Her clarity gave her purpose and her purpose gave her clarity.

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

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

That's a gesture of endearment in some cultures. Some hug, some kiss, some set each other on fire in small patches of woodland

Me, I was still in the pygmy hippo in a skirt, singing lusty songs about Solomon's private life and a giant stone back and forth through the air as I climbed out of the quarry at the edge of the site.

As a child I was really into fantasy books with elves and goblins and swords, and I went through a phase for a few years when I was reading endless series. But in the end I became totally fed-up with all these sub-Tolkien rip-offs because they all end up doing the same old things and there's no rigour to it.

Despite his crimped shirts and flowing mane (or perhaps because of them) I had seen no evidence as yet that Nathaniel even knew what a girl was. If he'd ever met one, chances are they'd both have run screaming in opposite directions.