A resourceful street thief and puppeteer makes a pact with two magic-infused puppets in a fantasy tale set in a crime-ridden city.

Award-winning author Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Made Things is a dark yet whimsical fantasy tale full of magic, half-mages and puppet companions.

Making friends could mean the difference between ruin and great reward . . .

Welcome to Fountains Parish – a cesspit of trade and crime, where ambition curls up to die and desperation grows on its cobbled streets like mould on week-old bread. Coppelia is a street thief and a trickster with a small talent for magic. She also has something other thieves don’t . . . tiny puppet-like companions: some made of wood, some of metal. They don’t entirely trust her, and she doesn’t entirely understand them, but their partnership mostly works. But can it survive a far bigger challenge than picking a pocket or two?

A local crime lord has noted Coppelia’s success and compels her to assist in a high-stakes heist: breaking into a mage’s palace to plunder its treasures. She knows this illicit adventure could either break her or make all their fortunes. But a surprising discovery shakes their world to the core – and Coppelia and her friends are forced to face a threat to the great city itself.

Includes the bonus short story, ‘Precious Little Things’!

* * *

Praise for Adrian Tchaikovsky

‘One of the best storytellers in the business’ – John Scalzi, author of Old Man’s War on Service Model

‘Addictively brilliant!’ – John Gwynne, author of Malice on The Tiger and the Wolf

‘Few contemporary writers have Adrian Tchaikovsky’s range, excelling at chunky far-future hard SF as well as high-fantasy epics’ – The Guardian

"Thieves, mages, and miniature golems run afoul of each other in this charming novella set in a steampunk fantasy world . . . The dashingly roguish cast, clever prose and well-placed moments of heartfelt emotion are sure to delight" - Publishers Weekly