Books like 'On Earth as It Is on Television'
Readers who enjoyed On Earth as It Is on Television by Emily Jane also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
contemporary sc-fi comedy military, war & conflict aliens humor satire crime first-contact invasion
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Old Man's War by John Scalzi
49 ratingsJohn Perry did two things on his 75th birthday. First he visited his wife's grave. Then he joined the army.The good news is that humanity finally made it into interstellar space. The bad news is that planets fit to live on are scarce-- and alien races willing to fight us for them are common. So: we fight. To defend Earth, and to stake our own claim to planetary real estate... -
![Between Worlds by J.L. Williams]()
Between Worlds by J.L. Williams
10 ratingsInspired by the likes of James Galloway's Subjugation and John Scalzi's Old Man's War, Between Worlds is a thrilling military sci-fi set in a strange new universe...Jason had thought about punching a Shil’vati... -
![CivilWarLand in Bad Decline by George Saunders]()
CivilWarLand in Bad Decline by George Saunders
24 ratingsIn six stories and the novella, Bounty, Saunders introduces readers to people struggling to survive in an increasingly haywire world... -
![All Systems Red by Martha Wells]()
All Systems Red by Martha Wells
51 ratings"As a heartless killing machine, I was a complete failure."In a corporate-dominated spacefaring future, planetary missions must be approved and supplied by the Company. Exploratory teams are accompanied by Company-supplied security androids, for their own safety.But in a society where contracts are awarded to the lowest bidder, safety isn’t a primary concern... -
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![The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi]()
The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi
18 ratingsThe Kaiju Preservation Society is John Scalzi's first standalone adventure since the conclusion of his New York Times bestselling Interdependency trilogy.When COVID-19 sweeps through New York City, Jamie Gray is stuck as a dead-end driver for food delivery apps. That is, until Jamie makes a delivery to an old acquaintance, Tom, who works at what he calls "an animal rights organization...Categorized as:
aliens first-contact humor invasion 21st-century action-adventure adult alternate-history -
![The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.]()
The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
42 ratingsThe Sirens of Titan is an outrageous romp through space, time, and morality. The richest, most depraved man on Earth, Malachi Constant, is offered a chance to take a space journey to distant worlds with a beautiful woman at his side. Of course there’ s a catch to the invitation–and a prophetic vision about the purpose of human life that only Vonnegut has the courage to tell... -
![Alien Collective by Gini Koch]()
Alien Collective by Gini Koch
10 ratingsDespite not having run for office, nor wanting to remain in office, Representative Jeff Martini is being wooed as the vice presidential running mate for a charismatic senator who seems likely to win the campaign... -
![Cosmos' Promise by S.E. Smith]()
Cosmos' Promise by S.E. Smith
14 ratingsCosmos Raines is considered to be one of the most brilliant inventors in the world. A prodigy, he is a self-made billionaire who would rather be in his lab than jet-setting around the world. Things change when his latest experiment literally opens a Gateway into a whole new world...Categorized as:
aliens first-contact humor invasion action-adventure adult alpha-mc alternate-history -
![Death or Glory by Sandy Mitchell]()
Death or Glory by Sandy Mitchell
15 ratingsYet again, reluctant hero Commissar Cain is catapulted into glory in the fourth story of this tremendously popular series. Escaping from a disastrous space battle, the commissar and his malodorous sidekick Jurgen crash-land behind enemy lines. The only way out is to round up what few troops they can find, and fight their way back to the safety of the Imperial lines... -
![Welcome to the Monkey House by Kurt Vonnegut Jr., Курт Воннегут]()
Welcome to the Monkey House by Kurt Vonnegut Jr., Курт Воннегут
32 ratingsWelcome to the Monkey House is a collection of Kurt Vonnegut’s shorter works. Originally printed in publications as diverse as The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction and The Atlantic Monthly, these superb stories share Vonnegut’s audacious sense of humor and extraordinary range of creative vision... -
![The Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi]()
The Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi
33 ratingsThe first novel of a new space-opera sequence set in an all-new universe by the Hugo Award-winning, New York Times-bestselling author of Redshirts and Old Man's War... -
![The Gone-Away World by Nick Harkaway]()
The Gone-Away World by Nick Harkaway
25 ratingsThe Jorgmund Pipe is the backbone of the world, and it's on fire. Gonzo Lubitsch, professional hero and troubleshooter, is hired to put it out, but there's more to the fire, and the Pipe itself, than meets the eye. The job will take Gonzo and his best friend, our narrator, back to their own beginnings...Categorized as:
humor satire 21st-century action-adventure adult alternate-history apocalyptic audiobook -
![Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.]()
Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
47 ratingsTold with deadpan humour and bitter irony, Kurt Vonnegut's cult tale of global destruction preys on our deepest fears of witnessing Armageddon and, worse still, surviving it ...Dr Felix Hoenikker, one of the founding 'fathers' of the atomic bomb, has left a deadly legacy to the world. For he's the inventor of 'ice-nine', a lethal chemical capable of freezing the entire planet... -
![Mila Blitz by Jimmy Tudeski]()
Mila Blitz by Jimmy Tudeski
8 ratingsWhen Dillon Jackson was called upon by the British army in 1940, national service and fighting for your country wasn't something you could ever escape by law. Yes, Dillon signed up and did become a soldier. Yes, Dillon then went AWOL and returned to his parents house in London to hide away... -
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![Alien in the Family by Gini Koch, Daniel Dos Santos]()
Alien in the Family by Gini Koch, Daniel Dos Santos
14 ratingsPlanning any wedding is hard enough, but Katherine "Kitty" Katt and Jeff Martini have a lot more to worry about than seating arrangements, because multiple inter-stellar invasions, Alpha Team in mortal peril, and inter-alien conspiracies are all on the guest list—and the gifts they've brought contain some explosive surprises... -
![Alien Tango by Gini Koch]()
Alien Tango by Gini Koch
16 ratingsFor Alien Super-Being Exterminator Katherine "Kitty" Katt, anti-alien conspiracies, threats from outer space, and a couple of killer alligators are all in a day's work. It's been five months since Kitty joined Centaurion Division, working with the aliens from Alpha Centauri. She and Jeff Martini have grown closer and life looks rosy... -
![Bluebeard by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.]()
Bluebeard by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
28 ratingsBroad humor and bitter irony collide in this fictional autobiography of Rabo Karabekian, who, at age seventy-one, wants to be left alone on his Long Island estate with the secret he has locked inside his potato barn... -
![April's Fools by Ivy Asher, Raven Kennedy]()
April's Fools by Ivy Asher, Raven Kennedy
16 ratingsWe were Army Rangers, the best of the best. And then one day, everything that we worked so hard to become was ripped away. Now, we’re in some podunk town, trying to find a sense of normal amongst the crazy, and learn how to live again. That gets a hell of a lot harder to do when a virus spreads mercilessly across the country, killing 85% of the people who contract it... -
![Backwards by Rob Grant]()
Backwards by Rob Grant
20 ratingsThis is the third adventure of the unlikely space heroes of the cult TV hit Red Dwarf – Lister, Rimmer, Kryten, Holly and the Cat – as they continue their epic journey through frontal-lobe-knotting realities. We join them just as Dave Lister has finally found his way back to planet Earth – which is good. What’s bad, however, is that time isn’t running in quite the right direction... -
![Angelmaker by Nick Harkaway]()
Angelmaker by Nick Harkaway
20 ratingsFrom the acclaimed author of The Gone-Away World, blistering gangster noir meets howling absurdist comedy as the forces of good square off against the forces of evil, and only an unassuming clockwork repairman and an octogenarian former superspy can save the world from total destruction.Joe Spork spends his days fixing antique clocks... -
![Tigerman by Nick Harkaway]()
Tigerman by Nick Harkaway
18 ratingsSergeant Lester Ferris is a good man in need of a rest. After a long career of being shot at, he’s about to be retired. The mildly larcenous, backwater island of Mancreu is the ideal place to serve out his time, a former British colony in legal limbo, belching toxic clouds of waste and facing imminent destruction by an international community concerned for their own safety... -
![Steel Beach by John Varley]()
Steel Beach by John Varley
16 ratingsFleeing Earth after an alien invasion, the human race stands on the threshold of evolution, like a fish cast on artificial shores. Their new home is Luna, a moon colony blessed with creature comforts, prolonged lifespans, digital memories, and instant sex changes. But the people of Luna are bored, restless, and suicidal -- and so is the computer that monitors their existence.. -
![Armageddon in Retrospect: And Other New and Unpublished Writings on War and Peace by Kurt Vonnegut Jr., Mark Vonnegut]()
Armageddon in Retrospect: And Other New and Unpublished Writings on War and Peace by Kurt Vonnegut Jr., Mark Vonnegut
24 ratingsTo be published on the first anniversary of Kurt Vonnegut's death, Armageddon in Retrospect is a collection of twelve new and unpublished writings on war and peace, imbued with Vonnegut's trademark rueful humor... -
![The Automatic Detective by A. Lee Martinez]()
The Automatic Detective by A. Lee Martinez
20 ratingsEven in Empire City, a town where weird science is the hope for tomorrow, it’s hard for a robot to make his way. It’s even harder for a robot named Mack Megaton, a hulking machine designed to bring mankind to its knees. But Mack’s not interested in world domination... -
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![Night of the Living Trekkies by Kevin David Anderson, Sam Stall]()
Night of the Living Trekkies by Kevin David Anderson, Sam Stall
16 ratingsJim Pike, the disillusioned manager of a hotel that is hosting a Star Trek convention, finds himself leading a ragtag crew of survivors as a strange virus turns the convention-goers into zombies.. -
![Agent to the Stars by John Scalzi]()
Agent to the Stars by John Scalzi
25 ratingsThe space-faring Yherajk have come to Earth to meet us and to begin humanity's first interstellar friendship. There's just one problem: They're hideously ugly and they smell like rotting fish. So getting humanity's trust is a challenge. The Yherajk need someone who can help them close the deal. Enter Thomas Stein, who knows something about closing deals... -
![Player Piano by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.]()
Player Piano by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
32 ratingsKurt Vonnegut’s first novel spins the chilling tale of engineer Paul Proteus, who must find a way to live in a world dominated by a supercomputer and run completely by machines. Paul’s rebellion is vintage Vonnegut—wildly funny, deadly serious, and terrifyingly close to reality... -
![Scourge the Heretic by Sandy Mitchell]()
Scourge the Heretic by Sandy Mitchell
8 ratingsAn Inquisition novelWhen an Ordo Hereticus warband is sent to investigate an inter-planetary people-trafficking operation, they soon find something much more sinister than people being smuggled…READ IT BECAUSEThe author of the Ciaphas Cain novels turns his talents to an altogether darker tale, pitting the servants of the Inquisition against sinister forces... -
![A Date With Angel: And Other Things That Weren't Supposed To Happen by J. Judkins]()
A Date With Angel: And Other Things That Weren't Supposed To Happen by J. Judkins
8 ratingsKim could tell at a glance Angel wasn’t the average attractive yet poorly disguised extraterrestrial scout sent to assess Earth’s defenses before the inevitable alien invasion. Angel’s memory loss cover story? Lame... -
![Alien Abduction for Beginners by Skye MacKinnon]()
Alien Abduction for Beginners by Skye MacKinnon
6 ratingsNot all aliens are good at abducting humans. Havel, Matar and Xil have failed too many times to count. Luckily, there’s help available for failed kidnappers: a diploma offered by the Intergalactic University. To complete their course, these three sexy aliens need to abduct a human female – and they’re graded on it... -
![Hocus Pocus by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.]()
Hocus Pocus by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
29 ratingsHere is the adventure of Eugene Debs Hartke. He's a Vietnam veteran, a jazz pianist, a college professor, and a prognosticator of the apocalypse (and other things Earth-shattering). But that's neither here no there. Because at Tarkington College—where he teaches—the excrement is about to hit the air-conditioning. And its all Eugene's fault... -
![Palm Sunday: An Autobiographical Collage by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.]()
Palm Sunday: An Autobiographical Collage by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
18 ratings"[Kurt Vonnegut] is either the funniest serious writer around or the most serious funny writer."--Los Angeles Times Book ReviewIn this self-portrait by an American genius, Kurt Vonnegut writes with beguiling wit and poignant wisdom about his favorite comedians, country music, a dead friend, a dead marriage, and various cockamamie aspects of his all-too-human journey through life... -
![Redshirts by John Scalzi]()
Redshirts by John Scalzi
43 ratingsEnsign Andrew Dahl has just been assigned to the Universal Union Capital Ship Intrepid, flagship of the Universal Union since the year 2456. It’s a prestige posting, and Andrew is thrilled all the more to be assigned to the ship’s Xenobiology laboratory...Categorized as:
aliens first-contact humor invasion satire 21st-century action-adventure alternate-history -
![Battlestar Suburbia by Chris McCrudden]()
Battlestar Suburbia by Chris McCrudden
6 ratingsIn space, no one can hear you clean...When Darren's charge-cart gets knocked off the Earth-to-Mars highway and lost in space forever, he thinks his day can't get any worse.When Kelly sees Darren accidentally short-circuit a talking lamppost, and its camera captures her face as it expires, she thinks her day can't get any worse... -
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![Rabbit & Robot by Andrew Smith]()
Rabbit & Robot by Andrew Smith
10 ratingsCager has been transported to the Tennessee, a giant lunar-cruise ship orbiting the moon that his dad owns, by Billy and Rowan to help him shake his Woz addiction. Meanwhile, Earth, in the midst of thirty simultaneous wars, burns to ash beneath them... -
![The Long Earth by Terry Pratchett, Stephen Baxter]()
The Long Earth by Terry Pratchett, Stephen Baxter
33 ratingsNORMALLY, WHEN THERE WAS NOTHING TO DO, HE LISTENED TO THE SILENCE.The Silence was very faint here. Almost drowned out by the sounds of the mundane world. Did people in this polished building understand how noisy it was? The roar of air conditioners and computer fans, the susurration of many voices heard but not decipherable... -
![The Lives of Tao by Wesley Chu]()
The Lives of Tao by Wesley Chu
20 ratingsWhen out-of-shape IT technician Roen woke up and started hearing voices in his head, he naturally assumed he was losing it. He wasn’t. He now has a passenger in his brain – an ancient alien life-form called Tao, whose race crash-landed on Earth before the first fish crawled out of the oceans...Categorized as:
aliens crime first-contact humor invasion 21st-century action-adventure alternate-history -
![Only You Can Save Mankind by Terry Pratchett]()
Only You Can Save Mankind by Terry Pratchett
24 ratingsIt's just a game . . . isn't it?The alien spaceship is in his sights. His finger is on the Fire button. Johnny Maxwell is about to set the new high score on the computer game Only You Can Save Mankind.Suddenly, a message appears:We wish to talk. We surrender... -
![Stark by Ben Elton]()
Stark by Ben Elton
18 ratingsStark is a secret consortium with more money than God, and the social conscience of a dog on a croquet lawn. What's more, it knows the Earth is dying.Deep in Western Australia where the Aboriginals used to milk the trees, a planet-sized plot is taking shape. Some green freaks pick up the scent: a pommie poseur; a brain-fried Vietnam vet; Aboriginals who have lost their land.. -
![The Long War by Terry Pratchett, Stephen Baxter]()
The Long War by Terry Pratchett, Stephen Baxter
26 ratingsA generation after the events of The Long Earth, mankind has spread across the new worlds opened up by Stepping. Where Joshua and Lobsang once pioneered, now fleets of airships link the stepwise Americas with trade and culture. Mankind is shaping the Long Earth - but in turn the Long Earth is shaping mankind..Categorized as:
aliens first-contact humor satire 21st-century action-adventure ai alternate-history -
![Zylan Captive by Ravyn Wilde]()
Zylan Captive by Ravyn Wilde
8 ratingsVanNyssa thought Alien Abductions were fiction. She discovered she was wrong when she woke one morning in a stranger’s bed, gold chains attached to certain…um-delicate parts of her body, on a planet ruled by a man now claiming to be her life-mate. Tar plans for her to be his quiet, un-assuming companion. Not! This earth-girl can never be called "easy... -
![The City of Devi by Manil Suri]()
The City of Devi by Manil Suri
10 ratingsA dazzling, multilayered novel that not only encompasses a searing love story but, with its epic reach, encapsulates the fate of the world.Mumbai has emptied under the threat of imminent nuclear annihilation; gangs of marauding Hindu and Muslim thugs rove the desolate streets; yet Sarita can think of only one thing: buying the last pomegranate that remains in perhaps the entire city... -
![Happy Birthday, Wanda June by Kurt Vonnegut Jr., Jill Krementz]()
Happy Birthday, Wanda June by Kurt Vonnegut Jr., Jill Krementz
18 ratingsIn his first published play, Kurt Vonnegut finds a powerful vehicle for his tragicomical imagination. When the great hunter Harold Ryan--missing and presumed dead--returns from Africa after eight years, his wife is aghast and his son is enchanted. Vonnegut's attack on phony heroes and male swagger uses some of the funniest dialogue ever created for the stage... -
![Space Opera by Catherynne M. Valente]()
Space Opera by Catherynne M. Valente
25 ratingsIN SPACE EVERYONE CAN HEAR YOU SINGA century ago, the Sentience Wars tore the galaxy apart and nearly ended the entire concept of intelligent space-faring life. In the aftermath, a curious tradition was invented-something to cheer up everyone who was left and bring the shattered worlds together in the spirit of peace, unity, and understanding... -
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![Uncommon Type by Tom Hanks]()
Uncommon Type by Tom Hanks
28 ratingsA collection of seventeen wonderful short stories showing that two-time Oscar winner Tom Hanks is as talented a writer as he is an actor.A gentle Eastern European immigrant arrives in New York City after his family and his life have been torn apart by his country's civil war... -
![The Big U by Neal Stephenson]()
The Big U by Neal Stephenson
18 ratingsThe New York Times Book Review called Neal Stephenson's most recent novel "electrifying" and "hilarious". but if you want to know Stephenson was doing twenty years before he wrote the epic Cryptonomicon, it's back-to-school time...
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