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 Burned Book (Arkwright Cycle #1) – Brian Niemeier

An outcast boy with a terrible secret …

A disillusioned priest seeking release from fate …

The restless son of a fading race seeking his destiny …

Thrown together by chance, their historic quest will span a continent. And change all worlds forever.

Zebrin wanders the human-dominated mainland, having fled his people’s rigid island refuge.

Alone in barbaric lands, he yearns to find himself in those his race shuns.

But when an ambitious emperor drafts him for a harrowing mission to the farthest ends of the world, will he discover and embrace his divine calling? Or will the kingdom he was ordained to save fall?

The answer lies in The Burned Book.

The Last Ship (Galaxy In Flames #2) – Nicholas Sansbury Smoth

Held captive by Dark Horse Company, Captain Axel Finn is faced with a mission to humanity’s ancestral home after all contact with the planet is lost. Learning his mother might be hiding there, Axel agrees to help his adversaries, and deploy on Vengeance, the last Steward ship. But his decision might lead to his downfall if the Wrath have already arrived on Earth.

On the treacherous Wooly planet of Dari, bounty hunter Rangnar Soki becomes the prey, finding himself the target in a deadly game of survival. His path to rejoin the Axel’s crew hinges on passing a test of Dari’s most revered guardian. Meanwhile, the surviving crew of the Trash Squid faces their own struggles to repair their damaged ship and leave Dari to find Captain Finn.

At the Citadel, Sergeant Jax Brito returns from her harrowing mission on Corinnia after drilling into a construct brimming with alien embryos. This grim discovery sends shockwaves through the CANDF ranks, and reality dawns on them all: the countdown to the Wrath invasion was wrong, it has already started, and no part of the galaxy is safe.

Shield of Darkness (The Shield War #2) – Johnathan Moeller

War is coming between the Shield Knight and the Exarch. But neither sees the dark power manipulating the battle from the shadows.

To drive the Exarch from her stronghold on the Isle of Kordain, Ridmark is gambling on a bold strategy – to reach the Isle through the twisting caverns of the Deeps.

But the caverns of the Deeps are filled with deadly dangers and deeper mysteries.

And disturbing one of those mysteries might wake a darkness to dwarf even the Exarch herself…

Starship For Rent #5 – M. R. Forbes

Noah, Ben, and the rest of the crew have done the impossible—defied the Warden and lived to tell the tale.

But for how long?

Faced with the Warden’s retribution, they’ll have to put all their combined skills and teamwork to the ultimate test to survive. And even if they make it through the gauntlet in one piece, their reward is hardly a reward at all…

A showdown with the Warden for the fate of the galaxy.

Three Player Game (The Lunar Free State #10) – John E. Siers

The Confederated Nations of Earth and the Lunar Free State have fought each other for decades in the Sol system and out among the stars. They’ve never had an open declaration of war, but there have been battles in space at Odin, Sacagawea, and Rothstein’s star. Lunar Marines have clashed with Confed Peacekeepers on Ragnarok and Xanadu.

When the British battlecruiser Prince of Wales suddenly shows up at Ragnarok, the LFS and CNE realize there’s a new player in the game—not just the Brits, but a consortium of seven previously unaligned Earth nations who are making their presence felt at Xanadu as well. The two major powers adopt a wait-and-see policy toward the newcomers, but a few CNE operatives don’t get the word.

Will the consortium upset the balance of power between the Moonies and Confeds, or will they simply get caught in the grinder between the two? Time will tell, but for the moment, it’s a three player game.

Void Drifter #2 – J. N. Chaney and Jason Anspach

Will Kaufman may have saved the galaxy. He also may have destroyed Earth.

The Imperium grip is slipping, thanks to Will’s unexpected ability as a Void Drifter. But in revealing his abilities, Will may have put his home planet, a backwater most the galaxy didn’t even know existed, on the frontlines.

But Earth is not as defenseless as it seems. An enigmatic billionaire, aware of the true nature of the Imperium’s galactic menace, has been secretly building a defensive fleet. Still more fleets have been secretly constructed in the far reaches of the galaxy.

It’s up to Will and the crew of Phaelon to convince disjointed rebels, corporate criminal syndicates, and his fellow humans that the time to stand against a bloodied but angry empire is now.