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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The Assistant (Honor of the Fleet #3) – Felix R. Savage

A merciless evil is stalking the cities of the Moon. Only Siegn can unravel the mystery.

Assigned to break a VR smuggling ring, Siegn makes his first visit to the Moon—but his chief suspect is found dead. Now he must solve the murder before the killer strikes again. That’s not going to be easy. On the Moon, VR is a way of life, and no one wants a Martian prying into the reality beneath the glamorous fantasies.

But reality gatecrashes the party when hackers attack the Moon’s prized space elevator. Now the race is on to find the criminals before catastrophe strikes.

It’s Siegn’s darkest and strangest case yet. Throw in a bunch of long-lost cousins and a beautiful–but dangerous–VR celebrity, and Siegn will need all his luck and skill to stop the forces of evil… and that’s before we even talk about the cat.

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Cirsova Magazine #21 / Winter 2024 – edited by P. Alexander

Fourteen tales of thrilling adventure and daring suspense, including:

Enraged by the death of his brethren, Sword-Superior tears his way through the Isshla and their caverns, seeking out the control device that will destroy Earth! The fate of the world hangs in the balance as Gigwanator-Superior pursues him!

Ottocar wishes he were anything but a turtle trainer…until a strange and lovely masked girl at a festival convinces him with a kiss: fix the turtle races for her!

A tenuous truce between a small village and a savage creature of fey has been strained to breaking! If there can be no peace, the only choice is to win!

Now in the presence of others like her, Kayla Blackmoon, a powerful psychic, must prove, to her mentors and herself, that she belongs and has a greater purpose!

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Defiance of the Fall #14 – J. F. Brink

Years of struggle have left Zecia weakened in their war against the Kan’Tanu Cult.

Negotiating for peace is not an option when the System is in control. It can only be purchased through blood and steel. No one is spared from the winds of war.

Zac and his elite armies have been forced to the frontlines just as opportunity strikes. An ancient war fortress has risen from the dimensional depths.

Built by the Limitless Empire, it holds power and secrets far beyond what’s seen on the desolate frontiers. Seizing it could be the key to changing the winds of war. Zac finds himself in the heart of the struggle.

No matter what, he won’t let it fall into the Kan’Tanu’s hands.

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The Departure (The Survivors #23) – Nathan Hystad

Actions have consequences.

Jules has retired from the Institute, and spends her days rebuilding the Academy on Haven Two.

Dean visits each Alliance partner, seeking to salvage a crumbling accord, and encounters a mystery deeper than the universe.

Nothing has prepared Dean Parker and family for this adventure, as the end of one story is just the beginning of another.

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The Earth We Knew (I, Starship #3) – Scott Bartlett

They say you can’t go home again…

…especially if you’re the governing mind for an interstellar military starship.

It’s official: Sergeant Henry Morgan has now spent more time as a starship than he spent dead. His mission is more than a century old, but in some ways, he feels like it’s just begun.

A desperate distress call from Earth has brought him back to his old cosmic stomping grounds, for your standard save-humanity-from-extinction-by-alien-constructs operation.

But Henry needs to realize something: while his species might be the new kid on the galactic block, it is not without its secrets. Many of them deep and dark, with implications that reach back to the time when he himself walked the Earth on two legs.

In some ways, humanity has become more alien than the extraterrestrials. And if Henry can’t figure out what this means – fast – he’s going to have serious problems keeping himself and his crew safe.

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The Freedom Fleet – Daniel Arenson

What if WWII were fought in space?

In 1944, a secret Nazi experiment split the universe in two. In our universe, we won. Hitler died. Freedom prevailed. But in a parallel universe, the Nazis discovered the atom bomb first… and conquered the world. The light of freedom perished, and the Nazi shadow spread across Earth, the solar system, and the stars.

In 2207, a portal opens between our two universes. One universe of freedom. One of tyranny. And through this portal flies the Weltraumwaffe, the space fleet of the Third Reich.

James King was enjoying his retirement. He once commanded the Freedom Fleet, an armada of starships tasked with defending Earth. In his fifty years of service, Admiral King fought many battles. But he never faced anything like this.

He is old. Tired. Battle-worn. But he must don the uniform again. He must lead the Freedom Fleet once more. Or the shadows of our past will swallow us all.

WWII rages again. This time in space. The Freedom Fleet will face off against the Weltraumwaffe. Freedom or tyranny—only one can win.

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Rift Magus Reborn #2: Rise of the Arcane Aristocrat – Sam Winton

I was the Rift Magus—master of space and time, protector of worlds. For decades, I defended my realm with unmatched power. But when I was reborn in the body of Lucian, a young noble in a different world, I had to start again.

My strength was diminished but my knowledge remained, and I quickly reclaimed fragments of my lost powers–and even found some that were new.

But this new life came with intrigues and rivalries of noble Houses, and obligations as well–one of which threatens to escalate out of control and put my progression at risk.

If I was the young noble I seemed to be, I would be out of my depth.

But I am not Lucian. I am the Rift Magus, and I’ve dealt with my share of both family obligations and unspeakable horrors, growing stronger all the while.

I can do it again.

I will do it again.

There’s nothing in this world that can stop me.

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Symbiote Wars – Chris Kennedy

James Sutton was an average guy—he couldn’t afford college and didn’t really know what he wanted to do with his life.

But when his sister Holly goes missing, he finds out he’s been living in an urban fantasy: An alien really did land in Roswell in the 1940s… and the US has had a secret alliance with them ever since.

The aliens are symbiotes—capable of bonding with hosts, enhancing their strength, agility, and stamina. The only problem for them was that finding a viable host was difficult… until the symbiotes discover humanity.

Now mankind finds itself in the middle of an alien civil war between two symbiote factions—those who would be our allies… and those who would subjugate us into slavery forever.