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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Darkspace Renegade – G. J. Ogden

Humanity depends on the star bridges. Hallam Knight must tear them down.

Hallam Knight is a Bridge Runner, one of the few people brave and stupid enough to crew armored tankers that travel between the Bridge Worlds and the Centrum, the galaxy’s only source of Randenite fuel.

As the galaxy’s rarest and most valuable commodity, Randenite maintains the interstellar network that supports billions of lives across a dozen worlds.

Without it, civilization crumbles.

Then when a bar brawl with infamous mercenaries, the Blackfire Squadron, almost costs him his life, Hallam is placed at the mercy of the Darkspace Renegades and their mysterious leader.

The Darkspace Renegades are anarchists and outlaws committed to destroying the bridge network. Or so Hallam thought.

Now, he knows a terrible secret, one that forces him to make an impossible choice.

To save humanity, the bridge network must fall. To save humanity, Hallam Knight must become a Darkspace Renegade.

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Prince Dominator (The Prince of Britannia Saga #8) – Fred Hughes

Hazard King, AKA Prince Henry, was a prince with a problem. Oh sure, he’d defeated the Mordorians in the Sol System and had landed his Marines on earth. His landing parties had even found samples of the original virus used to develop Black Dragon, which—hopefully—could be used to develop an antidote, so the main objective of his mission had been fulfilled.

The problem was, he couldn’t leave just what was left of the human population of Earth to the Mordorians, and unfortunately, he didn’t have the resources he needed to reconquer the planet. Hazard would have to return to Britannia to get the troops and materials required, then he could return and kick the Mordorians out of the Sol System for good.

In order to return with the overwhelming force he needed to free Earth, he was willing to do anything—to pay whatever price his mother asked—and this time, Hazard would need to become… a Prince Dominator.

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Rogue Stars #2: Divine Intervention – Jaime Castle

The Visitors have arrived…

To everyone’s surprise, the wormhole has reopened—albeit temporarily. What comes through, no one could have predicted.

A people with a mysterious past, with names no one truly understands, have decided to make Faebos their home.

Predaxes and Malik, working together, must keep peace while determining whether or not these new arrivals are the friends they claim to be, or the worst foes they’d ever encountered. With a man claiming to be the Prime Minister of Lenzaab among them, will this be salvation for the former residents of Purgatory, or yet another battle waiting to happen?

With the help of friends old and new, the fate of Faebos and the native Olyrii hangs precariously in the balance.

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The Solar Tsunami – David A. Simpson

An unexpected solar storm destroys the U.S. power grid and unravels civilization.

Natasha is a student from a nomadic Siberia tribe trying to adjust to her new life in New York and fit in. But when a cataclysmic solar storm slams into the planet, everything changes.

Lightning storms hammer the entire globe, burning and destroying everything they touch.

The electrical grid goes down. Fires rage out of control. Cars and electronics quit working.

Help isn’t coming.

Time is short to flee from a now-lawless city with millions of hungry people who are becoming increasingly desperate.

So, Natasha and some new friends hatch an audacious plan to use some of the University’s horses to reach her family in Northern Maine, where they will be welcomed and have plenty of food and water… if they can get there.

600 miles of the unknown lies between them and the safe haven. And before they can escape the violence of New York, Natasha must retrieve something that was stolen from her village.

It won’t be easy, but this is her only shot.

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The Traitor’s Trap (The Queen’s Blade #4) – D. K. Holmberg

When only the traitor has answers, the Blade must first avoid his trap. The Queen’s Blade saga continues.

As Zaren seeks to learn what his former mentor planned, a series of strikes in the city force Zaren to take action.

Worse, he learns the truth of the queen’s illness and the steps taken to save her. No longer is magic a danger; now it might be a salvation.

Time is not on his side. Pushed to his limits, what he discovers may change the course of his service in the city—and to the queen. As the attacks in the city escalate, Zaren and his team search for answers, but it might already be too late to save the queen.

Zaren must rely upon everything he’s become to protect the city, but can he remain the Queen’s Blade?

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Wizard-Thief (Half-Elven Thief #2) – Johnathan Moeller

Even the boldest thief must watch her back.

Rivah Half-Elven is a master thief of the Court of the Masked King, and has finally escaped the debts that hung over her head like a sword.

But she made many enemies along the way, and they have not forgotten her.

So when the Masked King himself has a job for Rivah, she has no choice but to take it if she wants to stay in his good graces.

The job is much more dangerous than it first appears, but treachery from Rivah’s fellow thieves may be far deadlier.

It will take all of Rivah’s cunning and her growing skill at magic to survive…