Walking corpses and black-market liquor: the quiet life.

Telto Phuul, Necromancer and Library Clerk, likes his days safe and predictable. Not for him the intrigues of the Viiminian Empire, a gothic monstrosity held together by sheer force of will.

Until the Empire's dreaded secret police come knocking. Caught in a web of schemes in the diseased heart of Kuolinako, the underground Imperial capital, Telto can trust no-one. Not the Northern theocrats who abhor Necromancy, and certainly not the Grand Chancellor, whose iron-fisted rule has kept the old order alive that little bit longer.

When one false step means torture and disappearance, this journey will change our Necromancer forever.

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Family, friendship, and social class lie at the heart of powerful storytelling. Stride delves deep into the hearts and minds of his characters, revealing moral fortitudes that are perfectly balanced with personality flaws and desire for self-preservation. Engaging, subtle and provocative, this is fantasy steampunk that deserves to be read again and again. Wise Phuul is the story of one man's journey to save himself, his friends, and (by coincidence only), his society.