All of the natives were good mimics, but in Magpie the skill was heightened to a preternatural degree.

Before I could remind him he was well over deadline—before I could invoke the phantoms of all the editors, copyeditors, proofreaders, printers, designers, marketers, social media managers, sales agents, booksellers, BookTokkers and adoring public waiting for him to complete his next novel—the line had gone dead.

I am a liar and he thinks it’s because he is not worth the truth.