Space Opera Fans discussion
Reader Discussions
>
SPSFC Semifinalist Space Operas
date
newest »
newest »
Yes, that sounds like a fun one. I am very interested in Iron Truth and will see what the SPSFC judges think of it. But there were also a lot more good books in the semi-finals that I did not include here because they don't fall under the Space Opera genre.
Give some love to these talented indie authors. Plus, there are plenty more not listed here in the SPSFC semi-finals. And you can rest assured that they have already been vetted for quality and creativity, so you know you'll be getting a product every bit as polished as through traditional publishing.
Captain Wu (Starship Nameless #1)
Blurb:
Captain Wu’s the name. Smuggling’s her game.
To be fair, they only started shooting after she started insulting them. She was just about to hand off the package—Wu didn’t know what was inside, and she didn’t want to—when three tentacle-faced strangers attacked. Wu loves a good fight and lives for a good heist. The Captain and her crew make their living taking undercover assignments from questionable clients… and it pays. Or at least, it used to.
But this time the merchandise is a little too hot to handle. So when the squid-shaped xenos show up and destroy the guys who are there to receive it, Wu is barely able to make it back to her ship alive. Soon the Nameless is racing around the galaxy with not only the powerful Commonwealth on its tail, but another dangerous creature bent on revenge. And then an unexpected visitor arrives, putting Wu and her crew in the position of taking care of some very precious cargo. Is it time for the Captain to give up criming and retire to a sedate life more suitable for a woman of her age?
Not a chance.
Daros
Blurb:
High above Daros, sixteen-year-old Brecca Vereen prepares to unload a cargo of trade goods aboard her father’s ship, the Envy’s Price. Nellen Vereen shows her a mysterious artifact bound for a contact below, one that will earn them a lot of credits, and one that they definitely won’t be declaring to customs.
Materializing out of nowhere, alien invaders fire upon all ships, destroy the jump gate, and knock out communications. The Envy’s Price is crippled, and as her father tries to guide it down from orbit, Brecca rescues the illicit artifact and jettisons in a life pod to an uncertain fate below.
On the flagship of the invading fleet, Navigator Frim tries to persist within the cruel autocracy of the Zeelin Hegemony, under constant threat of death, but wishing for something better. And then she notices a whisper of radiation above Daros – the trail of a cloaked Vonar ship. What are they doing in the midst of all this? And will the captain kill her just for revealing this disagreeable news?
Iron Truth (The Primaterre Book One)
Blurb:
When miners on a remote colony dig too deep, the golden age of space exploration comes to a bloody end. A corruption springs from Xanthe’s alien soil, possessing every mind it touches.
Embroiled in civil war, the galactic community spirals into panic, and the Primaterre Protectorate seizes control. In order to preserve Earth, its surface is quarantined, and all further deep space colonisation is outlawed.
Shadows of Mars (Broken Stars Book One)
Blurb:
The message from Carmen Vincent’s mother wasn’t possible. She died in the Mars base disaster two years ago. But when government agents show up at Carmen’s door, she realizes the message is no hoax. Someone is still trying to cover up the disaster and the reason why Earth abandoned its space program.
It’s a race to discover the truth of what happened on Mars before Carmen loses her mother for a second time.
Broken Ascension (Trystero Book One)
Blurb:
The war is over, and there are no winners. Just a broken galaxy.
Now humans and aliens must share this war-torn galaxy. None of this matters to Drake, though, he’s just an artist. He’s tagging along on the busted up ship Trystero, along with its ragtag crew. Together, they traverse the Demilitarized Zone between Terran and Gra’al borders, taking on any job they can find. Big or small. Human or alien.
The galaxy changes when the crew encounters a derelict alien ship, its crew slaughtered. With his dying breath, a crewman points them to a box. In it? An abandoned alien baby. When their government refuses to get involved, Drake and the crew need to return the baby they’ve been calling Bruce home, a bloodthirsty warlord on their tail.
His quest? Find Bruce and claim the Gra’al throne, declaring a new war on humanity.
In the Orbit of Sirens
Blurb:
When starship mechanic, Denton Castus, is caught in the destructive path of a devastating war, he abandons his home and seeks refuge on a distant planet. However, this new safe haven has undiscovered threats of its own. Eliana Veston, a scout preparing the planet for the refugees, struggles with a deadly pandemic that is killing off colonists. The hunt for a cure unleashes a new threat to humanity—the Sirens—mysterious beings with incredible powers and a deep hatred for invaders.
Dead Star (The Triple Stars Volume One
Blurb:
The galaxy is in flames under the harsh theocratic rule of Concordance, the culture that once thrived among the stars reduced to scattered fragments. Selene Ada, last survivor of an obliterated planet, joins forces with the mysterious renegade, Ondo Lagan.
Together they attempt to unravel the mystery of Concordance’s rapid rise to galactic domination. They follow a trail of shattered starship hulks and ancient alien ruins, with the ships of the enemy always one step behind.
But it’s only when they find the mythical planet of Coronade that they uncover the true scale of the destruction Concordance is capable of unleashing…