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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Apocalypse Arena #2: Iron Gauntlet – J. Pal

When Nil gets hit hard, he hits back even harder.

Nil’s done it. He’s ascended from mundane life, he has joined a ludus, and made it through Apocalypse Arena’s qualifiers but it’s only the beginning.

If Lukas wants to protect his family and bring the people who ruined his life to justice, he needs to grow much stronger much faster. Climbing the ranks using the ordinary paths is much too slow and the longer he takes the more innocent lives will be at risk.

A terrifying option looms over him: Death Gauntlet. Where two fighters and a monster enter and only one walks out. Nil doesn’t want the needless risk. However, opponents calling themselves gods are targeting his friends, and he might just need to put them down.

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Deception (Lost Town #5) – Nathan Hystad

It’s always darkest before dawn.

Lost Town is being rebuilt in the wake of tragedy. With no connection to Earth for three months, Caesar has the chance to regroup and determine the threat level from Lithos.

John can’t shake the sensation that the worst is yet to come, and it’s confirmed when Anders and Haley leave to investigate a potential second alien tower on Arcadia.

While Harrison takes a step back, Amelia must keep the peace between the rogue agents who are putting their mission in danger.

Meanwhile on Earth, Summer is contacted by a mysterious stranger who predicts a looming invasion.

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Operation Seraphim (The Last Marines #11) – William S. Frisbee, Jr.

With Emperor Mathison in stasis and the empire struggling against the vanhat, humanity’s last hope is a desperate expedition to the galactic core. Their mission: find an ancient race powerful enough to save humanity from extinction.

But when Major Zale Stathis’s recon mission to the massive city-ship Bifrost goes catastrophically wrong, his team becomes trapped aboard a vessel controlled by the vanhat. Meanwhile, Admiral Diamond Winters must navigate the damaged Musashi through hostile space, hunted by both the vanhat and the machine intelligences of the Collective that remain just a step behind.

The odds are a million-to-one, but Stathis must find a way to escape—and perhaps even seize control of the homestar’s navigation systems. But time is running out as the vanhat Jotun Shroggath prepares to use Bifrost for another genocidal attack.

In this pulse-pounding continuation of The Last Marines military sci-fi saga, humanity walks the razor’s edge between survival and extinction, where valor and determination may be the only weapons capable of turning the tide against the overwhelming odds.

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Outlaw of the Outer Stars (Starquest #4) – John C. Wright

Lord Famine, most subtle of the Four Dark Overlords, lives again! What ominous meaning is here?

Nightshadow encounters an adept able to cloud his all-seeing astral sight! How can dark arts darker than his own be overcome? How can the source of the corruption of Septentrion be found?

Loyal Centurion Flint unearths the sinister secret of the Inquisition he serves! Starquest the Templar, nemesis of Empire, demands he seize his destiny! Is he Flint or Thret, Centurion or Squire? Ansteel cannot flee the final, fatal decision!

Where will the Merry Catburglar strike next?

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Nethereal 10th Anniversary Special Edition – a Kickstarter campaign from Brian Niemeier 

We’re issuing a deluxe, Kickstarter exclusive edition of Nethereal to commemorate the lasting mark this unique story has made on genre fiction. 

The last son of a murdered race, fighting for revenge. 
A precision killer inspired by his captain’s dream. 
A woman like no other who longs for acceptance.

The Sublime Brotherhood of Steersmen holds the Middle Stratum in its iron grip. Jaren Peregrine, last of the Gen, raids across fringe space with Nakvin—his best pilot and only friend—her apprentice Deim, and mercenary Teg Cross.

Hunted by the ruthless Master Malachi, Jaren and his crew join a conspiracy to break the Guild’s monopoly with an experimental ship. But when its maiden voyage goes awry, the Exodus flies farther off course than its crew could have imagined. 

Jaren must contend with the powers of Hell to save himself and his crew. But can he face the soul-crushing truth that entwines them?

This campaign will be open until Friday, 25 July 2025.

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Steelhearts – a Kickstarter campaign from Joseph Chaput

From the imaginations of five contributors to the fantasy fiction community on Substack come tales of wonder, terror, love, and courage, whether in the face of overwhelming odds or fear of the unknown:

A young man bereft of kin and hope braves subterranean horrors and ancient evils in the fae world.

The lords of humanity’s last refuge plunge into battle against an infinite horde of ravenous orcs.

Two brothers stalk winged fiends through the primitive jungle in a hunt for vengeance.

A young woman must choose between her life of protected seclusion and the perils of love and prophecy.

The fate of a treachery-ridden kingdom falls on a young country duke and an old wizard.

Every page of Steelhearts will stir the blood in your veins—and inspire you, too, to take up the swords of valor and truth in the face of evil.

This campaign will be open until Friday, 1 August 2025.