At least Lester had the decency to weep at his act of perfidy. Reader, do you know what 'perfidy' means? I have a feeling you do, based on the scene that unfolded here. But you should look up the word in your dictionary, just to be sure.

And so he was reading the story as if it were a spell and the words of it, spoken aloud, could make magic happen.

When I do it [writing] by myself, there's a lot more terror and uncertainty.

Miracles and magic pervade the things that I've written, but yet there are no miracles and there is no magic.

Life is hard. Life is beautiful. Life is difficult. Life is wonderful.

I think for everybody reading can be a solace, illumination, education.

Nothing new ever happens in the books. It's the same old theme.