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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Able-Bodied Soldier #4 – J. N. Chaney and Jason Anspach

Suit up and move out.

Ten years after saving humanity from the Thephari threat, legendary MOCOM instructor Titus Briggs discovers his elite pilots are failing against an enemy that’s learned their weaknesses.

When a grizzled Ranger Staff Sergeant with uncanny tactical brilliance reminds Briggs of his own infantry roots, they forge an unlikely alliance that challenges the technological superiority the MOCOMs have come to rely on.

With time running out to stop a devastating anti-MOCOM weapon from deployment, Briggs must remember who he was before the machines—a soldier who succeeded not because of technology… but despite its absence.

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Literary Outlaw #13 – edited by Literary Outlaw Press

Literary Outlaw is a modern pulp fiction magazine featuring both original fiction as well as classic stories and comics from the public domain.

This issue includes classic stories by Mark Twain, H.P. Lovecraft, Hergé, a serialized novel by Booth Tarkington, and 30+ pages of uncanny comics!

In This Issue:

• Personal Recollections Of Joan Of Arc by Mark Twain
• Ghost Rider: The Blasts Of Doom! by Gardner Fox & Dick Ayers
• Legendarium II: The Wrath Of Bob by Michael Bunker & Kevin G. Summers
• Black Cat: Black Magic by Lee Elias
• Penrod And Sam by Booth Tarkington
• Tintin In The Land Of The Soviets by Hergé
• Medusa’s Coil by Zealia B. Bishop & H. P. Lovecraft
• Escape From Hell by Author Unknown
• An American Epic by Robert E. Howard

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Strange Company #3 – Nick Cole

Caps to pop and bodies to drop.

As intergalactic civilization collapses and descends into chaos, the Strange Company must journey to the edge of human-controlled space to board and destroy the last ship of the corrupt Monarch Empire–in order to both satisfy a debt and salvage what remains of their reputation as hard-bitten and dangerous private military contractors.

But things are never easy for mercenaries. Plots to kill one of them abound, eccentric warrant officers are running amok–when they can be found– and a bad case of serious PTSD about what lies ahead for Sergeant Orion plagues his waking nightmares as the Cult of Hot Soup grows. The company must “get gud” or die trying as they master boarding operations and prepare for the worst kind of combat a space marine can get their kill on in: compartment-to-compartment fighting on a ship so advanced in technology, it’s almost… alien.

Stinkeye, Hauser, Chief Cook, Sergeant Orion, and new and old Strange Company brothers are here for the violence with a ticket to ride the lightning and settle accounts with the fallen tyrants as they get their stack on and get paid. If they can make it back to their ship and a safe world beyond the limits of the known, then perhaps the company can avoid the tragedy they’ve been sucked into.

The only way out lies beyond a praetorian guard of heavily armed commandoes, emplaced guns, and enigmatic psy-powered operators. The Heart of Darkness waits at the Oblivion Gate, for the Strange Company to make one wrong move and disappear forever.

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The Wastes (The Starship In The Stone #4) – M. R. Forbes

Thomas and his crew face their most dangerous quest yet. Morgana’s forces are searching for something ancient and powerful, and they need to get there first.

Some boundaries were never meant to be crossed.

The Wastes—a cosmic dead zone where sensors can’t be trusted and those who enter rarely return. As Excalibur ventures into this treacherous domain, Thomas must navigate not only the physical dangers but also mysteries that have remained hidden since long before Arthur’s time.

With Turquine in relentless pursuit and tensions mounting among allies pushed to their limits, Thomas and his crew must rely on every skill, every resource, and every bond they’ve forged to survive.

What they discover could change everything.

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Dracoheim Confidential – a Kickstarter campaign from Cirsova

Return to the magical realm of Dracoheim! For the city at the nexus of myriad strange and sorcerous alien worlds, magic and monsters have become just another part of everyday life.

Magic, which was once a novel and mysterious force, has been systematized, standardized, and turned into a vocational science, necessary for day to day commerce with the realms of Nightmare. It is the job of Magus Leonid Vetch, one of the last of the old breed of “wizards,” to prepare young men attending Leeshore Technical College for careers in magic.

And as magic has become part of everyday life, so too has it become a part of commonplace criminal activity. Erik Rugar, a special agent for the Committee for Public Safety, is tasked with investigating crimes involving magic and denizens of Nightmare visiting or residing in Dracoheim County.

Dracoheim Confidential collects 6 previously published stories from Misha Burnett along with two brand new tales!

This Kickstarter campaign will be open until May 5th, 2005.

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Kamen America Alpha: The Manga – a Kickstarter campaign from Timothy Lim

When Kamen America Volume 1 first debuted in 2020, no one could have predicted how successful it would be, or even if it would make it past one volume. The story had to be condensed to fit into 56 pages, with very little room to breathe.

If given enough time and pages, what story would have been told? What would be the quintessential adaptation of the original work? That question is finally answered in Kamen America: Alpha.

Charlotte “Carly” Vanders had high hopes of becoming a fashionista. On the advice of her agent, she joins the USO as a seamstress and entertainer with the promise that this would open up new opportunities for her.

As fate would have it, Carly’s destiny rested among the stars: literally, as her transport vehicle was impacted by cosmic debris.

Carly soon finds out that doing the right thing isn’t always fashionable: discarding her corporate overlords and the fast track to fame and fortune, she rebrands herself into a self-made, self-reliant henshin heroine known as KAMEN AMERICA!

This Kickstarter campaign will be open until June 3rd, 2005.