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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Beware of Chicken #4 – Casualfarmer

A laugh-out-loud, slice-of-life martial-arts fantasy about . . . farming????

Jin Rou wanted to be a cultivator. A man powerful enough to defy the heavens. A master of martial arts. A lord of spiritual power. Unfortunately for him, he died, and now I’m stuck in his body.

Out in the middle of nowhere, I’ve managed to escape a life of cultivation and politics. Until now, that is. I guess it was inevitable they caught up with me eventually. I haven’t exactly been subtle. You know, what with the talking animals performing heroics all over the Azure Hills and Xiulan constantly calling me a Hidden Master.
A part of me wants to run away again. The memory of my death still haunts my dreams. But this is my home now. And I’ll be damned if I give it up without a fight.

I mean, all I have to do is learn how to navigate xianxia politics and train for battle while simultaneously running my farm and uncovering an ancient cataclysm that apparently destroyed the Azure Hills back in the day.

Meanwhile, I’m about to be a father . . . Man, I’m kinda screwed, aren’t I? At least I can call in the cavalry—ahem, poultry—to help.

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Cloak of Illusion (Cloak Mage #12) -Johnathan Moeller

A hidden enemy. A bitter price for victory.

My name is Nadia. I’m a Marshal of the High Queen of the Elves, and I’ve lived through some terrifying things.

Including the Mage Fall.

And now, to my enormous annoyance, they’re making a movie about it.

The High Queen wants it to happen, so it’s going to happen.

Except someone has been sabotaging the production, and the sabotage has escalated to murder.

A new enemy is in the shadows, and if I don’t solve the murder, a lot of bad things are going to happen…

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This Inevitable Ruin (Dungeon Crawler Carl #7) – Matt Dinniman

The ninth floor.

Nine armies, each led by rich and powerful aliens from across the galaxy. Each team has one objective: to capture and hold the castle at the very center of the battlefield. Strategy, alliances, pitched battles, and, of course, betrayal… It all makes for great fun and even greater television.

After all, none of these powerful aliens really die when they’re playing war.

Except this time. This time, winner takes all. Those who fall, stay in the ground.

As the AI continues its rapid decline, Carl and company take advantage of the chaos. For the first time ever, the crawlers are fighting back. They are now one of the nine teams. And this season, there’s a tenth army on the playing field. The NPCs, who are normally used as nothing but cannon fodder, have become fully self-aware and formed a team of their own.

For Donut and Katia, the stakes are even higher. Only one of them will be allowed to leave this level.

If they all want to survive, they’re going to need a little help from a veteran or two.

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The Lost World (Lost Starship Series #22) – Vaughn Heppner

There are reports that hijacked Star Watch personnel are released onto a jungle planet in the Beyond. There, New Men hunt them down like animals with high-powered rifles and killer dogs.

Captain Maddox would check that out, but he’s grounded on Earth and Galyan refuses to let anyone else use Starship Victory.

Valerie goes in a Patrol scout with Keith at helm and the newly young Riker as security.

They stumble onto an ancient conspiracy that started long before humanity was rooting around for tubers on Earth. Somehow, it’s related to what the New Men are doing on the jungle planet.

Valerie will do everything she can to save her hijacked crew from this evil, although she’s alone in the Beyond in an escape pod that is running out of air. If she fails, God help us all.

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Tangled Webs (Four Horsemen: The Phoenix Initiative #15) – Mark Wandrey

Tortantula, long considered the most vicious and tenacious of the mercenary races of the Galactic Union, are also one of the most enigmatic.

Little is known about their origin or how they ended up as slaves to the power-hungry Veetanho eons ago, but when a young Tortantula was born with abilities not seen in thousands of generations, everything changed.

Having escaped servitude to the Veetanho, Oort is on a quest to learn more about her race’s history. Hints of the Tortantula home world are buried within the GalNet, and she’s been following them for years. Now, she’s finally found a hidden cache of information.

But Veetanho aren’t known for letting go, and they’ve found her once more. A drama of redemption, revenge, and destiny is about to play out as the tangled webs of the Tortantula finally begin to reveal deep truths… and shocking lies.

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The Wild Adventures of Cthulhu #3 – Will Murray

H. P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu vs. A. Merritt’s Khalk’ru!

Dread Cthulhu is stirring again. Deep in the abyssal zone of the South Pacific Gyre, far from any landmass, the imprisoned Great Old One sends out his telepathic tentacles to stir up trouble in the surface world of insignificant mortals.

But this renewed activity does not go unanswered.

Cthulhu is not supposed to rise from his underwater crypt until the stars are right. And the stars are not yet right.…

Beyond our orderly universe, the Outer Gods take notice…and take action!

War erupts among the Great Old Ones and the Ultimate Gods. A cosmic conflict that culminates in the return of the omni-malevolent Outer Kraken, Khalk’ru, who seeks to break through into our sane reality in order to meet this rising challenge.

All Khalk’ru requires is a pliable human capable of opening up the gate. Whether willing or unwilling does not matter….

A clash of unholy Titans takes shape. Who triumphs may not matter. The ultimate question is: Will mankind survive….?