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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Enemy Below (Nocturnus #1) – Devon C. Ford

We aren’t alone. The enemies are already here… beneath our feet.

Beneath the surface, a war rages between the surviving demons still inhabiting the Earth and those few, the initiated, who fight to keep it buried deep where it belongs in the darkest shadows.

Troy Odell was doing what he did best, taking the fight to the enemies of the free world. No two missions were ever the same, but he never expected his world to turn so violently upside down. The only surviving member of his team of US Marine Raiders, he finds himself drawn into that secret battle.

Adapting to his new reality, Odell must find his place in that new world and come to terms with not only the truth about the world but where he fits in it.

Fighting enemies he though only existed in movies, Odell soon learns that his side of that secret war is vastly unprepared for what is to come.

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First Contact: The Anatomy of Courage – Peter Cawdron

Dr. Christopher Walters has been assigned to a medical evac team serving on the front line of the war against the alien invaders known as the Novo.

As part of the Dog Food Squad, his role is to provide battlefield triage to wounded soldiers in no man’s land.

Life expectancy at the Front is so low no one uses their real names, and he teams up with Hawk, Mouse, Leech, Lavender and William Sunday to save those he can from the brutal reality of war. The Novos, though, are not what they seem.

Inconsistencies leave Doc questioning the war and wondering what the price will be for peace…

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The Princess Scout (Scout #8) – Henry Vogel

Separated from their classmates during a drill, Scout Cadets Anne Villas and Christine Montide find themselves stranded on a previously uncharted world. By pure chance they’ve discovered a lost human colony that wants to stay lost, and the rulers of this planet will use all the power they have to keep it a secret.

Anne is not just any cadet, though. She’s “The Princess Scout” — the daughter of David Rice, the Scout Corps’ legendary hero, and Callan, indomitable heir to the throne of Mordan. With the might of a whole planet against them, can Anne and Chris find a way to not merely survive, but win?

The Princess Scout mashes up space opera excitement with the dangerous atmosphere of a Cold War thriller, resulting in the latest standalone hit novel in Henry Vogel’s best-selling Scout series. Read it today!

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Return of the Runebound Professor – Actus

For Noah Vines, death isn’t the end. It’s a weapon.

After standing around in the afterlife for thousands of years, Noah is all out of patience. When the opportunity to steal a second chance at living arises, he doesn’t hesitate.

Reincarnated into the body of a dying magic school professor, Noah finds that he took more than just a second chance. He got infinite. Every time he dies, his body reforms.

Lives are a currency, and Noah Vines is rich.

With countless variations of runic magic to discover and with death serving as only a painful soul-wound rather than a final end, Noah finally has a chance to wander the lands of the living once more.

This time around, he plans to get strong enough to make sure that he never has to wait around in the afterlife again.

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Star Dragons (Star Dragon #3) – James David Victor

What happens when your worst enemy suddenly becomes your best friend?

Keel Hennity was killed by a dragon. His entire existence as a reincarnated fighting machine has focused on keeping those Star Dragons under control. Now that he’s been mysteriously bonded to one of the deadly creatures, he’s supposed to turn the creature into his best friend and most powerful ally. What could possibly go wrong?

Star Dragons is the third book in the Star Dragon series. If you like incredible stories that are part space opera, part military sci-fi adventure, and full of non-stop action, be sure to check out the Star Dragon series today. Oh, and don’t forget about the space dragons.

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Ultimate Conclusions – a Kickstarter from Karl K. Gallagher

Hi, I’m Karl K Gallagher. I’m asking your support to help me put out a collection of my short stories.

I’m best known for my Torchship Trilogy, which is a hard SF adventure story about an undercover spy fighting a government which suppresses uncontrolled computers. The trilogy was a finalist for the Prometheus award for best libertarian science fiction novel.

There’s a few loose ends at the end of the story: what’s going to happen with the uploaded people? Will the humans win their war against the AIs? And how can they rebuild the planets devastated in the war?

I’ve written three new stories tackling those questions and giving a look at the characters we love from the trilogy, which I hope Torchship fans will enjoy

This Kickstarter will be available until 10 April, 2024