As any good fairy godmother knows, stepmothers are not to be trifled with. And yet, they also present the most persistent and pernicious obstacles a DID has in finding her Happily Ever After. A good wicked stepmother–someone who is good at wicked stepmothering, not a wicked stepmother who is good–knows how to get her way, …

Sometimes a frog is just a frog. And sometimes a prince is just a prince. Nine times out of ten the frog is the most preferable choice. For one thing, they make great, if somewhat damp, paper weights. For another, what you see is what you get. Princes, of course, come in many different varieties, …

Of course Havethor’s servants would turn out to be natural cats. I should have seen that coming and averted the whole mess by letting them remain in their natural non-corporeal states. Wind doesn’t have teeth. It doesn’t have claws. And it doesn’t bargain. It just is. Or it isn’t. This whole cat mess is an …