Nilufer raised her eyes to his. It was not what women did to men, but she was a princess, and he was only a bandit. "I want to be a Witch," she said. "A Witch and not a Queen. I wish to be not loved, but wise. Tell your bandit lord, if he can give me that, I might accept his gift."

Bob Hobbs was born and raised up and down the east coast, the eldest of five in a Navy family. His talent in art was noticed early on while he was still in the second grade and continued through to his graduation from high school.

"I started to distinguish between the feeling I had when I was writing someone else's truth, and when I was writing my own. I began to trust that feeling, though it is still very odd to me that my writing voice can be quite dark."

Some nights, after he leaves, / She sits on the windowsill / Staring into the night,