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

A Bad Case of Dead – Jim Breyfogle

Edward has caught a bad case of Dead!

While hurrying to his clerking job in London, Edward is attacked by a strange creature in an alleyway. Feeling ill, Edward consults his apothecary neighbor who informs him he’s been infected with zumbiism, and is now among the Dead!

There is still hope, however! Sent on his way with a potent elixir that will stave off the effects of Dead, Edward must seek out the aid of a Necromancer in the Narrow World, a hidden realm of forgotten magic beyond the sea. But the next ship leaves in only an hour!

Edward is unable to say farewell to his beloved Becca before setting off on the adventure of a lifetime! For her sake, he will find a cure for Dead… Or die trying, if he were not dead already!

Even if he reaches the Narrow World, there’s no guarantee he’ll be able to find a necromancer or convince him to cure his zumbiism. Edward must rely on his wits and determination to triumph over the challenges the Narrow World throws forth, including fickle merfolk, deadly sea monsters, religious zealots, and a plucky guide who is as ready to put him out of his misery as help him!

Cloaked Deception – Timothy Zahn

A tactical nuclear weapon is stolen from an Indian research facility, setting off a chain of events that spans the globe.

Those behind the heist plan to use it to take out thousands of innocent people—all to assure death of a single man who they believe is too dangerous to be left alive.

What are the lives of thousands compared to the safety of the world?

At the same time, scientists have invented the world’s first cloaking device, able to render its user almost completely invisible. It’s the epitome of hidden-in-plain-sight—a game changer for any military. At least until three of the lead scientists are murdered and their work is stolen the night before their first demonstration.

Authorities have no idea the two crimes are connected.

There are ten days before the bomb is set to go off.

Can they unravel the trail of red herrings in time?

The clock is ticking…

Fires Above, Heroes Below (Dragon’s Dawn #1) – Dan Michaelson and D. K. Holmberg

When all seems lost, a young man discovers the untapped power within himself. 

Laric Mason has long evaded the grand expectations set before him by his grandmother. Engaged in the rudimentary spellslips and basics of mage magic at his local school, he intentionally conceals his true abilities. Public recognition would only bring unwanted responsibility and the threat of a transfer to the prestigious Mage Academy.

When a devastating dragon assault from the neighboring realm of Korthal lays waste to his village, Laric’s world is turned upside down. With his home in ruins and his loved ones lost, he and his friends are all that stand against further invasions.

Faced with the need for a hero, Laric must decide if he will embrace the power he has shied away from all his life. To defend his remaining world and challenge the dragon threat, Laric must do the one thing he has always avoided.

He must try.

Lightning Strike (The Last Hunter #14) – J. M. Cheney and Terry Mixon

In combat, speed is life.

Admiral Jack Romanoff and his people have seized control of Faust and now have a base of operations, though the people of that world aren’t completely pleased by his presence or actions. That’s okay because he doesn’t have time to worry about them. He needs to strike the Locusts before they spread even more than they already have in the wreck everything humanity has built.

If you’re not cheating, you’re not trying hard enough.

With everything on the line, he can’t afford to leave anything on the table. All his weapons and tricks have to be brought to bear now if they intend to save the Confederation. If they fail, humanity will be enslaved or worse. The time for victory is now.

He who hesitates is lost.

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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 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