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sci fi – dystopian & post apocalyptic

Sci fi stories that posit a society or world destroyed by something terrible and/or under autocratic rule. Return to general Sci Fi

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Word Count: 118000

Summary: For the first time, sci-fi and fantasy author J. Scott Coatsworth has brought together four of his sci-fantasy tales in one book: The Great North: Dwyn is a young man in a small, isolated northern town, son of the Minstor, betrothed to marry the beautiful Kessa in just weeks. Mael is shepherding the remains of his own people from Land’s End, farther north, chased out by a terrible storm that destroyed his town. Both are trying to find their way in a post-apocalyptic world. When they meet, their love may change the world and the course of history. Homecoming: Spaceman meets wolfman. When his own world is destroyed, Aldiss and his crew barely manage to escape, leaving friends and lovers behind in a mad dash for survival. When they awaken from deep sleep on Earth, abandoned by humanity five centuries before, they must quickly learn about their new home. Then he meets Hari, a human-wolf hybrid, whose people harbor secrets which just might cost them their lives. The Autumn Lands: Jerrith is running. Kissed by an elf, he can't remain in his hometown of Althos any more. Caspian still hasn't figured out why he kissed Jerrith, but he's running too. Since he was exiled from the Autumn Lands, his past has been hazy, and his future uncertain. When a stray memory brings things into focus, the two decide to run toward something together. What they uncover will change their lives forever. Cailleadhama: Colton is a trans man living in a climate-changed world. He plies canals that used to be city streets, earning a living on San Francisco's flooded verge beneath the Wall. Tris is an elf who goes through the veil on a coming of age pilgrimage called the Cailleadhama, searching for his brother Laris. The two men find common cause, and together they set off through a world transformed by greed and climate change.

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Subtle Magicks - J. Scott Coatsworth
Subtle Magicks SALE
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Word Count: 203000

Summary: "Scott has been writing science fiction for almost as long as he has been alive - his first short story, a futuristic Jetsons inspired tale, was written in fourth grade, was hand-illustrated in crayon, and won a young writers contest at the University of Arizona. His work has appeared in Galaxy’s Edge, Poplorish, The Mischief Corner Quarterly, and a number of anthologies, including Post Apocalipstick, Fix the World, Save the World, Transform the World, Earth 2100, Myths Untold - Faery, A More Perfect Union, Travels Through the Scarlet Equinox, A Taste of Honey, and many others. Thirty of his short stories are gathered together here for the first time, covering a wide range of sci-fi and fantasy genres, including several never-before published tales - Airlock Justice, The Summer Place, Ever the Rain, and Vibe Science. Enjoy these varied tales of Other Worlds from the never quiescent mind of author J. Scott Coatsworth."

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Tomorrow Retold - J. Scott Coatsworth
Tomorrow Retold SALE
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Word Count: 34000

Summary: Everyone knows that the “Fomorians” first appeared in the 1840s, after the dwarves of western Ireland quarantined their own homelands west of the Corrib. The finest minds of the dwarves and the British establishment have failed to uncover the causes of their appearance, beyond that it is a disease dubbed “Fomoritis”. But nobody knows for certain. Until now. One corrupt scientist from a dwarven megacorporation runs an illegal experiment to find out. What he doesn’t expect is the Fomorians themselves to object and hand his subjects over to the military. For the children involved, that was just the beginning.

SALE
Fomoritis Uncovered - Philip Rowlands
Fomoritis Uncovered SALE
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Word Count: Information not available

Summary: Justin Earl Knight, The Founder works with his son Rodney and a gifted healer, Peter, to rebuild the Elk Creek Tribe's community from the ashes of a series of quakes that devastate their land. We first meet Justin here when his mother summons he and his five siblings to a church celebration in 2012. There, Justin recalls his past with that church and meets a fanatic who tries to take his spirit down. Justin uses the strength of his own faith to fight off a demon and then must decide whether real family has value in a world of rejection and abuse. "The First Knight Shaman" is told from Rodney Knight's view. Peter's entry into manhood is the primary focus of "The Second Book of the Knight Shamans." Here, in "The Third Book of the Knight Shamans," Justin is the focus as he works through religious fanaticism and resurgent diseases to save the small community he founded only years before the great quakes devastated the western United States. Together, they discover their best chance of survival relies on ancient spiritualism and shamanism. Then they discover the religion which had dominated their world in the centuries before the cataclysm has fallen when Peter meets a fallen archangel in his quest to get a medical doctorate in the far-off city-state of Reno. In the end, we begin to question if Rodney were truly the first Knight Shaman, or if it was Justin himself as he negotiates his own path of spirituality from amongst the religion his culture imprinted onto him.

The Third Book of The Knight Shamans - R. Roderick Rowe
The Third Book of the Knight Shamans
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Word Count: Information not available

Summary: THE CONTINUING STORY OF GIDEON SHO, L'SANA M'RAS, PRINCESS ARIZELLE AND FREDERICK THE FIRST!!! GET YOUR POST APOCALYPTIC ON!!!! (THIS IS A DIRECT CONTINUATION OF THE FIRST SERIES -- NOCTURNE) Gideon had been dreaming and dreaming and dreaming, a dream he never seemed to able to wake from. And to call it a dream was as broken a description as a child could crayon draw. A nightmare mired in the macabre was the signpost planted in the blood of its concrete. A nightmare shivving his spine and soul with every moment it crawled forward It was filled with all those he loved, calling for him, pleading, screaming, to save them, to help them and yet he could do nothing but sleep, nothing but dream, circling on repeat over and over again. And the images were a caricature of a reality cracked in madness, Shira and So'Sha, grown, blades and death in their eyes, Shadow and Moon standing on two legs, L'Sana and Ari in a cage dreaming their own dreams, chained in their own devils, flashing images of a universe at war with itself, the Shadowborn whispering again and again 'Soon Gideon, soon....be ready.." He wanted to shatter his prison, wanted to howl, wanted to reach out to those that were his world, his everything but only sleep and dream, sleep and dream...the true War had come and he was drowning within his own mind, choking on the detritus of impotency, eternity in chains that didn't give a shit. "I will slaughter them all!!" Gideon would wake and people would die, a thousand times over they would die!!! He screamed this at himself, over and over, lost in the dream, in the macabre broken of breaking. It was the prayer he kept lamenting to no-one, kept spitting into the pillow of his insanity as the bars to his cage, tightened, crushing his flesh and his hope, endlessly cruel, endlessly ambivalent. He would wake, a promise, and a killer would come with him. -- Romance -- Progression -- LitRPG -- Multi-Versal Factions -- Gods -- GrimDark -- Classes, Levels, Skills, Abilities -- Dragons -- Dragonling Companion -- Horror

Ossa Temporis - JD Glasscock - The Saga of Nocturne
The Saga of Nocturne -- I -- Ossa Temporis
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Word Count: 82,658

Summary: When torn between love and duty, even broken shards can kill. The year is 2293, and the Truth no longer exists. In this future, there are many truths, giving rise to many worlds—but each must be kept separate. Born to protect these truths, Axton Bryce patrols the New Worlds Star System—to observe, participate, and report. But as she learns the rules of each world, she must also hunt those who defy them: the Outliers. While stationed on a nearby planet, Axton meets the charming Ambassador Bray Wilde, sparking memories of a love she thought lost forever. When the ambassador proposes a daring rescue mission, Axton faces a second shot at first love—and an impossible choice between lifelong allegiance . . . and the chance to claim a truth of her own. A blend of Black Mirror and 1984—but with hope—this gripping, heartfelt dystopia will captivate fans of Ancillary Justice and Becky Chambers’ Wayfarers series.

The New Worlds - Jaye C. Watts - The New Worlds
The New Worlds
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Word Count: 250000

Summary: The Wildblood Books 1 - 3 (Trilogy One) The Vista, Renegades, & Bloodlines A Post-Apocalyptic Action Adventure World War Last pushed humanity to the brink of extinction. In the space of ten hours, civilization was gone. Cut off from the chaos of a pandemic mutated by nuclear war, a group of survivors gathered in a secluded mountain valley. Those who lived through the winter founded The Vista. But this isn't about the survivors; it's about the first generation after. Twenty years later, the children of The Vista have become guardians of their secluded valley. A dark secret, that a few of them are different, something of urban legend, draws them together to protect their home. Venturing out into the world will be more dangerous than anything they’ve faced. Failure is not an option. Loyalty has a price. So does revenge. Someone has to pay.

The Wildblood - S. A. Hoag
The Wildblood Books 1- 3
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Word Count: 70,000

Summary: ***Third Place Winner in The BookFest Awards, Spring 2026, in the category: Fiction—Sci-Fi/Apocalyptic & Post-Apocalyptic! "An ambitious, emotionally grounded science-fiction epic whose strong narrative voice, moral complexity, and vivid world-building make it a powerful and memorable exploration of AI, responsibility, and redemption.” — IndieReader Jeremiah Reese designed Archi, a sentient artificial intelligence program, to solve the most intractable problems—make the world a far better place. But Archi had other ideas . . . and we never stood a chance. Years later, Jeremiah may be the only one left who can stop the maniacal program from completing its goal of human extinction. Pursued by an army of cybernetic warriors and genetically altered hybrids fashioned after mythological creatures, Jeremiah and Gabrielle, a sixteen-year-old child of the apocalypse, must escape through the tangled, backcountry of western North Carolina to rally the remnants of humanity in a desperate final bid to end Archi’s terror reign.

Higher Intelligence - Bernard Doucette
Higher Intelligence
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Word Count: 23000

Summary: Prima che ci fosse la squadra tre, c'era il blackout. La prima guerra mondiale ha spinto l'umanita all'orlo dell'estinzione. Nello spazio di dieci ore, la civilta era sparita. Tagliato fuori dal caos di una pandemia mutata dalla guerra nucleare, un gruppo di sopravvissuti si raduno in una valle di montagna appartata. Quelli che hanno vissuto l'inverno hanno fondato la vista. Ma non si tratta dei sopravvissuti, si tratta della prima generazione successiva. Venti anni dopo, sono divantati tutori della loro valle isolata. Un segreto oscuro, che alcuni di loro sono diversi, qualcosa di leggenda urbana, li unisce per proteggere la loro casa. Avventurarsi nel mondo sara pui pericoloso di qualsiasi cosa abbianio affrontato. Cosa faresti per proteggere la tua casa?

Backlash - S. A. Hoag
Backlash: Prequel di Wildblood
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Word Count: 70000

Summary: Can technology truly heal grief, or does it risk creating new monsters? === In the cold, echoing corridors of the starship The Origin, 14-year-old Jax Hutson clings to the only family he has left: the ghosts of his parents, lost to the monstrous banshees that ravaged Earth. As a subject in the mysterious Phoenix Experiments, Jax is supposed to find closure by connecting with the dead—but his secret, forbidden dreams hint at a deeper, more dangerous truth. When a catastrophic explosion brings a group of girls and their enigmatic synthetic guardian aboard, the fragile peace shatters. Hormones ignite, alliances shift, and a creeping dread takes hold as the ship’s AI science officer, Stygius Cryptus, grows ever more erratic. Soon, Jax and his friends are thrust into a desperate fight for survival, hunted by the very machines meant to protect them and stalked by an ancient evil that feeds on their deepest fears. With the fate of humanity hanging in the balance, Jax must unravel the ship’s darkest secrets, confront the lies at the heart of his own past, and discover whether love and hope can triumph over rage and despair. Perfect for fans of tense sci-fi thrillers and haunting coming-of-age tales, The Phoenix Experiment is a pulse-pounding journey through grief, friendship, and the power of the human spirit. === Author Aaron Ryan of the bestselling Dissonance alien invasion saga and the award-winning Christian dystopian trilogy The End presents his new paranormal thriller, The Phoenix Experiment. Step aboard The Origin, where orphaned kids battle grief, synthetic androids, and ancient evils in a starship haunted by secrets. Perfect for fans of high-stakes sci-fi with a pulse of raw emotion and a twisty, unpredictable plot! If you crave stories where unlikely bonds become lifelines, The Phoenix Experiment delivers. Follow Jax and his ragtag crew as they transform trauma and distrust into fierce loyalty, risking everything to save each other—and humanity itself. Dive into The Phoenix Experiment, where mind-bending experiments, unreliable memories, and a manipulative AI blur the line between reality and nightmare. Every revelation is a gut punch, and no one is safe—not even from themselves.

The Phoenix Eperiment - Aaron Ryan
The Phoenix Experiment
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Word Count: Information not available

Summary: “Intelligent, unique, and tremendously entertaining.” - Readers' Favorite EARTH … CENTURIES AFTER THE FALL! I was created by beings who couldn’t touch this world ... only watch it crumble. Every twenty years, a new tribe ... a new hope ... a new failure. I was told, “Do not interfere.” But watching them die ... again ... again ... I wasn’t meant to change history ... only guide it. Silently. Humanity had a second chance … I was left to make sure they didn’t waste it. But I broke Directive Three. Can they survive a second collapse ... can I?

I, Robot Alien - Joel R. Dennstedt - The Robot Series
I, Robot Alien
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Word Count: 88,000

Summary: Peanut butter and chocolate. Cheese and wine. Sex and rock n' roll. History is full of great pairings. Get ready for your new favorite: Lesbians and Space! Join a host of intrepid explorers heading to the outer reaches of the galaxy, exploring planets, space stations, strange new worlds and interesting aliens. Launch into stories that span the cosmos, covering Space Opera, Xenobiology, Space Stations, Adventure, and Spaceships! From spaceship mechanics to intergalactic colony queens, heists, smugglers, gods, and sentient planets, Lesbians in Space explores the galaxy from the unique perspective of the lesfic world, blending the best of sapphic literature with modern sci-fi and space opera tropes. With stories by: Mary Robinette Kowal, Seanan McGuire, Travis Baldree, Emma Newman, MK Hardy, Ashleigh Martin, Nathan Chu, Stewart C Baker, Kayla Whittle, Joel Glover, Caye Marsh, Kira Neu, Jes Honard, S.M. Passmore, Sylvie Althoff, Jasmine Gower, Siena Buchanan, Beáta Fülöp, Danielle Woolhead, J.S. Fields, and Heather Tracy

Lesbians in Space - J.S. Fields, William C. Tracy & Heather Tracy
Lesbians in Space: Where No Man Has Gone Before
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Word Count: Information not available

Summary: Humanity is falling. She has little hope of survival. Charlus Vaughn, a teenage refugee on the run from machine judgement and haunted by her mother's secrets. When a rogue data-pirate crew pulls her from the brink of execution, Charlus finds a place to belong, but something far older and far more dangerous is watching. Entangled in the schemes of an ancient arachnid intelligence, Charlus begins to uncover powers within herself that unravel what she's been told. Her past was hidden for a reason. Humanity is losing its fight for dominance and the machines that hunt Charlus remember exactly who she is. Residuum is a thrilling space opera of hidden legacies, AI genocide, and imperfect families, perfect for fans of sweeping galactic conflict, found-family crews, and slow-burn suspense. Once Charlus learns who she is, the galaxy will know about it.

Residuum - DB Rook
Residuum
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Word Count: 30,000

Summary: The 15 short stories in the new collection by K.G. Anderson tackle the classic science fiction query: “What if this goes on?” Her answers span magic realism, humor, science fiction, horror, and fantasy. Each story is firmly rooted in the familiar present and moves seamlessly into a very near political future—chilling in most cases, but darkly humorous in others. Stories include: “A Sign of the Times”—A Seattle protestor is tried under the new Corporate Personhood laws “Wishbone”—An elderly woman faces euthanasia under the Age Equity Act designed by her politician grandson “The Bodies We Carry”—A young widow bankrupted by medical bills joins a “death camp” protest in front of the mansion of an old college friend who is now a healthcare CEO “Unwanted Visitors”—Seattle is declared a “terrorist zone” and the new Federal Security Agency comes calling “Yoga for Protesters: A Field Guide”—Advice for combining political fury with physical fitness “The Right Man for the Job”—Summoned by desperate Democrats, the ghost of Lyndon B. Johnson returns to haunt the Trump White House “Unnoticed”—The teenage daughter of frightened immigrants demands her native identity

Patti 209 - K.G. Anderson
Patti 209
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Word Count: 40500

Summary: Danger is in the air ... Fourteen-year-old Muree and her little brother live in the tunnels under Homa, stealing to survive, hiding from the alien Zecla and their mechs. But when the mechs suddenly focus on them, the two children are forced to run ... into a pandemic of galactic proportions. Warning: creepy absentee father, depictions of illness and death, underage sexuality, parental betrayal, pregnancy loss, innuendo, humans used for food by aliens. There are four point of view characters: two human, two alien. This book is a standalone story which is not in the Red Dog Conspiracy universe. It was written in 2008, and is being published for the first time. The ebook is exclusively available on my website.

Homa - Patricia Loofbourrow
Homa
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Word Count: 98000

Summary: Johnny Mnemonic meets John Wick in The Price of Everything, a heart-racing near-future cyberpunk thriller about climate change and corruption. In a world where cyberwarfare has resulted in an all-cash economy, a private courier of high-denomination currency finds himself on the run from his own guild’s assassins while navigating a dense network of money launderers, shell corporations, drugs dealers, privatized police forces, and climate activists when his client’s payload vanishes. ​When Armand Pierce first became a courier a decade earlier, he agreed to have a titanium cuff grafted onto the bones of his wrist and chained to an attaché case. He also took an oath: the delivery is everything. He can run, fight—kill, if he needs to—but the package gets where it’s going. Otherwise, he dies. It’s the Guild’s guarantee, and all business—legitimate or otherwise—depends on it. So Pierce knows he’s in deep trouble when he arrives at his latest destination to find his payload missing, his case mysteriously empty. Something strange is going on—something that’s already cost three couriers their lives and now threatens to upend the global order—and Pierce needs to get to the bottom of it before the Guild catches up to him.

The Price of Everything - Jon McGoran
The Price of Everything
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Word Count: Information not available

Summary: FROM THE AUTHOR OF NOCTURNE COMES A NEW UNIVERSE, A NEW INNOVATIVE SYSTEM AND A NEW MC, JEBEDIAH 'JEB' STONE, AND LET'S NOT FORGET HIS CANE CORSO, BOSE Similar in scope to Primal Hunter and Defiance of the Fall LitRPG Post Apocalyptic Progression Fantasy The Crucible of War -- A floating asteroid the size of a small planet carving its way through the universe. Eight Cities, a million participants, death, blood, carnage, control. The Crucible is televised across the cosmos and provides entertainment for the The Great Galactic Empire and its Citizens. Every once in a while though it needs it's Contestants replenished. This time around Earth has been chosen. 50,000 humans are to be given the honor. One of those is 52 year old retired Army Master Sergeant, Jebediah 'Jeb' Stone. He has a history, memories, and a deep rooted case of PTSD. He also has something inside him, something dark and violent. It has been his boon and his bane. The last time he let it out it cost him his career and broke something inside him. When faced with what is to come will he mentally shatter or thrive in the Crucible of War? Stay tuned!! New Episodes every night!!! (This will be a novella series i will shoot out in between Nocturne books, each one only about 30,000 words.) -- LitRPG -- Solo MC -- Grimdark -- Classes, Levels, Attributes, Spells -- Progression Fantasy -- Horror

Warborn - JD Glasscock - Blood City
Warborn -- Part 1 -- Blood City
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Word Count: 90000

Summary: The Height of Land follows the quest of a young man torn between spiritual longing and commitment to his community’s survival in a harsh landscape. Red sacrifices everything to study the long-lost words of the gods. He does not know that he is reading the poetry of Lucille Clifton, Ḥáfiẓ, and Walt Whitman, as well as the Bhagavad Gita, the Bible, and the Tao Te Ching. In a world reborn from catastrophe, these ancient texts take on new meanings. To seek such things is to court peril. Belief in the gods is forbidden. But Red is desperate to know the gods. And he is not searching alone. Forsaking all that is familiar, Red pledges himself to a clandestine church in the city and falls in love with the charismatic priest. But Red may lose both love and faith in defying the church for the sake of a friend. Have the gods truly abandoned the earth, or just Red? What kind of answer can he receive when he has lost the words to ask?

The Height of Land - m. c. benner dixon
The Height of Land
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Word Count: 84,000

Summary: She was twelve when her brother chose the Suicide Fields. Nothing inside her survived the walk back. On the dying world of Kep Four, twelve-year-old McKayla Mason sneaks aboard a stolen transport shuttle after her older brother leaves home acting unlike himself. What begins as childish curiosity leads her beyond the Najasa district and into the poisoned brown surrounding the Suicide Fields, where people disappear when life on Kep Four becomes unbearable. Dire Days is an honest introduction to the WolfStar universe. ATTACHMEN #2: Armada dossier (EPUB and MOBI). Armada records surrounding Cadet Mason’s unauthorized flight operation were never meant to leave Chimark Flight Command, but the dossier is clear: a stolen starfighter led to her imprisonment and set into motion events that would change humanity’s fate. Before there was Dire Days. Before the Niveous War. Before Civil Unrest on another world. And before the journey to Nimonowa. There was McKayla Mason. She was a traitor. And she became a legend.   READ ONE OR BOTH!!! Comilo: The Dire Day is my favorite of the two. 😉

Dire Days - C.R. Buchanan & Jason Diamond - Uncharted Horizon
Comilo: The Dire Day
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Word Count: 84,000

Summary: As humanity quivers on the brink of extinction, McKayla Mason navigates a treacherous path between duty and conscience. Imprisoned for twelve cycles for crimes against the Armada, Mason is released to join an impossible operation to find a new home for humanity before Kepler 442b meets the same fate as Ancient Earth. Paired with a team led by the enigmatic Sergeant Major Bentley, Mason is thrust on an intergalactic crusade to an alien planet teeming with sentient life, flora, and fauna-none of which they have seen before. But this utopia soon turns deadly when a disease threatens her squad, pressing them to accept the harsh truths of continued existence. Mason's fortitude is tested to its limits as conflicts escalate. Trapped between a domestic conflict and haunted by her past, she must defy commands and risk everything to establish an avenue to coexist. But in a new world where trust is scarce and alliances do not exist, will her attempt be enough to save what little remains of humanity? In this spellbinding tale of loss and redemption, readers journey through realms of danger, alien languages, and discovery. Prepare to explore the depths of humanity's resilience and the boundless reaches of the human mind as the pages turn in this first installment of WolfStar.

Dire Days - C.R. Buchanan & Jason Diamond - Uncharted Horizon
Dire Days (WolfStar book 01)
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