Reddit mentions of Columbus Day (Expeditionary Force Book 1)

• We Are Legion (We Are Bob) is a hilarious trilogy that is a bit cheaper to buy the kindle and then add on audio narration. Ray Porter, the narrator, makes his series amazing.
  
  
  
• Off to Be the Wizard is a great series with good humor and can be less expensive if you buy the kindle and then add on the audio narration. I liked books 1-3, with 4 and 5 being not as great. The first books is well worth the purchase though!
  
  
  
• Super Powereds Year 1. This is one of my favorite series. Kyle McCarley does an amazing job narrating this saga (4 in the main story and 1 side story that could stand alone). Probably the worst covers and really made me not want to read the series, but Drew Hayes has become my favorite author. Every series he does is pure gold.
  
  
  
• Expeditionary Force: Columbus Day. RC Bray, sci-fi and lots of hilarious dialog when Skippy shows up (about halfway through the book). The series is great, and book 6 is coming out next week. Great starter price 0.99+7.49 for the kindle and audiobook.
  
  
  There are so many more options like this, but I don’t want to overwhelm you! These may not all be your cup of tea. But they are some of my favorites for a somewhat reasonable price.

Since you like RC Bray, I also strongly recommend "Expeditionary Forces" It's so so so entertaining. And just as fun in my opinion as Ready Player One while also handling space exploration in a really cool way!

I'd love to have an event chain similar to Expeditionary Force for Atomic or Early Space Age civs, but from the perspective of aliens.

> We were fighting on the wrong side of a war we couldn't win. And that was the good news.
>
> The Ruhar hit us on Columbus Day. There we were, innocently drifting along the cosmos on our little blue marble, like the Native Americans in 1492. Over the horizon came ships of a technologically advanced, aggressive culture, and BAM! There went the good old days, when humans got killed only by each other. So, Columbus Day. It fits.
>
> When the morning sky twinkled again, this time with Kristang starships jumping in to hammer the Ruhar, we thought we were saved. The UN Expeditionary Force hitched a ride on Kristang ships to fight the Ruhar wherever our new allies thought we could be useful. So, I went from fighting with the US Army in Nigeria to fighting in space. It was lies, all of it. We shouldn't even be fighting the Ruhar; they aren't our enemy. Our allies are.
>
> I'd better start at the beginning.

Maybe any battle fought in orbit of, or even in the same system as, a primitive planet that has radio tech can trigger some diplomatic message or event that could lead to annexation or a tiny roadblock on your war path, depending on your responses.

Evan Currie, Marko Kloos, Craig Alanson, Josh Dalzelle; these are all writers I know for certain started as self-published authors. Also, probably H Paul Honsinger and Nick Webb.

If you want to sell self published MilSF, read and study the first books in all those series, and then emulate them.

The Bobiverse is great, loved that series.

Another one that's right up there with it - wait, when you look at the title and cover, and first start reading it appears to be another stuffy military sci-fi novel - but about halfway through the first book, a character enters that makes the whole series.

It does get a bit formulaic by the 4th book:

Expeditionary Force series by Craig Alanson.

Seriously, this is a great pickup if you liked Bob, despite its initial appearance.

Book 1 is also on sale .

I think Peter F Hamiltons books are a bit heavy for an 11 year old, they have sooooo much world building, details about people and sex stuff in them.. I'd start with Expeditionary Force. Not so heavy on the details and funny as all hell. https://www.amazon.com/Columbus-Day-Expeditionary-Force-Book-ebook/dp/B01AIGC31E

I like to push Ben Aaronovich, and his Rivers of London books. Urban fantasy about a rookie cop and his introduction to newtonian magic, set in London, and excellently narrated by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith.

Historical fiction? You could try:


Arthur Conan Doyle and the Collected Works of Sherlock Holmes. 72ish hours of historical mysteries narrated by Stephen Fry.

Alexandre Dumas, The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Christo. Both solid stories, but I found The Count of... to be better.

I also realized that Patrick O'Brian might fit, with his 'Master and Commander' books. I tried the first one on a whim, and although it isn't my usual style, I loved the feeling of adventure it depicted. About a captain in the royal navy in the early 19th century. I've listened to the ones narrated by Ric Jerrom.

Honorable mention should go to James Clavell and Shogun, about a british sailor stranded in Japan in the feudal era.

I'm not a SciFi guy, but I've listened to Expeditionary Force, and plan to pick up more books in that series.

Craig Alanson
Columbus Day (Expeditionary Force Book 1)

This is a must it now spans 8 books including a couple of novellas as side stories but still important to the over all arc, the audible series breastfed by RC Bray is amazing I have listeners to them all over the last couple of years can’t recommend highly enough.

Amazon kindle link
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Columbus-Day-Expeditionary-Force-Book-ebook/dp/B01AIGC31E/ref=nodl_

Audible link
https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/Columbus-Day-Audiobook/B01NAE4H74

I just finished Columbus Day and as far as cheap sci-fi goes it's pretty damn good. Much more grounded that most sci-fi I've read recently. And I just started the sequel today.