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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All Here (The Weapon #3) – Richard Fox

The Red Man remains…

The Dead Man risked everything to rid himself of the malfunctioning cybernetic implant corrupting his mind. He failed. The Red Man will win out. The beast within grows stronger until only it remains…then a nigh-un-killable monster will be loosed on the world.

A threat to everyone around him, the Dead Man flees Los Angeles on a last ditch effort to save who he is and the soldiers he once led.

The Revenant Program cannot let the world learn of the Dead Man and must destroy him before the Red Man takes over. The Program unleashes a final sanction against the rogue cyborg: The Dead Men are All Here.

Will the Dead Man die as a monster or as a hero?

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Prince Imperator (The Prince of Britannia #9) – Fred Hughes

Hazard had promised his mother that he would return and accept the crown. He just needed one last trip to the front to re-organize the Sol Fleet, then he would return home to rule. When he arrived, though, he found himself in the middle of a battle.

The fleet and empire no longer needed him at the front as a warrior; instead, they needed a diplomat. If Earth was to survive, Hazard would need to deal with a host of new alien races, and as emperor, only Hazard could do that. But, of course, he’d do it with a powerful fleet at his back.

There can only be one possible path to peace in this region of space, though. Hazard would need to confront the Zenkarr, the area’s dominant race. Nicknamed the teddy bears by the fleet, there was only one way to deal with them—head on and carrying a big stick. It was diplomacy Hazard could get behind, but will he be able to create a lasting peace, or are the teddy bears not quite as nice as they seem?

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Rawlins’ Redemption (Mercenary Navy #1) – John Spearman

The Union is gone. Interstellar travel is no longer safe. Enter ex-Union Navy Officer Cliff Rawlins.

More than four years after being wrongfully stripped of his rank and decorations in a court-martial stacked against him, ex-Union Navy Officer Cliff Rawlins suddenly finds himself a free man.

The galaxy to which he returns, however, is changing.

The Union of Free Planets is on the verge of dissolving. Many of the shadowy political players working behind the scenes to end the Union are the same people who sent Cliff away. Yet, in the coming political upheaval, Cliff glimpses an opportunity.

For centuries, people have relied upon the Union Navy to act as the policeman of the shipping lanes. With the end of the Union will come the end of the navy. Interstellar commerce is about to become fraught with danger.

Cliff has a way to use his expertise to provide secure transport across interstellar space. A mercenary navy to defend settled space and get rich doing it. After all, he deserves it for what he went through.

But there are enemies old and new who want him to fail. And this time, they want him dead…

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Starship Arcadia (Farthest Reaches #2) – Brandon Ellis and Max Wolfe

The Great Famine continues to ravage Earth, Planet Kahwin has been liberated from the Shapers, and the future looks promising. Captain Scott Moore completes his quest to discover Starship Arcadia.

Then everything changes…

Arcadia, with a mind of its own, abducts Moore and his crew to the last surviving antediluvian space station. Though welcomed as heroes, not everyone embraces their arrival. A diplomat approaches Moore with an offer: thousands of personnel to crew Arcadia in exchange for reforming an ancient alliance against the Keepers. The alternative? Death.

With Earth on the verge of collapse and an imminent alien invasion of Kahwin, humanity’s future hangs in the balance.

Will Moore’s loyalty to Earth lead to ruin?

If you crave lore-heavy space operas, fast-paced action, and deadly intrigue that grips you from start to finish, you’ll love the second book in the epic military sci-fi series: Starship Arcadia.

Don’t miss out. Grab your copy today and join the fight for humanity’s survival.

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Whispers Amidst the Blaze (Dragon’s Dawn #3) – Dan Michaelson and D. K. Holmberg 

Bonding a dragon brings the potential to save or destroy. The Dragon Dawn series continues.

Now that he’s bonded the dragon Sashaak, Laric Mason must come to understand the power of the bond—and the potential power it grants him. Without a mentor, Laric struggles to understand the lessons of a dragon.

Having imprisoned Talia, Laric and his friends know it’s only a matter of time before mages come looking for her and Daelon.

When Talia escapes, there’s a new urgency. They must defend the village against a mage, but she’s not after the village. She’s after the dragon.

Having seen the real Korthal, Laric knows he must protect Sashaak, because it’s not only his village at stake.

They might be all standing between Talia’s ambitions. If she succeeds in forcing dragons to serve, other places will suffer a worse fate than what happened in his village.

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The Hidden Emperor: An Ayla Rin Sci-Fi Graphic Novel – a Kickstarter campaign by Jon Del Arroz

Ayla Rin, Agent Of The Terran Imperium, returns to face a new sinister plot against the Imperium!

Something is amiss with the Emperor of Mankind. Ayla Rin discovers he’s been replaced by a clone who’s intentionally sabotaging the Imperium on behalf of the evil Scorpio Alliance! 

But worse, the Scorpio Alliance knows she knows. And that means blackmail. Ayla is forced to find a secret superweapon that could unleash devastation on the Imperium.

This Kickstarter campaign will close on September 16, 2024.

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Wild Stars: The Gold Exigency – a Kickstarter campaign from Cirsova Publishing

Following the bombing of the galactic summit on Ansa, the Artomique Corporation has become the dominant political power on Earth and throughout the rest of the galaxy! However, the immortal princess Phaedra has amassed a planet-sized hoard of gold, causing the value of the precious metal and any currencies backed by it to crash!

Unusual economic problems require unusual solutions: the Phileans are a race of bird people with brilliant gemstones growing on their skin–simply exterminate the aliens, harvest their skin gems, and corner the market.

Of course, all of this needs to be kept hush-hush. It would be bad if anyone found out Earth’s government was in league with the notorious space pirate queen Nefarimor or, worse, the vile lizard-like Black Star Reavers to engage in trafficking and genocide.

Enter Constable Conrock, who has been investigating abductions and disappearances of Philean women. In the principle of keeping one’s enemies close, the Artomique leader Achilles Hister deputizes Conrock to find the remaining Phileans to “place in protective custody,” look into the origins of the excess gold flooding the market, and track down a pair of wanted criminals.

Conrock, however, is too clever to merely be an unwitting pawn in the Artomique’s secret war against the Wild Stars… Keeping his cards close to the chest, the retired space cop will stop at nothing to uncover the truth and put an end to the insidious machinations of the Artomique Corporation!

This Kickstarter campaign will close on August 15, 2024.