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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

Note: these books are currently sorted by release date, with newest first.

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Word Count: 120000

Summary: Aidan Headly never wanted to be the man giving orders. That's fine with the Democratic State Force base he's been assigned to command: they don't like to take orders. Nicknamed the Wildcards, they used to be the most effective base against the seven Corporations owning the former United States in a war that has lasted over half a century. Now the Wildcards are known for creative insubordination, chaos, and commanders begging to be reassigned. Aidan is their last chance. If he can pull off his assignment as Commander and yank his ragtag crew of dreamers and fighters together, maybe they can get back to doing what they came to do: fighting for a country worth living in. Life's a bitch. She deals off the bottom of the deck. But you play the hands you're given.

The Hands We're Given - O. E. Tearmann - Aces High Jokers Wild
The Hands We're Given
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Word Count: 16508

Summary: Lyncoln Ryland always saw himself as an ordinary man with an ordinary job, working maintenance in an ordinary mall. The only thing about him that isn’t ordinary are his feelings for the man who’s renovating the mall, but any kind of relationship with such a sophisticated man is highly unlikely. Adam James is the wealthy man who owns the mall. He’s secretly been yearning for Lyncoln, a man he doesn’t see as ordinary in the least. But Adam’s family has plans for him, and they don’t include a relationship with a blue-collar worker. All this is about to change when the sirens go off, signaling the possible end of the world. When the two men realize this isn’t a drill, they take shelter in the mall that isn’t quite as ordinary as everyone believes. What will the outcome be when two such disparate men must survive the apocalypse together?

Surviving the Apocalypse - Tinnean
Surviving the Apocalypse
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Word Count: 144000

Summary: Risa Black will decide the fate of an entire planet. After all, an angel told her so. Orphaned young, she grows up among the resistance, fighting to give the people of Mars command of their own destiny. Two governments from Earth vie for control of the Red Planet. She wants them gone, regardless of how many explosives it takes. To the outside world, she’s an emotionless, broken marionette. Inside, her father’s fiery end haunts her every waking moment. She never cared for destiny or politics, until the angel Raziel focused her anger. Both friend and foe alike believe her grip on sanity tenuous, but she knows he is real, and pities those who will never feel his divine presence. Whenever her adrenaline wears off, guilt at what her bombs did cuts deep, as does the apathy of the citizens she fights to liberate. The pain worsens after unexpected love cracks open her armored heart, causing her to question the role she plays in the bloody conflict. Torn between duty and desire, she learns change never comes without loss. Even to the Hand of Raziel.

The Hand of Raziel - Matthew S. Cox - Daughter of Mars
The Hand of Raziel
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Word Count: 131000

Summary:

In the aftermath of World War Three, the most famous face in the world belongs to a nine year old girl.

Maya Oman is the daughter of the woman who controls what’s left of civilization, the CEO of Ascendant Pharmaceuticals Corporation. Her smile is as ubiquitous as air, selling everything from vital medicine to vanity drugs with risky side effects. Lifelike android clones reside in over a dozen homes, shielding her from the violent resentment of a population straining under her mother’s boot heel. Ascendant’s power comes from Xenodril, a drug capable of reversing the effects of Fade, a disease some claim came from aliens or from the governments that predate the war. Only Ascendant sells it, and at a price only Citizens can afford. The rest are left to die. Maya’s earliest memories are of living alone in a penthouse apartment, desperate for the attention of a mother who never visits. Forbidden to go out except to record advertising video, her only friend has been the ‘net. When she is taken for ransom by a group of mercenaries with nothing left to lose, she discovers her life may not be what she thought it was—or wants.

Heir Ascendant - Matthew S. Cox - Faded Skies
Heir Ascendant
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Word Count: 111000

Summary: Most Citizens hold Outcasts in dim regard, but Sima never expected they’d throw her off the planet. In 2411, overpopulation has spread a plaque of filthy, congested city to the corners of the Earth. Government has raised corruption to an art form, and no one hears the cries of those left to die in the dark passageways of civilization. Following the End of Nations, people cling to the only division left: social status. Since running away from home four years ago, she’s managed to stay a step ahead of death―or worse. At sixteen, she’s getting too old to survive from begging, despite her best effort to pretend she’s younger. Worse, the sidewalks teem with little kids edging in on her turf, monopolizing Citizens’ charity with their wide, pleading eyes and genuine innocence. A chance meeting with suspiciously nice cops leaves her more confused than ever. Between deadly gangs, unforgiving security forces, and a terrifying madam eager to exploit a girl her age, merely getting older is the biggest threat to her life. With no good choice to make, she risks the least of three evils. Sima thought her life on Earth had been dangerous… She hasn’t seen anything yet.

Out of Sight - Matthew S. Cox
Out of Sight
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Word Count: 47,000

Summary: A collection of tales filled with monsters, be they human or beast, ranging in setting from dystopia to pitch black noir and even general silliness. From the ludicrous to the frighteningly plausible; from deep space to after the end of the world. There are clumsy werewolves and bloody revenge, monster sleep overs and a dieting fad sure to kill your appetite. Whether looking into the past or the future, you're sure to find that stuff gets really weird.

Shotgun Bastards and Other Stories - Andrea Speed
Shotgun Bastards and Other Stories
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Word Count: Information not available

Summary:

Bad "Things" lurk in dark, abandoned spaces...

Love, Death, & The After: Abandoned Spaces picks up the story where Rainey and her Team, along with Kendale's survivors, left off in Darkness.

Escaping a late-night Nagual attack, and with her lover held together by "shoelaces and bailing wire," Rainey encounters the secret behind the Nagual hidden within a black site lab--a secret from The Before with a treacherous purpose in The After.

Stopping the Nagual plan is hard enough, but her team has betrayed the trust of the town's survivors, while an attack by the Nagual's "Maker" and his militant allies looms. When someone compromises Preston's life, Rainey might be out of time and luck altogether.

The black site's lead scientist puts his agenda on hold until he and his militia support team can eliminate Rainey and her team. Tesla has a golden opportunity to test his Nagual creations against an old nemesis and the geopolitical forces standing in the way of his greater destiny.

Meanwhile, the emergent Nagual, Adam and Cain, have plans of their own.

Book 2 of 3 in this four part series, "Love, Death, & The After: Abandoned Spaces" brings a science-fiction take on cutting edge bioengineering that pits the limits of romance, loyalty, and community against a violent world hell-bent on devouring it all.

Book 1: Love, Death, & The After: Darkness

Book 2: Love, Death, & The After: Abandoned Spaces

Book 3: Love, Death, & The After: Never Again

Abandoned Spaces - CK Page - Love, Death & the After
Love, Death, & The After: Abandoned Spaces
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Word Count: 89,000

Summary: A heart-rending loss… Flora Bock will never forgive the Anferthian invaders for murdering her birth-parents. Growing up with the grandson of her sworn enemies is living a nightmare—until the day she sees him through the eyes of a young woman. But giving her heart to him is the ultimate betrayal of her parents’ memory. A life in peril… There are precious few places in the galaxy where Fander K’nil is safe. One look into Flora’s beautiful, hate-filled eyes is proof enough that Terr is not one of those places. He must keep her at a distance and stay alive long enough to fulfill his destiny. No matter what his heart desires. An empire at stake… Just as Fander and Flora begin to discover the depth of their feelings for each other, they are thrust into a deadly game of politics and assassination with an enemy who stops at nothing to stay in power. With the lives of everyone they love at risk, they must find a way to avert a new invasion before it’s too late—even if it means making the ultimate sacrifice.

Collision - Lea Kirk - Prophecy
Collision
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Word Count: 83000

Summary: By the end of the 21st century, the world had become a harsh place. After decades of natural and man-made catastrophes, nations fell, populations shifted, and seventy percent of the continents became uninhabitable without protective suits. Technological advancement strode forward faster than ever and it was the only thing that kept human society steady through it all. No one could have predicted the discovery of the Dream Walkers. They were people born with the ability to leave their bodies at will, unseen by the waking world. Having the potential to become ultimate spies meant the remaining government regimes wanted to study and control them. The North American government, under the leadership of General Rennet, demanded that all Dream Walkers join the military program. For any that refused to comply, they were hunted down and either brainwashed or killed. The very first Dream Walker discovered was a five year old girl named Julia. And when the soldiers came for her at the age of twenty, she was already hidden away. A decade later found Julia living a new life under the government's radar. As a secure tech courier in the capital city of Chicago, she does her job and the rest of her time avoids other people as much as she is able. The moment she agrees to help another fugitive Walker is when everything changes. Now the government wants them both and they'll stop at nothing to get what they want.

Waking The Dreamer - K. Aten
Waking the Dreamer
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Word Count: Information not available

Summary: For some, the road leads to salvation. For others, it’s the last chance for freedom. The Chambers family has come to grips with the world as they knew it being gone. They know the city is the last place they want to be. With no modern vehicles working, they need another way to get out. They just have to figure out what that is. Major Sorley has to acquire the president-elect in New York City and get him back to Washington before President Olstein can destroy what remains of the Republic. This is not a one-man job. He’s going to need help. A family’s plight to escape; a soldier’s mission to complete. Continue the story of the Perilous Miles series by P.A. Glaspy. Gripping, realistic, you-can’t-put-it-down fiction!

Another 20 Miles - P.A. Glaspy - Perilous Miles
Another 20 Miles
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Word Count: 90696

Summary: Marto Boxter is an optimistic journalist with a head full of implants. When we meet him, he is planning a ride into the interconnected tribes of the Northeast from his town of Reverside-on-Hudson. He plans to document his ride by posting his thoughts in real-time to his post-human followers. Before he can leave on his tour however, a runaway named Helen arrives with secret information that throws Marto’s placid world into turmoil. Meanwhile, Barnabas Yoniver IV, the leader of a Luddite town to the south launches a plot to disrupt the life of all upgraded humans and bring them back to the traditional economy of markets and governments. Aware of Yoniver's plans, rival Luddite families scheme to prevent Barnabas from grabbing too much power for himself.

The Wakeful Wanderer's Guide to New England and Beyond - Jim Infantino - Wakeful Wanderer's Guide
The Wakeful Wanderer's Guide
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Word Count: Information not available

Summary: They said it wasn’t possible. It shouldn’t have happened. Yet it did. The world as they knew it was gone. Technology all but disappeared. Everything that defined their modern lives dead in one big flash. No more luxuries, only survival. Now if they can just figure out how to do that. With a president hell bent on taking their supplies and their liberties for his own agenda, the people of this once flourishing land will have to fight on all fronts for their very existence. Most of them don’t know how to do that. They’re going to have to learn. Fast. Book 2 in the Perilous Miles Series by P.A. Glaspy. Continue the journey!

15 Miles From Home - P.A. Glaspy - Perilous Miles
15 Miles From Home
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Word Count: Information not available

Summary: North Korea can't reach us with a nuke. But ... what if they can? A nuclear warhead detonated at 300 miles above the center of the United States would effectively take out the entire electrical grid and infrastructure of the forty-eight contiguous states. Most people don't think this is a possibility. But what if it is? What if a country like North Korea actually has the capability to do this but has led us to believe they don't? What if they had acquired stealth technology that would let them launch a missile that we didn't know about until it was too late to stop it? Carly Marshall is a twenty-first-century single mom. She works hard and lives modern. Take-out food, the latest technology, and all the modern conveniences of the time make up her life. She doesn't have to worry about feeding her family. She doesn't think twice about water coming out of the faucets. She's on the path to advancement at her firm. Life can't get much better. But what if it could get worse? Check out Book 1 in the Perilous Miles series by P.A. Glaspy. Readers are saying it's better than her first series. Find out for yourself!

300 Miles - P.A. Glaspy - Perilous Miles
300 Miles
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Word Count: Information not available

Summary: Thirty years ago, an asteroid struck the Earth. Now killer plants hunt the last surviving humans. Ori Scott is a young junkie running from his mother’s prophecy that he’d one day save the world from the killer plants. Her preaching made him a laughingstock and now he hides in his drugs. But he can’t hide the change in his veins. They are turning green, and the prophecy is dragging him into a dark struggle between invisible forces. Set up on bogus drug charges, Ori is taken to a secret facility where he becomes a test subject in experiments to discover an antidote to the alien plant’s sting. Jack Doll is a cop with a vendetta against the plants that killed his best friend. All he has in the world now is his old friend’s lover, Rive. Together they form an unbreakable bond—or so he thought. Jack has never liked Rive’s friend, Ori, but he believes in Ori’s innocence and doesn’t understand Rive’s strange indifference to Ori’s conviction.  Struggling with his suspicions, Jack can’t help digging into a mystery that draws him closer to Ori than ever before—and closer to somebody who has secrets to hide. Alone and scared, Ori is grateful for Jack Doll’s friendship, and his longtime crush soon blossoms into love. But Ori has no plans to accept his fate. He wants to escape, and he doesn’t care if he takes the cure with him.

Jesus Kid - Kayleigh Sky
Jesus Kid
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Word Count: Information not available

Summary: 1899 years after the Catastrophe, Bridges is run by the Mob. As its steam-driven infrastructure fails, a new faction rises. Can she stop them? The Red Dog Conspiracy follows the story of 22-year-old small-time private eye Jacqueline Spadros beginning from her first major case: the missing little brother of her best friend, whose murder ten years before in front of her still haunts her nightmares. The only clue? A Red Dog stamp across the alley from where the boy was last seen. Dodging the man - seemingly mad - who has publicly threatened her life, placating her brutal, sadistic father-in-law, and dealing with her feelings about her ex-lover, while being married to one of the city's biggest drug lords: Jacqui is a busy woman. Her life is about to get much busier. From the very first page, Jacqui is dragged into a web of lies, secrets, and betrayals which both endangers her life and the lives of those she loves. Dark, gritty, violent steampunk crime fiction which keeps you guessing to the very end. If you like crime fiction, noir, Victorian/historical, gritty steampunk, psychological thrillers, hardboiled mystery, hard sf, dystopian, or mafia romance you will love this set. This digital box set comprises Act 1 of a 13 part serial novel. Included in this set: The Jacq of Spades: Part 1 of the Red Dog Conspiracy The Queen of Diamonds: Part 2 of the Red Dog Conspiracy The Ace of Clubs: Part 3 of the Red Dog Conspiracy If made into movies, this set would be rated R for bad language, graphic violence, smoking and alcohol use, child kidnapping, teenagers murdered (a serial killer is on the loose), and sexual content (Jacqui is married, after all). Welcome to the Family.

Red Dig Conspiracy box set - Patricia Loofbourrow
Red Dog Conspiracy Act 1
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Word Count: 75000

Summary: The one secret which could destroy everything ... After financial disaster and the zeppelin bombing, the city of Bridges is reeling. Three of the four Families are implicated, and an inquest is called to investigate. After her failure to prove Jack Diamond's guilt in David Bryce's kidnapping and the deaths of her friends, private eye and mobster's moll Jacqueline Spadros has had enough. While she and her former lover Joseph Kerr try to learn who killed their family friend, they also begin making plans to leave the city. But the secrets Jacqui has kept over the years are coming back to cause her serious trouble. Will she be able to escape Bridges? Or will she be forced to face the terrible consequences of her lies and trickery once and for all?

The Ace of Clubs - Patricia Loofbourrow - Red Dog Conspiracy
The Ace of Clubs: Part 3 of the Red Dog Conspiracy
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Word Count: 180000

Summary: Steampunk meets Science Fiction adventure on the Wild Western Frontier of Mars. The Dandelion Farmer is a Victorian style Science Fiction novel set in the Martian colonies twenty-five years after they threw off the rule of the old Imperial powers. Edwin Ransom is a young, idealistic botanical fuel grower, the eponymous Dandelion Farmer, who is barely scratching a living out of the red earth. Edwin’s quiet life is intruded upon by the henchmen of Eleuthère Du Maurier, a ruthless fuel industrialist who wants to drive Edwin off his lands. As tensions mount, Edwin encounters Adam Franklin, a wandering amnesiac with a terrible secret. Intrigued by Adam’s mechanical hand and the mystery surrounding his lost memory, Edwin decides to try to help his new friend. But unknown to Edwin there is far more to Du Maurier’s desire for his land than just his craving for real estate and dandelions. As events spiral out of control, Edwin and Adam find themselves on a race across Mars for the very survival of mankind.

The Dandelion Farmer - Mat McCall
The Dandelion Farmer.
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Word Count: 43000

Summary: What if the man you swore to protect ordered you to commit genocide? Fifteen hundred years after the Catastrophe, Inventor Benjamin Kerr built the domed neo-Edwardian city-state of Bridges in the center of the former U.S. Three hundred years later, Bridges is in trouble. King Taylor Kerr is elderly, the economy is struggling, and corruption is rampant. Forty years ago, a fence was built outside of the "Pot of Gold" — the city proper — to keep out the growing numbers of homeless. This number has increased to over a hundred thousand, whole generations knowing nothing but life in the tent camps. Xavier Alcatraz is head of the Palace Guard. When King Taylor is assassinated by his son, who then gives the order to slaughter everyone outside the fence, Xavier must choose between his vows and his conscience, making a choice which will affect Bridges for generations to come.   Set 100 years before the Red Dog Conspiracy series, this dark, violent story brings you a collision of science fiction, steampunk, and war fiction - Downton Abbey meets Black Hawk Down in a city gone mad.

The Alcatraz Coup - Patricia Loofbourrow - Red Dog Conspiracy
The Alcatraz Coup
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Word Count: 18000

Summary: “Welcome, Mr Reese and Mr Connor... I trust your special day was all that it was cracked up to be? And what better way to compliment your union than with a honeymoon across time, eh? We here at TimeLabs are the premier time travel company and our guides are highly trained. Anything you want, anywhere you want to go... The possibilities are very nearly endless...” Sam and Zak take a Time Tour for their honeymoon, visiting some of the events through time which have captured their interest, including the very first Olympics. A five-star time machine for transport, luxury meals, fine wines—what could be more perfect? TimeLabs Inc. Tom loved his master, his job and the wonderful society he lived in—until one day, somebody hacked his tattoo and his world changed forever. Tattoo Kel meets his first alien and falls in love with her. Except... Alien Love Story Evan and Joey step through a door and find themselves in a whole new world where mythical creatures are as real as they are. Love Spider General Parker Rodriguez didn't believe for one second in the existence of flying saucers with little green men conducting random probes, but he still knew that Aliens were out there. And when they came, he would be ready. E-Contact And a dystopian short, My Day At The Beach TimeLabs Inc is a collection of six science fiction short stories, all with a romantic theme.  Not explicit. Suitable for both teens and adults.

Time Labs Inc - L.V. Lloyd
TimeLabs Inc
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Word Count: 29,400

Summary: Li Liang has found a berth to suit her: chief pilot and first officer of the all-female crew of an old space freighter, the Sappho. Then one ordinary, unremarkable morning, Liang retunes the Sappho’s communications systems just in time to catch the breathless, terrible accounts from Mars of the total destruction of Earth. Earth’s a cinder. The unknown alien race that destroyed it has left Mars, too, in flames and is ravening outward from the solar system, devouring every human colony on the way. Liang’s one of the few survivors, racing ahead of the Devourers, rescuing as many frightened, shocked people as she can. Will Liang and the pitiful remnants of humanity find a new haven, somewhere to start again? Or will she, too, echo the dreadful last message coming out of their dead home? They’re coming. Oh God, they’re coming.  

Passing Shadows - Anna Butler
Passing Shadows
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