Here are 7 books that The Wrong Stop fans have personally recommended if you like
The Wrong Stop.
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Scalzi takes sci-fi fans for a ride in this tale that takes one of the oft parodied elements of the Star Trek franchise: During away missions, the guy in the red shirt (security) is usually the first one killed. Some members of a starship crew (not in the Star Trek universe) notice something is awry when they realize certain higher-ranking members always seem to survive the seemingly unsurvivable, while newer members tend not to fair so well. Adding to the mystery, why have some crew members learned to avoid being picked for away missions by disappearing when these officers show up? Do you need to be familiar with Star trek to enjoy this book? No, but it does make some of the situations more entertaining.
'I can honestly say I can't think of another book that ever made me laugh this much. Ever' Patrick Rothfuss, New York Times bestselling author of The Name of the Wind
Ensign Andrew Dahl has just been assigned to the Universal Union Capital Ship Intrepid, flagship of the Universal Union since the year 2456. It's a prestige posting, and Andrew is even more delighted when he's assigned to the ship's Xenobiology laboratory. Life couldn't be better ... although there are a few strange things going on:
(1) every Away Mission involves a lethal confrontation with alien forces
It is April 1st, 2038. Day 60 of China's blockade of the rebel island of Taiwan.
The US government has agreed to provide Taiwan with a weapons system so advanced that it can disrupt the balance of power in the region. But what pilot would be crazy enough to run…
Could you paddle a canoe from the center (almost) of North America (Winnipeg) to Belem at the mouth of the Amazon? Yeah, I'm going to say that's a hard no for everyone reading this. Now imagine doing it before home computers, cellphones, and GPS.
On July 1st, 1980, Don Starkell and his two sons set out to do just that. A two year trip that could have ended up in tragedy many times over, completed by a somewhat obsessive compulsion on the part of the father, straining relationships to the breaking point.
Written in diary style, this is a book for all who crave adventure and those who just want to live vicariously through someone else.
It was crazy. It was unthinkable. It was the adventure of a lifetime.
When Don and Dana Starkell left Winnipeg in a tiny three-seater canoe, they had no idea of the dangers that lay ahead. Two years and 12,180 miles later, father and son had each paddled nearly twenty million strokes, slept on beaches, in jungles and fields, dined on tapir, shark, and heaps of roasted ants.
They encountered piranhas, wild pigs, and hungry alligators. They were arrested, shot at, taken for spies and drug smugglers, and set upon by pirates. They had lived through terrifying hurricanes, food poisoning, and…
I’ve always thought that the Venn diagram of Space Opera and Military Science Fiction should not be a circle. I thought there should be stories about people living in interstellar civilizations that didn’t involve massive wars across unimaginable distances, resulting in untold misery and suffering. So, I wrote some, starting with Quarter Share. Each of these books shows mostly normal people trying to get by in a galaxy far, far away.
I love a good space opera series, and Jenny Schwartz always delivers. I found her Adventures of a Xeno-Archaeologist series back in 2021.
Unlike many space operas, this series doesn’t depend on war and the military to drive its plot. While the military presence exists, the main thrust of the story involves Nora Devi, a solo exploration pilot searching deep space.
Nora Devi is a xeno-archaeologist with a complicated past. She has buried more secrets than she’s dug up. Widowed in the recently ended twelve year war between Capitoline and Palantine, she now makes a living as an independent tagger in border space.
Captain Liam Kimani could be credited with ending the latest royal war. Instead, he’s blamed for it. Dirty commoners aren’t meant to lay their hands on royalty.
He has no regrets.
When Liam and his crew of the battlecruiser RC Genghis Khan are exiled to Capitoline’s border they discover that life in unexplored space can be more dangerous…
A Duke with rigid opinions, a Lady whose beliefs conflict with his, a long disputed parcel of land, a conniving neighbour, a desperate collaboration, a failure of trust, a love found despite it all.
Alexander Cavendish, Duke of Ravensworth, returned from war to find that his father and brother had…
I’ve always thought that the Venn diagram of Space Opera and Military Science Fiction should not be a circle. I thought there should be stories about people living in interstellar civilizations that didn’t involve massive wars across unimaginable distances, resulting in untold misery and suffering. So, I wrote some, starting with Quarter Share. Each of these books shows mostly normal people trying to get by in a galaxy far, far away.
Skylar Ramirez kicks off this twisty series by introducing the alcoholic Captain Brad Mendoza and his troubled executive officer. Along the way, a crooked path leads the reader deeper into a well-developed universe of money, politics, and betrayal.
Every character plays a role, but some play more than one. While these are technically military people, their mission isn’t supposed to involve flying missiles and drawn-out battles. Mostly, it’s about a bunch of troubled people finding their way back from the brink.
This one has more military than the first three, but it's still a great read.
Brad Mendoza is an idiot. He knows it, and so does everyone else in the star nation of Prometheus. A promising naval career down the drain just because he accidentally killed 504 civilians. So, it's time for him to give up and accept a dead-end command on Persephone, the worst starship in the fleet. Until he meets the beautiful and cunning Jessica Lin, his new executive officer, who harbors a terrible secret of her own. Now, with an enemy warship four times their size bearing down on them, Brad's in a race to save Jessica and his stupid ship.
I’ve always thought that the Venn diagram of Space Opera and Military Science Fiction should not be a circle. I thought there should be stories about people living in interstellar civilizations that didn’t involve massive wars across unimaginable distances, resulting in untold misery and suffering. So, I wrote some, starting with Quarter Share. Each of these books shows mostly normal people trying to get by in a galaxy far, far away.
Chandler’s sprawling April saga from 2012 picked up a branch in 2014 with Family Law, the story of an orphan, Lee Anderson, who is adopted by an alien and taken into his family when tragedy strikes her mother and father. The planet they discover becomes the source of Lee’s fortune and the key to her future.
This is another story driven by what I consider a key element of space opera: an individual’s journey into a wider, interstellar society.
People love easily. Look at most of your relatives or coworkers. How lovable are they? Really? Yet most have mates and children. The vast majority are still invited to family gatherings and their relatives will speak to them.
Many have pets to which they are devoted. Some even call them their fur-babies. Is your dog or cat or parakeet property or family? Not in law but in your heart? Can a pet really love you back? Or is it a different affection? Are you not kind to those who feed and shelter you? But what if your dog could talk…
I’ve always thought that the Venn diagram of Space Opera and Military Science Fiction should not be a circle. I thought there should be stories about people living in interstellar civilizations that didn’t involve massive wars across unimaginable distances, resulting in untold misery and suffering. So, I wrote some, starting with Quarter Share. Each of these books shows mostly normal people trying to get by in a galaxy far, far away.
Another orphan struggling. This opening title in Wilker’s Grand Human Empire series introduces a free-lance hauler pilot, Jackson Caruso, and his collection of relatives, enemies, and allies as he tries to keep his ship flying and his skin in one piece.
A fun romp about taking risks, making do, and sometimes making friends.
Jackson ”Jax” Caruso inherited a ship from his parents.
They're dead, they don't need it.
The unification wars happened a while ago, Jax's parent's fought for the losing side. Now he takes the jobs he can get; smuggling, bounty hunting, hauling cargo. If it pays, he'll do it.
When Jax is approached with a job that seems to good too be true, he should have known better, he should have walked.
He didn't.
Now he and a few friends are in it deep; Imperial entanglements are the least of their concerns with organized crime on their tails.
The Duke's Christmas Redemption
by
Arietta Richmond,
A Duke who has rejected love, a Lady who dreams of a love match, an arranged marriage, a house full of secrets, a most unneighborly neighbor, a plot to destroy reputations, an unexpected love that redeems it all.
Lady Charlotte Wyndham, given in an arranged marriage to a man she…
I’ve always thought that the Venn diagram of Space Opera and Military Science Fiction should not be a circle. I thought there should be stories about people living in interstellar civilizations that didn’t involve massive wars across unimaginable distances, resulting in untold misery and suffering. So, I wrote some, starting with Quarter Share. Each of these books shows mostly normal people trying to get by in a galaxy far, far away.
I loved the bumbling Jordan Booth. Awakened a year ahead of schedule and still in space, he’s given the task of teaching a group of teenagers who might be smarter than he is but who have never been outside the ship.
The rest of the crew, from Captain Juno to the ship’s AI, each have their various quirks and foibles. Part Douglas Adams. Part Terry Pratchett. All heart.
✶ Indie Ink Awards winner, 2023 ✶ ✶ A heart-warming space adventure – ‘Red Dwarf' meets ‘Lost in Space' ✶
With Earth in crisis, and his life on the rocks, Jordan Booth reckons a one-way sleeper ticket to the stars sounds like a good idea. But humanity's future is just about to take a wrong turn.
The Odyssey Earth colony ship is on a seventeen-year voyage – a straight shot to a new planet. On board, a handpicked, single-minded crew and a thousand settlers in hypersleep. No children, no families, no fuss.
