Steven Brust

"The Incrementalists--a secret society of two hundred people with an unbroken lineage reaching back forty thousand years. They cheat death, share lives and memories, and communicate with one another across nations, races, and time. They have an epic history, an almost magical memory, and a very modest mission: to make the world better, just a little bit at a time. Their ongoing argument about how to do this is older than most of their individual memories....

Vlad Taltos has a price on his head. It isn't the first time, but what's new is that the entire Jhereg organization -- thieves, assassins, vicious criminals all -- has committed to removing him from the board. It will take all of Vlad's considerable ingenuity to come up with a plan that will get the Jhereg off his back permanently.

Vlad Taltos is an Easterner-an underprivileged human in an Empire of tall, powerful, long-lived Dragaerans. He made a career for himself in House Jhereg, the Dragaeran clan in charge of the Empire's organized crime. But the day came when the Jhereg wanted Vlad dead, and he's been on the run ever since. He has plenty of friends among the Dragaeran highborn, including an undead wizard and a god or two. But as long as the Jhereg have a price on his head,...