Every week, the Castalia House Blog spotlights some of the many new releases in independent, pulp, and web novel-influenced science fiction and fantasy.
The Atrocity Engine (Custodians of the Cosmos #1) – Tim Waggoner
Creatures from dark dimensions infesting your home? Demonic beings trying to drive you insane? Alien gods attempting to destroy your universe?
Just call Maintenance.
This underpaid and overworked secret organization is dedicated to battling forces that seek to speed up Entropy and hasten the Omniverse’s inevitable death.
Neal Hudson is a twenty-year veteran of Maintenance. A surveyor who drives through the streets of Ash Creek, Ohio constantly scanning for the deadly energy known as Corruption. Since the death of his previous partner, Neal prefers to work alone, and he’s not happy when he’s assigned to mentor a rookie.
But they better learn to get alone fast.
The Multitude, a group of godlike beings who seek to increase Entropy at every opportunity, are creating an Atrocity Engine. This foul magical device can destroy the Earth, and they don’t care how many innocent lives it takes to build it.
Department of Dungeon Studies – J. Pal
Magic school isn’t cheap. To be a Mage, he must work smart and learn fast.
Fate dealt Nox the Alchemist unfavorable cards, but he has learnt to compensate for his shortcomings with scholarly pursuits, tenacity, and sheer grit. Fortunately, for him Woodson University and their scouts are always seeking individuals with his work ethic.
The Department of Dungeon Studies sees the value of the mind and its ability to overcome all limitations. After all, they stripped the divine of their titles. The department turned gods into Dungeon Lords and their domains into Dungeons.
Now, the department can teach Nox how to use magic to stand strong in a broken world. It will give him the tools to achieve his ambitions and his limitations will force him to the forefront of arcane discovery.
Unfortunately, more immediate challenges await Nox, too. He lacks the means to pay the university’s ridiculous tuition. Only alchemy and smart business deals will earn him the hundreds of gold coins he needs.
The Essence Memory (Essence Wielder #5) – Dan Michaelson and D. K. Holmberg
Essence can be many things, but can it take the form of a memory?
Having come to learn the truth of the connections Dax has to essence, he begins to question whether he even needs to continue to train at the Academy.
When the Essendar return to the Academy, this time truly in service to the Emperor, Dax loses all that he’s gained. He must find a way of controlling his power, even if it means getting around the restrictions placed upon him.
As a new danger emerges on the border of the empire, Dax’s new abilities might be the key to understanding what is responsible—and how to stop it.
Only Dax can muster the necessary alliance that is needed, but how can all the disparate factions unite to stop a danger no one knew existed?
Ghost of the Badlands – Razorfist
Who is the Ghost? Man or myth? Flesh or phantom? Is he a ghostly stranger who wandered out of the Arizona desert to deal divine judgment upon the modern Gomorrah of Canyon Diablo? Or is he a survivor of godless effrontery… plucked from his grave by beings unknown, to visit upon evil men the ravages to which they subject the weak? Whatever his origin, the result is the same: Gunfight after gunfight, body after body, coffin after coffin, legend soon grows of this phantom of the high desert.
The badlands swirl with whispers of a lone pistoleer. A one-man vendetta ride, wielding a mechanical weapon of the Old World, to cleanse the heathen with hails of gunfire. Rumors soon circulate of an entire army, cloaked in shadow, his faceless foot soldiers. Eventually, folk find a name for this mute, masked missionary of death…
THE GHOST OF THE BADLANDS.
Honor of Cyborgs (The Cyborg Option #1) – Scott Moon
Follow commands or save his renegade family… He must choose.
No one defies the Protectorate.
They’ve got relentless cyborg assassins who never quit and never fail to take out their targets.
Until one defies them by becoming a parent.
Camden 1192, and ninety-nine other killers, are assigned to locate and capture the traitor. Orders specify taking the child alive, if possible. Only, theres one problem. The traitor happens to be Camden’s sister, and the child, his nephew.
At the end of the day, everyone knows the Protectorate’s Cyborgs are only good at one thing—ending the lives of anyone daring to disobey. But it’s family… Blood versus duty.
Can one man win the most unwinnable scenario in the galaxy?
The King’s Daughter (Ashes of Entecea #2) – Kacey Ezell and Chris Kennedy
Caledin knew he could never go home.
Two decades after losing his family to Zhretennais saboteurs, the former Ajenite naval officer made his living as a pirate, prowling the shipping lanes and picking off rich Zhretennais merchant vessels. For the most part, he’s content, and he tells himself often that the Free Ship Rampart and his crew are all the family he’ll ever need again.
But then the Rampart stumbles upon a strange lifepod deep in the black nothingness of space. And against all the odds, the occupant in stasis—a girl named Siolene with ancient, royal DNA—is still alive.
Now Caledin must decide how best to help Siolene take her place in the modern world. Especially when it becomes clear that the powerful Crown of Zhretennais would rather she return to being dead… permanently.
But the wishes of the Crown of Zhretennais doesn’t factor in the will of a ruthless pirate captain. Caledin’s lost one family to Zhretien, and he’s not about to lose another.
Even if he has to fight the entire galaxy, he will save The King’s Daughter.
Perry Rhodan NEO #18 – Christian Humberg and Frank Borsch
The Naats begin their onslaught, but the Topsidians prove worthy opponents, and the cost of the resulting battle is staggering. Meanwhile, the Tosoma’s crew attempts an escape with the help of their captor, Toreead. Will they be able to bridge the communication gap and make a new ally? Or will the Naats lose the battle, dashing all hopes for the trapped humans?
Elsewhere in space, the tyrannical, self-serving hand of the regent is determined to boost his own status by using the Naats to wipe out the Topsidian resistance, but plans are afoot from both Atlan da Gonozal—an ancient immortal Arkonide—and Perry Rhodan, who has been taken aboard the hand’s ship. Things go smoothly at first, but when Crest senses Atlan nearby, he takes a risk that could endanger everyone.
Now it’s up to Rhodan and Reginald Bull to seek out Atlan in hopes of ending the threat of interstellar war. It all hangs in the balance as the conflict reaches its epic conclusion!
A Scammer Darkly (Rex Nihilo #5) – Robert Kroese
Dive back into the chaotic universe of Robert Kroese’s Rex Nihilo series, where trouble is not just a possibility—it’s a guarantee. Our irrepressible hero, Rex Nihilo, and his remarkably patient robot sidekick, Sasha, find themselves in hot water once again. This time, they’re arrested for a murder they haven’t committed… yet.
Thanks to the overzealous Future Uncommitted Crimes Division, Rex and Sasha are roped into a wild scheme: to expose a second plot against Fanton Van Stry, the brilliant but bewildering CEO of the True2Life Android and Carpool Buddy Corporation. The plan? Go undercover among a group of android assassins plotting in the neon-lit streets of the planet Sydmede.
Packed with Kroese’s trademark wit, “A Scammer Darkly” turns a simple undercover mission into a riot of missteps and misdeeds. As Rex and Sasha bumble through the investigation, they realize that nothing is what it seems, and the pair soon find themselves at the center of a confounding corporate conspiracy of cosmic proportions.
Will Rex manage to outsmart a future that’s seemingly set in stone, or will his schemes spiral out of control? Crack open “A Scammer Darkly” for a side-splitting escapade that proves in space, no one can hear you scheme!
Star Wanderers – a Kickstarter campaign from J. D. Cowan and Cirsova Publishing
Detective Ronan Renfield is a Galactic Enforcer sworn to protect the innocent and bring evil-doers to justice to maintain order throughout the stars.
The Agent is a nameless knight errant tasked with hunting the most brazenly wicked and blasphemous who threaten order and nature across the cosmos.
Alone, they face strange and diabolical horrors on backwater worlds and the corrupt and dangerous criminals who threaten civilization.
Together, they are the Star Wanderers!
This collection features eight thrilling tales of raygun adventure, swashbuckling sword fights, and cyberpunk mystery, including four never-before published adventures!
This Kickstarter campaign will be open through 23 May, 2024.
Looking forward to the releases from Razorfist, Kroese and Cirsova!