Every week, the Castalia House Blog spotlights some of the many new releases in independent, pulp and web novel-influenced science fiction and fantasy.

---

Apocalypse Tamer 2 – Maxime J. Durland

Invaders have burned down Basil’s home. He’s out for blood.

Now short of a house, Basil and his pets are leaving the countryside for the wider world.

Their goal?

To show the factions vying for control over post-apocalypse Europe that nothing can beat a dragon-riding tamer and his monster menagerie. However, Basil’s crusade soon encounters new challenges.

Who is this mysterious Kalki and his connection to the System? Can they truly defeat their nemesis Apollyon and his allies, the Horsemen of the Apocalypse? Which of the Louvre Pyramid or the Eiffel Tower will prove the best dungeon of them all?

One thing is certain though. No one expects the Apocalypse Tamer.

---

Endfall (The Kingfall Histories #5) – David Estes

In the east, Sampson, Grym and Charlotte seek to unearth the seventh and final godblade. But to do so, they must overcome the wiles of the magical forest of Echoeswood while facing enemies lurking in every shadow.

In the west, dragonriders Peony and Dane must unite what is left of the fractured nations of Kingfall, but a surprise visitor has the potential to destroy what small measure of peace the bondmates have managed to restore to Travail.

In the north, Rose must come to terms with her own undeadness while facing demons no living human has ever faced.

In the south, Ando and his merry band of misfits journey the Loslandian wilderness in search of their purpose, a purpose that destiny always knew would lead them back to Kingfall. But will they arrive in time with their entire crew intact?

And all the while, the enemy draws closer, the creatures known as the Thousands drawn by the scent of human blood and the promise of chaos. If they reach Kingfall’s shores, gods save us all.

---

Light Unto Another World: Volume 6 – Yakov Merkin

The war between Fulnar and the elf/demi-human alliance is only continuing to escalate in the wake of a massive blow to the human kingdom’s objects of worship, with Uriel Makkis, and his friends, caught squarely in the middle of it all.

Now, both galvanized to continue the fight against the growing demi-human strength in particular, and still reeling from blows it has taken, Fulnar is starting to call on every powerful force at its disposal, no matter how vile.

It’ll be up to Uriel and his team, some of whom have pasts intertwined with these new foes, to prevent them from turning the tide of the war.

But at what cost?

Uriel and his friends will find themselves tested as never before, as they pit their newfound strength against the might of foes who will do anything to destroy them.

---

Monster Haunter – Alex Gate and Steve Higgs

No one said being Sacramento’s only paranormal P.I. was going to be easy.

Face your fears. It’s such a tired cliché. Yet that’s what August Watson must do if he is to survive.

His self-appointed nemesis, a ghost of a man called Daniel Quinn, has taken Glacia and August must play Quinn’s deadly games if he is to stand any chance of getting her back.

On the run from the police, forced to do it all alone, August must face his greatest nightmares. He will triumph or he will die. But if he dies, it won’t be only his life that is forfeit.

Out of options, out of time, the rage within might keep him alive, but will it also consume him?

---

Kamen America Volume 7 – A Kickstarter by Timothy Lim and Mark Pellegrini

“Charlotte ‘Carly’ Sasha Vanders was an aspiring fashionista whose life was changed after being fatefully impacted by cosmic debris! Now a human battery, she uses her supercharged status to rebrand herself as a henshin-heroine. However, she quickly learns that sometimes doing what’s right isn’t always fashionable as she battles the forces of evil as the patriotic paladin known as KAMEN AMERICA!”

Kamen America, Volume 7 takes place in a world divided between light and dark. As the Kamen Corps is split across the United States and the world in a desperate attempt to fend off the Otomotons, the Zenerengers are plotting their next move by targeting specific power stations!

To this end, Cynthia Prestige takes advantage of the situation and enlists the help of Zener Ecto and Zener Psycho to enact the last part of her nefarious plan. But what devastating and revealing repercussions will this have on the Kamen Corps? Find out in this penultimate chapter of the second Kamen America saga!

This Kickstarter will remain open until 6 April 2023.

---

Michael Tierney’s Sky Dance of Winter Fire – a Kickstarter from Cirsova

For Michael Tierney, it was nothing more than moving a stack of firewood; for Wallflower, one of the insects living in the pile, it was the beginning of the adventure of lifetime.

A few years back, author and artist Michael Tierney was out during a bout of surprisingly good winter weather, restocking his firewood. Huge waves of winter fireflies rose into the sky in an explosion of light.

This fantastical spectacle stuck with Michael, and sent him on flights of fancy. He envisioned the miraculous flight within context of an epic adventure and struggle. He wondered how those bugs that had been in the woodpile might have envisioned him: a giant; a monster; an out-of-this-world alien being?

Michael initially put the story of the sky dance to paper, but that was not quite enough. He also wanted to capture the essence of those moments in art and imagery. Sky Dance of Winter Fire was born as a digital mixed-media storybook that Michael Tierney and Cirsova Publishing would like to bring to you now…

This Kickstarter will remain open until 6 April 2023.

---

Rogues of Merth: The Adventures of Dareon and Blue – a Kickstarter from Robert Zoltan

One Night in Merth, that most westerly city tottering on the edge of  the Succulent Sea, a desperate young poet swordsman and an ingenuous  young tribal warrior meet by chance or fate or luck. Their unlikely  friendship sets them on a course of adventures across the wild  mysterious continent of Plemora, where they face monsters, magicians,  maledictions, and things nameless and far stranger.

This is the first publication of Rogues of Merth, Book 2! In Book 2, the poet swordsman Dareon Vin and the Indari warrior known as Blue return to the city they both love and hate. Reunited with the Khulanese Dancer, Malika, they encounter delights and dangers both old and new, marvels beyond comprehension, and nightmares of horror that take them from the glittering starry rooftops to the subterranean depths and even beyond the world of Plemora. Ten new tales!

You can get both Book 1 and 2 as PDFs, paperbacks or hardcover editions! Twenty tales of Heroic Fantasy Sword and Sorcery Adventures in the tradition of the Golden Age (Fritz Leiber, Jack Vance, Michael Moorcock, Robert E. Howard, and C.L. Moore).

This Kickstarter will remain open until 17 March 2023.