We’re thrilled to announce Foz Meadows’ The Weight and the Measure, forthcoming in Fall 2026 from Erewhon Books.
The touch of a single god? A blessing.
The touch of two gods? A miracle.
But three gods? A curse.In the Jaosi Empire, the magic of the gods is a rare and prized gift, sought by the devout who wish for a higher calling. But sometimes the gods arrive uninvited. They did for Kas, twice, taking advantage of immense pain and fear to place their power in him while he could not resist.
Kas has tried to keep his magic private. He wants only to live freely on his own terms, discreetly helping his friends and neighbors in the poorest parts of Jahovai. So when three neighborhood boys go missing, the city watch uncaring as usual, Kas is determined to track them down on his own. But the investigation goes devastatingly wrong, and Kas is left deathly ill from a third divine visitation before he is finally found and conscripted by the Measure—for the godtouched are required to serve.
The Measure is dedicated to doing justice, even outside the constraints of law, but here, everything has a rule and all things have a cost. As part of his new role, Kas is partnered with Nema, a grieving nobleman who represents everything Kas despises.
Nema, twice-touched himself, has served the Measure faithfully for over a decade as a peacekeeper and arbiter of justice. Attempting to win the trust of the scarred, snappish Kas, Nema offers to help find the missing teenagers.
But the case soon turns ugly, pointing to corruption in the highest circles of Jaosi society, and calling into question the Measure’s commitment to justice. Kas and Nema must learn to cooperate, and fast: facing threats from outside the Measure—and perhaps within it as well—the more they uncover, the more they have to lose.
From author Foz Meadows:
The Weight and the Measure is about a lot of different things—gods, ghosts, people with horns, the compounding effects of trauma—but centrally, it’s about the fact that both justice and autonomy are determined by context, which means they can never be taken for granted. What is just for one might not be so for another, while the difference between a choice being good or bad depends on who’s making it, and under what auspices. Kas and Nema have a lot to wrestle with in that respect: they instantly recognise their differences, but take much longer to understand their similarities, because the things they have in common are also the source of their greatest divergence.
In many respects, The Weight and the Measure is the darkest, most furious book I’ve ever written, but it’s also infused with hope, which here takes the form of mercy and resilience. To be angry at the world is still, despite it all, to believe it capable of change, even if you can’t always see how to effect it, and right now, that feels even more salient than when I first started writing. I’m thrilled to be working with Viengsamai and the Erewhon team, who have understood and championed this story from the very beginning, and I can’t wait for readers to meet Nema, Kas and the other Scales of the Measure, and explore the world of Jaos.
From editor Viengsamai Fetters:
We are beyond delighted that The Weight and the Measure has landed at Erewhon. As its title might suggest, the series tasks itself with balance in more ways than one: it’s intensely character-driven and intimate while staying true to its political foundation, with showstopping gods and terrifying magic alongside a nuanced exploration of justice in a deeply unjust world… Even its sensibilities feel genre-savvy and wide-ranging: like if Baldur’s Gate III was crafted by Robert Jackson Bennett, or like Dragon Age in the hands of Martha Wells.
I couldn’t tell you what I fell in love with first: the taut mystery, the sharp and visceral take on magic, or the compassion tucked into the dim corners of this meticulous, immersive world. But at the heart of all of it are Kas and Nema: two traumatized and defensive characters from vastly different circumstances and worldviews, who have to learn to trust each other as they unearth truths meant to stay buried—each more dangerous than the last. I hope that you’ll ache alongside them in moments of heartbreak and that you’ll be warmed by their healing and their work towards a better future, just as I have been.
This is Foz Meadows at his best yet: prepare yourselves.
Foz Meadows is the author of six novels and two novellas: most recently the Tithenai Chronicles duology, A Strange and Stubborn Endurance and All the Hidden Paths, published by Tor, and the novella Finding Echoes, published by Neon Hemlock Press. Foz’s essays, reviews, short stories and poems have been published in venues such as Strange Horizons, Apex Magazine, Goblin Fruit and The Huffington Post, and he has won both a Hugo Award and a Ditmar Award for Best Fan Writer. Find him online at fozmeadows.wordpress.com, and @fozmeadows on Bluesky, Threads, Tumblr, and TikTok.
