K. J. Parker is an author of fantasy

Fantasy

Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...

 fiction. The name is a pseudonym and the writer's true identity has never been revealed. Very little is definitely known about Parker, even his or her gender, and there has been speculation as to his or her real name.

While Parker's stories take place in alternate universes

Parallel universe (fiction)

A parallel universe or alternative reality is a hypothetical self-contained separate reality coexisting with one's own. A specific group of parallel universes is called a "multiverse", although this term can also be used to describe the possible parallel universes that constitute reality...

 with invented geographies and histories, some of the typical features of fantasy fiction such as explicit use of magic are not present. The stories tend to have tragic

Tragedy

Tragedy is a form of art based on human suffering that offers its audience pleasure. While most cultures have developed forms that provoke this paradoxical response, tragedy refers to a specific tradition of drama that has played a unique and important role historically in the self-definition of...

 themes with characters whose actions are unintentionally, ultimately self-destructive.

Biography

According to the biographical notes in some of Parker's books, Parker has previously worked in law, journalism, and numismatics

Numismatics

Numismatics is the study or collection of currency, including coins, tokens, paper money, and related objects. While numismatists are often characterized as students or collectors of coins, the discipline also includes the broader study of money and other payment media used to resolve debts and the...

, and now writes and makes things out of wood and metal. It is also claimed that Parker is married to a solicitor

Solicitor

Solicitors are lawyers who traditionally deal with any legal matter including conducting proceedings in courts. In the United Kingdom, a few Australian states and the Republic of Ireland, the legal profession is split between solicitors and barristers , and a lawyer will usually only hold one title...

 and now lives in southern England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. According to an autobiographical note, Parker was raised in rural Vermont

Vermont

Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...

, a lifestyle which influenced Parker's work. This note implied that Parker is female, a supposition supported by a page on Parker's French publisher's website.

Parker is known to have a connection with the author Tom Holt

Tom Holt

Tom Holt is a British novelist.He was born in London, the son of novelist Hazel Holt, and was educated at Westminster School, Wadham College, Oxford, and The College of Law, London....

; in a 2010 interview with Parker, Holt mentioned that they had known each other for some years, and Parker had shown Holt his or her first novel, which he then showed to his agent who sold it.

Trivia

In Parker's novel The Folding Knife, it is mentioned that the Auxentines once fought the Aram Chantat, one of the major powers portrayed in the Engineer trilogy. This suggests that both works take place in the same world. Both books make use of the 'scorpion' bolt-launching siege weapon, but in The Engineer books its design is a guarded secret, which logically places The Folding Knife chronologically later.

The story A Small Price to Pay for Birdsong is set in Perimadeia and the narrator is from Ap’Escatoy, two cities featured in the Fencer trilogy. A character in the story is named Subtilius of Bohec though the narrator disavows knowledge of the whereabouts of Bohec. The Bohec valley figures prominently in the Scavenger trilogy. This suggests all three works take place in the same world.

In the novella Purple and Black, the Vesani empire draws some of its auxiliaries from the Aram no Vei, one of the tribes that the Cure Hardy of the Engineer trilogy are fleeing from. Arms dealers make use of banks in Perimadeia, the Triple City of the Fencer trilogy

The Fencer trilogy

The Fencer trilogy follows Bardas Loredan, a fencer-at-law.

• Colours in the Steel (1998)
• The Belly of the Bow (1999)
• The Proof House (2000)

The Scavenger trilogy

The Scavenger trilogy is about a man, or possibly god, who wakes up on a battlefield with amnesia and discovers that he is being hunted by enemies he no longer remembers.

• Shadow (2001)
• Pattern (2002)
• Memory (2003)

The Engineer trilogy

The Engineer trilogy features an engineer, Ziani Vaatzes, who is forced into exile from his home city and plots an elaborate revenge.

• Devices and Desires (2005)
• Evil for Evil (2006)
• The Escapement (2007)

Other novels

• The Company (2008)
• The Folding Knife (2010)
• The Hammer (Jan 2011)

Short fiction

• Purple and Black (July 2009, Subterranean Press)
• Blue and Gold (Dec 2010, Subterranean Press)
• A Small Price to Pay for Birdsong (Winter 2010, Subterranean Online)

External links

• kjparker.com – official website run by Parker's publisher
• French publisher site supporting the female author argument
• K.J. Parker at Fantasy Literature
• Amor Vincit Omnia Free short story by K. J. Parker
• A Small Price to Pay for Birdsong Free short story by K. J. Parker