, and a dog with a head like a testicle, Space Team: The Hunt for Reduk Topa is the twelfth book in the Space Team series, and the perfect jumping on point for new readers... -
![Return of the Dead Guy by Barry J. Hutchison]()
Return of the Dead Guy by Barry J. Hutchison
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 13 ratingsThey may have recently averted a full-scale galactic war, but Cal Carver and Space Team just can't stay out of trouble. When a 'Weird Space Thing™' threatens to destroy planet Earth, Cal is determined to stop it. But when they get there, they find the place is still swarming with parasitic extra-terrestrial bugs, and that there isn't a whole lot left to save... -
![Space Team: The Time Titan of Tomorrow by Barry J. Hutchison]()
Space Team: The Time Titan of Tomorrow by Barry J. Hutchison
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 13 ratingsCal Carver's time is about to run out. He and his Space Team are broke. Forced to take low-paying gun-for-hire jobs just to keep the food replicator working, their prospects are not looking good. When they pick up a distress signal from a luxury space cruiser, they think their luck might be about to change. And it does. Sadly, not in the way they'd hoped... -
![The Guns of Nana Joan by Barry J. Hutchison]()
The Guns of Nana Joan by Barry J. Hutchison
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 13 ratings"This series just keeps getting better and better!" - PRBC, Amazon The galaxy is at war, and Space Team just can't seem to stay out of trouble. Following one close-call too many, the team hides out on a tiny backwater moon, hoping the hostilities between Zertex and the Symmorium will all just blow over... -
![Are You Scared, Darth Vader? by Adam Rex]()
Are You Scared, Darth Vader? by Adam Rex
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsIt's midnight and the moon is full, but Darth Vader isn't scared. OF COURSE I AM NOT SCARED. Nothing can scare Lord Vader! CORRECT. Not monsters or witches or ghosts, and especially not the dark. So what is Darth Vader scared of? Read on in Adam Rex's hilarious and spooky Star Wars tale to find out! YOU WILL LEARN NOTHING... -
![Not Till We Are Lost by Dennis E. Taylor, Ray Porter]()
Not Till We Are Lost by Dennis E. Taylor, Ray Porter
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThe number one best-selling series that Audible listeners call “wonderfully entertaining”, “packed with humor, geek references and thought-provoking storylines”, and performed by “a true master story teller and actor” returns as the Bobs face their deadliest challenge yet... -
-
![Heaven's River by Dennis E. Taylor]()
Heaven's River by Dennis E. Taylor
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 37 ratingsCivil war looms in the Bobiverse in this brand-new, epic-length adventure by best seller Dennis E. Taylor.More than a hundred years ago, Bender set out for the stars and was never heard from again. There has been no trace of him despite numerous searches by his clone-mates. Now Bob is determined to organize an expedition to learn Bender’s fate—whatever the cost... -
![Freelance On The Galactic Tunnel Network by E.M. Foner]()
Freelance On The Galactic Tunnel Network by E.M. Foner
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsCan a food writer turned investigative journalist uncover financial fraud on a galactic scale?It's been less than a century since ancient alien AI saved us from financial suicide by adding our planet to their interstellar tunnel network... -
![Family Night on Union Station by E.M. Foner]()
Family Night on Union Station by E.M. Foner
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsStart series with the first book, Date Night on Union Station. A new species has jumped into the Sol system for a quick look, leading the Stryx to assign humans to the greeting mission. Dorothy and Kevin leave on a trading mission in his new ship, bringing the dog, and Samuel and Vivian start at the Open University... -
![Guest Night on Union Station by E.M. Foner]()
Guest Night on Union Station by E.M. Foner
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsAn alternative cover edition for this ASIN can be found here.Book Eight of the EarthCent Ambassador Series - Start with the free Book One, Date Night on Union Station On the other side of the galaxy, the Cayl Empire has decided to wind down operations and the Stryx are planning to pick up the pieces... -
![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...Categorized as:
aliens humor satire space-opera space-travel 20th-century action-adventure audiobook -
![Space Team: Planet of the Japes by Barry J. Hutchison]()
Space Team: Planet of the Japes by Barry J. Hutchison
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 13 ratingsWhile trying to stop a cyber-attacker stealing all Space Team's hard-earned money, the cyborg, Mech, unlocks a secret partition in his hard drive, revealing a mysterious set of co-ordinates. The co-ordinates lead the team to Funworld, a planet-sized theme park with a worrying number of artificially intelligent clownbots, and a shocking disregard for Health & Safety... -
![Sting of the Mustard Mines by Barry J. Hutchison]()
Sting of the Mustard Mines by Barry J. Hutchison
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 13 ratingsThe Space Team Universe has been changed forever!Having journeyed through time in order to restore peace to the galaxy, Cal Carver and Space Team are a little dismayed to find out they may have inadvertently made things even worse.Whoops... -
![SpecOps by Craig Alanson]()
SpecOps by Craig Alanson
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 25 ratingsThe sequel to 'Columbus Day'. Colonel Joe Bishop made a promise and he's going to keep it; taking the captured alien starship Flying Dutchman back out. He doesn't agree when the UN decides to send almost 70 elite Special Operations troops, hotshot pilots and scientists with him; the mission is a fool's errand he doesn't expect to ever return... -
![The Search for Splurt by Barry J. Hutchison]()
The Search for Splurt by Barry J. Hutchison
Rated: 4.27 of 5 stars · 15 ratingsThe third part of the laugh-out-loud sci-fi adventure series from the author critics are calling 'the new Douglas Adams.' Cal Carver, petty-criminal turned space adventurer, is on a suicide mission - and he really hates suicide missions. But this time it's to save his best buddy, Splurt, who has been taken prisoner by the the elderly assassin, Lady Vajazzle, and the evil Zertex corporation... -
![The Wrath of Vajazzle by Barry J. Hutchison]()
The Wrath of Vajazzle by Barry J. Hutchison
Rated: 4.27 of 5 stars · 15 ratingsSuicide Squad meets Galaxy Quest, in this fast-paced, laugh-out-loud novel from the author the Independent calls, "the new Terry Pratchett." After saving an alien race and its god from a sentient zombie virus, Cal Carver and the crew of the Dread Ship Shatner are feeling pretty pleased with themselves... -
-
![William Shakespeare's The Jedi Doth Return by Ian Doescher]()
William Shakespeare's The Jedi Doth Return by Ian Doescher
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThe epic trilogy that began with William Shakespeare’s Star Wars and continued with The Empire Striketh Back concludes herein with the all-new, all-iambic The Jedi Doth Return—perchance the greatest adventure of them all.Prithee, attend the tale so far: Han Solo entombed in carbonite, the princess taken captive, the Rebel Alliance besieged, and Jabba the Hutt engorged... -
![William Shakespeare's The Empire Striketh Back by Ian Doescher]()
William Shakespeare's The Empire Striketh Back by Ian Doescher
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsHot on the heels of the New York Times best seller William Shakespeare’s Star Wars comes the next two installments of the original trilogy: William Shakespeare’s The Empire Striketh Back and William Shakespeare’s The Jedi Doth Return... -
![Doctor Who: Shada by Gareth Roberts]()
Doctor Who: Shada by Gareth Roberts
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsFrom the unique mind of Douglas Adams, the legendary "lost" Doctor Who story has been completed at last by Gareth Roberts and narrated by Lalla Ward.The Doctor’s old friend and fellow Time Lord Professor Chronotis has retired to Cambridge University—where nobody will notice if he lives for centuries. But now he needs help from the Doctor, Romana and K-9...Categorized as:
aliens humor satire space-opera 20th-century 21st-century action-adventure audiobook -
![Empire Night on Union Station by E.M. Foner]()
Empire Night on Union Station by E.M. Foner
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsBook Eighteen of EarthCent Ambassador. Start series with Book One, Date Night on Union Station.The population of the Conference of Sovereign Human Communities hits a billion, triggering a previously unnoticed clause in the Tunnel Network Treaty... -
![Career Night on Union Station by E.M. Foner]()
Career Night on Union Station by E.M. Foner
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsStart the EarthCent Ambassador series with the three book bundle, Union Station 1, 2, 3. Kelly returns from sabbatical and finally has the opportunity to expand her embassy with a conference room, providing she can find a contractor willing to take the job... -
![Wanderers On Union Station by E.M. Foner]()
Wanderers On Union Station by E.M. Foner
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsBook Six of EarthCent Ambassador. Start the series with the free Book One - Date Night on Union Station. Three years have passed, and the children are growing like weeds as Aisha grows into a new career. A mob of alien party animals has settled near Union Station like a plague, but nobody seems willing to see them off... -
![Party Night on Union Station by E.M. Foner]()
Party Night on Union Station by E.M. Foner
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsAn alternative cover edition for this ASIN can be found here.Book Ten of EarthCent Ambassador. Start series with Book One, Date Night on Union Station. Kelly heads to Earth for the first ever Conference of EarthCent Ambassadors, but while the cat's away, the mice will play... -
![Vacation on Union Station by E.M. Foner]()
Vacation on Union Station by E.M. Foner
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsBook Seven of the EarthCent Ambassador Series - Start with the free Book One, Date Night on Union Station The Wanderers have just moved on from Union Station and the ambassador is ready to take her first vacation in fifteen years. Unfortunately, the rules on paid vacation for EarthCent employees have changed for the worse, retroactively... -
![Review Night on Union Station by E.M. Foner]()
Review Night on Union Station by E.M. Foner
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsStart series with the first book, Date Night on Union Station. Kelly has served as the ambassador on Union Station for over two decades, but humanity remains on probationary status. When the Stryx inform EarthCent that their membership status is under review, Kelly goes all out to prepare for the test of her lifetime... -
![Carnival On Union Station by E.M. Foner]()
Carnival On Union Station by E.M. Foner
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsStart series with the free first book, Date Night on Union Station The first carnival to take place on Union Station since humanity joined the galactic community is coming, and the ambassadors of the different species are all entered in the election to become Carnival King or Queen. It’s not a job that Kelly wants, and fortunately for her, the humans get a late start at electioneering... -
-
![William Shakespeare's Tragedy of the Sith's Revenge by Ian Doescher]()
William Shakespeare's Tragedy of the Sith's Revenge by Ian Doescher
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsTo thine own Sith be true. Lend us your ears and comlinks for a Shakespearean retelling of Star Wars Episode III! A once-heroic knight becomes the darkest of villains. The Jedi suffer slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. The Republic falls, an Empire rises, and so begins the long wait for a New Hope... -
![Will Destroy the Galaxy for Cash by Yahtzee Croshaw]()
Will Destroy the Galaxy for Cash by Yahtzee Croshaw
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 15 ratingsThe hero of Will Save the Galaxy for Cash returns to do what he does best. Which is - what again, exactly?With the age of heroic star pilots and galactic villains completely killed by quantum teleportation, the ex-star pilot currently named Dashford Pierce is struggling to find his identity in a changing universe... -
![For the Emperor by Sandy Mitchell]()
For the Emperor by Sandy Mitchell
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsCommisar Ciaphas Cain - hero of the Imperium and renowned across the sector for his bravery and valour - is sent to help maintain order on an outpost world on the borders of Tau space. But when the alien ambassador is murdered and the situation quickly spirals out of control, Cain and his regiment of Valhallans find themselves in the middle of a war... -
![Rusty Hinges by Alan Black]()
Rusty Hinges by Alan Black
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsStone’s fist, secure in the combat suit and hidden by camouflage, impacted the Hyrocanian mouth before it closed around the baby. Stone grabbed the helpless piglet with his free hand and tossed it to a startled female. The piglet, the last of her kind on the delivery shuttle, grabbed the baby and ran. Stone twisted his fist, trying his best to break every tooth in the Hyrocanian’s mouth... -
![Trapped Outside by Alan Black]()
Trapped Outside by Alan Black
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThe sequel to #1 best selling science fiction novel Metal Boxes. Blackmon Perry Stone hasn't gotten over his fear of being outside and he still hasn't settled into life in the Empire's Navy. After months of legal wrangling over his last assignment, he has been given a new assignment. He was looking forward to getting an new posting on a spaceship or a station... -
![At the Edge by Alan Black]()
At the Edge by Alan Black
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsEnsign Stone’s goals were to make his way in the empire’s navy, make his family proud of him, and make love to his fiancée. No matter which way he turned, someone was conspiring against him. Disgraced and humiliated, he is court-martialed, discharged, and abandoned... -
![Word Night on Union Station by E.M. Foner]()
Word Night on Union Station by E.M. Foner
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsAn alternative cover edition for this ASIN can be found here.Book Nine of the EarthCent Ambassador Series - Start with the free Book One, Date Night on Union Station Over half of Earth's population has left the planet, mainly as contract workers for aliens, and the homeworld is losing relevance to the emigrants... -
![Dial D for Deadman by Barry J. Hutchison]()
Dial D for Deadman by Barry J. Hutchison
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThe Space Team Universe just got a whole lot darker. In an alien city torn apart by crooked cops and ruthless criminals, private detective, Dan Deadman, specializes in cases unusual and bizarre... -
![Terminal Uprising by Jim C. Hines]()
Terminal Uprising by Jim C. Hines
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsIt’s been four months since Marion “Mops” Adamopoulos learned the truth. Four months since she and her team of hygiene and sanitation specialists stole the EMCS Pufferfish and stopped a bioterrorism attack against the Krakau homeworld. Four months since she set out to find proof of what really happened on Earth all those years ago... -
![Spy Night on Union Station by E.M. Foner]()
Spy Night on Union Station by E.M. Foner
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsSpy Night on Union Stationis is Book 4 of the EarthCent Ambassador series. The story picks up less than a year after the events of High Priest on Union Station, with Kelly coming to the conclusion that EarthCent needs an intelligence service. Of course, EarthCent has no institutional knowledge of what spies do, or how they work, so the new agency gets off to a slow start... -
-
![High Priest on Union Station by E.M. Foner]()
High Priest on Union Station by E.M. Foner
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsStart series with free first book, Date Night on Union Station Two years after the events of Alien Night on Union Station, Kelly faces new challenges as the EarthCent Ambassador. The growing acceptance of humans by their alien neighbors plus a measure of her own personal fame (or infamy) is resulting in too much work for an embassy with only two full-time staffers... -
![Suck My Cosmos by Steven Campbell]()
Suck My Cosmos by Steven Campbell
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsLife is tough on the space station Belvaille. Not for the aristocratic nobles that call it home, but for the poor slobs like Hank. Hank is considered a "celebrated cutthroat" and the oldest living person in the city. His occupation is to be hired muscle for those people who don't want to get their hands dirty but still want dirty things done... -
![The Rock from the Sky by Jon Klassen]()
The Rock from the Sky by Jon Klassen
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsLook up!Turtle really likes standing in his favorite spot. He likes it so much that he asks his friend Armadillo to come over and stand in it, too. But now that Armadillo is standing in that spot, he has a bad feeling about it . .Categorized as:
aliens humor space-travel 21st-century action-adventure animals anthropomorphism book -
![Lady Slings the Booze by Spider Robinson]()
Lady Slings the Booze by Spider Robinson
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsDespite his employer's doubts that he is an authentic detective, Quigley is called in to investigate Lady Sally's establishment, a reputable place that caters to adults of all species and tastes. Lady Sally was the wife of the proprietor of Callahan's Place, the bar where human and other beings from all space and time come to cajole, drink, and occasionally save the world... -
![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... -
![Death or Glory by Sandy Mitchell]()
Death or Glory by Sandy Mitchell
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsYet again, reluctant hero Commissar Cain is catapulted into glory in the fourth story of this tremendously popular series. Escaping from a disastrous space battle, the commissar and his malodorous sidekick Jurgen crash-land behind enemy lines. The only way out is to round up what few troops they can find, and fight their way back to the safety of the Imperial lines...
Or - use our amazing romance book finder to get recommendations based on your favorite content tropes and themes. Mix and match at will.
