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 Celestial Sea (The Combined Service #3) – Jo Boone

Madness and ruin at the ragged edge of deep space.

The Magnetar heads for the gu’ul world of Garoar, where the Combined Service ship Askja has gone missing. Thinking the local pirates might know something, Captain Chalk decides to capture some and find out. But the pirates have a weapon no one anticipated, and the battle is costly for the Magnetar’s crew. It’s costly for Charlie Cooke, too: she saves one life, but loses someone she cares about.

When the Magnetar limps into Garoar for repair. Charlie, grieving and plagued by nightmares, doesn’t want to take shore leave. Her gu’ul friend Breccia has family on the surface, though, and she insists that Charlie come. It seems as if this trip to the surface might heal Charlie’s wounds: Breccia’s brother, Coltan, has brought Charlie a gift from Fortuna. But Charlie’s own encounter with the pirates creates danger for Breccia’s family—and bears unexpected fruit in the search for the Askja.

With the repairs still incomplete, the Magnetar leaves Garoar, determined to find the Askja. That unfortunate ship may have been lost in a mysterious—and dangerous—region of space known as the Celestial Sea. The Sea, it is said, devours ships, after driving their crews to madness and ruin. In the Celestial Sea, Charlie and the rest of the crew will have to face their own haunted pasts. They went to save the Askja… but can they save themselves?

Gravity Storm (Order of Scion #3) – Toby Neighbors

It takes a lot of luck to colonize a planet.

It will take more than luck to keep it.

Mitch Murphy used to be a Lieutenant in the Colonial Marine Corps. That was before he was invited to join the mysterious Order of Scion, an intergalactic group focused on making the entire universe a more habitable place. But the Order has enemies, and Mitch has become one of them.

After saving his old combat squad on New Terra, Mitch reveals his new abilities to the officers in charge of the colony. To some, it seems like magic, to others it’s an opportunity for their own selfish aims. As he grows in power, Mitch will be able to lead humanity in an expansion across the galaxy. But some people only see Mitch as a weapon. They will seek to control him and to seize more power than any one person was ever meant to have.

Across the galaxy, a cold, cunning alien being has been plotting to take down the Order of Scion. His trap is nearly set, and all he needs to do is coax the Order into it. He has a foolproof plan to do it, but he hasn’t taken into consideration that Mitch Murphy is the first human to join the Order. And that might turn everyone’s plans back on their heads.

Gravity Storm is the third book in the Order of Scion series by prolific author Toby Neighbors. With echoes of Star Wars, Dune, and Starship Troopers, the Order of Scion books are his most ambitious stories yet. Full of action and adventure, intrigue, and danger, Gravity Storm is a powerhouse novel that you won’t be able to put down.

The Last Steward (Galaxy In Flames #1) – Nicholas Sansbury Smith

From the embers of a galaxy in flames, destiny calls upon an unknown guardian.

Captain Axel Finn has spent his life running salvage missions with an alien crew and their war bot. This motley group has found refuge on his ship from their own tumultuous pasts. But little do any of them know, beneath his gentle demeanor, their steadfast captain is far from the peace following, adventure seeking giant of a man they all love. His pacifist ethos meant to safeguard them has edged them to the brink of financial ruin and drawn dangerous enemies.

Forced into a risky salvage operation, the crew uncovers an alien relic not of this galaxy.

Expecting treasure to pay their debts, they instead find an artifact of the Wrath, an extraterrestrial species that once decimated entire worlds. To decipher the true nature of their discovery, Axel seeks Rangnar Soki, a deadly bounty hunter famous for his pursuit of the Stewards—legendary warriors who stood against the Wrath in bygone days. But as the mystery of this artifact deepens, and hunters close in, an old enemy threatens to set the galaxy ablaze.

Axel must choose: accept his legacy and unleash the monster within or watch everything he loves burn.

Kick off a thrilling quest of adventure with NYT and USA Today bestselling Author Nicholas Sansbury Smith in this new science fiction saga. Readers that enjoy galactic combat, snarky droids, ancient aliens, lost starships, and underdogs facing daunting odds, this story is for you!

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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 Atrocity Engine (Custodians of the Cosmos #1) – Tim Waggoner

Creatures from dark dimensions infesting your home? Demonic beings trying to drive you insane? Alien gods attempting to destroy your universe?

Just call Maintenance.

This underpaid and overworked secret organization is dedicated to battling forces that seek to speed up Entropy and hasten the Omniverse’s inevitable death.

Neal Hudson is a twenty-year veteran of Maintenance. A surveyor who drives through the streets of Ash Creek, Ohio constantly scanning for the deadly energy known as Corruption. Since the death of his previous partner, Neal prefers to work alone, and he’s not happy when he’s assigned to mentor a rookie.

But they better learn to get alone fast.

The Multitude, a group of godlike beings who seek to increase Entropy at every opportunity, are creating an Atrocity Engine. This foul magical device can destroy the Earth, and they don’t care how many innocent lives it takes to build it.

Department of Dungeon Studies – J. Pal

Magic school isn’t cheap. To be a Mage, he must work smart and learn fast.

Fate dealt Nox the Alchemist unfavorable cards, but he has learnt to compensate for his shortcomings with scholarly pursuits, tenacity, and sheer grit. Fortunately, for him Woodson University and their scouts are always seeking individuals with his work ethic.

The Department of Dungeon Studies sees the value of the mind and its ability to overcome all limitations. After all, they stripped the divine of their titles. The department turned gods into Dungeon Lords and their domains into Dungeons.

Now, the department can teach Nox how to use magic to stand strong in a broken world. It will give him the tools to achieve his ambitions and his limitations will force him to the forefront of arcane discovery.

Unfortunately, more immediate challenges await Nox, too. He lacks the means to pay the university’s ridiculous tuition. Only alchemy and smart business deals will earn him the hundreds of gold coins he needs.

The Essence Memory (Essence Wielder #5) – Dan Michaelson and D. K. Holmberg

Essence can be many things, but can it take the form of a memory?

Having come to learn the truth of the connections Dax has to essence, he begins to question whether he even needs to continue to train at the Academy.

When the Essendar return to the Academy, this time truly in service to the Emperor, Dax loses all that he’s gained. He must find a way of controlling his power, even if it means getting around the restrictions placed upon him.

As a new danger emerges on the border of the empire, Dax’s new abilities might be the key to understanding what is responsible—and how to stop it.

Only Dax can muster the necessary alliance that is needed, but how can all the disparate factions unite to stop a danger no one knew existed?

Ghost of the Badlands – Razorfist

Who is the Ghost? Man or myth? Flesh or phantom? Is he a ghostly stranger who wandered out of the Arizona desert to deal divine judgment upon the modern Gomorrah of Canyon Diablo? Or is he a survivor of godless effrontery… plucked from his grave by beings unknown, to visit upon evil men the ravages to which they subject the weak? Whatever his origin, the result is the same: Gunfight after gunfight, body after body, coffin after coffin, legend soon grows of this phantom of the high desert.

The badlands swirl with whispers of a lone pistoleer. A one-man vendetta ride, wielding a mechanical weapon of the Old World, to cleanse the heathen with hails of gunfire. Rumors soon circulate of an entire army, cloaked in shadow, his faceless foot soldiers. Eventually, folk find a name for this mute, masked missionary of death…

THE GHOST OF THE BADLANDS. 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.

End Watch (The Silent Wars #1) – Adrian J. Smith

In the future, freedom is for the modified.

Three centuries after the Genetic War divided humanity, the natural born are slaves. Fated to work in massive subterranean mines, they are expendable. Life is hell. Few escape.

Fugitive Recovery Agent Eli Miller and his partner Leylani Haru will never see the sun, breathe fresh air, or taste salt on the wind. They live for the thrill of tracking down criminals and bringing them to justice.

When a routine case uncovers a mysterious old journal, Eli is puzzled by its claims of being written prior to the catastrophic conflict and by clues pointing to a way of achieving liberty.

Before he can unveil its secrets Eli and his team are sent into the treacherous labyrinth of tunnels to capture the Mayor’s runaway wife and stop a precarious political fallout. Reluctant to go, he realises that it is another opportunity to locate the masked criminal known as — Simon. A man he holds responsible for the death of his niece.

Following the trail, Eli learns that the two cases are linked and there are those that would do anything to silence his team. But in the unforgiving darkness there’s something far worse waiting for him — something which threatens the existence of all natural born.

The Greater Good (The Pantheon Saga #9) – C. C. Ekeke

Aegis is back! But are the Paragons no more?

Fresh off a summer vacation to remember, Hugo resumes his role protecting the city of San Miguel. As a teen hero trying to make his way through a dangerous world, he’s been forced to reflect on the impact he’s making around him while juggling his ambitions and romances with his growing responsibilities as Aegis.

On top of all that, Hugo and his friends are now on the cusp of adulthood starting their senior year of high school.

However, the scars from Damocles’s reign of terror have not fully healed, with countless superheroes across America hanging up their capes for good. Hugo is also haunted by mistakes of the past, uncertain if he should continue leading the Paragons or even keep the team together.

But that doubt could prove fatal when a new threat emerges. One that wants absolute power at all costs and will slaughter any superhero who stands in their way.

That leaves Hugo with one choice. Rebuild the Paragons and be Big Damn Superheroes.

If he doesn’t, all of California will suffer.

Never Again (Blood and Armor #1) – Bill Fawcett

The best steel is forged by the hottest fires and under the greatest pressures. So too, have the Kurdish Peshmerga been shaped by thousands of years of warfare and oppression.

Now, for the first time in history, they have their own nation, and it’s a chance to live, grow, and develop as a unified people.

But they are surrounded by hostile dictatorships intent on the destruction of their young republic. Outnumbered and outgunned as armored columns swarm their borders, the Kurdish Republic’s only hope lies in a canceled DARPA project—an experimental, powered combat suit—and the business tycoon who refuses to allow the nascent nation to go under.

The only question is, will they be enough? 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.

Darkspace Renegade – G. J. Ogden

Humanity depends on the star bridges. Hallam Knight must tear them down.

Hallam Knight is a Bridge Runner, one of the few people brave and stupid enough to crew armored tankers that travel between the Bridge Worlds and the Centrum, the galaxy’s only source of Randenite fuel.

As the galaxy’s rarest and most valuable commodity, Randenite maintains the interstellar network that supports billions of lives across a dozen worlds.

Without it, civilization crumbles.

Then when a bar brawl with infamous mercenaries, the Blackfire Squadron, almost costs him his life, Hallam is placed at the mercy of the Darkspace Renegades and their mysterious leader.

The Darkspace Renegades are anarchists and outlaws committed to destroying the bridge network. Or so Hallam thought.

Now, he knows a terrible secret, one that forces him to make an impossible choice.

To save humanity, the bridge network must fall. To save humanity, Hallam Knight must become a Darkspace Renegade.

Prince Dominator (The Prince of Britannia Saga #8) – Fred Hughes

Hazard King, AKA Prince Henry, was a prince with a problem. Oh sure, he’d defeated the Mordorians in the Sol System and had landed his Marines on earth. His landing parties had even found samples of the original virus used to develop Black Dragon, which—hopefully—could be used to develop an antidote, so the main objective of his mission had been fulfilled.

The problem was, he couldn’t leave just what was left of the human population of Earth to the Mordorians, and unfortunately, he didn’t have the resources he needed to reconquer the planet. Hazard would have to return to Britannia to get the troops and materials required, then he could return and kick the Mordorians out of the Sol System for good.

In order to return with the overwhelming force he needed to free Earth, he was willing to do anything—to pay whatever price his mother asked—and this time, Hazard would need to become… a Prince Dominator.

Rogue Stars #2: Divine Intervention – Jaime Castle

The Visitors have arrived…

To everyone’s surprise, the wormhole has reopened—albeit temporarily. What comes through, no one could have predicted.

A people with a mysterious past, with names no one truly understands, have decided to make Faebos their home.

Predaxes and Malik, working together, must keep peace while determining whether or not these new arrivals are the friends they claim to be, or the worst foes they’d ever encountered. With a man claiming to be the Prime Minister of Lenzaab among them, will this be salvation for the former residents of Purgatory, or yet another battle waiting to happen?

With the help of friends old and new, the fate of Faebos and the native Olyrii hangs precariously in the balance. Read More