Hazaiah's Head

"The call, arising from the Royal throat of the reclining King, possessed of a great bellow from his Royal lungs, propelled by his Royal vocal chords, passed his Royal lips with such fury as to fill the august and stately bedchamber, traverse the threshold into the hall without and escape, through the open-air congress, even into the central courtyard, where it echoed momentarily among the gilded domes topping the castle's many towers, and disturbed as it did the many birds nesting there and startled the many guards on duty, before it rose, finally, into the blue and cloudless and insensate heavens.
'Bring me the head of Hazaiah the Terrible!'"
- from Hazaiah's Head

A mad king calls for the head of a landed vassal in this novel from the author of I Awoke in a House Afire. The reward offered is so great that nearly every capable man in the kingdom sets off to win it. But their journey is fraught with misadventure, while political infighting, disease, and ambitious enemies threaten the kingdom in their absence. Far from a period drama, Miloshe's second novel rises to the level of metaphor, and for all of its violence and horror remains a sympathetic look at a race of animals gesturing at control while stumbling around in ignorance.

Written by Orhan Miloshe
Cover design by Tom Maven