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

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's new novel is the remarkable tale of the siege of a walled city, and the even more remarkable man who had to defend it.
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.
Sixteen Ways To Defend a Walled City 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.
For more from K. J. Parker, check out:
The Two of SwordsThe Two of Swords: Volume OneThe Two of Swords Volume TwoThe Two of Swords: Volume Three
The Fencer TrilogyColours in the SteelThe Belly of the BowThe Proof House
The Scavenger TrilogyShadowPatternMemory
Engineer TrilogyDevices and DesiresEvil for EvilThe Escapement
The CompanyThe Folding KnifeThe HammerSharps

'Full of invention and ingenuity . . . Great fun' - SFX

'Parker's settings and characterisations never miss a beat' - Publishers Weekly

K. J. Parker's new novel is the remarkable tale of the siege of a walled city, and the even more remarkable man who had to defend it.

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.

Sixteen Ways To Defend a Walled City 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.

***

Other books by K.J. Parker:

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

Two of Swords
The Two of Swords: Part 1
The Two of Swords: Part 2
The Two of Swords: Part 3

Novels
The Company
The Folding Knife
The Hammer
Sharps

K. J. Parker's new novel is the remarkable tale of the siege of a walled city, and the even more remarkable man who had to defend it.

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.

Sixteen Ways To Defend a Walled City 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.

K.J. Parker returns to the amoral world of <i>
<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50904441">Prosper's Demon</a>
</i> with a wry, sardonic novella that flips the eternal, rule-governed battle between men and demons on its head.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />

<i>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.</i><br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />

A new stand-alone novel from the acclaimed author of the Engineer Trilogy and The Company.

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.

"This special signed edition is limited to 1,000 numbered copies. This is copy 246."--Preliminary pages.

https://www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/stories/playing-god/

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.

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.

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.

From one of the most original voices in fantasy comes a heart-warming tale of peace, love, and battlefield salvage.

If you’re going to get ahead in the battlefield salvage business, you have to regard death as a means to an end. In other words, when the blood flows, so will the cash. Unfortunately, even though war is on the way, Saevus Corax has had enough. 

There are two things he has to do before he can enjoy his retirement: get away with one last score, and get away with murder. For someone who, ironically, tends to make a mess wherever he goes, leaving his affairs in order is going to be Saevus Corax’s biggest challenge yet.   For more from K. J. Parker, check out:
 
Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City

How to Rule an Empire and Get Away With It
A Practical Guide to Conquering the World
 
The Two of Swords
The Two of Swords: Volume One
The Two of Swords Volume Two
The Two of Swords: Volume Three
 
The Fencer Trilogy
Colours in the Steel
The Belly of the Bow
The Proof House
 
The Scavenger Trilogy
Shadow
Pattern
Memory
 
Engineer Trilogy
Devices and Desires
Evil for Evil
The Escapement
 
The Company
The Folding Knife
The Hammer
Sharps

It's important to look after your crew when you're in the battlefield salvage business. It's stressful work at the best of times, and although your employees are unlikely to be happy it makes sense to keep them alive.

So when Saevus Corax finds himself having to capture a castle to stop his men from being killed, he has no choice but to give it a try. Needless to say, the conventional rules of siegecraft are unlikely to be followed.

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.

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.

In K.J. Parker's Tor.com Original, "Burning Books for Pleasure and Profit," a talented bookbinder is tasked with creating a copy of a text so inflammatory it threatens to alter the very existence of Truth itself.

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

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.