Ambition is all very well, my lad, but you must cloak it.

The bristling eyebrows shot up in mock surprise. Mesmerized. the boy watched them disappear under the hanging white thatch of hair. There, almost coyly, they remained just out of sight for a moment, before suddenly descending with a terrible finality and weight.

Ambition is all very well, my lad, but you must cloak it.

Minor magicians take pains to fit this traditional wizardly bill. By contrast, the really powerful magicians take pleasure in looking like accountants.

The important thing about any book is that you have to have a good story and that it has to be exciting. Then it's nice to add other levels underneath that people can pick up on.

So I departed, leaving behind a pungent smell of brimstone. Just something to remember me by.

Burned and squashed to death in a silver vat of soup. There must be worst ways to go. But not many.