With Dune, Alejandro Jodorowsky, and The Incal back in the cinema spotlight, most recently with the announcement of an Incal movie by Taika Waititi, let’s take a look back at the Castalia House Blog’s review of THE BLACK INCAL.

No, John DiFool, you understand nothing! I am not a computer. I am alive, just like you! And destiny has brought us together to restore justice to the universe. – The Incal

The 1980s saw the pages of Metal Hurlant and Heavy Metal filled the strange allegorical journey that is The Incal. Writer Alejandro Jodorowsky and artist Jean “Moebius” Giraud mixed together Dune, dystopia, and Californian pop spirituality to create a cosmic opera. From the first moment when readers plunged into the tale alongside John DiFool’s first fall into Suicide Alley, The Incal has influenced literature, comics, and the silver screen, even influencing the visuals of Star Wars.

The Incal is divided into six issues. The first, The Black Incal, starts with mystery and peril. Who threw John DiFool over the Suicide Alley railing and why? John is rescued mid-fall, not because of any intrinsic worth, but because he has utility to the police. Through a series of flashbacks through the seedy future-noir City Shaft, John reveals he has made petty enemies. What he doesn’t tell the police is that an alien gave him the crystal entity known as the Incal. After John returns to his home to find his pet bird suddenly giving messianic sermons to crowds, the Incal charges John with a mission:

Confront the Black Incal. Read More

This week’s new releases feature Israeli soldiers in another world, cormorant princesses, cosmic chi cultivation battles, and the continuing adventures of Perry Rhodan.

Harbinger (Rise of the Peacemakers #10) – Kevin Ikenberry

As the Omega War unfurls, the Peacemaker Guild has fallen into disarray. The mysterious Counselor has manipulated Guild Master Rsach’s Crusaders into a cut-throat, authoritarian construct determined to make the peace galaxy-wide. To deal the final blow and transform the Guild forever, Counselor gathers Rsach and his closest allies at a remote location intent on assassination.

Jessica Francis, Earth’s first Peacemaker, has her own reasons to gather her friends and allies. The search for her father, James “Snowman” Francis has ended. The interstellar shipping magnate and mercenary commander has been captured by the Science Guild and a longtime rival with a grudge. As Jessica’s plan to rescue him suffers catastrophic losses, her very world is forever changed.

There is no time to recover as Force 25, commanded by Tara Mason, are the next victims of Counselor’s plan. To save her friend and still have a chance at rescuing her father, Jessica puts her faith in one of her father’s mysterious friends, Bull. Together, they launch a daring rescue to retrieve Snowman from a Science Guild outpost deep within the forbidden Fourth Arm. When the dust settles, nothing will ever be the same for anyone who manages to walk away.

Leviathan’s War (Battleship: Leviathan #2) – Craig Martelle

The Blaze are getting their direction and technology from those who had driven the Progenitors from the galaxy.

The Vestrall.

Leviathan takes his select humans to the frontlines in Earth’s war with the Blaze Collective to collect intelligence on where to find the Vestrall. The Blaze aren’t forthcoming.

They go farther, a thousand light-years behind enemy lines to a planet that used to be important. It’s no longer the home of the Vestrall but of a biomechanical race that is little more than drones.

Payne is convinced that their information will lead Leviathan to the heart of the Vestrall for a final battle for primacy. But they won’t give their knowledge easily. Their gods have commanded them to fight.

Because they carry a secret the Vestrall don’t want Leviathan to know.

Light Unto Another World: Volume 3 – Yakov Merkin

Uriel Makkis and his small group of friends have successfully escaped the Kingdom of Fulnar for the friendly, elf kingdom of Valtenar, but that doesn’t mean things are going to get any easier.

In a very short amount of time, Uriel has to convince the king that his ideas can give them a fighting chance once Fulnar brings the war to them. If only that was all he had to do.

Amid all the war preparations, he and his team must venture out toward the mountains, following a vision Uriel received about an ancient and powerful artifact known as the Sigil of Unity.

While he doesn’t know precisely what it is capable of, he cannot let the enemy secure yet another advantage over them.

What Uriel and his friends don’t realize is just how dangerous this journey will be. The powerful enemies he has faced before, the Sword or Earth, the Sword of Nature, and the Sword of Storms, will be just one of the dangers he and his friends will have to face on the quest for the Sigil.

The Paths of Cormanor – Jim Breyfogle

Amara is a young woman of Cormanor, a household whose womenfolk have the ability to transform into cormorants to fly and dive for fish. Kellen is the youngest prince of the realm, a seventh son of a seventh son, and wishes to see these remarkable women for himself.

During the pageantry upon the lake, Amara’s cousin falls into the water and is spirited away by the Grimly, a malign creature of the elder world! Kellen braves both water and monster to rescue the boy. However the Grimly manages to trap the prince’s soul and mark him for death! Amara tracks the Grimly to her lair, slays the wicked beast, and restores life to the young prince… but a piece of Kellen’s soul is trapped within Amara!

The death of the sinister Grimly is just the beginning—Kellen must find the means to recover his missing piece of soul, while Amara and her family are haunted by the vengeful offspring of the monster she had slain! Kellen and Amara each must undertake their own harrowing journey, meeting delightful friends and dastardly foes, along the Paths of Cormanor!

Jim Breyfogle’s beautiful new novel of fantastical romance is inspired by Eastern and Northern European myth and fairytale and sure to delight readers of all ages. Read More

“You are the first Arkonide who has ever set foot on this planet. In your body there are literally two worlds colliding.”

When last we left Perry Rhodan, the astronaut had landed in the Gobi Desert, announced the presence of the Arkonides to Earth, and invited the world to come help found the new city of Terrania. Instead of the world, a Chinese army arrives to lay siege to Rhodan and his city. As bullets fly and bombs fall around him, Crest da Zoltral’s leukemia continues to ravage his body, and the only hope of a cure requires a daring escape from Terrania and its Chinese besiegers.  Meanwhile, a gangland shootout in Houston has sent John Marshall and his young mutant charges on a panicked flight across the Mexican border, pursued by police and mysterious men from the kids’ past. 

As if the stakes were not high enough, Great Russia and America both send astronauts to the Moon in hopes of salvaging the ruined moonbases and making independent contact with the stranded Arkonide ship. Each expedition hides a suicide bomber with a nuclear bomb–in case the other team wins the Arkonides’ attention. If such a gameworld-addled crew might deign notice anything outside of their simulated worlds. And the world is answering Rodan’s call to join him in Terrania. A hardy mix of visionaries, zealots, and engineers are flocking to the new world-city’s banner, but crafty Chinese generals hide schemes of their own amidst these idealists.

In Perry Rhodan NEO #2, which contains the novels “The Teleporter” and “Ellert’s Visions”, these plots start weaving together into a web, as the national, commercial, and secret factions attempt to resolve the most important question of their time: who controls space now that humanity is not alone. Read More

Alien invasions, fantastic swordswomen, benighted post-apocalyptic lands, and more!

Blade of the Faithful (Origins of Gilia #1) – R. G. Long

Kyne, a quiet warrior, is beaten and bloodied. Left for dead on an island beset with pirate attacks and a mysterious sickness, there’s little hope for his future. Though his wounds may heal, his fate is unsure.

Eileen is a wild but confident healer. Ostracized for her skill as a potion maker, the very bravest seek her out for her restorative balms. After saving Kyne from bloodthirsty pirates, she becomes entangled in a journey of fate.

Together, they set out to recover the one thing that may rid the land of plague. But they aren’t the only ones who covet the precious cure. The pirates who seek to plunder and pillage may have more nefarious plans of their own.

Will Kyne seek out his own good and leave the island behind, or will he aid those in desperate need?

The House Between Worlds (The Milesian Accords #4) – Jon R. Osborne

The Milesian Accords have fallen, but their shadow remains.

As magic returns to the mundane world, so do supernatural creatures. A federal agent seeking answers, a spurned Nephilim searching for his fae-blood wife, and a primeval goddess hungering for power all seek Liam Knox, the First Druid of the Accords.

New allies and old foes appear as paths converge on a nexus between realities. No longer a simple farmhouse, the druid’s home has become a pathway between worlds and a locus of power.

Can Liam protect his family? Can he shield those who have no other place to go? And can he keep magic from destroying this world?

Invasion – Jay Allan

The future. It holds all sorts of positive potential…technological advances, increased life expectancy, improvements in society. But there are negative possibilities too, and perhaps the worst of these is the arrival of an alien race…not just anyone, but a hostile one, intent on conquering humankind.

Hugh McDaniel lives in Queens, New York. He is a genius, and he has been struggling to pick one area to focus his life’s work on. His brother and best friend, Travis, is a Marine officer. They get along very well, despite the differences in their lives, but when the aliens suddenly invade and destroy their entire culture, they are forced to struggle in the ruins, at first just to survive, just to find basic food and medicine. But soon, they set their sights on more…on resistance, and on reclaiming their planet from the invaders.

The invaders finally launch a massive attack, large enough to utterly destroy the humans in New York, but Hugh has a forlorn plan, a way to, just maybe, defeat the assault. But while he is frantically preparing his crazed operation, Travis is leading the desperate mission to find the enemy, to discover what they really want. And when he does, it is more terrible than anything he had ever imagined. He tries to return home, to bring the news to everyone that the engagement between humans and aliens is absolutely a fight to the finish, that surrender isn’t even a possibility. But will he even have a home to return to?

The Ocean in the Sky (Tandemstar: The Outcast Cycle #3) – Gene Doucette

In the heart of the authoritarian country of Wivvol, astronaut Xto Djbbit is about to embark on his first mission off-planet when the exiled High Hat of Chnta comes to him with an unusual request: help smuggle a Septal artifact out of Wivvol. It’s an impossible favor to ask of Xto, yet impossible to refuse; the High Hat of Chnta is also his uncle.

Awaiting for Xto in space is his estranged father—who has his own impossible favors—and a mysterious anomaly whose secrets Xto is uniquely positioned to unlock.

On Lys, the space station for the super-wealthy, former Septal Other Dorn Jimbal struggles to understand what Professor Orno Linus learned before his untimely murder. Did Orno truly figure out how to stop the Outcast?
To get to the heart of Linus’s research, Dorn is going to have to work with the one person they absolutely cannot trust: Viselle Daska. Read More

Dragon prince, time-traveling pilots, and Ember War crusades fill this week’s new releases.

Drakon Prince – Jamie McFarlane

Separated as a child from his family, Theo has always had a feeling that he’s made for something bigger than the suburban life he seems to be headed for. When a thug threatens his best friend, he can’t help but step in the way. The problem is that Theo’s just not much of a fighter.

Bruised and broken, Theo wakes up to a massive headache and what appears to be floating game text inviting him to become a dragon. No matter how often he rejects the prompt, it simply returns. Knowing that his life can’t get any worse, he reluctantly accepts…

And that’s when he’s finally exposed to the real world. Filled with goblins, orcs, and, of course, dragons.

Theo’s at a huge disadvantage starting at Level 1 and in extreme danger. As he soon learns from his squire, a woman who’s followed him in the shadows since birth, dragons are both jealous and territorial. The only way for Theo to survive is to embark on an epic quest to level up and to claim his rightful draconic heritage.

Dreadnaught (Deadmen’s War #2) – Anthony J. Melchiorri

The race to control a newly discovered ancient alien technology threatens to tear civilization apart.

Master Sergeant Cole Shaw and his team of mech operators are on the frontlines of the new war. But instead of mechs, they pilot bioengineered beasts called Sentinels. Only they can stop the Imperial Alliance from unleashing a devastating alien weapon with unparalleled power.

Shaw’s team is sent to a colony planet where rebels clash with government forces, intergalactic empires vie for influence in the shadows, and monstrous feral creatures wreak havoc in forests as deadly as they are beautiful. Amid the chaos, Shaw must make tenuous alliances with untrustworthy forces and face impossible decisions with catastrophic consequences. If he doesn’t succeed, then it’s not just his team’s lives at stake—it’s all of mankind.

Magnitude – Dean M. Cole

A team of military special operators. A lost race of advanced beings. An invading swarm of land-hungry sentient robots.

An elite team of SAS special operators battle across the multiverse after a plague of land-hungry sentient robots invade today’s Earth. But, when an aircraft carrier-based counterattack goes horribly wrong, it traps the team in an alien universe with a top-secret group who’ve already saved the world twice. After discovering a dark plot that threatens humanity’s very existence, the two groups jump into action, fighting both on the surface and in orbit in a last-ditch effort to stop the enemy before time runs out.

With the fate of two Earths hanging in the balance, the combined teams must pull a lost race of advanced beings off history’s scrapheap, or humanity will join them in oblivion. Read More