Magical schools, interstellar feuds, paranormal fixers, and superheroine team-ups shine in this week’s new releases.

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Badger Company (The Torashad Wars #1) – Eric T. Knight and Dylan Knight

Only the insane or the truly desperate sign up to fight in the Torashad War…

For Badger Company, a motley group of misfit mercenaries, there simply aren’t any other choices. Not after the disaster at Fell’s Keep made them outcasts that no one would hire. Now the men and women of Badger Company are marching to join a war that has been raging for centuries.

Long ago, Go’ath, the demon lord, created the Rift, allowing demons to enter the world. But the god Eremus was waiting for him. Eremus had created the Blade, a massive sword unlike anything the world had ever seen, and pierced Go’ath with it before he could pass through. Eremus then went through the Rift in pursuit of Go’ath and never returned.

The Blade stopped Go’ath, but the Rift remains open. The Torashad War–so named for the mighty fortress Eremus’ followers, the Aegis Knights built on the demon side of the Rift–continues unceasing, an endless battle against a foe that never gives up.

The priests who prosecute the war pay in gold. They pay in redemption too. A stint in the Torashad War earns forgiveness for all crimes committed, both worldly and godly. And the gods know that Badger Company needs more forgiveness than most.

All they have to do is survive a war that leaves most of the soldiers who fight in it dead or driven mad.

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Darkspace Renegade – G. J. Ogden

The interstellar bridges provide a lifeline for billions. To save humanity the Darkspace Renegades must tear them all down.

Unjustly kicked out of the Consortium Security Force, Hallam Knight has been reduced to working as a gunner, defending the precious Randenite fuel tankers from notorious extremists, the Darkspace Renegades.

Hell-bent on ending bridge travel for good, the Darkspace Renegades threaten to tear down the interstellar travel network that supports billions of lives, across a dozen worlds.

The Darkspace Renegades are outlaws and radicals. Or so Hallam thought.

When a violent encounter with an infamous mercenary group, the Blackfire Squadron, almost costs him his life, Hallam Knight finds himself at the mercy of the Darkspace Renegades and their mysterious and enigmatic leader.

Hallam Knight discovers that everything he thought he knew was a lie. Far from being the enemy, the Darkspace Renegades are humanity’s only hope – they just don’t know it yet.

The Consortium taught Hallam that no good deed goes unpunished. They’re about to find out that karma’s a bitch.

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Earth Remembers (Earthrise #13) – Daniel Arenson

They walk among us. They look just like us. They plot our doom.

Some call them the scummers. Hybrids. Humans with alien DNA.

Years ago, they hatched in alien labs. They came to Earth as sleeper agents. Since then, they’ve been mingling with our society. They teach our children. They cook our food. They tend to our elders. All the while waiting. Biding their time. Hiding in plain sight.

And now they strike. With devastating force. With terrifying cruelty. They bring Earth to its knees.

But we will rise again. We are humans, brave and proud. And we will fight back!

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Edge World (Undying Mercenaries Series #14) – B. V. Larson

A lonely planet circles a star on the very border of Province 921. Critical resources produced there are claimed by both the Mogwa and the Skay. War between the Galactic giants becomes more likely every day.

James McGill and Legion Varus are deployed to protect Edge World, a planet that rotates at a walking pace. Each day is as long as a year back on Earth. The sun-side of the world is baked with endless sunshine, the night-side is freezing and full of strange creatures. Living in an inhabitable zone on the edge of their world, a shadow-line between night and day, nomadic peoples roam the planet. It is these inhabitants Earth’s forces must protect.

Three fleets converge: the Mogwa, the Skay, and Earth’s growing armada. Peace talks are held, but then McGill opens his big mouth, and things go badly…

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Fantastic Schools: Volume Two – edited by L. Jagi Lamplighter

Have you ever wanted to go to magic school? To cast spells and brew potions and fly on broomsticks and—perhaps—battle threats both common and supernatural? Come with us into worlds of magic, where students become magicians and teachers do everything in their power to ensure the kids survive long enough to graduate. Welcome to … Fantastic Schools.

Follow a mundane teacher striding into a world of magic, a spy on a mission, a guided tour of a magical school, a school dance for monsters, a dangerous reunion … and many more.

Follow us into worlds different, magical …

… And very human.

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Flying Sparks / Punchline: Unleash The Kraken! – Jon del Arroz and Jethro Morales

A Kraken unleashed in Downtown Los Angeles…

…and only two heroes can stop it!

Versema didn’t expect to have to do any superheroing on vacation in LA, hoping to spend some quality time on the beach, but instead, she finds herself faced with one of the deadliest villains yet.

She teams up with L.A.’s premier superhero, Meta-Girl to fight this monstrosity. Can the girls stop it before it destroys the city?

Fans of Supergirl and Empowered will love Flying Sparks / Punchline: Unleash The Kraken! A fully self-contained superhero story!

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Hell’s Horizon – Richard Fox and Jonathan Brazee

A war with no end. A vendetta that will destroy two commanders.

The war between the Alliance and the Hegemony has spanned countless stars and shed untold blood on a hundred worlds.

For two commanders, Alliance Captain Alcazar and Major Richter of the Hegemony the war has spiraled into a personal feud. Both lead fierce Marines and mechanized soldiers into battle against the other on the green hell of the planet Ayutthaya, and each new fallen warrior only deepens the bitterness and hatred between the two.

But as the conflict rages, the two warriors realize they have more in common than they dare to admit, and their own codes of honor may be what can bring the bloodshed to an end.

If they don’t kill each other first.

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Into the Serpent’s Lair (The Frontiers Saga: Rogue Castes #15) – Ryk Brown

Empires at the brink of war…

A galactic alliance on the horizon…

Worlds on the verge of destruction…

Comrades taking up arms against one another…

Nathan Scott must use all his cunning to save not only his own world, but the worlds of his friends and his enemies. But to do so, he must make a deal with the devil, and risk everything on a fight no one believes he can win.

“Into the Serpent’s Lair” is the 15th and final episode of Part 2 of the Frontiers Saga, Rogue Castes.

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Strange Magic (Yancy Lazarus #1) – James Hunter

Yancy Lazarus is having a bad day.

There’s a bullet lodged in his butt cheek, his face looks like it got hit by a wrecking ball, and he’s been Saran-wrapped to a banquet table. He never should’ve answered the phone…

When he came to Los Angeles, mage and paranormal fixer Yancy Lazarus thought his main problem would be finding decent ribs, good bourbon, and great blues. Instead, he got roped into solving a series of gangland assassinations. The crime scene stinks of brimstone, and the killer’s set to spark a turf war between the otherworldly forces of the city.

And with the number of folks he’s pissed off, Yancy’s sure to catch the blame. Can he close the case in time, or will he be hexed, burned, and gored into early retirement? The kind of retirement that comes with a toe tag.

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A Worthy Sacrifice (Galaxy Ascendant #7) – Yakov Merkin

The galaxy has fallen, practically without a fight.

Most of its greatest defenders are prisoners of the seemingly unstoppable Kirothian League.

But the denizens of the Galaxy Ascendant do not believe in giving up, and will fight to the bitter end.

The initial shock of the rapid collapse of the galaxy before the mighty Kirothian League has worn off, and everyone is struggling to pick themselves up again.

But the situation is no less dire.

With most of the galaxy’s greatest defenders captives of their enemies, it falls to the few still free, those deemed less of a threat by this new foe, to lead the resistance.

Meanwhile, those held captive will not—and cannot allow themselves to become passive. Their fates, as well as the fate of the galaxy as a whole, depends on their next actions.

Former enemies will be forced to work together, if there is to be any hope for the future of the galaxy.

They will give it their all. But will it be enough to get them out of their most dire situation yet?