K J Parker is someone I discovered a few years ago. He writes this sort of non-magical fantasy, all set in various time periods throughout his made up world.

The first trilogy of his I listened to is the siege series, starting with 16 Ways To Defend A Walled City. I'm currently listening to the Saveus Corax series. The books all tend to place the main character in some sort of political quandary that they have to navigate themselves out of using their guile and wit. And they are usually not the best suited people for the leadership roles they end up fulfilling, yet they always find success.

The series has a sort of dry humour to it, and while everything has almost a one-to-one parallel with our world's history, the biggest difference is that the races are reversed, with the major Roman/European empires being comprised of black people and white people being referred to as milk faces in one book.

I really enjoy them and I think K J Parker is alright.

Also his pen name, K J Parker, was chosen because it is the name of a pen.