Ten Indie Space Opera and Military Science Fiction Recommendations

Space opera and military science fiction are genres that have benefited tremendously from the boom in indie publishing. If nothing else, geeks love space and thus the kind of people who own kindles and other e-readers are inclined to check out this pair of genres. However, there's a massive amount of books that can be intimidating for readers to sort through. This is in addition to all the wonderfully traditionally published books that can be found on Barnes and Noble or Amazon's websites.

Basically, here is a collection of ten of my favorite novels set in the final frontier where people boldly go because they're completely lost. This is probably only the beginning of multiple articles because I've read a LOT of indie science fiction over the years. These are some of my favorite and I think if you like the genre then you'll like all of these.

Yes, some of these books have some rough edges but others are just plain fantastic. All of them are worth giving a read. I should know, I've written my own in Lucifer's Star and Space Academy Dropouts.

10. Poor Man’s Fight by Elliot Kay

Poor Man's Fight is the story of student debt combined with Starship Troopers. A young man fails to get into the college of his choice and decides he's going to end up enlisting in hopes of escaping his financial situation: a very common story in the real world. The difference is that it is in space and rapidly becomes Die Hard with a luxury liner. I very much enjoyed this military sci-fi coming of age drama and while it's not the most original story, I read the rest of the series immediately thereafter.

9. Starship’s Mage by Glynn Stewart

Glynn Stewart is a master of writing science fiction and space opera. However, of all of his series, my favorite has to be Starship's Mage. In the future, magic has been unlocked via alien genetic engineering and is the sole way to to travel faster than light. Our protagonist just wants to get a job hauling freight but events make him an outlaw. However, it's actually the beginning of a massive destiny that is an easily-readable epic.

8. Star Quest: The Journey Begins by Patricia Lee Macomber

Patricia Macomber's Star Quest novels are on the much lighter side of reading. Humanity has already won a war against an alien invasion and now they've decided to use their reverse-engineered alien technology to explore the galaxy. It's a shameless Star Trek homage and I loved every minute of it, especially as humanity doesn't have any idea what sort of rules there should be for space travel.

7. Expeditionary Force: Columbus Day by Craig Alanson

Expeditionary Force is a interesting story of self-publishing success as it went from a mild success to something that is approaching a phenomenon thanks to the narration of R.C. Bray. While I strongly recommend the audiobook version of this series over the written, I still enjoyed it both ways. It's the story of humanity getting into space as part of an alien visitor's forces, only to find out our patrons are scumbags and we're hopelessly outmatched by everyone. However, a chance encounter gives one schlub a super-advanced AI that changes everything.

6. Into the Dark (Alexis Carew #1) by JA Sutherland

Steampunk is something that is normally not associated with space opera. However, Into the Dark is a delightful Honor Harrington-esque story of a young woman joining a starship crew to escape a sexist society on her home colony. The Navy proves to be even worse in some respects but few people are as capable or determined as Alexis Carew in her desire to prove themselves. Sails, rum, and the lash are part of Her Majesty's Navy but so are darkspace shoals as well as space pirates. Fun for the whole family!

5. The Skald’s Black Verse (The Dreadbound Ode #1) by Jordan Loyal Short

Warhammer 40K is its own unique brand of storytelling, combining dark fantasy with post-apocalypse space opera. The Skald's Black Verse is set on a distant planet that has degenerated to Viking-like barbarism and occupied by a brutal intergalatic empire that is, itself, barely hovering above Medieval ethics. It's dark, gritty, and full of both magic as well as twisted gods. Michael Moorcock and Black Library would be proud.

4, Starship for Sale by M.R. Forbes

I was a big fan of The Last Starfighter movie that is one of my guilty-pleasures. Basically, a young man's skill at video games results in him getting recruited into a cosmic space force. Except, this time it's a con man and he's actually trying to bilk his friend out of an inheritance. The starship is real, though, and so are all the troubles when our teenage heroes get themselves sent into space. I really enjoyed this book and it is my favorite of M.R. Forbes' works.

3. Backyard Starship by JN Chaney, Terry Maggert

A somewhat similar book to Starship for Sale, Val Tudor inherits his grandfather's starship as well as all of his debts. I really enjoy these kind of "fish out of water" stories and seeing an adult man get the chance to explore the universe after a life on Plain Ol' Earth is an interesting twist on the subject. The book has a great sense of humor and also a really good grasp of tension. It doesn't take itself too seriously but just seriously enough to be great fun.

2. Assassination Protocol (Cerberus #1) by Andy Peloquin

Assassination Protocol is about a crippled former Space Marine named Nolan Garrett. Nolan's brother is in maximum security prison and the only way to keep him safe (and possibly free him) is to serve as an assassin for a galactic star empire. Armed with an AI and special suit of armor, Nolan is beneath suspicion but his bosses are as untrustworthy as a rattlesnake and his big heart is bound to get him in more trouble than even he can handle. I binged the entire twelve book series when I read the first book.

1. Against All Odds (Grimm's War #1) by Jeffrey Haskell

Jacob Grimm thought he was going to be a hero when he managed to wipe out an entire flotilla of enemy starships engaged in a sneak attack. However, it turned out some of those ships contained cargoes of children. Exiled to the rear-end of space, he unwittingly becomes a pawn in an attempt to rebuild the gutted Navy. But is he going to do too good of a job in his new assignment? What if he has a chance to make right his awful mistake? Can he?

And because why not, here's a bonus recommendation:

Bonus: Hard Luck Hank by Steven Campbell 

Contrary to the other stories in this list, Hard Luck Hank is a space opera story about someone who is not a galactic hero or a military commander. Indeed, Hank is a real piece of garbage that serves as a petty leg breaker on a space station in the vast Colmarrian Federation. He’s a great character with a Patrick Warburton-esque vibe even when he’s not having his narrator speak like him. I really enjoyed this book series and while it drags in places, the first novel is note perfect.