Torn Wings and Severed Heads

Once upon a time I lived in Kansas, and my father and I would go on long walks together.  It was a wonderful place for walking, because there were lots of old cemeteries to explore, and lots of enormous old oak and maple trees, the roots of which turned the sidewalks into cracked and frozen waves.

As we walked, my father would tell me stories.  One set of stories I particularly remember was about the Faerie Wars that were continually being waged along the pathways that we wandered.  Evidence of the carnage was all about- the severed heads of goblins with their war-caps still attached, the wings of fairies viciously plucked from their backs- and everywhere a fairy fell was marked by a single silken puff...

Violence is definitely for kids.

And so you see, I come by my storytelling naturally.