K.J. Parker

Academic Exercises is the first collection of shorter work by master novelist K.J. Parker, and it is a stunner. Weighing in at over 500 pages, this generous volume gathers together thirteen highly distinctive stories, essays, and novellas, including the recent World Fantasy Award-Winner, “Let Maps to Others”. The result is a significant publishing event, a book that belongs on the shelf of every serious reader of imaginative fiction. The collection opens with the World Fantasy Award-winning “A Small Price to Pay for Birdsong”, a story of music and murder set against a complex mentor/pupil relationship, and closes with the superb novella “Blue & Gold”, which features what may be the most beguiling opening lines in recent memory. In between, Parker has assembled a treasure house of narrative pleasures. In “A Rich, Full Week”, an itinerant “wizard” undergoes a transformative encounter with a member of the “restless dead.” “Purple & Black”, the longest story in the book, is an epistolary tale about a man who inherits the most hazardous position imaginable: Emperor. “Amor Vincit Omnia” recounts a confrontation with a mass murderer who may have mastered an impossible form of magic. Rounding out the volume — and enriching it enormously — are three fascinating and illuminating essays that bear direct relevance to Parker’s unique brand of fiction: “On Sieges”, “Cutting Edge Technology”, and “Rich Men’s Skins”. Taken singly, each of these thirteen pieces is a lovingly crafted gem. Together, they constitute a major and enduring achievement. Rich, varied, and constantly absorbing, Academic Exercises is, without a doubt, the fantasy collection of the year. Contents: - A Small Price to Pay for Birdsong (2011) - A Rich, Full Week (2010) - Amor Vincit Omnia (2010) - On Sieges (2009) - Let Maps to Others (2012) - A Room with a View (2011) - Cutting Edge Technology (2011) - Illuminated (2012) - Purple and Black (2009) - Rich Men’s Skins; A Social History of Armour (2013) - The Sun and I (2013) - One Little Room an Everywhere (2012) - Blue and Gold (2010) Cover illustration by Vincent Chong

A Practical Guide to Conquering the World can be read by itself, but for those who like endings it can also be considered the refreshingly pragmatic conclusion to World Fantasy Award-winning author K.J. Parker’s acclaimed sequence of novels that began with Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City and continue with How to Rule an Empire and Get Away with It. This is the true story of Aemilius Felix Boioannes the younger, the intended and unintended consequences of his life, the bad stuff he did on purpose, and the good stuff that happened in spite of him. It is, in other words, the tale of a war to end all wars, and the man responsible.

also appears in the collection Academic Exercises 'Well, let me see,' I said, as the innkeeper poured me a beer. 'In the morning I discovered the secret of changing base metal into gold. In the afternoon, I murdered my wife.' For a man as remarkable as the philosopher Saloninus, just another day. Of course, we only have his word for it, and Saloninus has been known to be creative with the truth. Little white lies are inevitable expedients when you're one jump ahead of the secret police and on the brink of one of the greatest discoveries in the history of alchemy. But why would a scientist with the world's most generous, forgiving patron be so desperate to run away? And what, if anything, has blue got to do with gold? Cover illustration by Vincent Chong

A talented bookbinder is tasked with creating a copy of a text so inflammatory it threatens to alter the very existence of Truth itself.

Perimadeia: the famed Triple City and the mercantile capital of the known world. Behind its allegedly impregnable walls, everything is available. Including information which will allow its enemies to plan one of the most remarkable sieges of all time. The man called upon to defend Perimadeia is Bardas Loredan, a fencer-at-law, weary of his work and of the world. For Loredan is one of the surviving members of Maxen's Pitchfork, the legendary band of soldiers who waged war on the people of the plains for many years, rendering an attack on the city impossible. Until now...But Loredan has problems of its own. In a city where court cases are settled by lawyers disputing with swords not words, enemies are all too easily made. And by winning one particular case, Loredan has unwittingly become the focus of a misplaced curse from a young woman bent on revenge. The last thing he needs is to be made responsible for saving a city.

When an engineer is sentenced to death for a petty transgression of guild law, he flees the city, leaving behind his wife and daughter. Forced into exile, he seeks a terrible vengeance — one that will leave a trail of death and destruction in its wake. But he will not be able to achieve this by himself. He must draw up his plans using the blood of others...

Los puede oler, sentir… cuando un demonio está cerca, no se le escapa nunca. Y si para expulsarlo del cuerpo que ha poseído tiene que sacrificar al huésped… bueno, eso no es problema. Este es el protagonista narrador de El demonio de Próspero, un exorcista tremendamente eficaz y sin demasiados escrúpulos.. Y sí, Próspero de Schanz es un filósofo, científico, artista… el hombre más sabio de todos los tiempos y se ha propuesto educar al recién nacido príncipe para que sea el mejor gobernante de la historia. Lástima que esté poseído por un demonio. K. J. Parker nos invita en esta novela corta a dialogar con el demonio, a pensar sobre el bien y el mal, sobre qué es moral o amoral. Una novela que destila ironía, con varios niveles de lectura que deleitará al lector más exigente. «Como si Deadpool se hubiera metido en el cuerpo del Brujo Geralt». —The New York Times K J Parker (también conocido como Tom Holt) publicó su primer libro cuando tenía doce años y ha estado escribiendo desde entonces. Ha escrito más de 70 libros y ha ganado dos veces el World Fantasy Award por sus novelas cortas; en 2022 se estrenará la película de su novela de humor y fantasía The Portable Door. Después de una carrera corta e ignominiosa como abogado, Parker se convirtió en escritor a tiempo completo hace 25 años. Vive en el oeste de Inglaterra y, cuando no escribe, cría vacas y cerdos en su parcela de 2 hectáreas.

This is the story of how the City was saved, by Notker the professional liar, written down because eventually the truth always seeps through. The City may be under siege, but everyone still has to make a living. Take Notker, the acclaimed playwright, actor and impresario. Nobody works harder, even when he's not working. Thankfully, the good citizens of Classis appreciate an evening at the theatre even when there are large rocks falling out of the sky. But Notker is a man of many talents, and all the world is, apparently, a stage. It seems that the Empire needs him - or someone who looks a lot like him - for a role that will call for the performance of a lifetime. At least it will guarantee fame, fortune and immortality. If it doesn't kill him first.

K.J. Parker returns to the amoral world of Prosper's Demon with a wry, sardonic novella that flips the eternal, rule-governed battle between men and demons on its head. An anonymous representative of the Devil, once a high-ranking Duke of Hell and now a committed underachiever, has spent the last forever of an eternity leading a perfectly tedious existence distracting monks from their liturgical devotions. It’s interminable, but he prefers it that way, now that he’s been officially designated by Downstairs as “fragile.” No, he won’t elaborate. All that changes when he finds himself ensnared, along with a sadistic exorcist, in a labyrinthine plot to subvert the very nature of Good and Evil. In such a circumstance, sympathy for the Devil is practically inevitable.

KJ Parker's new novella is a darkly witty historical fantasy. A group of scholars are asked to do the impossible by a ruthless king. The cost of refusal being death, of course.History isn't truth...it's propaganda.Academics can be cocky. Atop their perches of authority high above the thrumming masses of the unquestioning world they can begin to think themselves gods. It is extremely rare for this authority to be tested. But a challenge from an idiotic, power-hungry king—that'll do it.Our narrator is one of a dozen professors at the University of the Kingdom of Aelia. Early one morning, all of them are rounded up for an audience with their dictator, Gyges. You see, Gyges is new to the job—he only just invaded Aelia last year—and like any good tyrant, he's looking to expand his empire. But he doesn't think his public image can take the hit of (another) unjustified assault. No problem, he's come up with a plan—have the scholars construct an ancient city from scratch that justifies his right to the lands of the neighboring city-state.Now these bookworms must put their heads together to do the impossible. They must make history. Because if they don't, they'll lose their heads all-together.At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Returning to his childhood home was supposed to bring peace for Poldarn. But it was not to be. The island proved no sanctuary from the ghosts of his past, or from the demons that stalk his dreams. Instead, he has unearthed yet more lies, betrayals, and enemies from his former life. But with each fresh discovery, Poldarn is coming ever closer to the reality of his shadowy origins. One by one, the fragmented memories and obscure clues are falling into place, forming a truth he cannot escape, a past he cannot deny, and a history that may be more than he—or anyone else—can bear. This is the brilliant conclusion of K.J. Parker’s compelling Scavenger Trilogy.

Set in the tantalizingly detailed world of much of his other work, No Choice tells the story of a narrator from a landed and politically connected family with a history of losing scions in battle. At first, it isn’t a stalled and seemingly doomed war that concerns the main character, but the fact that his father has been sentenced to death for a murder he most definitely did commit. Political maneuvering and family dynamics come in to play, but to no avail, so off to the wars the narrator sails. There, he conceives a series of nested plans that may very well preserve the life of a man who deserves to die, win a war that nobody should be fighting, and maybe, just maybe, save his own skin in the bargain. Cover illustration by Vincent Chong

'...indescribably addictive. I can heartily recommend both Shadow and Pattern to fantasy connoisseurs who prefer a little more bite from their fiction. Do try this most excellent of sagas. I really don't think you'll be disappointed.' - THE ALIEN ONLINE 'This is exactly what the fantasy genre needs. Mature, confident prose from a talented writer...compelling, assured, intelligent - five stars' - SFX In a world he does not know, Poldarn's future is uncertain. Pursued by invisible enemies, and haunted by the demons of his past, nobody can be trusted - not even himself, it seems. Attempting to piece together his own life from whatever scattered fragments he can find and dreams that hide as much as they reveal has brought him nothing but trouble. Now all he craves is peace. But will he find it on the island he believes to be his childhood home? Or will this place hold more terrors for him to confront? K.J. Parker's SHADOW began a ground-breaking new series that takes fantasy into remarkable new territory. Now, with PATTERN, the extraordinary story of Poldarn takes a new shape. Books by K.J. Fencer Trilogy The Colours in the Steel The Belly of the Bow The Proof House Scavenger Trilogy Shadow Pattern Memory Engineer Trilogy Devices and Desires Evil for Evil The Escapement Saloninus Blue and Gold The Devil You Know Two of Swords The Two of Part 1 The Two of Part 2 The Two of Part 3 Novels The Company The Folding Knife The Hammer Sharps Savages Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City My Beautiful Life

In a botched demonic extraction, they say the demon feels it ten times worse than the man. But they don’t die, and we do. Equilibrium. The unnamed and morally questionable narrator is an exorcist with great follow-through and few doubts. His methods aren’t delicate but they’re undeniably effective: he’ll get the demon out — he just doesn’t particularly care what happens to the person. Prosper of Schanz is a man of science, determined to raise the world’s first philosopher-king, reared according to the purest principles. Too bad he’s demonically possessed.

Long ago, a wealthy man stole an angel and hid her in a chapel, where she remains imprisoned to this day. That’s the legend, anyway. A clerical student who’s racked up gambling debts to a local gangster is given an ultimatum ― deliver the angel his grandfather kidnapped, or forfeit various body parts in payment. And so begins a whirlwind theological paradox ― with the student at its center ― in which the stakes are the necessity of God, the existence of destiny ― and the nature of angels.

also appears in the collection Academic Exercises When his father, brothers and uncles wiped each other out in a murderous civil war, Nicephorus was forced to leave the University and become emperor. Seventy-seven emperors had met violent deaths over the past hundred years, most of them murdered by their own soldiers. Hardly surprising, then, that Nico should want to fill the major offices of state with the only people he knew he could trust, his oldest and closest friends. But there's danger on the northern frontier, and Nico daren't send a regular general up there with an army, for fear of a military coup. He turns to his best friend Phormio, who reluctantly takes the job. Military dispatches, written in the purple ink reserved exclusively for official business, are a miserable way for friends to keep in touch, at a time when they need each other most. But there's space in the document-tube for another sheet of paper. Cover illustration by Vincent Chong

There’s no formal training for battlefield salvage. You just have to pick things up as you go along. Swords, armor, arrows – and the bodies, of course. Over the years, Saevus Corax has picked up a lot of things. Some of them have made him decent money, others have brought nothing but trouble. But it’s a living, and somebody has to deal with the dead. Something else that Saevus has buried is his past. Unfortunately, he didn’t quite succeed.

Die Stadt steht kurz davor, belagert zu werden. Es gibt nichts mehr zu essen und auch Waffen sind Mangelware. Darüber hinaus hat der Feind geschworen, jeden einzelnen Einwohner abzuschlachten. Die Stadt braucht also ein Wunder, doch sie hat nur Orhan. Als Ingenieur hat Oberst Orhan mehr Erfahrung im Brückenbau als in der Kriegsführung. Außerdem ist er ein Betrüger und Lügner und hat ein ernsthaftes Problem mit Autorität. Mit anderen Worten: Er ist wie geschaffen für den Job! Sechzehn Wege, eine befestigte Stadt zu verteidigen, ist die Geschichte von Orhan, dem Sohn von Siyyah Doctus Felix Praeclarissimus, und über die Große Belagerung. Niedergeschrieben allein zu dem Zweck, dass die Taten und Leiden großer Männer niemals vergessen werden. K. J. Parker aka Tom Holt ist eine der ganz großen Stimmen der humorvollen Fantasy.

A sculptor struggles when he is commanded to perpetuate the lies of a deceitful and cruel king...

A man wakes in the wilderness, amid scattered corpses and inquisitive crows. He has no memory of who he is or how he came to be there. The only clues to his former existence lie in his apparent skill with a sword and the fragmented dreams that permeate his sleep. Alone in a hostile world he moves from village to village, masquerading as a god to obtain food and shelter. But the shadow of his past pursues him relentlessly. It whispers to him a riddle far more complex than he could ever have imagined - and a truth he may not wish to believe.

For the first time in nearly forty years, an uneasy truce has been called between two neighbouring kingdoms. The war has been long and brutal, fought over the usual things: resources, land, money... Now, there is a chance for peace. Diplomatic talks have begun and with them, the games. Two teams of fencers represent their nations at this pivotal moment. When the future of the world lies balanced on the point of a rapier, one misstep could mean ruin for all. Human nature being what it is, does peace really have a chance?

A new epic fantasy novel from World Fantasy Award winner K. J. Parker, one of the most original voices in the genre.

This is the story of Orhan, son of Siyyah Doctus Felix Praeclarissimus, and his history of the Great Siege, written down so that the deeds and sufferings of great men may never be forgotten. A siege is approaching, and the city has little time to prepare. The people have no food and no weapons, and the enemy has sworn to slaughter them all. To save the city will take a miracle, but what it has is Orhan. A colonel of engineers, Orhan has far more experience with bridge-building than battles, is a cheat and a liar, and has a serious problem with authority. He is, in other words, perfect for the job.

Quando un ingegnere viene condannato a morte per una piccola trasgressione a una Legge della Gilda, fugge dalla città, lasciandosi alle spalle la moglie e la figlia. Costretto all’esilio, cerca una terribile vendetta, che lascerà dietro di sé una scia di morte e distruzione.Ma non potrà riuscirci da solo. Deve elaborare i propri piani usando il sangue degli altri...In un’avvincente storia di intrighi e ingiustizie, l’eroe amareggiato di K. J. Parker alza le armi contro i nemici, usando le uniche che gli sono il suo ingegno e la sua passione, i suoi strumenti e le sue speranze.

The city of Perimadeia has fallen. Bardas Loredan, the man who was chosen to save it, is now on the Island—a recluse living in the mountains, away from his family, with only a young apprentice for company. His life as a fencer-at-law is over. Instead, Loredan spends his days perfecting the art of bow making. But his isolation will not last forever, and when the Island comes under attack, his skills as a soldier and leader are once again called into play. The second installment in The Fencer Trilogy, The Belly of the Bow firmly establishes K.J. Parker in the top rank of fantasy writers.

Hoping for a better life, five war veterans colonize an abandoned island. They take with them everything they could possibly need - food, clothes, tools, weapons, even wives. But an unanticipated discovery shatters their dream and replaces it with a very different one. The colonists feel sure that their friendship will keep them together. Only then do they begin to realize that they've brought with them rather more than they bargained for. For one of them, it seems, has been hiding a terrible secret from the rest of the company. And when the truth begins to emerge, it soon becomes clear that the war is far from over.

The greatest philosopher of all time is offering to sell his soul to the Devil. All he wants is twenty more years to complete his life’s work. After that, he really doesn’t care. But the assistant demon assigned to the case has his suspicions, because the philosopher is Saloninus–the greatest philosopher, yes, but also the greatest liar, trickster and cheat the world has yet known; the sort of man even the Father of Lies can’t trust. He’s almost certainly up to something; but what? "Parker generates a fair degree of suspense... an accomplished performance." -- Gary K. Wolfe (for Locus Magazine) At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Basso the Magnificent. Basso the Great. Basso the Wise. The First Citizen of the Vesani Republic is an extraordinary man. He is ruthless, cunning, and above all, lucky. He brings wealth, power and prestige to his people. But with power comes unwanted attention, and Basso must defend his nation and himself from threats foreign and domestic. In a lifetime of crucial decisions, he's only ever made one mistake. One mistake, though, can be enough.

A new stand-alone novel from the acclaimed author of The Company and The Folding Knife.Gignomai is the youngest brother in the current generation of met'Oc, a once-noble family exiled on an island for their role in a vaguely remembered civil war.On this island, a colony was founded seventy years ago. The plan was originally for the colonists to mine silver, but there turned out not to be any.Now, an uneasy peace exists on the island, between the colonists and the met'Oc. The met'Oc are tolerated, in spite of occasional cattle stealing raids, since they alone possess the weapons considered necessary protection against the island's savages.Gignomai is about to discover exactly what it is expected of him, and what it means to defy his family. He is the hammer who will provide the spark that will ignite a brutal and bloody war.

When you need a memory to be wiped, call me. Transferring unwanted memories to my own mind is the only form of magic I've ever mastered. But now, I'm holding so many memories I'm not always sure which ones are actually mine, any more. Some of them are sensitive; all of them are private. And there are those who are willing to kill to access the secrets I'm trying to bury... A classic Parker tale with a strong supporting cast of princes, courtiers, merchants, academics, and generally unsavory people. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

The unnamed narrator of The Long Game is an Adept, a member of an Ecclesiastical order charged, among other things, with opposing a race of immaterial demons, creatures capable of possessing and controlling human minds. Complicating the narrator’s life is the fact that, over time, he has developed a cordial “relationship” with one of the demons. Complicating matters further is the unexpected arrival of Amalasomtha, a young woman with impossible abilities who claims to have come from the remote — perhaps mythical — country of Idalia. She also claims that, for reasons she does not entirely understand, she has been tasked with capturing one such demon and returning with it to Idalia. The truth, it turns out, is considerably more complex. Amalasomtha’s arrival sets in motion a chain of events encompassing murder, magic, deception, and an array of unintended consequences. By the story’s end, this consistently witty account of demonic possession, hidden agendas and Ecclesiastical politics has taken us to some unexpected places and given us a glimpse of a larger story still, the “long game” that lies at the heart of all human history. Cover illustration by Vincent Chong

After years spent in the saps under the defenses of the apparently impregnable city of Ap’Iscatoy, Bardas Loredan, sometimes fencer-at-law and betrayed defender of the famed Triple City, is suddenly hero of the Empire. His reward is a boring administrative job in a backwater, watching armor tested to destruction in the Proof House. But the fall of Ap’Iscatoy has opened up unexpected possibilities for the expansion of the Empire into the land of the Plains people, and Bardas Loredan is the one man Temrai the Great, King of the Plains tribes, fears the most. The Proof House is the gripping, hugely entertaining conclusion of K.J. Parker’s Fencer Trilogy.

"Why are we fighting this war? Because evil must be resisted, and sooner or later there comes a time when men of principle have to make a stand. Because war is good for business and it's better to die on our feet than live on our knees. Because they started it. But at this stage in the proceedings," he added, with a slightly lop-sided grin, "mostly from force of habit." A soldier with a gift for archery. A woman who kills without care. Two brothers, both unbeatable generals, now fighting for opposing armies. No-one in the vast and once glorious United Empire remains untouched by the rift between East and West, and the war has been fought for as long as anyone can remember. Some still survive who know how it was started, but no-one knows how it will end. This serial novel from the World Fantasy Award winning K. J. Parker is the story of a war on a grand scale, told through the eyes of its soldiers, politicians, victims and heroes. The first three parts of The Two of Swords will arrive in April 2015, with further installments to be released monthly.This is the first installment in the Two of Swords serialization.

"Why are we fighting this war? Because evil must be resisted, and sooner or later there comes a time when men of principle have to make a stand. But at this stage in the proceedings," he added, with a slightly lopsided grin, "mostly from force of habit."A soldier with a gift for archery. A woman who kills without care. Two brothers, both unbeatable generals, now fighting for opposing armies. No one in the vast and once glorious United Empire remains untouched by the rift between East and West, and the war has been fought for as long as anyone can remember. Some still survive who know how it was started, but no one knows how it will end. Except, perhaps, the Two of Swords.World Fantasy Award-winning author K. J. Parker delivers the first volume of his most ambitious work yet-the story of a war on a grand scale, told through the eyes of soldiers, politicians, victims, and heroes.

Ласкаво просимо до світу, що аж кишить демонами! Світу, що підпорядковується непохитним правилам. Світу, у якому безіменний екзорцист править своє діло… небездоганно: демона вигнано — і байдуже, що станеться з людиною. Проспер Шанцький — людина науки, апологет найчистіших принципів, вихователь першого у світі короля-філософа. А що і майстер Проспер, і княжич під його опікою одержимі, то далі говоритиме хтось із їхніх демонів… "Я — ваше найгірше жахіття, найстрашніше, що з вами може трапитися, у цьому чи іншому світі. Підвести на мене очі вам буде нестерпно — цим ми із сонцем схожі, але поки що не про це.