Chaz Brenchley spent his childhood in Oxford, generally with his nose in a book. At the age of twelve he met J R R Tolkien in a theatre dressing room, and his fate was sealed.

He sold his first stories at the age of eighteen, and has been a professional writer ever since. His work ranges from science fiction to epic and urban fantasy, from mysteries and thrillers to romance and horror. He's published upwards of fifty books, and many hundreds of short stories.

More than a decade ago he moved from bachelordom to marriage, from Newcastle to California, along with 120 boxes (115 of which were books), two squabbling cats—now gone alas, but the new two are already much better friends—and a famous teddy bear.

Of the Emperor’s Kindness by Chaz Brenchley

Feremendas is an age-old empire, settled and certain. Clath is an alliance of smaller kingdoms, upstart and expansive. They are the two great powers of the world.

Malance is from Verantha, one of the little countries caught between. She was in Feremendas-city, working as an interpreter and having the time of her life, when Clath invaded her homeland and swallowed it whole. Bereft and alone, as other Veranthans slip away from the imperium to seek their families or join the resistance, she's ready to follow—except that the emperor forbids it.

So long as the embassy remains open, Verantha still survives, at least as an idea, a seed, a hope. But an embassy demands an ambassador, and the official appointee has gone. Everyone's gone, except Malance…

For more than a year now, Her Excellency Malance Hermentine has been mourning her lost land and struggling to find some balance in this new and bewildering life of hers. Ambassador by imperial decree for a country that no longer exists, she has a large and decaying house to manage with a ramshackle and eccentric household, and no budget at all. She has allies and enemies at court; she has beloved friends throughout the city, and one brewing relationship in the palace itself.

And now the emperor warns her that things are about to get worse…

Emperors, of course, do nothing without a reason.

CURATOR'S NOTE

Malance was a junior interpreter before her country was overrun, but now she's the last person who can keep the embassy open and her country alive. Beautifully written, full of complicated characters and relationships, and a world you won't soon forget. – Catherine Lundoff and Melissa Scott

 

REVIEWS

  • "Beautifully written, with a fascinating world, a deceptively simple plot, and complex and compelling characters, Of the Emperor's Kindness left me breathless. An utterly gorgeous book!"

    – Melissa Scott

  • "I will read anything Chaz Brenchley writes. His prose is melted butter with tarragon, and his characters and worldbuilding equally delicious. Open this book to any page, and you will find something to delight you."

    – Ellen Kushner

  • "The subtlety and complexity with which Brenchley handles this forces you as a reader to think harder about your own expectations and sympathies; it's challenging and fascinating, and also refreshing not to be spoon-fed. Very highly recommended."

    – Juliet Kemp

  • "This is a book that expects—demands—the reader to think about what's presented and draw their own conclusions, which are unlikely to be aligned with the heroine's feelings, even though her feelings are all we get. Which in turns makes me think, wow, we really are in a time where authors are expected to put up big moral signposts pointing 'Correct Viewpoint This Way' and it's highly refreshing to read a book that doesn't hold your hand, let alone tug you by it."

    – KJ Charles
 

BOOK PREVIEW

Excerpt

[Following an audience with the Emperor, during which she is given a gift, Malance meets with her girlfriend, Vivi.]

Both pages saw her out onto the pavilion's veranda. Both saw that they need see her no farther; both gave her that same odd deep nod—or was it a shallow, a very shallow bow?—that they employed with their current master; both turned and left her without a word, without a sign. Were they cautious, curious, conspiratorial? Contemptuous? Or just resigned to their new duties, following the emperor's will in this as in all things else?

She could read them not at all; they offered her nothing. Well, nothing but immaculate service, no doubt. And perhaps a route, a back way to the palace—but she had that already.

She stepped down from the veranda and crossed a lawn to the pond's edge, where Vivi sat on the low wall teasing the fish with a length of grass.

"He knows," Malance said, by way of greeting.

"Of course he knows. He always knows."

"Did you tell him?"

"I have never actually needed to tell him anything, in all my life." Vivi stood abruptly, tossing the grass-stem into the water. "Nor, of course, has he ever told me anything that mattered. He is the most infuriating man. As soon as I saw where you were going, though, and who was taking you, I knew that he would know."

"Oh, you know them—of course you know them. Do you know the girl's name, at all?" The boy's was Ash, but the girl's hadn't been mentioned.

"Yes, that's Alder. Why, do you want to become better acquainted?" Vivi had a particularly irritating smile, sly and sidelong, that she employed with purpose and on just the wrong occasions. As now. "She's a little young, but…"

"Oh, be quiet." An ambassador to the imperial court did not slap at a scion of the imperial family, nor shake her by the shoulders, so Malance only smiled back, a little ruefully. Vivi could score points in any conversation; wordplay was her life's blood, her native language and her most particular, most intimate skill. "I don't actually need a ruse to become better acquainted, that's going to happen anyway. The emperor has given both of them to me. It just seemed politic to know her name, before I find her in my house."

Just for once, she was pleased to see, she'd managed to startle even Vivi.

"He… gave you two of his pages? He never does that!"

"No. He pointed that out himself. He did say it was sure to cause comment." And she had asked all that she intended to ask, about the two of them. Anything else they wanted her to know, they could tell her themselves.

"Comment? It'll cause cataclysms. Outrage. And envy, naturally. Everyone will want them, if you've got a pair. Oh, how much trouble has he stirred up now? And more to the matter, why would he do such a thing? I mean, he's been kind to you, I know—all the city knows—but this is spectacularly generous. You really don't know what you're getting, do you?"

Malance shrugged. "A pair of pages? And I have nothing for them to do, I don't need them. I think he meant them as some kind of prior compensation, for something dreadful that's going to happen soon. Maybe they can help with that, whatever it is? I don't know, Vivi. I really don't want them, but he wouldn't let me refuse."

"Of course not. A gift from the emperor? That, you do not refuse. And don't worry, they'll find plenty to do. Your house will never be the same again."

"Oh—that's the other thing. He says you're to stay with me tonight. I'm sorry my house is so awful…"

"Does he, indeed? Well, don't you be so despondent about it, that's rude to me and not a flattering look on you. Maybe I'll borrow one of your boys for the night, though he'd need to clean a room out first."

"Oh, you can take my bed. The sheets are clean, at least. I'll sleep on the sofa."

"Excellent plan. Look, it's cheered you right up. Now come on, everyone is waiting. Well, actually no, everyone will have started without us, but they're probably still moored down at the jetty. They'd better be."

So saying, little Vivi tucked her arm comfortably through Malance's and tugged her into movement. Another path, more trees; she really didn't know quite where they were or which way they were going. Her head was spinning entirely, and not at all from the wine. Well, maybe a little, although she'd barely drunk it. Vivi's perfume was intoxicating on its own account, as though she'd bathed in a smoky herbal tea, hints of bitterness and promise. And the silk shirt and trousers she'd opted to wear tonight were dark, unrevealing, alluring; and the simple string of pearls at her throat was nothing like her usual array of exotic, aggressive jewellery; and Malance said, "You were intending to come back with me tonight anyway, weren't you?"

"Absolutely. I don't need my honoured uncle's consent. Nor his instruction." Her eyes were bright as any jewels, catching the lowering sun.