Every week, the Castalia House Blog spotlights some of the many new releases in independent, pulp, and web novel-influenced science fiction and fantasy.

Enemy Below (Nocturnus #1) – Devon C. Ford

We aren’t alone. The enemies are already here… beneath our feet.

Beneath the surface, a war rages between the surviving demons still inhabiting the Earth and those few, the initiated, who fight to keep it buried deep where it belongs in the darkest shadows.

Troy Odell was doing what he did best, taking the fight to the enemies of the free world. No two missions were ever the same, but he never expected his world to turn so violently upside down. The only surviving member of his team of US Marine Raiders, he finds himself drawn into that secret battle.

Adapting to his new reality, Odell must find his place in that new world and come to terms with not only the truth about the world but where he fits in it.

Fighting enemies he though only existed in movies, Odell soon learns that his side of that secret war is vastly unprepared for what is to come.

First Contact: The Anatomy of Courage – Peter Cawdron

Dr. Christopher Walters has been assigned to a medical evac team serving on the front line of the war against the alien invaders known as the Novo.

As part of the Dog Food Squad, his role is to provide battlefield triage to wounded soldiers in no man’s land.

Life expectancy at the Front is so low no one uses their real names, and he teams up with Hawk, Mouse, Leech, Lavender and William Sunday to save those he can from the brutal reality of war. The Novos, though, are not what they seem.

Inconsistencies leave Doc questioning the war and wondering what the price will be for peace…

The Princess Scout (Scout #8) – Henry Vogel

Separated from their classmates during a drill, Scout Cadets Anne Villas and Christine Montide find themselves stranded on a previously uncharted world. By pure chance they’ve discovered a lost human colony that wants to stay lost, and the rulers of this planet will use all the power they have to keep it a secret.

Anne is not just any cadet, though. She’s “The Princess Scout” — the daughter of David Rice, the Scout Corps’ legendary hero, and Callan, indomitable heir to the throne of Mordan. With the might of a whole planet against them, can Anne and Chris find a way to not merely survive, but win?

The Princess Scout mashes up space opera excitement with the dangerous atmosphere of a Cold War thriller, resulting in the latest standalone hit novel in Henry Vogel’s best-selling Scout series. Read it today! Read More

Every week, the Castalia House Blog spotlights some of the many new releases in independent, pulp, and web novel-influenced science fiction and fantasy.

Cirsova #18 / Spring 2024 – edited by P. Alexander

Eighteen stories of heroic adventure and daring suspense. Including:

“A Quick Laugh with Death” by William Drell – Investigating the medical blackmail of a xenofruit magnate leads Mickey Vance to the sweltering planet Verdus, where the locals are beautiful and criminals deadly!

“On the Eve of Xerkhet-Buul” by Howie K. Bentley – Thargg Tanuth seeks to avenge the death of his beloved Princess Lenoris! Betrayed on the eve of Xerkhet-Buul, Thargg finds that he too is to be hunted by her killer!

“The Superior Griefs (Part 1)” by Michael Tierney – Investigation into government disposal of abused children leads to the discovery of a primeval race of lizardmen stockpiling them for food in stasis chambers! What is their connection to the strange new threat that has emerged on the edge of space!?

…and more!

Die By the Sword Volume II – edited by D. M. Ritzlin

The clash of steel, the mysteries of magic, the adventures of a lifetime!

Die By the Sword Vol. II promises more daring fantasy and high-stakes adventure than ever before. From DMR Books and the finest fantasists of our time come TWELVE sensational tales, ready to swallow you whole into a world of sword-wielding heroes, exotic locales, strange creatures, and malefic magic spells!

Connwen flees into the Haunted Lands where he makes his stand against the Saxon invaders who killed his tribe and razed his village… Summoned by the Elders of Qwaarzm, Impyrryan Purple is sent to secure the necropolis at Xul-Kizaak. Little does he know that the threat is far more ominous than that of common grave robbers stealing mummies to sell to the circles of decadent nobility… A knight with no name and no memories of his distant past is sent on a mission to rescue a young woman accused of witchcraft from the Drudenhaus at Bamberg… Ulxedomus, Crown Prince of K’Zal, wanders a weird world with an alien entity trapped in his left eye socket, in search of the usurper to the throne of his kingdom—his own brother… A curse is placed upon the house of Conal MacCarthy in retribution for a terrible deed from the past. Will the MacCarthy family survive the onslaught of the supernatural swordsman set on them by sorcery?

Return to the ways of steel and sorcery once more, and DIE BY THE SWORD!

The Invisible Colony (The Forever World #2) – Ethan Rhodes

For Zane Lucas, the adventure is far from over.

With the Gral sent home, abandoning their posts around the colonies, Humans are once again in charge of their own fate.

Zane and Julia are determined to find the mysterious 44th colony. They devise a plan and set into action, while Lorna and Henry search the Forever World for evidence of the elusive alien race.

Carl is sent into enemy territory with only a shred of hope as his guiding light.

For both father and son, choice is synchronous with consequence, but how can you be sure you’ve made the right one?

No Retreat (The Last Hunter #13) – J. N. Chaney and Terry Mixon

When things are going to plan, check to see what you’re missing.

Admiral Jack Romanoff and his crew are trapped inside the Confederation proper and facing an unknown number of alien attack ships. They’d thought the Tardan military was defeated, but they’d been wrong. Now they were trapped in a fight they couldn’t lose.

When everything seems exactly as you’d hoped, figure out what you’ve missed.

Not only do they need to stop the Locusts, but they still have to defeat the Poseidon Group and overturn the coup they’d staged. They only have two battleships and a spy ship to make that happen. Their only advantage is that no one knows they’re there. They’ll have one chance to get things right, or humanity is screwed.

When everything goes to hell and your back is against the wall, fight. Read More

Every week, the Castalia House Blog spotlights some of the many new releases in independent, pulp, and web novel-influenced science fiction and fantasy.

The Conduit’s Key (Essence Wielder #4) – Dan Michaelson and D. K. Holmberg

As Dax explores his new connection to essence, a new threat emerges.

Dax is challenged by his new connection to essence. Not only does it change his focus in his classes, but he has to find a new fighting style in the arena.

Unfortunately his essence use draws attention from those with a dangerous power.

Dax and his friends need to master the connections he’s formed before this power changes him—or is changed by the others. If he fails, a deadly danger may destroy the empire from within. But how can he succeed when everything he’s learned in the Academy about essence fails him?

Forward Command (Galaxy Bridge #1) – Daniel Gibbs and Steve Rzasa

An all-new galaxy. A terrifying new enemy.

Exploration of Sextans B is underway via the first stable trans-galactic wormhole in recorded history. Colonel Mateo Larra takes command of Joint Base Sagittarius Arch, the visionary new space station housing diplomats, merchants, and military personnel eager to make their mark.

But with every opportunity comes opposition.

Pirates harass travelers throughout the newly charted system. Smugglers, hauling valuable contraband, slip under the CDF’s nose. Even the League of Sol continues spy games as if the war never ended. Colonel Larra barely steps aboard the Arch before facing the most daunting challenges of his storied career.

Ships vanish without a trace. The mysteries deepen when one reappears like a ghost, pristine as the day she left the shipyard—without her crew. But when the League ambassador is kidnapped, his bodyguards murdered in cold blood, Colonel Larra encounters an unimaginable horror on their doorstep.

And this time, it’s a fight the Coalition can’t win.

The Last Storm: The Shadows – Sam Sisavath

When the storm of the century hits Houston, it’s perfect timing for a heist.

Hurricane Matthew is a force to be reckoned with. It has been forecasted to drown the city of Houston in an unrelenting torrent of rain. In the days before its arrival, the city was evacuated, leaving behind only a skeleton police force and civilians unable to flee its destructive path.

It’s the perfect time and the perfect place for the perfect crime.

Richter has it all figured out. A professional with years of experience, he leads a group of similar professionals that have seen and done it all. The plan goes down without a hitch, just as Richter envisioned. It’s everything else that goes off the rails.

Forced to seek refuge in an abandoned apartment building to wait out the storm, Richter crosses paths with a police officer and her partner. They think they’re each other’s worst enemies, but they’re wrong. Very wrong. There is a creature of endless hunger waiting in the shadows, and it’s ready to feed.

Good guys? Bad guys? None of it matters tonight.

Retaliation (The Sol Saga #2) – James Fox

The fight for freedom comes at a heavy price.

After learning too late that he was supposed to take the fall for a political assassination and massacre, disgraced ex-general Keith Brennan finds himself given a slim chance at redemption.

The puppet-masters are being flushed from the shadows. Revolutionaries clash against the full might of the UNIC Protectorate across the planet.

If Edward McAaron has his way, the battles won’t stop with just Mars. War has come to the system at a level never before seen in human history. Lines have been drawn in the red sands. Whose side are you on?

Retaliation is the second book in The Sol Saga trilogy, a dark and gritty sci-fi drama with relentless action and subterfuge that will leave you breathless and hungry for more!

Rise of a Tank (Getting Hard #1) – G. D. Temple

None will stand in the way of his quest to become an invincible tank.

Herald Stone always made a tank in every RPG he played. To be unkillable by anyone, be they players or monsters—that was his first Goal, a simple boy’s dream. However, the turbulent realities of life put an end to his gaming days.

Years passed, and Herald Stone, now a successful businessman, his gaming days almost forgotten, was presented with the opportunity to redeem himself… to fulfill his first Goal. Childish? Trivial? Others might think so.

But Herald Stone always fulfilled his Goals—every single one.

Immortality beckoned in the world of Mother Core, and this time Herald Stone would answer. Choosing a long-forgotten race, hidden away in an unknown region, his journey begins.

A Thousand Li: the Fourth Stage – Tao Wong

Change is the only constant

Returning to the Verdant Green Waters sect over a decade after his exile, Wu Ying finds his position and place within the Sect in flux. Strong enough to be an Elder but not having achieved his rank via the normal methods, he has jealous and worried rivals to contend with. It is reminiscent of his own past, but now, he’s an Elder and able to enact transformation in a broader sense.

Wu Ying must find his own place in the sect or leave it once and for all. The cultivation wounds he received in the south trouble him, and it will require time and resources – resources the Sect is able to provide – for him to stabilize his footing before he continues his climb to ascension. As with all things, immortality is never easy to grasp.