K. J Parker

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,

...

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... In a compelling tale of intrigue and injustice, K. J. Parker's embittered hero takes up arms...

The exciting conclusion to K. J. Parker's Scavenger trilogy. 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...

"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...

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.

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...

In the pitch dark, witty fantasy novella Prosper's Demon, K. J. Parker deftly creates a world with vivid, unbending rules, seething with demons, broken faith, and worse men. 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...

"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 unsurprising, 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...

"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"--

"An Imperial legate is called in to see his aunt, who just happens to be the empress running the civilized world while her husband's in his sick bed. After some chastisement, she dispatches her nephew to take care of the dreaded Land and Sea Raiders, pirates who've been attacking the realm's monasteries. So begins a possibly dommed tour of banished relatives and pompous royals put in charge of monasteries like Cort Doce and Cort Malestan, to name...