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

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The Forever World – Ethan Rhodes

On a routine border patrol, pilot Zane Lucas encounters a mysterious cluster of drones. When he reports it to the Scorpius head office, they quickly sweep it under the intergalactic rug and place him on leave.

That same night, Zane is contacted by an estate lawyer from the distant planet Earth and learns he’s the sole beneficiary of a person he’s never met. Determined to get answers, he finds himself thrust into a dead man’s quest, along with a resourceful colleague, Julia Rossi.

Zane’s mission is tied to an old myth based on The Forever World book.

His father used to read it at bedtime, before he went missing during a bloody war with the Gral twenty years earlier. Their alliance is on the brink of collapse and the revolution is just beginning.

Can Zane find The Forever World, if it in fact exists?

Would this fabled planet help restore the balance?

Time is running out, and the drones are multiplying.

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Grilled Armageddon (Cooking with Disaster #1) – Dakota Krout

The world as we knew it is gone. Food and water are poison. Learn the new rules, or die trying.

Eli ‘Nacho’ Naches is a fearsome assassin who has lost everything in a post-apocalyptic world full of monstrous creatures. He knows where he fits in this horror-show, and he’s only been hanging around to see what’s going to be thrown at him next. When he’s finally put in chains and sent to the chopping block, he goes readily… only to be unexpectedly sent back in time to his younger body with his memories intact, and the chance to make a difference.

But Nacho isn’t interested in saving the world. He just needs to save the people that matter to him, and give them a chance to survive in a world where everything but the air itself is poison. Knowing that all their lives are on the line, Nacho the battle-scarred killer needs to get his college-age friends to listen to him, plan their builds, and secure a safe location to bunker down. Obviously, each of those goals is an Epic quest all on its own.

Welcome to the Juxtaposition. May Your Future Be Delicious.

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Prince Conqueror (The Prince of Britannia #7) – Fred Hughes

The empire’s assault on the Sol System is imminent, but scouting reports reveal the Mordorians have nine of their hard-to-kill dreadnaughts protecting the system. It took everything the imperials had to defeat three of the powerful ships in the Pegasus System, but Marshal King, aka Crown Prince Henry, has finally gathered a sufficient force to make the attempt.

Events back home have forced his hand, as what Hazard feared most has happened—they’ve lost control of the Black Dragon Virus. Someone stole a sample from the Marxist planet of Lenin, and now it’s ravaging the planet Delhi.

After a hurried meeting with the Empress, Hazard rushes back to the front with a new battle plan, for they can’t wait any longer—billions will die if he doesn’t find a sample of the original virus. Ready or not, the Imperial Fleet heads for a showdown in the Sol System. It’s time to find out if Hazard can become the Prince Conqueror.

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Public Enemy, Private War (Galaxy’s Most Wanted #2) – Michael LaVoice

The enemy has joined forces. The galaxy is screwed…

Kai Fletcher, former criminal and current captain of a Gardranian Warship finds himself on the wrong side of a new empire as the Vakness and Kholdrax have combined strengths to become the Vakkhol Dominion.

Gardranian Warships are tough, but they’re outnumbered and it’s getting worse by the day. The Dominion has employed a shipyard to crank out hybrid tech designed to put a stranglehold on everyone. While the rest of the Gardranian Armada continues the search for their missing brethren, Kai hatches a desperate plan to destroy the shipyard and remove the Dominion’s numerical advantage. For this to work, he must make allies of the very bad guys that kidnapped him to the stars in the first place, the Laosoran Crime Syndicates.

No easy task when a whole empire is gunning for him and he’s not even sure he can fully trust his only true allies, the Dor’Anian Union.

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A Reckoning of Storm and Shadow (Heirs of War #3) – Jamie Edmundson

A Clash of Gods and Champions.

A Reckoning of Storm and Shadow.

Sanc continues his quest to unravel the mysteries of the gods of Silb. But will the answers help or hinder his mission to defeat Ezenachi? And what awaits him upon his return to Dalriya?

Peyre and Liesel have played instrumental roles in Esterel’s conquest of the Brasingian Empire. But will their victories make a difference when the inevitable confrontation with Ezenachi and his enslaved armies arrives?

Amidst a tapestry of soldiers, dukes, kings and queens, emperors, and champions, the destinies of two worlds converge in the epic culmination of the Heirs of War series.

Prepare for the riveting journeys of new adult characters, brutal medieval battles, warring states, and dark sorcery.

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The Sundering Blade – Tao Wong

A blade cuts both ways

Newly minted an Elder of the Verdant Green Waters sect, sword prodigy Elder Cheng Zhao Wan – the Sundering Blade – is forced to leave the sect to fulfil an old obligation. A benefactor from the past is injured and has demanded Elder Cheng locate his assailant.

Forced to listen to the ramblings of a dying old man, amidst a small and unfamiliar sect, who Elder Cheng can trust is unknown. Was the injury nothing more than happenstance, or is something more dire afoot?

For once, Elder Cheng finds that his skill with the sword might be the least of his gifts.