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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A Blade’s Rebirth (The Chain Breaker #13) – D. K. Holmberg

When a power greater than the Chain Breaker rips through his realm, Gavin must become more.

When a strange power breaks into Gavin’s world from the other realm, he must find a way to stop it—and the ones responsible for forcing open the dangerous vents of power that let terrifying creatures into his world. But too many openings are forming.

Gavin and his allies don’t have the numbers.

Worse, when the truth about these openings is revealed, Gavin fears a war unlike the world has seen in ages will return.

And he may be the only thing standing in the way—if he can control his changing power in time.

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The Eldritch Underneath (The Splintered Five Saga Outworlder’s Blood #2) – WillPowah

In the heart of the wilderness, a ravenous hunger lurks…

After a narrow escape from Tumbling Rapids, Kay and his mentor, Eleniah, embark on an exhilarating journey into the unknown. Eleniah has grand designs for her new protégé and plans to mold him into a force of nature, capable of withstanding whatever the world can throw at him. And her chosen classroom? A monster-infested stretch of wilderness, where no one would be stupid—or crazy—enough to venture.

But when a motley crew of refugees and adventurers unexpectedly intrudes upon their solitude, Kay’s training takes an unforeseen twist. Leadership is suddenly thrust upon him and, like it or not, he now has an entire settlement to look after.

Juggling his new responsibilities while simultaneously advancing his Classes and Skills should be challenge enough, but unfortunately there’s a far more ominous threat lurking beneath the surface of their new home. Something hungry. Something vicious. Something bloodthirsty. And Key’s idyllic little hamlet looks like the perfect meal…

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Gunpowder Geishas (Four Horsemen Universe: Phoenix Initiative #8) – Carolyn Kay

“Swift as hares, fierce as wolves!”

Born into the Scarlet Rabbit’s mercenary company, Sakura Ike learned the art of combat before she learned how to serve tea as a Geisha. For her, fighting in a CASPer mech suit is as natural as breathing.

The job was simple: get down to the planet Wh’ton, retrieve the box, come home, and get paid. Easy. But then tragedy struck, and the only family she had left was her aunt Katsume and a mother that never loved her.

There is no time to grieve; Sakura must find the answers before the trail goes cold, and she loses her chance at revenge. But she can’t do it alone. Together with her best friend Jeni, the shell-shocked Newsom, the mysterious Jung, and the alien warrior Taka, they must band together to hunt down the Rabbits’ betrayer. The good news is Katsume has built brand new cyber battlesuits for them. The bad news is a fledgling Yakuza crime family wants to take them out before they fulfill their ultimate mission.

Will the Gunpowder Geishas get the revenge they seek, or will they become yet another failed Phoenix Initiative merc company?

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Perry Rhodan NEO #15 – Alexander Huiskes and Christian Montillon

The Tosoma has been dutifully repaired attempts to escape when Naats, in service of the Arkonide Empire, descend upon the Web, demanding the ship and its crew.

Meanwhile, Aescunnar makes an astonishing discovery while trying to recover Hetcher on Mars. Signs of an ancient civilization are found on the Red Planet. More startling still: they may not have left…

On Topsid, Manoli is now heading for the Wise Ones’ Stronghold, a mountain refuge for their most revered figures. But the climb will be far from easy—and will a human even be allowed into such a sacred place? Elsewhere, the despot obsesses over his unseemly “collection” of Arkonide captives.

Back on Earth, Bai Jun’s questions are about to be answered. Administrator Adams orders him to evacuate the entire city of Terrania as a precursor to a grand reveal. What are the secrets of the Stardust Tower—and the administrator’s plans for it?

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Starship Lost – Craig Martelle

Lost in space for a generation, they return to reclaim their homeworld.

The ship survived, but over time the original crew died out. Their children were left to continue the fight for their home against their sworn enemy, the vicious alien Malibor.

They’ve lived their whole lives in space. Their idea of heaven is open air, blue skies, and the quiet of peace. But they’ll never have that if they don’t take it by force.

The time has come for Captain Jaq Hunter and Commander Crip Castle to lead this new generation against the Malibor and reclaim what should be theirs.

The crew returns to fulfill their destiny and honor their parents’ legacy.

The battle is joined.

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Amaranth Angels – a Kickstarter campaign from Yakov Merkin

Saya Nishizawa was a starfighter pilot prodigy, flying alongside her big sister Kurenai in the Amaranth Angels performance squadron. where they conducted elaborate flying demonstrations and competed in mock battles–which they nearly always won.

Things were perfect, until tragedy struck, and Kurenai lost her life in a sudden accident. Scarred by this, Saya wanted nothing more than to run as far from a starfighter cockpit as possible. So she resigned from the squadron, and left Earth to start anew at a new school on a space station near the edge of the solar system.

However, fate has ways of forcing people back to their calling.

When the station comes under attack by an unknown alien force, Saya and her friends, caught completely unprepared, need to take flight in order to survive.  But when the smoke clears, the five of them are stranded far from home, and thrust into a far bigger fight than they could’ve ever imagined.

This crowdfunding campaign will remain open until 20 October, 2023.

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The Burned Book (The Arkwright Saga) – a crowdfunding campaign by 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.

This crowdfunding campaign will remain open until 2 November, 2023.

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Michael Tierney’s Wild Stars: Orphan of the Shadowy Moons – a Kickstarter campaign from Cirsova Publishing

He led Mankind on its first exodus to the stars when Atlantis fell 75,000 years ago, but who is the Ancient Warrior? Old beyond reckoning, his true identity has been forgotten by all, on Earth and in the Wild Stars—including himself!

While on the run from the fleet of Artomique Dreadnoughts, Daestar and Bully Bravo take the Ancient Warrior to one of the Extragalactic worlds where his memories can be unsealed. At last, the origins of the Ancient Warrior can be told!

Abandoned on a savage flooded planet as an infant to die of exposure, a young golden child is found and adopted by a powerful warlord and raised to be his heir. The orphan boy is given the name Strazis—same as the Shadowy Moon under which he was found.

Growing up in the household of the most powerful man on the planet, Strazis finds himself at the center of countless intrigues and machinations of both the Worldlord’s biological children and a mysterious faction of assassins who are somehow connected to the strange appearance of abandoned golden children, including Phaedra: the most beautiful girl young Strazis has ever seen.

When Strazis narrowly escapes raiders who murder many of the Worldlord’s other heirs, he must quickly grow and learn what it means not only to be the Worldlord’s son but be a Worldlord himself.

This crowdfunding campaign will remain open until 6 November, 2023.