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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Battleborn (The Weapon #1)  – Richard Fox

On the battlefields of the future, death is not the end for a soldier.

The Revenant Program collects badly wounded soldiers broken by war and converts them into unthinking, unfeeling cyborg weapons. Their bodies are immune to pain, their minds impervious to fear and doubt. All controlled by a neural implant called the Imperative.

They are the ideal force for any mission too deadly or too difficult for normal men. A force that answers to the darkest corners of the military.

But when one of the Revenants awakens, he can only remember two things: that he must fight, and a code name…Dead Man.

Who was he before he became a Revenant? What are the officers and scientists controlling the program to do with a soldier that can question the horrific orders he’s given?

The more those controlling the Dead Man learn of who he was, they realize they may have turned a monster into something truly unstoppable. And with every memory recovered, the Imperative drives the Dead Man closer to insanity.

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The Delegate’s Demise (The Queen’s Blade #5) – D. K. Holmberg

A trade delegation changes everything for the Queen’s Blade. 

With a delegation from Ardem in the city to negotiate the sale of fabrications, Zaren is already on edge. The sense of magic is everywhere, and he doesn’t know where to focus.

Then one of the delegates dies under mysterious circumstances, and the Blade may be the only one to find those responsible.

Dangers begin to build. The queen grows sicker by the day, and attempts to heal her fail. Waleith knows something, but refuses to talk. And Zaren begins to fear the plot against the queen and the throne is closer to her than he’d ever imagined.

The Queen’s Blade may be the only one who can save the city from destruction, but can he save the queen in time?

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The Forever Ship (Starship Omega #1) – Scott Bartlett and Joshua James

Only Omega can free humanity.

When the Ornu came, they took Earth in a single night. Humanity never stood a chance. Now, they force us to crew their ships and fight their wars for them. They hold Earth hostage, and if we refuse to do their bidding, they’ll lay waste to our precious blue marble. Slaughtering the billions who live there.

But when Captain Bill Henderson is sent to claim a small moon for his masters, he finds something they never accounted for. An ancient warship – a behemoth abandoned for millennia by a species that reached its peak at the dawn of the universe.

Could this ship of ages be exactly what humanity needs to cast off the shackles of their oppressors? 

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Knights Apocalyptica – Zach Skye

The Apocalypse came. Chaos reigns. A new generation of magic-wielding Knights rises.

The Earth met its end, bathed in holy fire. Rifts spill monsters into our world. Ravaging everything. Destroying civilization as we knew it.

Now, the Kingdom of Cindrus is the last bastion of humanity. The last vestiges of a broken people clinging to life deep underground.

But not all hope is lost. Erec has been blessed by the Goddess. From a line of disgraced nobility, he seeks to reclaim his family’s honor and join the prestigious academy – the institution that trains the next generation of Knights.

With a power that brings him to an uncontrollable Rage, and an old-world AI aiding him, Erec seeks to reconquer the world with the remains of human-kind.

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Reclamation (Rogue Stars #3) – Jaime Castle

It all comes down to this…

The threat of the Visitors might be over, but something new and scary has shown its face on Faebos. A new queen has risen with a desire to reclaim the planet for her people, no matter the cost.

Once again, it’s up to Predaxes and Malik to end this new threat while also keeping at bay the hand of former enemies.

Will a return to Centridium Space be possible, or is it all just a dream to distract them from the nightmare of their reality?

Reclamation is Book Three of Rogue Stars, a boots-on-the-ground Military Sci-Fi series by #1 Audible and Washington Post bestseller Jaime Castle, creator of the Black Badge series. Reclamation combines powerful weapons and mechs, exotic aliens, loyal bots, heroes, and cunning enemies in a thrilling adventure that will force you to lose sleep.

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I, Dragon – a crowdfunding campaign from Alien Books

Fiefdoms of the royal family, Rosentall Castle lives its darkest hours surrounded by a huge army. The leader who heads it is the bastard descendant of a lost royal line, and she has returned to reclaim her throne. A long and bloody struggle for power is about to begin. Meanwhile, inside the castle, a strange carnival woman gives birth to her first child…

One day in the early 90s, international guru Alejandro Jodorowsky chose him to take over the art of The Metabarons, that Moebius had been drawing until then. The gray-blue of the Metabarons gives the comics a more realistic look than the colorful pages of superheroes comics, or the one color ink of the manga. The Metabarons is a science-fiction story, but with knights and epic. Each volume is narrated by a robot called Tonto, relating the story of a member of a family of legendary warriors, who have to kill their predecessors, after being trained by them. At last, they must go out into the world after their fate, with incomplete bodies parched with the latest robotic technology.

Giménez touched his friends’ lives with his good humor and his passion for bikes (his friends and his wife enjoyed many rides with him). He also touched generations of artists, with his generosity and amiability, and with the legacy of his work.

After working on sci-fi for so long, Giménez desired to take up some personal projects. And that’s how I, Dragon, a medieval fantasy, came to be.

This crowdfunding campaign will be open through 14 June, 2024.

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Sword and Scandal – a Kickstarter campaign from J. Manfred Weichsel

The title Sword & Scandal is a play on the popular Italian sword and sandal genre of epic films. These will be stories with traditional historical and mythological settings from heroic fantasy, but with more gore, nudity, and sex than what you usually see published. They will be subversive without becoming grimdark and will retain the sense of fun you would want from a pulp adventure, and the sense of wonder you would want from a weird tale.

If you have read my books, then you know that I am an experimental author who takes big risks with everything he does. Unlike other publishers who tend to play it safe with their selections, I will be looking for the wild, strange, and outrageous. I want to publish off-beat and off-the-wall stories that would never otherwise get to see the light of day.

Humor is also a big part of what I do. I will actively look for stories that incorporate a similar sense of humor as mine: dry, sardonic, and satirical. I enjoy humor that is character-driven, dark, and surreal. But I also like farce.

Sword & Scandal is not an anthology for genre purists. It is for thrill-seeking readers who want something new and different. The tales in this book will be adventures to scandalize. So, if you want to see such a new market open up to writers, and if you want to help bring such a book into existence, and if you want to hold such a book in your hands and read it, then contribute to Sword & Scandal now!

This Kickstarter campaign will be open through 5 June, 2024.

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Ursula of Ulm (De re dordica #2) – a Kickstarter campaign from Pilum Press

“This next song is dedicated to Steven Miller, Esquire, Master Cataloger, from Krolok, eerie master of illusion. Krolok says, ‘To my brother in karnic arts, Fate has favored you. Together, we will wield great power and receive great rewards. Come to me, and let us share in the glory and riches of Yaat, our ancient kingdom. Our success depends on your skill and secrecy. Do not fail me. You know what you must do.'”

In this follow-up to the cult classic Shagduk, the mystery of Professor Sherwood’s disappearance deepens. As does Steven Miller’s involvement with Fort Worth’s occult underbelly and with his secretive colleague, Diane. Find out what happens when impish shenanigans go too far and when doors best left closed lead the fledgling sorcerer to the world’s very edge. Ursula of Ulm is the second book in the De re dordica saga.

This Kickstarter campaign will be open through 20 June, 2024.