Past Kindle Book Deals but Still Must Read Books!
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128 past books matching First Contact
A reluctant conscript stumbles into a war he never asked to fight.
Mercury Rising
Sci-Fi · Alien Invasion · First Contact · Space Opera
Our take
A reluctant conscript stumbles into a war he never asked to fight. Mercury Rising follows Brooklyn, an ordinary man framed for murder and forced into Earth’s orbital defenses during an alien conflict that has already rewritten history. As space battles and buried conspiracies collide, survival demands more than obedience. This is an alternate-history science fiction novel driven by dark humor, escalating stakes, and the realization that the real threat may be closer than it appears.
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About the book
Top Gun in space!
An alternative history with aliens, an immortal misanthrope and SF tropes aplenty
The year is 1975 – Robert Oppenheimer has invented the Atomic Engine, the first human has walked on the moon, and Jet Carson and the Eagle Seven have sacrificed their lives to stop alien invaders.
Brooklyn, however, just wants to keep his head down, pay his mother’s rent, earn a little scratch of his own, and maybe get laid sometime. Simple pleasures! But life is about to get real complicated when a killer with a baseball bat and a mysterious box of 8-track tapes sets him up for murder.
So, his choices are limited – rot away in prison or sign up to defend the planet from the assholes who dropped a meteorite on Cleveland. Brooklyn crosses his fingers and picks the Earth Orbital Forces, believing that after a few years in the trenches – assuming he survives – he can get his life back. Unfortunately, the universe has other plans.
Brooklyn is launched into a quest to save humanity, find his true family, and grow as a person – while simultaneously coping with high-stakes space battles, mystery science experiments and the realisation that the true enemies perhaps aren’t the tentacled monsters on the recruitment poster… Or are they?
File Under: Science Fiction [ Little Green Men | Injection | Below the Crust | The Truth is out There ]
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Good for readers who want science-driven apocalyptic sci-fi, space discovery, and survival stakes.
Winter World
Dystopian · First Contact · Techno-Thriller
Our take
Longlisted for the Wilbur Smith Award, Winter World follows a near-future NASA mission to investigate a mysterious object near Mars as a new ice age pushes humanity toward extinction, with a 4.5-star rating from more than 32,100 Amazon reviewers. Good for readers who want science-driven apocalyptic sci-fi, space discovery, and survival stakes.
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A new ice age—and a shocking discovery—will change humanity forever.
From the worldwide bestselling author of Lost in Time and Departure comes an epic novel with an unforgettable twist.
Longlisted for the Wilbur Smith Award for best published novel.
In the near future, a new ice age has begun.
Humanity stands on the brink of extinction.
Desperate for answers, scientists send probes into the solar system to take readings. Near Mars, they identify a mysterious object moving toward the Sun. Is it the cause of the ice age? Or could it be humanity's only hope of survival?
With time running out, NASA launches a mission to make contact. But the object isn't what anyone thought. In the dark of space, alone, the team makes a discovery that will change the course of human history—and possibly end it.
Filled with real science and fascinating details, Winter World is that unique blend of fact and fiction that could completely change how you see our planet—and humanity's future.
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Seven strangers wake up after the end of the world and realize the apocalypse has left behind more questions than corpses.
The Apocalypse Seven
Dystopian · Sci-Fi · First Contact · Time Travel
Our take
Seven strangers wake up after the end of the world and realize the apocalypse has left behind more questions than corpses. With entire populations gone, weather gone feral, and the world turning weirder by the hour, this ragtag group has no choice but to start hunting for answers. The Apocalypse Seven mixes post-apocalyptic mystery, offbeat humor, and found-family into a story that feels equal parts cozy and deeply strange.
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Seven strangers attempt to figure out how they missed the end of the world in this cozy apocalypse story by the author of The Spaceship Next Door.
"Doucette's seven aren't just magnificent—they're also entertaining as hell." —Scott Sigler, New York Times–bestselling author of the Infected trilogy
This is the world ends, not with a bang, but a whatever . . .
The whateverpocalypse. That's what Touré, a twenty-something Cambridge coder, calls it after waking up one morning to find himself seemingly the only person left in the city. Once he finds Robbie and Carol, two equally disoriented Harvard freshmen, he realizes he isn't alone, but the name sticks: Whateverpocalypse. But it doesn't explain where everyone went. It doesn't explain how the city became overgrown with vegetation in the space of a night. Or how wild animals with no fear of humans came to roam the streets.
Add freakish weather to the mix, swings of temperature that spawn tornadoes one minute and snowstorms the next, and it seems things can't get much weirder. Yet even as a handful of new survivors appear—Paul, a preacher as quick with a gun as a Bible verse; Win, a young professional with a horse; Bethany, a thirteen-year-old juvenile delinquent; and Ananda, an MIT astrophysics adjunct—life in Cambridge, Massachusetts gets stranger and stranger.
The self-styled Apocalypse Seven are tired of questions with no answers. Tired of being hunted by things seen and unseen. Now, armed with curiosity, desperation, a shotgun, and a bow, they become the hunters. And that's when things truly get weird.
"The adventure I've been looking for! Never once did I know what to expect, and I loved being proved wrong at every turn. Far more mind-bending than a book this fun has any right to be." —Zack Jordan, author of The Last Human
"[A] riveting postapocalyptic outing. . . . Doucette's vibrant prose and unique premise make for an enticing adventure." —Publishers Weekly
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When invisible barriers appear across Earth, ordinary lives are shattered by an impossible mystery.
The Glass
Post-Apocalyptic · Sci-Fi · Alien Invasion · First Contact
Our take
When invisible barriers appear across Earth, ordinary lives are shattered by an impossible mystery. A father, a detective, a journalist, and two lovers are drawn together as they cross the Glass and uncover a truth that could reshape humanity. The Glass: The Complete Series delivers epic science fiction tension and emotional depth, with 4.5 stars on Amazon and Goodreads.
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About the book
THE GLASS: THE COMPLETE SERIES is over 1200 pages of thrilling adventure, inspiring characters, and mysterious aliens. With over 5000 ratings, you won’t want to miss out. What’s really behind the Glass?
A hush falls over Earth as invisible barriers appear at random. Cars crash into them; trees are sliced in half, but nothing prepares humanity for what comes next.
As the effects take hold, Ransom learns his young daughter Chrissy is prone to inclinations, which is exactly what he’d feared the most. Drake, a seasoned detective, joins forces with Britt, a brilliant journalist, as well as Peggy and Will, two small town lovers unwittingly thrust into danger.
The road won’t be easy, and they have no choice but to venture past the Glass. What they find on the other side is another story.
From the best-selling author of The Event, First Life, Echoes From the Moon, and Lost Contact.
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After aliens domesticate humanity, one man lives as a “good” pet until his owner gambles his life away.
After The Fall
Sci-Fi · First Contact
Our take
After aliens domesticate humanity, one man lives as a “good” pet until his owner gambles his life away. With sixty days to buy back his freedom, John navigates alien crime, feral humans, and a deadly mystery in the woods. This genre-blending science fiction novel mixes satire, danger, and unexpected heart.
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About the book
Part alien invasion story, part buddy comedy, and part workplace satire, After The Fall by Edward Ashton, author of Mickey7 (inspiration for the film Mickey 17), asks an important question: would humans really make great pets?
Humans must be silent. Humans must be obedient. Humans must be good.
All his life, John has tried to live by those rules. Most days, it’s not too difficult. A hundred and twenty years after The Fall, and a hundred years after the grays swept in to pick the last dregs of humanity out of the wreckage of a ruined world, John has found himself bonded to Martok Barden nee Black Hand, one of the "good" grays. Sure, Martok is broke, homeless, and borderline manic, but he’s always treated John like an actual person, and sometimes like a friend. It’s a better deal than most humans get.
But when Martok puts John’s bond up as collateral against an abandoned house in the woods that he hopes to turn into a wilderness retreat for wealthy grays, John learns that there are limits to Martok’s friendship. Soon he finds himself caught between an underworld boss who thinks Martok is something that he very much is not, a girl who was raised by feral humans and has nothing but contempt for pets like John, and Martok himself, whose delusions of grandeur seem to be finally catching up with him.
Also, not for nothing, something in the woods has been killing people.
John has sixty days before Martok’s loan comes due to unravel the mystery of how humans wound up holding the wrong end of the domestication stick and find a way to turn Martok’s half-baked plans into profit enough to buy back his life, all while avoiding getting butchered by feral humans or having his head crushed by an angry gray. Easy peasy, right?
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A human expedition is lost inside a black hole and emerges four billion years in the future, where Earth is gone and galaxies collide.
Altered Starscape
Sci-Fi · First Contact · Military Sci-Fi · Space Exploration
Our take
A human expedition is lost inside a black hole and emerges four billion years in the future, where Earth is gone and galaxies collide. Leading the survivors, Lord Commander Grayson St. Clair faces alien powers that can weaponize space itself. This epic military space opera earns 4.2 stars on Amazon and 3.7 stars on Goodreads.
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Galaxies collide in a thrilling new series from bestselling author Ian Douglas, as the last humans in the universe face off against a new threat
2162. Thirty-eight years after first contact, Lord Commander Grayson St. Clair leads the Tellus Ad Astra on an unprecedented expedition to the Galactic Core, carrying more than a million scientists, diplomats, soldiers, and AIs. Despite his reservations about their alien hosts, St. Clair is deeply committed to his people—especially after they're sucked into a black hole and spat out four billion years in the future.
Civilizations have risen and fallen. The Andromeda Galaxy is drifting into the Milky Way. And Earth is most certainly a distant memory. All that matters now is survival. But as the ship's Marines search for allies amid ancient ruins and strange new planetary structures, St. Clair must wrap his mind around an enemy capable of harnessing a weapon of incomprehensible power: space itself.
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A good pick for readers who like space mysteries, missing expeditions, wormhole travel, and ensemble science fiction.
Ethos
Sci-Fi · First Contact · Space Exploration · Space Opera
Our take
Three centuries after Earth’s first interstellar expedition vanished, its colony ship reappears near Saturn with no crew aboard, sending Captain Calvin Brooks and a new team back through the Link to search for the lost Ethos colony, with a 4.4-star rating from more than 1,700 Amazon reviewers. A good pick for readers who like space mysteries, missing expeditions, wormhole travel, and ensemble science fiction.
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About the book
Ethos was mankind’s greatest hope. Until the Link closed.
On the 300th anniversary of Earth’s first expedition to another solar system, the original colony ship miraculously appears near Saturn. But the crew of Excursion One is nowhere to be found. All that’s left is a broken android, and a string of clues.
Captain Calvin Brooks, a hero from the Solar Wars, spends his days trying to forget the past on Link Station, until he’s thrust into danger when he’s asked to pilot the decayed ship back through the wormhole to search for the Ethos colony.
Jane Vanderbilt is the world’s most renowned historian on the revamped Excursion One mission, and her connection to the crew runs deep. Jane is added to the team by a mysterious astrophysicist, loyal to the Diplomats.
Luke Dalton is haunted by tragedy. He works the mines on Mars, while the loss of his family constantly weighs on him. The Deniers have other plans. Luke’s enlisted for duty by the Diplomat’s enemy. His mission: learn what really happened on Ethos.
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When crystalline warships overwhelm humanity’s defenses, Colonel Mateo Larra must hold a fragile trans galactic base against an enemy that consumes entire civilizations.
Forward Command
Sci-Fi · First Contact · Military Sci-Fi · Space Exploration · Space Opera
Our take
When crystalline warships overwhelm humanity’s defenses, Colonel Mateo Larra must hold a fragile trans galactic base against an enemy that consumes entire civilizations. With untested pilots, hidden spies, and an unstoppable living force advancing, survival rests on strategy and resolve. A high intensity military science fiction thriller where one station stands between humanity and extinction.
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About the book
Eighty missiles. Twelve get through. Barely a scratch.
When crystalline warships emerge from nowhere above Joint Base Sagittarius Arch, Colonel Mateo Larra discovers humanity’s weapons are nearly useless. The Kin’s living vessels absorb punishment that would vaporize a battleship, while their energy weapons carve through Coalition shields like tissue paper.
But the Kin are just slaves to something far deadlier… the Home, a moon-sized organism that has devoured civilizations for millennia. It doesn’t want resources or territory.
It wants biological material.
Outgunned and isolated in a hostile galaxy, Larra must defend humanity’s first trans-galactic base with whatever he has: untested pilots, civilian volunteers, and a sheer stubborn refusal to die. While mysterious six-armed aliens watch from the shadows and League spies work within, the Colonel faces an enemy that has never known defeat.
One space station. One wormhole. One chance to stop an unstoppable force.
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Earthbound follows climatologist Phil Bright as wormholes tear through Saturn’s rings and signal an extinction-level threat to Earth.
Earthbound
Sci-Fi · First Contact · Galactic Empire · Hard Sci-Fi · Space Exploration
Our take
Earthbound follows climatologist Phil Bright as wormholes tear through Saturn’s rings and signal an extinction-level threat to Earth. Salvation arrives from an alien kingdom ruled by an AI sovereign, but at the cost of human independence. As Phil uncovers the truth behind this power, he must weigh survival against surrender in a choice that will define humanity’s future.
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Earth faces annihilation. A tear in spacetime. An impossible choice.
Dr. Phil Bright's specialty was weather patterns, not existential threats. But when mysterious wormholes begin to appear near Saturn, carving massive, inexplicable gaps in the planet's rings, the impossible becomes terrifyingly real. Humanity is unprepared, grappling with a phenomenon that defies all known science.
Salvation arrives from an unknown galactic kingdom, heralded by a human professor with advanced technology and an offer of help. Yet, the price is steeper than any could imagine: Earth must surrender its sovereignty and pledge allegiance to King Manay XII, an artificial intelligence sovereign ruling trillions.
As Phil navigates a world of skeptical governments, alien wonders, and the truth behind the kingdom's ancient power, he's forced to confront the ultimate dilemma: sacrifice humanity's freedom for survival, or watch the planet he loves be consumed by cosmic ruin.
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Interstellar repo man Fergus Ferguson travels to the remote colony of Cernee to steal back a ship from a ruthless trade boss—but a sudden explosion plunges the settlement…
Finder
Sci-Fi · First Contact · Hard Sci-Fi · Space Opera
Our take
Interstellar repo man Fergus Ferguson travels to the remote colony of Cernee to steal back a ship from a ruthless trade boss—but a sudden explosion plunges the settlement into chaos. Forced to ally with rebels, dodge mercenaries, and contend with unsettling alien ships, Fergus discovers this “simple” job may demand more heroism than he ever planned. Suzanne Palmer launches a sharp, high-energy sci-fi caper.
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About the book
HUGO AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR: The first “wicked, fast-paced, and fun” sci-fi caper about an interstellar repo man and professional finder (Elizabeth Bear, author of Ancestral Night).
“The zippier, zanier side of space opera.” —B&N Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog
Fergus Ferguson has been called a lot of names: thief, con artist, repo man. He prefers the term finder. His latest job should be simple. Find the spacecraft Venetia's Sword and steal it back from Arum Gilger, ex-nobleman turned power-hungry trade boss. He’ll slip in, decode the ship’s compromised AI security, and get out of town, Sword in hand.
Fergus locates both Gilger and the ship in the farthest corner of human-inhabited space, a backwater deep space colony called Cernee. But Fergus’ arrival at the colony is anything but simple. A cable car explosion launches Cernee into civil war, and Fergus must ally with Gilger’s enemies to navigate a field of space mines and a small army of hostile mercenaries. What was supposed to be a routine job evolves into negotiating a power struggle between factions. Even worse, Fergus has become increasingly—and inconveniently—invested in the lives of the locals.
It doesn’t help that a dangerous alien species Fergus thought mythical prove unsettlingly real, and their ominous triangle ships keep following him around.
Foolhardy. Eccentric. Reckless. Whatever he’s called, Fergus will need all the help he can get to take back the Sword and maybe save Cernee from destruction in the process.
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Ean Lambert is a level-ten linesman, but his ability to hear the lines sing sets him apart—and makes others doubt him.
Linesman
Sci-Fi · First Contact · Space Opera
Our take
Ean Lambert is a level-ten linesman, but his ability to hear the lines sing sets him apart—and makes others doubt him. When a mysterious alien ship appears with deadly defenses and unfamiliar energy lines, Ean is the only one it doesn’t attack. His rare talent may unlock its secrets and reshape humanity’s future in this gripping series opener by S. K. Dunstall.
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About the book
First in a brand new thought-provoking science fiction series.
The lines. No ship can traverse the void without them. Only linesmen can work with them. But only Ean Lambert hears their song. And everyone thinks he’s crazy…
Most slum kids never go far, certainly not becoming a level-ten linesman like Ean. Even if he’s part of a small, and unethical, cartel, and the other linesmen disdain his self-taught methods, he’s certified and working.
Then a mysterious alien ship is discovered at the edges of the galaxy. Each of the major galactic powers is desperate to be the first to uncover the ship’s secrets, but all they’ve learned is that it has the familiar lines of energy—and a defense system that, once triggered, annihilates everything in a 200 kilometer radius.
The vessel threatens any linesman who dares to approach it, except Ean. His unique talents may be the key to understanding this alarming new force—and reconfiguring the relationship between humans and the ships that serve them, forever.
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Ideal for readers looking for funny, flamboyant sci-fi with aliens, spectacle, music, and absurdly high stakes.
Space Opera
Speculative Fiction · Sci-Fi · First Contact · Space Opera
Our take
A Hugo Award finalist for Best Novel, Space Opera sends Decibel Jones and the Absolute Zeroes to represent Earth in a galactic song competition where failure means extermination, with a 4.0-star rating from more than 2,100 Amazon reviewers. Ideal for readers looking for funny, flamboyant sci-fi with aliens, spectacle, music, and absurdly high stakes.
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About the book
2019 HUGO AWARD FINALIST, BEST NOVEL
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy meets the joy and glamour of Eurovision in bestselling author Catherynne M. Valente's science fiction spectacle, where sentient races compete for glory in a galactic musical contest…and the stakes are as high as the fate of planet Earth.
A century ago, the Sentience Wars tore the galaxy apart and nearly ended the entire concept of intelligent space-faring life. In the aftermath, a curious tradition was invented—something to cheer up everyone who was left and bring the shattered worlds together in the spirit of peace, unity, and understanding.
Once every cycle, the great galactic civilizations gather for the Metagalactic Grand Prix—part gladiatorial contest, part beauty pageant, part concert extravaganza, and part continuation of the wars of the past. Species far and wide compete in feats of song, dance and/or whatever facsimile of these can be performed by various creatures who may or may not possess, in the traditional sense, feet, mouths, larynxes, or faces. And if a new species should wish to be counted among the high and the mighty, if a new planet has produced some savage group of animals, machines, or algae that claim to be, against all odds, sentient? Well, then they will have to compete. And if they fail? Sudden extermination for their entire species.
This year, though, humankind has discovered the enormous universe. And while they expected to discover a grand drama of diplomacy, gunships, wormholes, and stoic councils of aliens, they have instead found glitter, lipstick, and electric guitars. Mankind will not get to fight for its destiny—they must sing.
Decibel Jones and the Absolute Zeroes have been chosen to represent their planet on the greatest stage in the galaxy. And the fate of Earth lies in their ability to rock.
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