Demon of the Thousandth Tale

The Demon of the Thousandth Tale follows Severinus of Isogai, a twenty-two-year-old street storyteller who has inherited a mysterious lacquered storytelling box and a cord containing nine hundred and ninety-nine knots—one for every tale he has told.According to an ancient tradition, when a tale is told for the thousandth time beneath the harvest moon, it becomes true.On the final night of the festival, Severinus breaks his master's warning and tells the thousandth tale. From his painted plate emerges Naberius, a mysterious being who has existed for centuries beneath the stories of the coast. Neither wholly demon nor spirit, Naberius is a creature made from generations of stories, memories, fears, and forgotten truths.But Naberius is hungry. Every true story told to him gives him another day of existence; when he goes too long without one, he begins stealing the stories that make people who they are.Meanwhile, the Office of Correct Tales has arrived in Isogai. Its mission is to collect, rewrite, print, and replace the old stories of the region with sanitized versions. To the Office, this is civilization and protection. To the storytellers, it is the slow destruction of their cultural memory.As Severinus struggles to keep Naberius alive without sacrificing the memories of innocent people, he discovers that the Office has been working toward a final "e;correction"e; for centuries. Their goal is not merely to destroy a demon, but to erase everything beneath the stories themselves.With his blind former master Kydippe, his fiercely loyal younger sister Korinna, his friend Myron, and his former rival Dromeus caught between opposing sides, Severinus must uncover the truth behind the thousandth tale before the Office's final correction destroys the last living connection between stories and the people who tell them.Because in Isogai, a story is never merely a story.Sometimes, it is the thing that survives you.