Verence would rather cut his own leg off than put a witch in prison, since it'd save trouble in the long run and probably be less painful.

Last night there seemed to be a chance. Anything was possible last night. That was the trouble with last nights. They were always followed by this mornings.

Few things are hidden from a quiet child with good eyesight.

He sighed. It had come to this. He was a responsible authority, and people could use terms like "core values" at him with impunity.

I regarded finding I had a form of Alzheimer's as an insult, and I decided to do my best to marshal any kind of forces that I could against this wretched disease. I have posterior cortical atrophy or PCA. They say, rather ingenuously, that if you have Alzheimer's it's the best form of Alzheimer's to have.

Opera happens because a large number of things amazingly fail to go wrong.

Books bend space and time. One reason the owners of those aforesaid little rambling, poky secondhand bookshops always seem slightly unearthly is that many of them really are, having strayed into this world after taking a wrong turning in their own bookshops in worlds where it is considered commendable business practice to wear carpet slippers all the time and open your shop only when you feel like it.