The Fifteenth Saint
Novelette 11,067 words Recommended by 2 award/anthology sources
"Sannali Emenev did two things with his life: he read a book with one page, and he ran a city. Neither of these was his official role. There were eight judges in Junpalto. Every one of the eight of them got up in the morning, pulled a stretchy cap over their braided hair, placed a flowing wig over the cap, and sat in state to hear the problems of the city."
Quasar links out; the story lives on Asimov's, where the author gets the click.