For the people in the way of the narrative, fairy tales are deadly, capable of rewriting reality in order to get what they want—

memetic warfare,

There had to be something similar in all the narratives, something dark and enduring and cruel. It gave them the strength to feed, generation upon generation, on the hearts and lives of children. It gave them the strength to create people like me. I’d been born with white skin and black hair and red lips. I’d never had a chance.

like profanity—it’s practically my mother tongue—but I try to use words that insult without demeaning, when I can.

All stories are hungry. They eat all the history they can find, because it can be used to create variations on the theme.