To Castle Kingside

Fifteen years ago, the mercenaries of Parliament brought one of their own back from the dead.

THEY NEVER TOLD HIM.

• WINNER - 2024 American Legacy Book Award (Science Fiction: Alien/Space)
• FINALIST - 2023 American Fiction Awards

Renowned across the galaxy for their skill, loyalty, and honor, Parliament has spent decades walking a violent yet principled path: a band of aliens, a human, and a sentient android who have saved more worlds than anyone remembers. Now, nearing the end of their storied careers, the battle-hardened crew is ready to retire. All but one. Their leader, Bullseye, wants no part of a life of leisure, so when an alien general offers a simple job, the others grudgingly agree to one final run, if only for his sake.

It's meant to be one last quick adventure. It goes sideways fast. Their infiltrationist, Rook, is abducted by a rogue mentalist commanding an army of enhanced soldiers, a villain who wears a face they laid to rest long ago. And the secret Parliament has hidden from Rook for fifteen years is no longer theirs to keep.

Separated and outmatched, they cross distant planets and untangle a web of deceit, racing among the stars and against the clock, with Lady Opal, the fugitive heiress of Capella, in tow. Every answer exposes a conspiracy larger than the last, one that threatens the entire galaxy. Yet the hardest battles may be the ones within the crew itself. Bonds are strained, loyalties are questioned, and long-buried truths come to light. And amid the chaos, new friendships are forged and romance blossoms where no one expected it.

To Castle Kingside is an award-winning adult space opera of explosive action, sharp banter, rich worldbuilding, and characters who feel like old friends. It is the first novel set in the HiTec universe, born from a science fiction role-playing game that author John W. Grundy and his friends created around Boston-area kitchen tables in 1988. Readers who love The Expanse novels and John Scalzi's Old Man's War, or the aging heroes of Nicholas Eames's Kings of the Wyld, will find a crew worth following.