Fantasy is, at its best, the purest access to storytelling that we have. It universalizes a tale, it evokes wonder and timeless narrative power, it touches upon inner journeys, it illuminates our collective and individual pasts, throws a focus beam on the present day, and presages the dangers and promises of the future.

She was owner and captive, both, of a bitterly divided heart.

Irritation for some men was their response to strain.

We must be what we are, or we become our enemies.

It is always difficult, even with the best will in the world, to look back a long way and see anything resembling the truth.

The world could bring you poison in a jewelled cup, or surprising gifts. Sometimes you didn't know which of them it was.

A hard truth: that courage can be without meaning or impact, need not be rewarded, or even known. The world has not been made in that way. Perhaps, however, within the self there might come a resonance, the awareness of having done something difficult, of having done . . . something.