As in 'The Three Billy Goats Gruff'?" The skull howled with laughter. "You just got your ass handed to you by a nursery tale?""I wouldn't say they handed me my ass," I said.Bob was nearly strangling on his laughter, and given that he had no lungs it seemed gratuitous somehow. "That's because you can't see yourself," he choked out. "Your nose is all swollen up and you've got two black eyes. You look like a raccoon. Holding a dislocated ass.

I just stood there staring, because while I've seen a lot of weird things, I hadn't ever seen that.

Night wasn't so much falling as sharpening its claws.

My faith protects me. My Kevlar helps.

but all the things Science had promised us hadn't come to pass. Disease was still a problem. Starvation was still a problem. Violence and crime and war were still problems. In spite of the advance of technology, things just hadn't changed the way everyone had hoped and thought they would.

Wizards and computers get along about as well as flamethrowers and libraries.

Just like credit card companies, or those student loan people. Now there's evil for you.