The Stone Statute

The Stone Statute is an original novel set in a world where contracts are physically binding. We join Rue, a member of the disenfranchised lower class, as he is about to attempt the Lititurgical Exam. This society is ostensibly meritocratic, and anyone who does well on this exam has a right to study in the capital and become a lititurge – a crafter of contracts. As Rue comes to realize, however, success on this exam is functionally impossible for him. Structural barriers keep necessary resources out of the hands of him and anyone like him, making the exam little more than a false promise meant to pacify the populace with an illusion of social advancement. With his hopes for the future shattered, Rue makes a pact with a demonic figure called a grimgrin for the knowledge that he needs to pass the exam. In doing so, he breaks the Stone Statute – the central contract that binds everyone in this society together – and becomes a grimgrin himself. After passing the exam, he goes to the capital and tries to hide his deception as well as survive in this environment that absolutely does not want him, or anyone like him, to be there.