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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Cirsova #19 / Summer 2024 – edited by P. Alexander

Fourteen tales of daring adventure and thrilling suspense, including:

Strange and disgusting fleshy masses begin to wash up near the University! Is it a dead body, biological waste, a chemical spill, or something much, much worse?!

Clive, a US Marshal, and his former Deputy are investigating a series of cattle killings at the Daniels ranch! But these don’t seem to be the work of ordinary rustlers!

With the help of itinerant Wild Stars princess Atlanta, Gigwanator-Superior has hijacked the Gravedigger 2! The Superior Grief’s plan is set in motion for a rendezvous at the Damocles Relay Station to evacuate a pack of deadly Sword Griefs!

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.

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I, Starship – Scott Bartlett

As a Marine, Henry Morgan would have said it was more likely he’d die from enemy fire than from being struck by a flying lawnmower while at a baseball game.

But it was the lawnmower that ended up taking him out.

A century later, Henry wakes up as a reconstituted intelligence, and is promptly drafted to be the governing AI for America’s first military starship. After decades of model-trained AIs wreaking havoc across the globe, humanity is ready to try something a little more…human.

Henry is perfect. For one thing, as a reconstituted intelligence, he has no rights and can be forced to do the bidding of the powers that be. For another, he’s the only Heritage Mind™ with any military experience that survived the Great Power Surge of 2072.

So, Henry’s it.

Blastoff, good Henry! Our hopes and dreams go with you. Oh, and while you’re at it, could you take a look at the aliens setting up shop in our asteroid belt? They seem to be…multiplying.

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Void Drifter – J. N. Chaney and Jason Anspach

The Amazon Rainforest holds a world-changing secret. A ship lost to time from another world.

College student Will Kaufman unearthed the biggest archaeological discovery in human history… he just needs to find a way back to Earth to tell people about it.

Four thousand years ago, a Federation bounty hunter Void ship crashed on a remote and primitive planet. There it remained until Will found it and accidentally reactivates it, launching him light years away.

With the crew—and its prisoners—awakened from cryo-sleep, Will has no choice but to go along with Captain Fera and her pilot-turned-holographic AI. Seen as a naïve primitive, Will must navigate complex alien cultures, explore the far reaches of the galaxy, and battle a tyrannical empire seeking to finish off a haggard and weary rebel faction just to be granted a ticket back to Earth.

But as Will shows an uncanny ability to navigate the mysterious realm of wormhole travel known as the Void, he begins to thrive in a galaxy not meant for humans.

Home is only a half-million light years away, but when life on a spaceship is this much fun… does Will really want to go back?

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The Wages of an Assassin (The Last Eternal #7) – Jacob Peppers

The wages of a soldier are pain and regret his reward.

Soldier himself had told the wanderer that. Old words from another life but true words nonetheless. The wanderer knew this, for he still carried the scars such pain had brought, and a life spent on the run left a man little else but his regrets.

Yet of all the challenges the wanderer has faced, of all the dangers in a life full of little else, the worst lies before him. For he faces not a warrior or even some rampaging beast or monster.

He faces Assassin. The deadliest killer ever to walk the face of the world. She has come for him, for his friends.

Pain and regret may be a soldier’s rewards, but the creature who comes for him and his friends is no soldier. She is a lurker in the shadows, an assassin, and so she will have an assassin’s wage.

She seeks death…

The wanderer means to help her find it.

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Warmth of the Sun (The Token #3) – Nathan Hystad

Aliens are among us, but who will stop the invasion?

Special Agent Waylen Brooks is charged with doing the impossible: preventing an alien incursion, without alerting the general population. Will his past finally catch up with him before he can succeed?

Rory Swanson wants to forget the Shadow following her, but every time she ignores it someone dies.

Silas Gunn is the Key. With no other option, he must travel to Planet D to visit the field of Shadows. Little does he know what he seeks is also seeking him.

A lifetime of deception will need to be reckoned in order to survive what’s coming.

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Leigh Brackett’s Eric John Stark 75th Anniversary Edition – a Kickstarter campaign from Cirsova

Leigh Brackett was the Queen of Science Fiction.

Inspired by writers like Edgar Rice Burroughs, Leigh Brackett told stories of pirates, ray-gun slingers, and swordsmen on wildly exotic and fantastic versions of Mars and Venus in a genre known as Sword and Planet. She wrote numerous stories, numerous film scripts, including the first draft of The Empire Strikes Back, and is even cited as one of the inspirations for Dungeons and Dragons!

Eric John Stark was one of the last great heroes of the pulp magazines. The black swordsman of Mercury, Stark was raised by the natives of the world closest to the sun and became a wandering mercenary outlaw who fought on behalf of the subjugated and the oppressed.

Cirsova Publishing partnered with the incredibly talented StarTwo team to bring those stories to life.

This Kickstarter campaign will be open through 17 June, 2024.

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The Other Fellow – a Kickstarter campaign from William Hastings

THE WORLD’S GREATEST SPY IS DEAD.

. . . BUT SOMEONE’S GOT TO FINISH HIS MISSION.

A homeless drifter stumbles upon secret agent Eton Smythe, mortally wounded on the streets of London. Seeking redemption for past sins, the drifter makes the suicidal choice to assume his spy’s identity and finish his mission. Eton Smythe’s arch rival is threatening to unleash a weapon that will change the course of the Cold War and the clock is ticking. But can this man, a killer, a mercenary, and a criminal, truly fill the shoes of the world’s greatest spy?

This Kickstarter campaign will be open through 2 July, 2024.

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Ursula of Ulm (De re dordica #2) – a Kickstarter campaign from Pilum Press

“This next song is dedicated to Steven Miller, Esquire, Master Cataloger, from Krolok, eerie master of illusion. Krolok says, ‘To my brother in karnic arts, Fate has favored you. Together, we will wield great power and receive great rewards. Come to me, and let us share in the glory and riches of Yaat, our ancient kingdom. Our success depends on your skill and secrecy. Do not fail me. You know what you must do.'”

In this follow-up to the cult classic Shagduk, the mystery of Professor Sherwood’s disappearance deepens. As does Steven Miller’s involvement with Fort Worth’s occult underbelly and with his secretive colleague, Diane. Find out what happens when impish shenanigans go too far and when doors best left closed lead the fledgling sorcerer to the world’s very edge. Ursula of Ulm is the second book in the De re dordica saga.

This Kickstarter campaign will be open through 20 June, 2024.