It wasn't even a good note. 'If you are reading this I am probably dead.' What sort of a note is that?

The truth is that the world is full of dragons, and none of us are as powerful or cool as we’d like to be. And that sucks. But when you’re confronted with that fact, you can either crawl into a hole and quit, or you can get out there, take off your shoes, and Bilbo it up.

The good thing about working on the books for 14 years before they hit the shelves is that I worked out most of the kinks long before they were published.

For most practical purposes Tarbean had two pieces: Waterside and Hillside. Waterside is where people are poor. That makes them beggars, thieves, and whores. Hillside is where people are rich. That makes them solicitors, politicians, and courtesans.

Abenthy gave me an appraising look. I'd been waiting for it. It was the look that said, "You don't sound as young as you look." I hoped he'd come to grips with it fairly soon. It gets tiresome being spoken to as if you are a child, even if you happen to be one.

You never do things the easy way, do you?" she said. "There's an easy way?" I asked.

That was another lesson I had learned perhaps too well: people meant pain.