by K. J. Parker
First published 2025
First Citizen Gyges summons his kingdom's top professors to the palace. The tyrannical ruler of Aelia has a problem. He invaded his neighbor just years ago, and now he wants to attack again. But he needs justification for another war. Gyges presents the academics with an impossible task: they must create an entirely fabricated ancient city to support his false historical claims. The scholars face a deadly choice. They can construct this elaborate deception from the ground up, complete with fake archaeological evidence and invented chronicles. Or they can refuse and lose their heads. Working together, these professors must use all their knowledge to manufacture convincing lies. They know that history serves whoever holds power. The king cares nothing for truth, only for propaganda that will let him wage his wars. As the academics race against time, they discover that creating fake history requires the same skills as uncovering real truth. K. J. Parker earned a Locus Award nomination for this sharp exploration of how rulers twist facts to serve their ambitions.
Genres: historical-fiction, political-thriller, alternate-history, academic
Vibes: suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Aelia
Period: Ancient
96 pages · Kindle Edition · Tordotcom