I could try and give you a list of my top ten favourite military science fiction novels and series, ranked from one to ten. But here’s the thing. I don’t believe it’s realistic to take novels, films, audiobooks, sculptures and paintings and assign a numerical value to them.
How can you expect someone to choose between Da Vinci and Rembrandt? Or Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman? Perhaps roast dinners and rhubarb crumble?
But I can tell you that I’m not interested in seafood or impressionism.
I can also tell you that I love Starship Troopers and The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. I love basically everything written by Terry Pratchett. I am terrified that what the BBC are doing with The Watch will be a horrifying insult to what it could have been, after Good Omens was handled so well and with such respect and The Witcher was done so well.
What’s this list then? Well, this seems like a much better way for me to recommend great reading material to you. Instead of selecting specific books and giving you my take on them, I’m suggesting you look at these authors. The books I’ve picked are some of theirs that are most popular recently.
I suggest you follow them all on Amazon and social media. If you like our Royal Marine Space Commandos books, you’ll probably like most or all of the books written by these authors.
I’ve selected this first batch of ten authors because they write great books that their fans love and they are all genuinely nice people you’d want to have a beer with. I’ve met them all in author conferences from London, to Bali, to Edinburgh and Las Vegas. We’ve eaten far too much TGI Fridays together, an enormous amount of bacon, the lucky ones ate insanely awesome breakfasts in Bali and I’ve even roleplayed with a few of them (tabletop, not LARP).
Everyone on this list is an indie author and I consider them all friends. You might think I’m biased, but you’d be right. I am. It’s much easier to recommend books from people I enjoy spending time with. Not that I’ve met anyone at the conferences who I didn’t want to spend time with.
I’ll have more authors to recommend to you soon enough and I’ll branch out into other genres as soon as I can (from urban fantasy, to LitRPG & Gamelit, to space opera and space fantasy). To start with though I’m going to concentrate on indie authors I know who write sci-fi of some form.
Why is this just a list of indie authors? Well, everyone here is an entrepreneur and they all need as many readers as possible. It’s a lot of work and a considerable investment to get out good quality novels but the fabulous thing about the indie scene is that readers can find authors who write a lot of books.
Yes, I know, not me. I had a weak year in productivity terms but we’ve still got three books out this year.
Many of the people below publish a new book once a month or so. That’s something that traditional publishers just don’t do. They won’t even let their authors publish more books. That means if you get into one of these authors, you shouldn’t be surprised to get several books a year from them.
We’re also great at producing ‘boxed sets’* of our work. There’s a couple of examples in the list below and they’re only £0.99/$0.99.
Indie authors also tend to give away free ebooks, stories, background information, audiobooks and all sorts on their mailing lists.
Now, you may be thinking, “Why would any author encourage you to read other author’s books? Aren’t other authors the competition?” That’s not a bad question but it’s quite simple. When I up my game and start writing one book a month (fingers crossed), my readers can still read that in a few hours. There are readers out there who get through more than one book a day. Even the most productive authors I know simply cannot keep up with that and so we’re not competing against each other in any sense that matters. If anything we’re more likely to be competing with Netflix and PC games for your time.
I hope you find some new authors to try out on the list and don’t forget to look at their other books. They have all sorts of content for you to enjoy.
Best wishes for a happy and prosperous New Year to you all.
Jon Evans
(New Year’s Eve 2019)
*Really we should call them omnibus editions because ebooks don’t come in boxes and it’s not cost-effective to make actual box sets of paperbacks as you sometimes see with The Chronicles of Narnia.
When their mission fails, his begins.
“A tour de force.”–David Weber, NYT bestselling author of the Honor Harrington Series.
Special Agent Jackson Fischer is a man after truth. When a military operation to extract a high-ranking ambassador from the war-torn, border-world of Stonemeyer ends in disaster, Fischer is called in to investigate.
A whole platoon went in, but only three Alliance Marines returned home, the rest killed in action along with hundreds of civilians. With tensions between the Holloman Alliance and Stonemeyer rising, Fischer attempts to stitch the pieces together. One thing becomes more and more certain: The surviving Marines are lying.
As the truth unfurls, Fischer begins to realize this was far more than a simple rescue mission…and that the truth might be something best left buried.
Filled with action, mystery, and well-crafted characters, Edge of Valor (Valor Series Book 1) will pull you into a world of war, conspiracy, and betrayal. It’s perfect for fans of David Weber’s Honorverse, or Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan with a futuristic flair.
Also available on Audible, narrated by the award-winning Marc Vietor.
When a high-value scientist is taken hostage inside the galaxy’s most dangerous prison, Halek Cain is the only man for the job.
The last remaining survivor of the Reaper program, Hal is an unstoppable force of fuel and madness. A veteran amputee-turned-cyborg, he has a history of violence and a talent for killing that is unmatched by any soldier.
With the promise of freedom as his only incentive, he’ll stop at nothing to earn back his life from the people who made him, imprisoned him, and were too afraid to let him die.
Experience this exciting beginning to a brand new series set in the Renegade Star universe. If you’re a fan of Escape from New York, Renegade Star, or Deus Ex, you’ll love this epic, scifi thriller.
“Like Starship Troopers on crack!” –Goodreads reviewer
Over 1,500 pages of nonstop action!
Ambushed behind enemy lines and left for dead along with a handful of privates so green they actually respect his authority, Lance Cpl. Lucky Lee Savage has to master his inner demons, manage the ambitions of his foul-mouthed AI, and figure out what is tearing a hole in the fabric of space-time before everything goes tits up.
Lucky wouldn’t bet on the universe. One thing he will bet on: Somewhere, somehow, somebody is going to pay for all this. And he is going to be right there to pull the trigger.
Includes the first 6 books in the Lucky’s Marines series:
- Lucky Universe
- Lucky Legacy
- Lucky Empire
- Lucky Forever
- Lucky Revenge
- Lucky Justice
Capernica is invaded!
Far from the war zone, the Wolvics have launched a surprise attack while the Confederation Army and Navy are engaged in other fronts, and it is up to those on the planet to hold off the invaders until the Confederation forces can respond.
This trilogy contains three such stories of people responding to the call.
Book 1: Conscientious Objector
A young conscientious objector is conscripted into the provisional planetary militia. But how can he carry a rifle and still uphold his convictions?
As a religious refugee, Harris Taymon knows he owes a deep sense of loyalty to Capernica, but can he bear arms against the enemy with intent to kill?
And if he doesn’t, can he survive his own side where desertion and cowardice are punished by execution?
Book 2: POG
Brand new boot Second Lieutenant Cel Wysoki is home on leave while awaiting logistics officer school when Capernica is invaded. She has no unit yet and not a clue as to how the Army functions.
More than that. She is a POG, a “Person Other than Grunt,” a “desk-jockey-in-training.”
What now?
Link up with the local garrison 100 klicks away? Surrender and wait out the war? Hide out in the mountains and hope for the best?
The Army doesn’t care that she has no training. They have one code: soldiers always prosecute the war to the best of their abilities.
Does she even have the capability to attempt that?
Book 3: Veteran
Old soldiers are supposed to sit in the bar, drink with their buddies, and tell war stories.
But when invaders invade, veterans do what they’ve got to do.
Master Sergeant Lester Arceneaux (Retired), a disabled vet, is long into his golden years, too old even to be conscripted into the planetary militia.
But when the enemy rolls over the local forces, he must run to the sound of gunfire if his wife and neighbors can have even a small chance to survive.
His heart and mind are willing, but are his old bones up to the task?
BONUS CONTENT: this trilogy contains previously-unpublished bonus content that wraps up the events of the three included novellas.
Enslaved and Forced to Fight Dragons
Aran awakens in chains with no memory. He’s conscripted into the Confederate Marines as a Tech Mage, given a spellrifle, then hurled into the war with the draconic Krox and their Void Wyrm masters.
Desperate to escape, Aran struggles to master his abilities, while surviving the Krox onslaught. Fighting alongside him are a Major who will do anything to win, a Captain who will stop at nothing to see him dead, and a woman whose past is as blank as his own.
Caught between survival and loyalty Aran must choose. If he flees he will live, but the Krox will burn the galaxy. Stopping them requires a price Aran may be unable to pay:
Learning to trust the very people who enslaved him.
The war with China was over and Lieutenant Shawn ‘Calvin’ Hobbs just wanted his life to get back to normal. The hero of the war, he had a small ream of paperwork to fill out, a deployment with his Navy F-18 squadron to prepare for, and a new girlfriend to spend some quality time with. Life was good.
Until the aliens showed up.
They had a ship and needed to get to their home planet, but didn’t have a crew. They had seen Calvin’s unit in action, though, and knew it was the right one for the job. There was just one small problem–a second race of aliens was coming, which would end all life on Earth. Calvin’s platoon might want to do something about that, too.
Having won a terrestrial war with 30 troops, winning an interstellar war with nothing but a 3,000 year old cruiser should be easy, right?
“Janissaries” initiates “The Theogony,” a trilogy that will take Lieutenant Hobbs and his Special Forces platoon to the stars. It will also show them that there’s much more to Earth’s history than is written in the history books!
10 Epic books, 2000 pages of Space Opera goodness. Now including 2 brand new exclusive books (Wings of Destiny & Into the Abyss).
THEY HAVE RETURNED. NOW THE GALAXY WILL BURN.
An ancient foe lurks in the shadows… licking its wounds and assembling its forces.
Risen from the ashes and shrouded in darkness, these ancient beings are waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike back and set the universe on fire.
After their world is ambushed in a devastating onslaught, the Star Alliance is nearly wiped out in one fell swoop. Hotheaded pilot Chase Athanatos leads the barely surviving fleet to the far edge of space and a small backwater planet.
A new flagship. An unfamiliar crew. An old nemesis.
Thomas Baldwin has been appointed captain of the state-of-the-art cruise ship Constantine, named after his heroic grandfather. When their first diplomatic mission turns deadly, all signs point to the return of a former adversary, one the Concord claims to have defeated five decades earlier.
No one has seen Baldwin’s commander, Treena Starling, since her previous ship was destroyed in a gruesome battle, leaving her the sole survivor. Can her secret help them rescue one of their crew members from captivity at the enemy’s hands?
When the Concord advises Baldwin to walk away from a fight, he must rely on his new crew, including the AI based on his younger grandfather, Constantine, to make the right decisions. One wrong step, and Captain Baldwin could be throwing the entire Concord into another intergalactic war…and this time they might not be so lucky.
Confrontation is the first book in the epic new Baldwin’s Legacy series, written by the best-selling author of the Survivors series.
A little-known world called Earth.
In doing so, the Alliance unwittingly puts Earth in the crosshairs of an intergalactic, eons-old conflict between ancient foes and god-like creatures known as the Olympians.
Chase’s people must join forces with the citizens of modern-day Earth if they hope to survive the resurgence of an enemy once thought extinct.
When it becomes clear that his Fury powers are awakening, Chase must face his inner demons and learn to control them, or he could very well destroy the universe he has sworn to protect.
If he doesn’t succeed, then the galaxy will fall into darkness.
Forever.
Large space fleets, powerful enemies, & ancient gods lash it out in an all-out war the likes the universe hasn’t seen in ten thousand years.
Fans of Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica, Stargate, Dragon Ball Z, and Top Gun will love Universe in Flames.
Download this 10-book box set and experience the epic conflict told in this bestselling saga.
This edition includes two new exclusive (never before released) books: Wings of Destiny & Into The Abyss.
Full list of the books included in this box set below (nearly 2000 pages of epic Space Opera):
–Wings of Destiny
-Earth – Last Sanctuary
-Way of the Warrior (Ryonna’s Wrath)
-Damocles Fall
-Fury to the Stars
–Into the Abyss
-Course Correction
-Destination Oblivion
-The Beginning of the End
-Rise of the Ultra Fury
Crack the code or die.
This Box Set contains the first 4 books of the successful series, the Ascendant Chronicles.
A black-ops agency discovers hieroglyph-covered pyramids on Jupiter’s moon Callisto. The government forcibly taps rebel archeologist Kaden Jaxx with only two instructions: 1) decode the ancient writings and 2) keep his overactive mouth shut…or else. But what if the writing spells out an ancient prophecy for Earth’s doom?
“A spine-tingling space thriller that combines elements of Stargate Atlantis, The Da Vinci Code, and Raiders of the Lost Ark into a must-read sci-fi adventure.”
Caution: This book contains dangerous ancient secrets and a lot of kick-butt action. If you’re ready, grab a copy today!
We fought them for decades.
And we won.
But victory was more destructive than defeat.
Years after defeating aliens bent on burning down the galaxy, the Interstellar Union is breaking apart, its member species undermining each other at every opportunity.
When an interdimensional distress signal arrives, only humanity is interested in helping.
Captain Vin Husher is sent in with a task force…
…right into a trap laid by humanity’s old enemy.
Surrounded by a bioengineered super-species and unable to return home, Husher must draw on decades of experience just to keep his people alive.
If he can’t survive long enough to escape this hellish pocket universe and warn humanity of the impending danger, all will be lost.
And it might already be too late.